Introduction

Some Facts and Figures

The New Zealand Centennial Exhibition ran from 8 November 1939 to 4 May 1940. During this time 2,641,043 people went through the main gates with a daily average attendance of 17,149. The exhibition covered 55 acres (22.2 hectares) of land just to the west of Wellington's airport. After the exhibition closed the buildings were used as extra accommodation by the RNZAF. Following the war they were largely being used to store wool before burning down in September 1946.

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An aerial view of the Exhibition grounds and buildings

Exhibiting a Century

New Zealand's commemoration of the 1940 centennial was a major event. The centrepiece was the centennial fair at Rongotai in Wellington. There was also a large ceremony at Petone on Wellington's anniversary, another at Waitangi on 6 February; and in towns throughout the country communities held pageants as hundreds dressed up in colonial costume, and paraded through the streets. Christchurch's procession on 6 April was two miles long.

The commemorations were very much a deliberate act of national self-definition by the Labour Government. Five years in the planning, with a considerable public investment, they represented a deliberate proclaiming of the Labour Party's and the country's value system. New Zealanders took stock of themselves and attempted to come to grips with their history and identity, although popular enthusiasm did not necessarily mean endorsement for the big ideas of the centennial. People attending the centennial fair came primarily for the fun of 'Playland' rather than the more serious displays, the ceremonial speeches or the government department courts. This was high entertainment in a world just emerging from restrictions of the depression.

Dodgem racing in Playland

Opposition and War

There was some explicit opposition to the commemorations of 1940—many Maori protested and so did a few intellectuals. Denis Glover wrote:

In the year of centennial splendours
There were fireworks and decorated cars
And pungas drooping from verandahs
—But no-one remembered our failures.

But such dissent was rare, and the overwhelming tone of the centennial was pride. Such was the momentum of the celebrations that they were barely affected by the outbreak of war. Only a few events were cancelled (mainly in Auckland), and the major events went ahead partly because the values they were seen to represent seemed even more relevant in a war situation.

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Pioneering Spirit

The fair was to commemorate 'the dauntless courage of our pioneer men and women'. On either side of the central tower at the fair were enormous sculptures of a pioneer man and a pioneer woman. This vision of a people of sterling British stock braving high seas, bush and fierce Maori enemy, was at the heart of the pioneer ideal. The intention of the fair was not simply to pay a nostalgic tribute, but even more to encourage a revival of the 'pioneering spirit'.

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Pioneer Woman and Pioneer Man sculptures

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The Fair and Material Progress

The fair itself was a physical demonstration of the wonders of material progress. The strong lines of the buildings showed the possibilities of modern construction; and the central tower 'symbolised the progress and ambition of the young nation'. The dramatic use of electricity and neon — there were over 37,000 lights expending over a million watts — was a display of the latest source of power. And inside the buildings were endless displays of modern technological wonders. The Dominion Court featured a huge diorama of New Zealand with roads, railways, ports and cities. The miniature transport and city models were out of scale relative to the physical landscape, so that the effect was to exaggerate the human contribution to the land.

Model of port

Beneath the Dominion Court was a model of the Waitomo Caves, a physical display of 'beautiful New Zealand', illustrating the tension between material progress and natural beauty. The sense of the country as a tourist's paradise was contained in much of the 1940 publicity. Bill Parry, the minister in charge of the centennial, encouraged New Zealanders to form a 'strong enduring friendship with forests'.

Waitomo Caves exhibit

But most visitors made straight for the Crazy House and roller coaster in Playland. Some visited the Dominion Court and the Waitomo Caves. Perhaps on a third or fourth visit, they might make it to the Government Court, a mammoth display of over 100,000 square feet. There were displays by the Department of Agriculture, Industries and Commerce, and Defence. The Health Department's display was 'The Healthy Family', and included a visit to a walking, talking robot doctor, Dr Wellandstrong.

Themes: Women's Rights

Since New Zealand was 'the first nation of the British Commonwealth to grant women the electoral franchise' a women's section was made a special feature.[Related link: Suffragist's Exhibition]

Part of the section featured two domestic displays of furniture and household knickknacks, one a pioneer hut and the other an affluent Victorian home. The other section displayed women's arts and crafts ranging from drawing to needlework and weaving —very much a genteel middle class ideal.

Advertisement for iron

In the lecture hall each day there was a programme of talks interspersed with dress parades. The talks were on 'the latest developments in the solution of the housewife's many problems', such as 'Picnic and camping dishes', 'Simple meals to satisfy the family', 'Children's fears', 'Summer salads and salad dressing', 'What to do for burns', and 'The art of icing'. These were intelligent and helpful attempts to discuss matters of concern to women, but women whose boundaries were defined by their domestic role.

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Themes: The Benevolent State

Another ideal of the exhibition, represented by the Government Court, was the beneficence of government activity. The centennial fair received a substantial investment of £75,000 from the government, which also invested heavily in the Government Court. Government was represented as the supporter and promoter of economic growth and the guarantor of social security. The state was provider in a spirit of public 'service' and the official guide to the display included a detailed description of the manifold services offered to the people of New Zealand by government departments.

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A British Nation

Although the centennial was conceived as a way of reinforcing New Zealand nationalism, it is striking how large a part the 'mother country' played within this national definition. 1940 signified, not just the centenary of the signing of a treaty with Maori, nor a century of settlement and government, but also a hundred years of membership in the British Empire. At the exhibition the first building you saw was the United Kingdom Court, and there was barely an opening or an unveiling where either the Governor-General or the British Government's special representative at the centennial, Lord Willingdon, were not present. Willingdon commented shortly before his departure, 'Wherever I have been I have found New Zealand as British as ever before.'

Governor General Galway speaking

Despite Bill Parry's strenuous efforts to encourage the planting of native trees during the year, when the national flower show opened at the centennial exhibition hall, Sir Harry Batterbee commented that it was 'a delight to find in New Zealand flowers that were seen in English gardens because they formed a link between Britain and the Dominion.'

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Text derived from an essay by Jock Phillips in Generating a National Spirit – the 1940 Centennial. Ed. William Renwick. To be published shortly by Wai-te-ata Press.