Today in History

1940 Jockey Y-fronts hit NZ shops

If old-fashioned underwear makes you squirm, switch to Jockey.

After successfully bidding for a licence to manufacture the new Jockey range of men’s underwear, Lane Walker Rudkin (LWR) from Canterbury began marketing the Jockey Y-front on 16 March 1940. New Zealand was one of the first four countries in the world to manufacture this iconic international brand.

Before the Second World War men's underwear was 'all-wool and all-enveloping’. It extended to the ankles and elbows. It was made in the mills of New Zealand, with heavy ribbing and reinforced crotches, and came mostly in natural or fawn colours. For the patriotic there was Roslyn's Dominion brand, with ‘spliced seat and knee.'

Given some of the obvious discomforts of the more traditional undergarment (especially in summer), the Y-front quickly established itself as a market leader in New Zealand. Newspaper advertisements outlined the virtues of their 'sleek and fitting scientific designs', their overall 'support from the waist' and 'real masculine comfort'. No doubt New Zealand males were relieved that there was 'no bunching discomfort at the crutch' and a 'no-gape opening'. Jockeys had the whole male market covered.

Despite increasing competition from other brands and styles in the latter half of the 20th century, Jockey products ruled the roost in this country. In 2003 New Zealanders bought nearly one million pairs of Jockey men's underwear – one for every one and a half males aged 16 and over. On a per capita basis, New Zealanders purchased more Jockey products than any other country. Many New Zealand men and boys have woken on Christmas morning to a pair (or two) of Jockeys under the tree. In this regard the efforts of hardworking salespeople such as the legendary Rod MacLenman must be acknowledged. MacLenman scooped the prestigious Golden Spurs award for top-selling Jockey salesperson in 1983, moving 72,000 pairs in the seven weeks leading up to Christmas.

1999 NZHistory.net.nz launched

NZHistory.net.nz was launched by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Hon. Jack Elder, at a function at National Archives (now Archives New Zealand) in Wellington on 16 March 1999.

In 1998 staff members in the then Heritage Group of the Department of Internal Affairs decided to embrace the brave new world of the Internet - primarily to promote the work of the group. This consisted of the Historical Branch - responsible for publications about government at war, the Heritage Operations Unit, National Archives and the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (DNZB). In 2000 the renamed History Group became part of the new Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

One of the very first topics on NZHistory.net.nz was about the pioneer aviator Richard Pearse and features a virtual 3D version of his plane. Another ‘whizzy’ feature was a moving river on the homepage which you can see in action here. In all the years this was there nobody ever asked us why (luckily). Other early topics included Anzac Day, the Tangiwai disaster, assisted immigration, suffragists and the radiant living movement.

For the first few years all the technical work was done by one person who started out using a very basic web editing tool (Netscape Navigator 3 Gold) but over the years learnt more sophisticated web techniques. A major change came about in 2006 when the site was completely redesigned and moved into an open source content management system (Joomla!). By this time more staff were contributing content to the site which had grown to several thousand pages, including a Classroom area for students and teachers and a Calendar of New Zealand history events.

In February 2007 the site was moved into the more sophisticated Drupal open source CMS to accommodate changes required to incorporate the treatyofwaitangi.govt.nz website and to add further functionality.

NZHistory.net.nz has stayed true to its original purpose of making New Zealand history accessible to a general audience, though the scope of subject matter has now broadened well beyond topics covered by the History Group's print publications.

Check out the Wayback Machine website to see how far we've come since 1999.

NZHistory.net.nz is now part of a suite of websites administered by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage including:

• Dictionary of New Zealand Biography  - the online version was launched in 2002.
• Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand  - the first theme ‘New Zealanders' was launched in 2005.
• Anzac.govt.nz - a guide to Anzac Day for New Zealanders (launched in 2005)
• NZLive.com - launched in 2007 to connect you with New Zealand culture - now part of EventFinder.
• VietnamWar.govt.nz  - launched in 2008 for people to contribute their memories of the Vietnam War.
• 28maoribattalion.org.nz - launched in 2009 - dedicated to the men who served with New Zealand’s 28th (Maori) Battalion