Enemy at the Gates 1820, 1828

The Intertribal Musket War’s Impact on Tauranga

A Ngāpuhi musket haka or haka peruperu

During the 1820s and 1830s, the Matua-Otūmoetai foreshore boomed and echoed ominously to the roar of haka, as besieging enemy tribesmen from several iwi leapt and stamped in frustrated fury below Otūmoetai, a previously unconquerable pā tūwatawata (palisaded fortress). During the summer months of 1820, the foreshore became the scene of one of the most famous peace-making incidents of the intertribal Musket Wars.

In that year, Tauranga was invaded by a Ngāpuhi musket taua of 600-700 warriors aboard 50 waka taua.¹ The expedition was initiated by the rangatira Te Morenga, who was seeking further utu for the killing, cooking and devouring of his niece Tawaputa at Tauranga in 1806. Deploying his contingent of shock troops ahead of his force (35 toa armed with the only flintlock muskets in their possession), Te Morenga oversaw the destruction by gunfire of the Ngāi Te Rangi defenders of [Mount] Maunganui Pā, who twice charged their ranks with traditional short and long weapons of stone, bone and wood. ‘For three days the grisly aftermath of the battle [fought at Waikorire-Pilot Bay] continued as the bodies of those slain were committed to the hāngī and eaten’.²

Te Morenga and his triumphant taua next turned their attention to Otūmoetai Pā. Initially bypassing the fortress, the Ngāpuhi fleet encamped on Matakana Island for several days, before sweeping en masse one morning into the Matua inlet near the Wairoa River outlet. The toa disembarked and camped on the long-abandoned pā site of Matuaiwi, a knoll overhanging the Wairoa River, about a mile and a half from the great Otūmoetai pā. Like successive enemy taua before them, they too attempted to storm Ngāi Te Rangi’s central fortress without success.³

Te Morenga’s moko Mataora (face tattoo).
Eight years after the kidnapping of his niece and sister by convict pirates in 1806, Te Morenga sketched this image of his own moko Mataora for John Nicholas, who was friend and assistant to the leading missionary Samuel Marsden

Te Waru, Ngāi Te Rangi’s paramount chief, set out alone one day to reconnoitre the Ngāpuhi camp. Advancing carefully through the ngaio trees along the foreshore, he saw Te Morenga, who was resting in the shade, also alone and unguarded. Springing upon the Ngāpuhi, Te Waru disarmed him, bound his hands and drove his prisoner into Otūmoetai Pā. There he untied Te Morenga, restored his weapons and instructed him to treat him in the same manner. When Te Morenga drove the disarmed and bound Te Waru into the Matuaiwi encampment, he, with some difficulty, persuaded his warriors not to kill his prisoner. Invited to make peace with Ngāpuhi, an extended kōrero ensued during which Te Waru accepted the offer. Soon after, Te Morenga and Ngāpuhi fleet departed for the Bay of Islands. The peace was to last until 1831, when the tohunga Te Haramiti’s Ngāti Kuri and Ngāpuhi predatory raiders were defeated by Ngāi Te Rangi and allied iwi on Motiti Island.⁴

In 1828, Otamataha Pā on the Te Papa Peninsula was stormed in a night attack by a Ngāti Maru musket taua under the rangatira Te Rohu, during which most of the Ngāti Tapu inhabitants were slaughtered. Te Rohu’s waka fleet then crossed to the Otūmoetai foreshore and pā, where they met with counterfire from the now musket armed defenders. The besiegers withdrew when one of Te Rohu’s wives persuaded him that the utu he had attained from Ngāi Te Rangi during the storming of Otamataha Pā was sufficient.⁵

A pōwhiri or welcoming ceremony on the harbourside bench beyond the palisades of Otūmoetai Pā. The palisades proved impervious to musket and cannon fire when Tītore Tākiri of Ngāpuhi launched an amphibious artillery campaign against the Tauranga people in 1832

On 17 July 1842, Ensign Abel Best visited Otūmoetai Pa at a time when it was still subject to attacks by Te Arawa contingents from Rotorua. Impressed by its defences, he recorded:

Part of the Pa is on the sea beach and part on the top of a cliff or steep bank 40 feet high. By its position naturally strong it is rendered more secure by a strong palisade and on the land side & flanks it is further protected by a deep and wide Ditch having a Stockade on its exterior side. Moreover, the level of the exterior plain is somewhat lower than that of the Pa. Were it well defended its intricacy alone would render it formidable but at present there are not men in it to defend one fifth of its great extent. Nowhere have I seen so great a number of fine Canoes the care with which they preserve their fishing nets was also worthy of remark every net being placed on a little elevated platform and then securely thatched over.⁶

During the Musket Wars, the Ngāi Te Rangi hapu occupying the Otūmoetai Pā site were able to defend their fortress and drive off besieging Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Maru and Te Arawa  taua. The wars set in motion more than 40 heke or tribal migrations, but Ngāi Te Rangi were never driven from their lands. Otūmoetai Pā’s steep escarpments, defensive ditches and palisades were unassailable, the defenders too well led, provisioned and resolute.

Endnotes

¹ Crosby, Ron, The Musket Wars: A History of Inter-Iwi Conflict, Reed, Auckland, 1999: 71-72.

² Ibid: 72

³ Gifford, W.H. and H, Bradley Williams, A Centennial History of Tauranga, Capper Press Christchurch, 1976: 18.

⁴ Ibid: 18-19.

⁵ Wilson, J.A. The Story of Te Waharoa, Whitcombe and Tombs, Wellington, 1907: 17.

⁶ Best Able, The Journal of Ensign Best, 1837-1843, Nancy M. Taylor (ed.), R.E. Owen, Wellington, 1966: 371-372.

Illustrations

Artist unknown, ‘New Zealand war-dance’, in Grant, James, British Battles on Land and Sea, Vol. III, Casell, Petter and Gilpin, London, Paris and New York, 1880: 259.

Te Morenga, self portrait in Nicholas, John, Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand, Performed in the Years 1814 and 1815, James Black, London, 1817: 216. Alexander Turnbull Library Ref. A-080-061

Joseph Merrett, A meeting of visitors Mounganui. Tauraga in the distance. [1843?], E-216-f-119, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington

Seaward’s Hand-coloured Postcards of Mt Maunganui

Coastal Scene, Mount Maunganui, N.Z., c. 1950s-early 1960s
Hand-coloured postcard published by N.S. Seaward, Broad Bay, Dunedin
Image courtesy of Fiona Kean, private collection

Hand-coloured postcards of New Zealand scenic views had been around since the early 1900s, but were overwhelmed by inexpensive collotype-printed cards imported from Bavaria and Saxony. When the supply from Germany dried up on the outbreak of the Great War, hand-coloured real photo postcards were produced in numbers once more, and remained popular for some years after the war had ended.

Ocean Beach, Mount Maunganui, N.Z., c. 1950s-early 1960s
Hand-coloured postcard published by N.S. Seaward, Broad Bay, Dunedin
Image courtesy of Fiona Kean, private collection

After the Second World War, during which there had been a dearth of postcards available for purchase, the National Publicity Studios became the most significant contributor to the market. Along with the increased demand for postcards, there was a resurgence in the popularity of hand-coloured images. It did not take long for other photographers and publishers to join the fray.

Mount Maunganui, N.Z., c. 1950s-early 1960s
Hand-coloured postcard published by N.S. Seaward, Broad Bay, Dunedin
Image courtesy of Fiona Kean, private collection

One of these was Neville Stephen Seaward, whose postcards published from his home base in Broad Bay, Dunedin feature widely in institutional and private collections around the country, and presumably overseas. Seaward was born in Christchurch in 1913, and started photographing scenery with his first camera aged seventeen.

Coastal Scene, Mount Maunganui, N.Z., c. 1950s-early 1960s
Hand-coloured postcard published by N.S. Seaward, Broad Bay, Dunedin
Image courtesy of Fiona Kean, private collection

He married in 1948, moved to Dunedin with his wife Gwen, and three years later they started up a business from their home, printing, publishing and selling postcards of photographic views that he had accumulated.

Coastal Scene, Mount Maunganui, N.Z., c. 1950s-early 1960s
Hand-coloured postcard published by N.S. Seaward, Broad Bay, Dunedin
Image courtesy of Fiona Kean, private collection

At an early stage Neville started making annual trips to Rotorua and elsewhere on the North Island to increase the portfolio of views which were soon in great demand. All of the postcards were printed in black-and-white from their home, and a proportion were hand-coloured with simple watercolour washes. Unfortunately serial numbers were not printed on any of the cards, so there is currently no assessment of the numbers of individual views produced country-wide. 

Mount Maunganui, N.Z., c. 1950s-early 1960s
Hand-coloured postcard published by N.S. Seaward, Broad Bay, Dunedin
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Library’s Pae Korokī, Ref. 99-027

From 1951 onwards he also published several guide books of tourist destinations, illustrated with his own photographs. Colour slide views (probably Kodachrome) were added to the repertoire in 1954, sold loose in the same manner as the postcards, and the business continued to thrive into the 1960s. By the end of that decade, though, production appears to have ceased, probably as a result of increased competition from full colour postcards printed in South-east Asia. After he ceased photography, all of Seaward’s photographic negatives were destroyed.

References

Skinner, Damian (2001) Unpublished notes from interview with Neville Seaward, Modernism Oral History Project, [relates to 3 tapes of oral history interviews at Te Papa Tongarewa, Refs, CA000633/001/0020, 0021, 0022)

Main, William & Jackson, Alan (2005) Wish You Were Here: The Story of New Zealand Postcards, New Zealand Postcard Society Inc., Nelson

Main, William (2007) Send Me a Postcard: New Zealand Postcards and the Stories They Tell, Craig Potton Publishing, Nelson

Waikorire (Pilot Bay)

Waikorire - Pilot Bay, Mount Maunganui. Mirrielees Series 45. Undated
Photograph by A.J. Mirrielees. Photograph published by Frank Duncan & Co., Auckland
Collection of Justine Neal

Waikorire means warm water and is the original name for the area which extends along Pilot Bay at the base of Mauao, where the present camping ground and hot pools are situated.

The history of this area goes back a long way. In 2012 archaeologists from Heritage New Zealand found that when the earliest Polynesian settlers first arrived around 1200-1300 they established a village that stretched along the bay frontage and as far back as what is now Victoria Avenue. Many of the artefacts found related to activities like fishing and canoe construction, such as adzes and fish hooks. Shell middens showed the villagers were mainly eating seafood.

Waikorire - Pilot Bay, Mt Maunganui. Mirrielees Series 40. c1910s-1920s
Postcard published by A.J. Mirrielees, Tauranga
Courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. 0352-10

Fast forward to 1820 and Ngaiterangi  were living on the northern slopes of Mauao, having forced Ngati Ranginui off Mauao during the battle of Kokowai in the 1700s, were attacked by Ngapuhi. They were led by Te Morenga, who was seeking utu from Te Waru of Ngaiterangi for the killing of his niece Tawaputa in 1806. In 1806 the ship Venus was seized by convicts while in Port Dalrymple, Tasmania and sailed to the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. At Bream Head in Northland the convicts captured, amongst other women, Tawaputa, Te Morenga’s niece. After sailing further down the coast to the Bay of Plenty, the convicts sold Tawaputa to Hukere of Motiti Island. Eventually she was taken to Tauranga by Te Waru where she was killed and eaten.

The taua had landed first on Matakana Island, where they were met by Te Waru who enquired what was  their purpose for being there. Te Morenga explained that they were there to seek utu for the death of Tawaputa. The two chiefs agreed to fight the next day and a battle site was named (notes compiled by Gilbert Mair name the site as Waikorire (Pilot Bay). The next day the two opposing forces met. Te Waru led the initial charge with rakau Maori (traditional weapons), wounding some Ngapuhi, including one chief. Unfortunately his weapons were no match for muskets, and the sight of at least twenty of his men falling instantaneously brought the charge to a stunned halt. The men of Te Waru  fled but Te Morenga held back from the usual furious pursuit; because a Ngapuhi chief had been killed he was satisfied with utu having been taken. Te Morenga tried to contact Te Waru so peace could be made but Te Waru would not surrender.

Waikorire - Tauranga, From Mt Maunganui. Tourist Series 249.
Postcard published by Frank Duncan & Co., Auckland
Collection of Justine Neal

The next day Te Waru and his men left their pa on Mauao and once again advanced towards the Ngapuhi taua. Once again the muskets took a terrible toll on Te Waru and his men, with  over four hundred killed in the ensuing battle and a further two hundred and sixty were taken north as prisoners , Te Waru was one of the few survivors. After his defeat Te Waru  fled into the bush surrounding Tauranga. Ngapuhi were camped at a knoll called Matua-a-Iwi on the Wairoa River which flows into the Tauranga Harbour as three days of victorious feasting took place. Before Te Morenga and his taua left for their journey home a courageous act by Te Waru brought about peace between the two tribes for the following ten years.

In the days after the battle Te Waru had been out scouting towards the Ngaphui camp and had hidden himself in a ngaio tree. A Ngapuhi chief, Te Whareumu happened to wander along the beach and sat himself under the very same tree. Te Waru hurled himself out of the tree, capturing and disarming Te Whareumu. No doubt expecting to be killed Te Whareumu was most surprised when they turned and headed for the Ngapuhi camp. When they neared the camp, in an extreme act of bravery, Te Waru untied Te Whareumu, retuned his weapons and handed over his own.  He then told Te Whareumu  to bind his arms and to take him as a prisoner into the Ngapuhi camp. The young toa in the Ngapuhi camp were keen to inflict the fatal blow that would kill the Ngaiterangi rangatira, but Te Whareumu managed to protect him and call for quiet. When he explained what Te Waru had done the hostility of the Ngapuhi immediately turned to respect. His arms were unbound, he was given back his weapons and reunited with his wife and those of his relatives who had survived. To make up for the loss of other family members Te Morenga presented him with a musket!

Waikorire (Pilot Bay) from the slopes of Mauao, Mount Maunganui. Undated
Postcard. Photographer and Publisher unidentified
Collection of Justine Neal

By the 1850s Waikorire (Pilot Bay) had been abandoned by Maori. From the 1880s it became a popular destination for Tauranga residents, taking steamboat excursions across the harbour and disembarking at the stone wharf at the northern end of the bay.

By the 1930s houses were beginning to multiply and the scrub and sand was turning into neatly ordered sections.

When the wind blows and the sand whispers along Waikorire, I wonder what secrets are being told.

References

The Musket Wars,  by Ron Crosby

An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand

Native Tribes of Tauranga, complied by Captain Gilbert Mair

SunLive, 17 Oct 2013

HMS Challenger and Governor Sir George Grey, 1866

Early Sailing Vessels and Visitors to Tauranga, Part XXI

Launched on the Thames from London’s Woolwich Dockyard in February 1858, HMS Challenger was a full-rigged, steam-assisted, Pearl-class corvette with a speed of 10.7 knots or 19.8 km/h under steam. Of 1,465 tons burthen and with a length of 225 feet (68.66 m) it carried 18 guns, and in 1862 took part in operations against Mexico. The flagship of the Australian station between 1866 and 1870, it took part in punitive operations against Fijians on the Rewa River to avenge the murder of a missionary. As the Anglo-Maori Wars (1860-1872) continued, HMS Challenger made regular visits to show the flag at ports throughout New Zealand. When not on duty in Australian and Pacific waters the Challenger, (Commanders M’Guire, [Maguire or McGuire] and Rowley) was temporarily based in Auckland from where it patrolled the Bay of Plenty and East Coast during the anti-Hauhau campaigns.

HMS Challenger (1858-1878)
Campbell, Lord George, Log – Letters From “The Challenger”, McMillan, London, 1881: 6

HMS Challenger made several visits to Tauranga and, while brief, they were interesting nevertheless. The Evening Post of 17 December 1866, provided the following account of Governor George Grey’s visit to Tauranga on the Challenger, initially, to meet with Colonel Hamilton of the British 12^th (East Suffolk) Regiment, which then had some 800 soldiers stationed in the district.

H.M.S. corvette Challenger, 18 guns, Commodore M'Guire, steamed into this port at an early hour on Monday, the 3rd instant, en route from Wellington to Kawau, with his Excellency the Governor on board. His Excellency, accompanied by Mr. Thatcher his private secretary, the Commodore, and two or three other gentlemen, came on shore about eleven a.m., and proceeded to Colonel Hamilton's residence. We understand that this visit had no absolute political significance, it being only of courtesy. However, the cognisant seem to be of opinion that from the lengthened korero of the leading [Maori] powers in the afternoon, something of importance was on the tapis [tapestry].

In the aftermath of the bloody Anglo-Maori clashes at Gate Pa and Te Ranga, and with some disaffected Tauranga Maori, joining the Hauhau in the Kaimai Ranges, for what was to become the 1867 Tauranga Bush Campaign, Grey was in no mood for niceties. The Evening Post added:

A somewhat amusing incident occurred as Sir George came on shore. A number of Maoris, evidently reckless as to results with regard to attire, and resplendent with gold chains, seals, opera glasses, &c. had congregated near our office to welcome, we suppose, Ta Kawana [The Governor], but on his proceeding straight on his line of march, they hailed him in a very undignified manner, calling loudly "haremai, haremai." To their utter discomforture, however, the illustrious stranger passed on, leaving the faithful Maori utterly crest fallen.

There is a moral to be pointed out by this apparent coldness. Did a long career of ingratitude and restless dissatisfaction amongst some of the natives even near here prompt such a recognition of his reception by them? Very possibly, we think.

The reaction of Tauranga Maori to this major breach of protocol by ‘Ta Kawana’ was not recorded, but the slight will have hardly endeared him to either loyalist or ‘rebel’ Maori in the region.

Governor Sir George Grey (1812-1898)
Detail of hand-coloured photographic portrait

Daniel Mundy, ‘George Grey’, C. 1860, G-625, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington.

Grey again visited Tauranga on the Challenger in January 1867, as the departure point for an arduous overland journey to Whanganui and by steamer to Wellington. Not without personal risk, given the number of Hauhau militant bands then active on the East Coast and in the Central North Island, the purpose of the undertaking was to obtain reassurances of loyalty from iwi at Rotorua, Taupo and Whanganui. The Press, 12 January 1867: 3, reported:

On Wednesday, the 19th, his Excellency left Tauranga accompanied by Commodore Maguire, Mr Thatcher, (Private Secretary), Mr Commissioner Clarke, Mr Mair, Mr Williams, of the Challenger, and Mr Monro, son of Sir David Monro, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Horses were provided for the party by the Natives at the pa opposite Te Papa [Otumoetai], and all started about the middle of the day for Maketu, where they arrived the same afternoon, and rested that night.

Tauranga township about 1864
Unidentified Photographer, ca. 1864, ½-022640, National Library of New Zealand, Wellington

HMS Challenger was last at anchor in Pilot Bay between late January to February 1870.  When Te Kooti’s Ringatu ‘rebels’ were reported to be within 10 miles of Tauranga, the outlying settlers crowded into the town which was ‘in a state of utmost confusion, settlers arming constantly and helpless women and children wanting shelter.’ From Wellington, the Challenger immediately started for Tauranga to join HMS Rosario and Blanche already present in the harbour. Te Kooti’s much anticipated raid, however, never eventuated. On the 28^th February 1870 a Tauranga correspondent wrote to the New Zealand Herald describing how the Challenger and her crew had departed with some style, with local Maori protocol again disregarded.

        On Monday evening a dinner was given on board H.M.S. Rosario in honor of Commodore Lambert and the officers of the flagship, H.M.S. Challenger, the splendid band of the latter performing the whole evening, a treat to our little township we don't often enjoy. Yesterday, a 40-poundcr Armstrong gun was landed from the Challenger, and one of less calibre from the Rosario, with about 150 bluejackets, 60 marines, and 30 officers, the whole marching out on the Cameron-road, for the purpose of having a field day at the Gate Pah.

        On reaching the Gate, a change in the programme took place, and the men returned, after having enjoyed their dinner on the grass. The alacrity of the crews of these two vessels in landing their guns, re-shipping them, the orderly manner in which it was done, and the brief period it occupied, was truly astonishing, showing, as it does, the wonderful pitch of discipline and efficiency to which the British Navy has arrived. Your correspondent has been called upon by some chiefs since yesterday, who arc desirous of making some demonstration of welcome to the Komororore (Commodore), the highest officer of her Majesty's navy who has visited the harbour. Of course, they were referred elsewhere.

As Maori guerilla warfare escalated in the central North Island and Taranaki Governor Grey, with the support of his ministers, constantly avoided his instructions to finalise the withdrawal of Britain’s imperial regiments which had commenced in 1865. Unable to control so difficult a governor, the British government had little alternative but to terminate his appointment.in 1868.

In 1873, HMS Challenger was selected to undertake the first global marine research expedition. Embarking from Portsmouth on 21 December 1872, the vessel travelled 68,890 nautical miles or 125,936 km. Organized by the Royal Society in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, the vessel carried 181 miles of hemp rope for sounding, trawling and dredging the ocean’s depths. While HMS Challenger was decommissioned in 1878 and sold for scrap in 1921, the Challenger Deep and the US space shuttle Challenger were later named after her.

Sources:

Belich, James, The New Zealand Wars and the Victorian Interpretation of Racial Conflict, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 1986.

Campbell, Lord George, Log – Letters From “The Challenger”, McMillan, London, 1881.

Evening Post, 17 December 1866: 2.

McGibbon, Ian, ed. The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History, Oxford University Press, Auckland, 2000.

New Zealand Herald, 28 February, 1870: 4.

Pearl-class corvette – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Pearl-class corvette

Press, 12 January 1867: 3.

Sinclair, Keith, George Grey, 1812-1898, ‘Soldier, explorer, colonial governor, premier, scholar’, in The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Volume One 1769-1869, Bridgit Williams Books and Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington, 1990: 163.

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