Mick McMahon and the Talma Studio - Part 1

The Elite Hairdressing Saloon, Tauranga, c. 1913
(Michael McMahon second from right, with moustache)
Copy photograph courtesy and collection of Jacquelyn McMahon

When Michael Patrick McMahon arrived in Tauranga in early 1913 he opened The Elite Hairdressing Saloon. Although he advertised a scissor-sharpening service, there was no mention in the fanfare in the Bay of Plenty Times of any photographic expertise.

Flooding in Te Karaka, photograph by M. McMahon
Published in the Auckland Weekly News Supplement, 23 Feb 1911
Image courtesy of Auckland Libraries Heritage Images, Ref. AWNS-19110223-16-3

He had in fact been an intermittent contributor to the Auckland Weekly News Supplement of photographic views taken in the Te Karaka district of Poverty Bay, where he lived, since at least 1909. The standard of these views show at least a reasonable competence, although it is not clear where he learnt the trade.

T.E. Price's Corner Studio, Harington St/The Strand, Tauranga, c.1905
Unidentified photographer, attributed to Thomas Price
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries Ref. 04-257

He was probably being cautious. Although he had bought a house on the corner of Cameron Road and Fourth Avenue, and his wife Catherine and six children had come with him from Te Karaka, he would have been aware that Tauranga already had a well-established photographer. Robert Walter Meers, originally from Christchurch, had opened a studio in December 1910 and fitted it up with the latest photographic equipment. Meers had, however, found it difficult to make the business profitable and, between January and March 1913, employed a photographer Alfred Richardson (formerly of Auckland and Wellington) who had proved very unsatisfactory, causing significant disruption to the trade. By July that year Meers had moved his studio from its original location behind Norris & Bell’s buildings (between Spring and Wharf Streets) to Thomas Price’s former studio premises on the corner of Harington Street and the Strand, opposite the Tauranga Hotel.

Opening of the Tauranga Hospital, 5 Mar 1914, Photograph by Meers & McMahon
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Ref. 02-349 (copied from an original held in a private collection)

Then on 17 October 1913 a partnership between Meers and McMahon was announced in the BOP Times, operating from the old studio on Price’s Corner. They advertised for a young lady to “attend studio, assist re-touching, etc.” and offered “all classes of photographic work.” McMahon was out and about with his camera, and was on hand to record the opening of the new hospital on 5 March 1914.

Devonport Road, Tauranga. Postcard by Meers & McMahon, taken between October 1913 and April 1914
Image courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. 0189-09

Meers & McMahon began to publish scenes of the town as a series of postcards, including this lively view of the lower end of Devonport Road. They also supplied photographs of society events, such as the opening of the Bowling Club in October 1913 and the visit of the premier William Massey to the Tauranga Experimental Farm in February 1914, to the Auckland Weekly News. By the beginning of May 1914 the partnership was dissolved and all of the equipment pertaining to the studio business sold by public auction. Since they both continued to work as photographers in the town, it seems likely that this was a means by which to achieve an equitable distribution of the assets. Meers advertised on 8 May that “his photographic business would now be carried on entirely under his personal supervision” and he continued operating the studio until ill health forced its sale to Robert Rendell in 1926.

(continued in Part 2)