Blog News

Tauranga Waterfront from Victoria Wharf
Panorama carbon print by Charles Spencer, c. 1884-1887
Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. 0609/08

It is now six years since the first article on the Society's blog was published, and now is probably an opportune moment to thank the many contributors who have helped in no small way to preserve Tauranga's historical record. In June 2013, we wrote:

"Our new Blog has been created to provide news and articles relating to Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty's history, which we hope will encourage a returning readership of both members and non-members alike.  In the coming weeks and months, you can look forward to contributions on a wide variety of historical topics written by society members, each of whom have their own varied interests and strengths."

Although we did experience a hiatus in 2016-2018, the resumption of a steady flow of articles over the last twelve months has demonstrated that we still have a wealth of stories to share. Over the next year the following contributers will include:

Shirley Arabin - tales and history of old Tauranga buildings
Trevor Bentley - Early Maori-Pakeha Relations
Beth Bowden - a variety of topics relating to early Tauranga
Julie Green – People who Shaped Tauranga
Lois Hembrow - talks about items in the Brain Watkins House Collection
Fiona Kean - notes of recent events of historical interest
Anne Marquand - items of interest from the garden at Brain Watkins House
Justine Neal - continues to share her collection of Tauranga postcards
Brett Payne - profiles of Tauranga photographers and examples of their work
Tauranga Heritage Collection - brief notes about items in the collection
Jane Waldegrave - stories from the Art and Culture scene in Tauranga

There’s an simple way to keep up to date - to receive notifications when something new is published on the blog, simply insert your email address in the “Follow by Email” box on the right of the blog page, and click “Submit.” Each article will be sent to you by email as soon as it is published.

Many people have contributed items for the blog since 2013 and these remain archived on the web site for your perusal. They can be browsed using the “Blog Archive” drop-down menu by date (Year and Month), or the “Labels” list, on the right of the main blog page. A list of past contributors is also available on the right of the page – click on the name for further information.

Further articles, some of which are expected to have a more topical bias, will be published from time to time on an ad hoc basis. We also intend to publish notifications of Society events, such as the Monthly Meetings/Talks, Garden Party, AGM, etc. An online version of the latest Society Newsletter will also be provided on the web site.

Considerable time and effort have been put into writing the articles and sourcing images, and both the writers and the Society would welcome your feedback, either through the Comments section on the blog or via email. It’s always nice to know that your articles are being read and appreciated, so please do leave us a quick note to let us know you’ve dropped by. We’ve introduced a security step in the Commenting procedure to alleviate problems with inappropriate spam – it may be a little tedious to have to go through this step, but please bear with us.

The Society welcomes further contributions to the blog in the form of short articles from members
and non-members. If you hear of a forthcoming historically related event that you think might
interest members, please feel free to let us know and we’ll do our best to find out more and
publicize it on the blog. Or alternatively, if you’ve been to such a place or event and would like to
send us a brief report on it, with at least one photograph, we’d be happy to publish it on your behalf.
Contact Julie Green by email (tauranga.historical@gmail.com) with such material or to request our
Blog Article Submission Guidelines.

Brett Payne
Web Editor