Beach Culture and Bathing Costumes

Swimming in Tauranga harbour, circa 1910s: From left to right, Rennie Daines, Connie Humphreys, Mamey Hesket, Rennie Hesket. Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Photo 04-041

While it may be the dead of winter, the importance of beach culture to our city’s identity has been on my mind. Happily, the TaurangaHeritage Collection has a fantastic array of artifacts connected to long hot summer days spent at the beach, from parasols and skurfing boards to picnic baskets and Q-tol.

Indeed, our collection of eighty-three bathing costumes, spanning more than 100 years, highlights innovation in materials and design as well as changing attitudes around what we are willing to expose to the sun, and each other. While Victorian morals had swimmers completely covered, and often in tents or bathing machines, by the 1910s Edwardians were seeking more practical costumes which would allow for movement, and fun, in the water. The push for more freedom was championed by celebrities such as Annette Kellermann, a professional Australian swimmer and diver credited with being the first woman to wear a one-piece suit.

Left: A ‘Petone’ Canadian style swimsuit made in New Zealand. Tauranga Heritage Collection 0044/12. Right: Postcard of "Miss Annette Kellermann, Champion Lady Swimmer and Diver of the World." Tauranga Heritage Collection, 0095/23

Known in this part of the world as a ‘Canadian’ swimsuit, presumably after its country of origin, the costume seen above was made by the Wellington Woollen Manufacturing Company and sold under the brand ‘Petone’. This style was worn by men, women and children and simplified earlier bathing costumes. Often made from machine-knitted cotton, this suit is woollen and has two buttons along the shoulder line to make it possible to get into (the shorts are attached to the top), and a small label declares that it is ‘OS’ or one size.

Left: ‘Pacific’ swimsuit. Tauranga Heritage Collection, 0385/87. Right: Kitty Hardy (centre) with two companions at the main Mount beach circa 1920s. Borrell Collection, Tauranga Heritage Collection

Other New Zealand textile manufacturers also entered the swimwear market in the 1910s. Lane, Walker Rudkin Ltd, who up until the early 2000s was one of New Zealand’s most successful clothing companies, is well represented in our collection. Initially known for its ‘Pacific’ brand, the company went on to make swimsuits under their ‘Canterbury’ label and were also licenced to make ‘Speedo’ and ‘Catalina’. In the 1930s they pioneered the use of elasticised woollen fabrics and were quick to capitalise on the trend of men baring their torsos.

Left: Speedo bathing trunks. Tauranga Heritage Collection, 0015/00. Right: Standing in shallow water at Mount main beach from left, Ira Taylor (wearing Speedo), Yvonne Tootell, Alectina Gunn, Barry Tootell and Monty Tootell circa 1940-41. Arabin Collection, Tauranga Heritage Collection

In the 1930s and 40s new fabrics were introduced, sleeves disappeared, and the two-piece reappeared having first been worn in ancient Rome. Swimsuits in vibrant colours were produced and sold with matching rubber caps. The American label ‘Jantzen’, licenced to New Zealand company A. J. Coleman Ltd, transported Hollywood trends to our beaches with stars Ginger Rogers and Loretta Young featured in their 1930s advertisements.

Left: A green Jantzen suit made of tufted cotton, also known as chenille, featuring adjustable straps. Middle: This suit has “Shouldaire” technology which allowed the wearer to drop their shoulder straps for ‘strap-free tanning’ - it was controversial when launched by Jantzen in 1931. Right: A bright red woollen Roslyn suit. Tauranga Heritage Collection, 0071/18, 0268/11, 0060/93

Post WW2, achieving the right look was often more important than a swimsuit’s practicality or even durability. Boning, firm bra cups, and rubber lining were deployed to give the wearer an hourglass shape. The Princess Bathing Suit, which generally had a sweetheart neckline and a tight skirt covering the front, and sometimes the back, epitomised the glamourous style of the 1950s.

Left: This striped suit was designed to highlight the wearers femininity and features ruching, a synched waist, and removable straps for sunbathing. Tauranga Heritage Collection, 0021/08. Right: ‘Bathing beauties on the beach’ Matakana Island, circa 1950s. Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Photo 01-334

Bikini clad sun-bathers on the main Mount beach. Neal Collection, Tauranga Heritage Collection

The 1960s saw the explosion of youth and surf culture which pushed for change. The bikini began to outsell the two-piece, with ‘Bond-girl’ Ursula Andress and magazines such as Sports Illustrated playing their part in its popularity. Men’s swimwear also shrank with ‘briefs’ making an appearance at the 1972 Olympic games. During the 1970s swimwear designers finally let go any inhibitions and embraced the benefits of Lycra - a relatively new fabric that allowed everything to stay in place. String bikinis, thongs, shear fabric and cut-outs were increasingly popular as ‘sexy’ became fashionable. 

Left: Expozay bikini. Tauranga Heritage Collection, 0014/00. Right: Emroce 'G's up She's in it' bikini. Tauranga Heritage Collection, 0164/23/1-2

In 1976, locals Judy and Tony Alvos were inspired to start their own swimwear company, Expozay, which embodied this spirit. By 1982 their designs were being exported around the world and the company employed 120 people, making over 1000 swimsuits a day – right here in Tauranga. Today the local swimwear industry continues with businesses such as Papamoa based Emroce garnering international attention with its focus on eco-conscious design and fabrics, as well as inclusivity. In 2023 we were delighted to add several of Emroce’s swimsuits to our collection.

Changing Tauranga CBD – Part 3

I find it hard to believe that it’s been a year since I wrote on the disappearance of older Tauranga city centre buildings. During my break from the subject several more have gone the way of the bulldozer’s bucket. The demise of the Tauranga Electric Power Board building, with its association to a very important aspect of the city’s history, the generation and sale of electrical power, makes it worthy of its own post.

Tauranga Electric Power Board building, 21 December 1961. Image courtesy of the Gale Collection 0005/20/680, Tauranga Heritage Collection

Designed by architect Norman Jenkins, it has been described as an early example of modernist architecture in Tauranga.[1] In the 1950s Jenkins was also responsible for the Tauranga Fire Station on Cameron Road (1957) and the Tauranga Co-op Dairy Association milk powder factory on the corner of 11th Avenue and Devonport Road (1958), which was until recently the headquarters of the Hauraki Regiment. Built in 1958 and located at 69 Spring Street the new building was a few doors up from the Power Board’s old premises that had been in use since 1925.[2]

Spring Street late 1958, showing the new Tauranga Electric Power Board building, New Zealand Insurance Company Limited, and the old Power Board building housing Federated Farmers. Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries Image 99-369

A few years later the building was extended as this photograph, taken in 1961, shows. Writing on the back of the image reads "Power Board building cnr. Spring and Durham. Tom Humphries, Jim Simpson with boss Warren Trotman."

Image courtesy of Trish Simpson, Tauranga Heritage Collection

A 2008 Tauranga CBD Heritage Study completed by heritage architects Matthews and Matthews  stated that "the former Electric Power Board building was an important public building in Tauranga and contributes to the diversity of the built environment in the CBD … the building forms part of a group of reasonably substantial commercial and public buildings, which have been an enduring part of the streetscape in central Tauranga."

In 2010 the City Council Hearings panel removed the building from the Council’s heritage list allowing the owners to demolish.[3] Heritage New Zealand appealed the decision and recommended the building be given a "C" heritage listing. While this appeal was unsuccessful it has taken a further 10 years and a change of ownership to see the building finally demolished. However, one element of the building has been saved, the clock, but more on that in another post.

69 Spring Street, Tauranga, 22 July 2020. Image courtesy of Fiona Kean, Private Collection

Demolition underway, 14 September 2020. 69 Spring Street, Tauranga, 22 July 2020. Image courtesy of Fiona Kean, Private Collection

References

[1] Tauranga CBD Heritage Study, Matthews & Matthews Architects Ltd.
[2] 3 March 1925, Bay of Plenty Times. According to the paper the Board paid 2,250 pounds and had 100 employees.
[3] 1 July 2012, Sunlive

Placement and Replacement - The Te Puna Memorial Hall

Until the deadline for this blog, the end of the week in which the new Te Puna Memorial Hall was opened, it had never occurred to me that I would follow in the footsteps of Mrs N. Heard (née Lochhead). At a 1948 meeting of the Te Puna branch of the Women’s Division of Federated Farmers (now known as Rural Women) she “spoke of ... the planning, building and final opening and dedicating of the district’s Hall as a memorial to those who fell in the first world war.” [1]  At the time of her address, the Hall had been in place for 26 years. And a poignant set of new memorials was required.  The granite tablet listing the names of those who fell in WWII was put alongside the WWI memorial in 1947. As she spoke, money was being collected for another, to commemorate those who served [2].

 

The original Hall was a prodigious undertaking for a district that had been in existence for just over four decades [3]. Planning for it began in 1920, and many a fundraising idea was entertained after the Armstrongs donated a corner of their land [4], the site of the Hall for the next 94 years. “Entertained” was the operative word. People were asked to dance and to sing [5] at many socials, held in the Te Puna Schoolroom; to subscribe [6]; and to purchase posts made from gum trees felled on the site [7]. By July 1922 the floor space of the Hall – 48 feet by 28 feet – had been decided and the timber had started to arrive.

Timber stacked in the course of dismantling the original Hall, September 2016

The cost of the original Hall was estimated to be about £250, most of which was materials: the labour was provided by volunteers [8]. Much reliance was placed on the expertise of master builder David Borell, but he found he had to divide his attention between overseeing the Hall building and his rugby-playing commitments [9]. It is no wonder that a number of locals feel that an ancestor of theirs can claim to be “builder” of the Hall [10].

Memorial halls are part of a beloved tradition in New Zealand, most aptly illustrated in Fiona Jack’s beautiful website that shows 65 variations on the theme [11]. The original Te Puna Memorial Hall was one of our earliest examples. Its vernacular design and the level of community contribution involved in its creation were very different from the effort required for the replacement Hall. 

Both the original Hall and the new one, however, were created from one compelling need: the “close settlement” of Te Puna as a part of “Tauranga County” (in the words of the BP Times editor on 31 July 1922 [12]). By 2016 the pressures on State Highway 2 had made the intersection, close to the old Hall, so dangerous as to require the construction of a large roundabout to manage the traffic volumes from Minden and Te Puna Roads on to the main highway.

None of what followed that decision was easy for the twenty-first century Hall Committee. And the history of the past four years is a subject for a later historian. Nevertheless, the ultimate strength of the creation of an important, and continuing, community amenity is to some extent told by the images of the original being dismantled, and the new one created. Taking the Hall down proved the quality of its workmanship and its materials. It could have stood for another century.

The last gable standing

Care was taken to preserve the clean lines and angles of the original building ...

The new Hall takes shape

... and the community base that it sprang from.

Inscription in the Hall floor, October 2019

There are some satisfactions that the first Hall users might like. Some of the timber used in the construction of the old Hall has been used to create a lectern for the stage and two finely-made tables for the meeting rooms. The old Hall had a stage, but no lectern; and it had no meeting rooms at all. The new Hall occupies a site that could not be closer to that of the original, and it has been built on what was formerly Armstrong land [13].

The new Hall, August 2020

 References

[1] https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19480914.2.60.5 . Unfortunately Mrs Heard’s actual address was not reported. 
[2] This went up in 1950. Several names were added subsequently, as can be seen by the different colour of the gilded lettering.
[3] I am counting from the first meeting of the Te Puna Highway District, 18 Dec 1875, held at W G Armstrong’s house: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT18751218.2.3.3
[4] https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19200601.2.17
[5] ibid
[6] https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19200610.2.4
[7] Anecdote from Fred Milligan, Chairman of the Tauranga RSA, who spoke at the opening of the new Hall, 16 August 2020.
[8] https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19221127.2.10
[9] https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19220629.2.3
[10] Comments passed to the writer at the time of the Hall’s demolition, September/October 2016
[11] https://fionajack.net/living-halls-photos-fiona-jack/
[12] https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19220731.2.5?
[13] This appellation of course ignores the fact that the whenua was, until raupatu, part of the Pirirakau rohe. We are indebted to the hapū for its generosity in supporting the creation and maintenance of this local memorial to the all the whānau of the district.