A to Z of Tauranga Museum: C is for Cameras

 

Bay of Plenty Times staff photographer, 1977. Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Photo gca-22569

As a holiday destination known for its stunning scenery and photogenic landmarks like Mauao, it’s fitting that Tauranga Museum holds a varied and interesting camera collection. Our town has also been home to several notable photographers, yet it is the camera of amateur photographer and longtime resident William Poole that tells a story reaching far beyond our rohe.

An WW1 album page capturing candid moments at the front. Hauraki Association Collection, Tauranga Museum.

Historians have often described the First World War as the photographic event of the 20th century. The Vest Pocket Kodak became the soldier’s camera of choice, favoured for its small size and affordability. Although military authorities banned cameras at the front - concerned that sensitive information could fall into enemy hands or that confronting images might damage morale at home - Kodak continued to encourage soldiers to create their own ‘picture record of the war’. Many did, ignoring the ban, and the photographs they captured now form an important visual record of their experiences. 

Kodak Vest Pocket Autographic that belonged to Lieutenant William Poole. Tauranga Museum 0610/03

This Vest Pocket Kodak Autographic camera belonged to William Poole. Before enlisting, William ran a dental surgery on The Strand, located above A. J. Mirrielees, Chemist and Optician. Mirrielees was the town's Kodak dealer and throughout the war he placed regular advertisements in the Bay of Plenty Times promoting the Vest Pocket as the “ideal gift for a soldier.” William's camera and leather case were donated with a handwritten note: "This Vest Pocket Kodak camera was used by Capt. W. H. J. Poole 40684, NZ Dental Corps during WW1. See the stylus which was used via the little flap to give a title to each photograph." 

A pre‑WW1  photograph of The Strand shows William Poole’s surgery in the top left‑hand corner. Tauranga Museum 0614/08

Frustratingly, none of the photographs William may have taken with this camera during his two and a half years with the New Zealand Dental Corps was included in the donation to the Museum. His war record shows that he spent most of this time treating soldiers’ teeth in New Zealand.  He served just 96 days overseas before being returned home, due to ill health. 

Photographing the Queen: the 1963 Royal visit (Part 2)

Amateur photographers wait for the Queen to arrive, Waitangi, 6 February 1963,
Still from movie footage by British Pathé, “New Zealand Greets Queen,” on YouTube

Part 1 of this article looked at press photography during the Royal Visit to Tauranga on 9 February 1963. Some of their output may be found online in archives such as Tauranga Library’s Pae Korokī or, in the case of cine footage, on YouTube. Any stills or clips which include crowd scenes, however, show an enormous number of cameras in the hands of amateurs, many of whom have jostled their way to the front row or found an elevated point to capture the Queen and the Duke as they went past.

The Queen and Mayor David Mitchell at Memorial Park, 9 February 1963
Bay of Plenty Times, clip from 120-format film negative
Tauranga City Libraries, Gifford-Cross Collection, Pae Korokī Ref. gca-4687

The scene above captured by a Bay of Plenty Times staff photographer includes several onlookers with cameras at the ready: a young boy with a Kodak Starlet at far left, a man with a range finder, another man (in white hat) holding a box camera at waist level, an older man with a cine camera and, at far right, another man operating a cine camera. This was most likely Norman Blackie, whose footage of the day was donated to Tauranga City Library and subsequently deposited with Nga Taonga Sound & Vision.

The Queen and Mayor David Mitchell at Memorial Park, 9 February 1963
Still from 16mm movie footage by Norman Blackie, “Coloured Fountain & Royal Visit – 1963”
Collection of Nga Taonga Sound and Vision
Digitised for Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī

The footage has recently been digitised and will be made available in due course on Pae Korokī.

The Queen arriving at Ocean Beach, Mt Maunganui, 9 Feb 1963
Bay of Plenty Times, clip from 35mm format film negative
Tauranga City Libraries, Gifford-Cross Collection, Pae Korokī Ref. gcc-1606

Among the onlookers here welcoming the Queen and Prince Philip to Ocean Beach, Mount Maunganui, at least nine in this view are wielding cameras.

Kodak advertisement, The Press (Christchurch), 2 Dec 1963 (Papers Past)

Since the previous Royal Visit nine years earlier, photography had become an almost ubiquitous presence in society. Not only were all the major newspapers sending photographers far and wide to fill each issue with images, but almost every household would have owned multiple cameras. Several Tauranga chemists, such as L.E. Woods, David Jones and B.F. Martin, as well as more specialist shops like Rendell’s and Carter’s Photo Service, would have stocked and processed film, as well as selling cameras such as those advertised by Kodak New Zealand.

Kodak Camera Parade product display, Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd, c. 1963
Museums Victoria Collections, Ref. MM 107147

By 1963 the available models ranged from the Brownie 127 at the lower end (for £1-15-9) to the Retina Automatic I (£53-11-6) – equivalent to a range from roughly NZ$61 to $1845 in today’s money. The Brownie Flash II, of which there were several examples included in the above product display, was the latest in a long line of successors to the original Brownie produced in 1900, and cost £2-19-6.

Kodak camera models available in 1963, from L to R, (back row) Brownie Flash II, Retinette IB, Brownie Starflash, Brownie Starlet, (front row) Brownie 127, Retinette IA, Retina Automatic I
Collection of Brett Payne

Judging by the number of these cameras that turn up for sale on TradeMe, some still with a film inside, they were valued possessions. Although by this time the Starlet and 127 were predominantly made from plastic and marketed primarily for use by children, the top end Retina models were high spec pieces of equipment originally designed to compete with rangefinders such as the Leica and Contax.

Sightseers in Waikorire (Pilot Bay), Mount Maunganui, 9 February 1963
Colour positive transparency by Robert Gale
Image courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. 0005/20/594

The colour slide view above, showing Waikorire (Pilot Bay) crowded with sightseers and the Queen’s motor launch in the foreground, off Salisbury Wharf, was one of several taken that day by local resident Robert Gale, a teacher and member of the Tauranga Photographic Society. It is among more than 2000 slides deposited by his family and Alf Rendell with the Tauranga Heritage Collection.

The Queen and the Duke depart from Salisbury Wharf, Mount Maunganui, 9 February 1963
Colour positive transparency by unidentified photographer
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī, Ref. 04-305

In another colour slide, this one taken by an unidentified photographer, probably within minutes of the previous shot, and held by Tauranga City Libraries, well-wishers farewell the Royals as they head down Salisbury Wharf to the waiting motor launch.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in Australia, 18-19 February 1963
Black-and-white positive transparency by Robert Gale
Image courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. 0005/20/131

Tauranga residents continued to follow the progress of the Royal Tour after they had left Tauranga. Robert Gale took this photograph of the television reportage on 20 February 1963, presumably on their arrival in Canberra (18^th) or Adelaide (19^th). There must be many more such images out there in the community. A short home movie clip from Archives New Zealand shared on Facebook a couple of years ago (watch here) brought several responses from people who remembered the day well.

It is my feeling that Tauranga’s 1963 Royal Visit may have been our most photographed event to date – perhaps not on the scale of the multitude of cell phone images taken nowadays, but a huge record for the time. Many of those snapshots and home movies have inevitably been discarded over the last six decades during attic clear-outs, moves and rationalisations, but there must still be some around. If you have any taken on that day, either by yourself or other family members, and are happy to share them, it would be nice to hear from you. Please email me at gluepot@gmail.com.

References

Royal Visit 1963 Itinerary, P.M. No. 60/1962, Transcripts from the Prime Ministers of Australia, URL: https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-586

Photographing the Queen: the 1963 Royal visit (Part 1)

Royal Yacht Britannia in Waikorire (Pilot Bay), Mt Maunganui, 9 Feb 1963
Bay of Plenty Times, 120 (medium)-format film negative
Tauranga City Libraries, Gifford-Cross Collection, Pae Korokī Ref. gca-4724

When the Royal Yacht Britannia with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip on board steamed through the Tauranga Harbour entrance on the morning of 9 February 1963, you might have been forgiven for thinking that the entire population of Mount Maunganui and Tauranga had turned out to see them. Pilot Bay was packed with every kind of craft imaginable, and photographers from the local, regional and international press planned to capture the event from every angle, including the air.

Prince Philip and the Queen on board RMS Britannia, Mt Maunganui, 9 Feb 1963
Bay of Plenty Times, 35mm format film negative
Tauranga City Libraries, Gifford-Cross Collection, Pae Korokī Ref. gcc-1619

It was not the first Royal Visit to New Zealand. The earliest had been by Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh in 1869 and 1870, including a visit to Tauranga on 13 December 1870. The Queen was the first reigning monarch to visit, touring the country with her husband in the summer of 1953-54, with New Zealanders going to extraordinary extents to present themselves in the best manner possible. Sheep were dyed red, white and blue, unsightly buildings hidden by screens, roads sealed in haste, and it is estimated that three out of every four New Zealanders saw the Queen at more than 110 functions in 46 different centres over almost six weeks.

New Zealand Royal Visit 1963 Itinerary
Collection of Archives New Zealand, Ref. AEFZ 22624 W5727 2618 3105/0068-0070

In 1963 the itinerary was trimmed substantially, with Mt Maunganui-Tauranga the third of eight stops over a mere 11 days.

Press photographer, Mayor David Mitchell, Prince Philip and the Queen at Coronation Pier, 9 Feb 1963
Still from 16mm movie footage by Norman Blackie, “Coloured Fountain & Royal Visit – 1963”
Collection of Nga Taonga Sound and Vision
Digitised for Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī

After being delivered to the wharf off Tauranga’s Strand by motor launch, the Royal couple were taken on a ceremonial drive through the streets to Memorial Park, where a public welcome from a crowd of 5000 was led by the Mayor and other dignitaries in the Soundshell. “Twelve ballet girls dressed as Greek maidens danced in front of the Queen scattering pink and white rose petals from shallow baskets.”

A press photographer is seen in the still above taken from amateur movie footage. He wields two medium-format TLR cameras, including a professional Mamiyaflex C2 with eye-level finder, and may have been responsible for some of the Bay of Plenty Times footage from that day that survives in the Tauranga Library’s collection.

Press photographers wait for the Royal Party – the Queen and Mayor Mitchell at Memorial Park
Detail from Bay of Plenty Times, 120- and 35mm format film negatives
Tauranga City Libraries, Gifford-Cross Collection, Pae Korokī Refs. gca-4688, gcc-1632

The press photographers were waiting for them at each step of the procession, including this film cameraman from ATN’s Channel 7. The Queen and Duke proceeded to the Domain before transferring to an open military Land Rover to “drive through ranks of 20,000 assembled school children.”

Photographers scramble to catch the Queen arriving at Ocean Beach, Mt Maunganui, 9 Feb 1963
Bay of Plenty Times, 35mm format film negative
Tauranga City Libraries, Gifford-Cross Collection, Pae Korokī Ref. gcc-1606

The limousine then took them back through the crowds to the wharf, and they were transferred across to the Mount to watch a surf carnival from a temporary grandstand at Ocean Beach.

Mt Maunganui Mayor Harris with the Queen and Duke, Salisbury Wharf, Mt Maunganui, 9 Feb 1963
Bay of Plenty Times, 35mm format film negative
Tauranga City Libraries, Gifford-Cross Collection, Pae Korokī Ref. gcc-1602

The Royal party then left for the Britannia via Salisbury Wharf, where the photographers were once again in attendance from every conceivable vantage point.

RMS Britannia leaves Tauranga Harbour, 9 Feb 1963
Bay of Plenty Times, 35mm format film negative
Tauranga City Libraries, Gifford-Cross Collection, Pae Korokī Ref. gcc-1618

Many of these photographs taken by Bay of Plenty Times staff have been preserved and digitized by Tauranga Library, and are available to view on their web site, Pae Korokī.

Correction. An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified a photographer as BOPT journalist Max Avery - thank you to Max for pointing out that it is not, in fact, him, and that he was fully occupied on the Mount side of the harbour during the visit. If anyone is able to identify the photographer in the third photo of this article, I would be very grateful.

Part 2 of this story will look at amateur photography during the Royal Visit.

References

Queen Elizabeth – Page 3 – Royal tours, URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/queen-elizabeth/royal-tours, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 4-Feb-2022

New Zealand's first royal visit, URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/new-zealands-first-royal-visit, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 19-Oct-2020

The royal visit, 1953-54, URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/royal-visit-of-1953-54, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 6-Jan-2016

Programme for Today, Press, Volume CII, Issue 30052, 9 February 1963, Page 12. URL: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19630209.2.103 (Papers Past)

Early Crowd at Wharf, Press, Volume CII, Issue 30053, 11 February 1963, Page 12. URL: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19630211.2.97