From Tauranga City Library’s archives
A monthly blog about interesting items in our collection
A delightful addition to the digitised Tauranga Archive collections is the Mae (Mary Edith) Graham photographs and papers.
Born in 1909, Mae attended Ōtumoetai School and lived with her family on five acres of land at Brookfield. Her father worked as a blacksmith in Willow Street, Tauranga, then at Ōropi Mill. She later married Joseph Minns Parker, and they share a plaque at the Rose Garden, Pyes Pa Cemetery.
The 1930 booklet for the Coronation Ceremony, lists VIPs, lyrics for ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, Queen of the Carnival (Country Candidate), Miss Marion Wood, and the Citizen’s Candidate ‘Miss May Graham’ - over which someone with a blue pen has corrected ‘May’ to ‘Mae’.
The somewhat sombre participants photographed for the Order of Grand Procession include Maids of Honour, Page and Flower Girls, Mistress of the Robes, bearing Crown, and Peers and Peeresses alternately bearing the Orb, the Sceptre of the Cross and the Sceptre of the Doves – can you spot Mae in the group?
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| Tauranga Queen Carnival group portrait. Tauranga City Libraries Ams 382/1/1 |
Also included in the collection is a photochrom card of the Tauranga Post Office, pre-dating the 1916 extension. The patches of aging look like clouds in the sky, and a bicycle leans against the white picket fencing.
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| Post Office, Tauranga card. Tauranga City Libraries Ams 382/2/1 |
Three photograph postcards depict the Strand c.1920s. The third one in in the sequence is taken from the Wharf building, capturing from Wharf to Hamilton Streets, including the Tauranga Hotel and Aards Services.
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| The Strand, Tauranga, c. 1920s. Tauranga City Libraries Ams 382/2/4 |
The view from Mauao of Pilot Bay looks a little different in the black and white photograph postcard taken 1939/1940 – no tall Norfolk pines, nor high rise buildings.
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| Pilot Bay, c. 1939. Tauranga City Libraries Ams 382/2/5 |
Among the military portraits is a sepia postcard of soldiers relaxing on the grass in front of a tent. Titled "Te Aroha Camp 1917" with the reference number bottom right corner "Marsh (Photo)". Handwritten on the back "First left George Baikie in camp in front of tent opening".
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| Te Aroha Camp 1917, Marsh postcard. Tauranga City Libraries Ams 382/3/3 |
Mr Thomas M. Lockhead’s head superimposed on a cartoon waiter’s body is one of two ‘Tauranga notables’ in Mae Graham’s collection.
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| Mr Lockhead cartoon photo. Tauranga City Libraries Ams 382/3/5 |
Amongst the miscellaneous booklets and newspaper clippings is a colour photograph of Mae Parker and her brother Harry Graham at the Tauranga District High School reunion in the 1960s. Standing with others who attended between 1900 and 1920.
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| Tauranga District High School Reunion. Tauranga City Libraries Ams 382/4/3 |
Visit Pae Korokī to see more digitised images, including photographs of “one of the first planes to land on the Mount beach”. And do get in touch with the Heritage and Research team at Tauranga Libraries if you recognise the names handwritten on the back of the ‘teatime’ photograph - we think it might have been taken around 1917.
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| Teatime postcard. Tauranga City Libraries Ams 382/3/6 |
These archival items have been digitised and added to Pae Korokī. For more information about other items in our collection, visit Pae Korokī or email the Heritage and Research Team: research@tauranga.govt.nz
Written by Kate Charteris, Heritage Specialist at Tauranga City Library.
