Post researched and written by David Murray, Archivist
Cookie Bear with children on train float at the Oval, Dunedin. MS-5414/003/001. CC-BY-NC.
Cookie Bear is back! Many were disappointed when, in April last year, Griffin’s announced he would no longer feature on Chockie Chippie and Hundreds & Thousands biscuit wrappers. Last week the company posted on social media: ‘We heard you, New Zealand. Thank you for sharing your stories, memories and love for Cookie Bear – it’s clear he’s been missed.’ In coming weeks he will once again be seen on full-size biscuit packets.
Cookie Bear started out with the Hudsons brand, owned by Cadbury Fry Hudson Ltd. At Hocken, we recently catalogued papers from the Dunedin Cadbury factory, so we thought we would share some of what we have learned about Cookie Bear’s story.
In the 1970s, Hudsons and Griffin’s were the biggest players in the New Zealand biscuit industry. Griffin’s (then owned by Nabisco) had the largest share of the overall biscuit market, but Hudsons had the biggest share for chocolate biscuits. Hudsons made more than 50 different biscuit varieties, with the most popular including Chocolate Chippies (introduced in 1955), and the jam-filled Shrewsbury (introduced in 1959). The company was always looking to improve its advertising campaigns in a highly competitive market.
Some recent media reports have dated the origin of Cookie Bear 1968, but he in fact made his first appearance in 1971. He was included in television advertisements recorded late that year and broadcast on television by January 1972. Early commercials included the catchphrase ‘Dum de do’, which at first was also followed by ‘dum de day’.
The cover of the Chocolate Soldier, in-house magazine of Cadbury Fry Hudson, for November-December 1971. It shows Cookie Bear as he appeared in his first television commercials.
There is some disagreement about who came up with the idea. Ted Barringer, Cadbury Fry Hudson General Manager, later described Jim Hinkley (1943-2020) as having ‘fathered’ Cookie Bear. Hinkley joined the company’s display department in 1968. In the 1980s he wrote: ‘I built and created Cookie Bear (admittedly right after Andy Williams did) but I did give him some character of his own’.
Andy Williams was the star and host of the The Andy Williams Show, a US television variety show that ran from 1962 to 1971. The Cookie Bear character, played in full costume by Janos Prohaska, first appeared in 1969. The running gag was that he asked for Cookies but never got any.
The other person who claimed to have come up with Cookie Bear was Don Donovan (1933-2014). He was Deputy Managing Director of the ostentatiously named Carlton-Carruthers du Chateau advertising agency of Wellington, which was responsible for recording the commercials. Three years after the event, Donovan wrote that Cookie Bear was: ‘first used tactically as an appropriate vehicle to support a special “cookie drive” by Hudsons in 1971. He was derived shamelessly from Andy Williams’ bear.’ In 2002 Donovan wrote: ‘When my grandchildren ask me: “What did you do in the Great War of Life, Grand-dad?” I modestly claim to have invented Cookie Bear’.
It’s likely concept and design evolved somewhat separately, in which case Hinkley and Donovan can rightly share credit. When Donovan confirmed his copyright clearance in 1974, he noted: ‘copyright is normally held by the original artist. However, this symbol has been drawn by numerous people and we believe that in Law it probably would be regarded as the property of this Advertising Agency’.
The bear that appeared in the first television advertisements looked very much like the Andy Williams Show bear, right down to the long colourful tie he wore. He had a more naturalistic look than later versions. Some might say terrifying, especially in the black and white broadcasting of the day.
1974 was a big year for Cookie Bear. Cadbury Schweppes Hudson (as the company was renamed in 1973) decided to increase his profile and use him on a more permanent basis. He was given a major makeover. His snout became much shorter, his eyes became whiter, and he adopted what became his trademark red with white polka dot bow tie. He looked less realistic and more like a friendly children’s character. The change also lent him to a cartoon-style of drawing, ideal for print advertising. If Hinkley’s role is not entirely clear, designing the most iconic version of the bear is attributable to him. Donovan was still involved and wrote the description, ‘C.B. should be seen as a friendly, large, warm, cuddly personality’.
A Cookie Bear’s Club for children was established. From October 1974 it had a monthly page in the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly and by the end of November over 100,000 applications had been received. Most used the form from the magazine. By June 1976 there were over 150,000 members and membership appears to have peaked later that year at nearly 200,000, representing more than one fifth of all of the eligible children in the country. The club was staffed by a Mrs Watson, who at one point had four part-time assistants.
Hudson Cookie Bear’s Club membership form and sticker. Ref: Eph-0202-MD-A-01.Letter, 9 April 1975, from Cookie Bear to club member Katherine Roy (now a Hocken staff member!). Ref: Eph-0202-MD-A-01.
Members were sent cards on their birthdays. Merchandise included posters, stickers, games, and badges. A soft toy developed by the North Shore Toy Company and Bing Harris Sargood sold over 8,500 units. A hardcover book, The Adventures of Cookie Bear (1975), was written by John Berry and illustrated by Virginia Austin.
Cookie Bear did not appear on biscuit wrappers until January 1976, when a redesign saw him added across almost the entire range. On several he said ‘Dum de do!’, on Toffee Pops he picked flowers, on Coconut Ruffles he peered from behind palm leaves, on Chocolate Toppers he wore a top hat, and on Robbie Burns shortcake he played the bagpipes.
Ken Williams dressed as Cookie Bear and other characters for in-store promotions. In 1978 he said, ‘Cookie Bear seems to get the worst bashing … It’s not that they don’t like him: they usually just want to see how much padding he has got and the only way they can figure this out is to give him a good hard thump’.
In 1978, a young fan asked if he would visit Rarotonga, and he did. He met with an enthusiastic crowd.
The classic version of Cookie Bear in a studio photo shoot. Ref: MS-5414/003/001. CC-BY-NC.Cookie Bear at Rarotonga in 1978. Ref: MS-5414/235/001. CC-BY-NC.Wrapper for Robbie Burns shortcake biscuits. This design was introduced in 1976. Ref: MS-5400/825/002. CC-BY-NC.Cookie Bear and Cookie Monster ‘crack a cookie’ (!) behind the Regent Theatre, Dunedin, in 1982. Ref: Chocolate Soldier vol.22 no.7 (July/August 1982).
Television One wanted to use him in their comedy series Koro and Joe. In their proposal, the character Rangi gets a job walking around a supermarket dressed as Cookie Bear. He misbehaves in various ways, and finally clouds of smoke billow out from the head of the costume, after Rangi forgets to put out his cigarette. Cadbury Fry Hudson turned down the request. Although preliminary arrangements suggest he appeared on the Max Cryer Show.
One his career highlights might have been when he played tennis with Björn Borg and Chris Lewis, when they visited New Zealand.
Sales were good. In the early 1980s Cadbury Schweppes Hudson had more than 30% of the market share for cookies and approaching 50% of the market share for fully chocolate coated biscuits. Nevertheless, the company decided to pull back on its use of Cookie Bear. From 1982 he no longer featured on wrappers, and in 1983 Cookie Bear’s Club closed. Although the club was still popular a sharp increase in postal charges had made it significantly more expensive to run. Cookie Bear did not disappear though. He continued to used be for in-store displays, promotions, and television advertising.
At a desk in the Cadbury Schweppes Hudson offices, 1985. Those fingers! Ref: MS-5400/218/001. CC-NC-BY.Surf into Summer promotion, 1986. Ref: MS-5414/015/001. CC-BY-NC.A Chocolate Chippies wrapper from the late 1980s. Ref: MS-5400/571/002b. CC-BY-NC.
One of the suited television versions displeased Jim Hinkley. In April 1988, no longer employed by Cadbury Schweppes Hudson, he wrote to the company: ‘You have ruined my Bruin!!’ Hinkley said it would have been kinder to have had him put down, and added: ‘I expect by return mail, the good news that this animal has been donated to a moths home and the original “Stewart” returned to his rightful place in front of the cameras’.
1988 saw the revival of Cookie Bear Club. The uptake was not on the scale of the 1970s, but 15,000 members joined in 1989. A new soft toy was produced and the bear’s and face once more appeared on packets of Chocolate Chippies, Shrewsburys, and Shortbread.
The costume Hinkley dislikes seems not to have lasted. The in-house Chocolate Soldier magazine announced a facelift in September 1989, when the new Cookie Bear made his debut with broadcaster Paul Holmes and others in the Octagon for the launch of the expanded Dunedin City Council. Changes were made to his eyes and ears, and his fur became shorter.
Hudson Cookie Bear soft toy offer application form, late 1980s. Ref: MS-5414/021/001. CC-BY-NC.Cookie Bear with broadcaster Paul Holmes at the official launch of the expanded Dunedin City Council in 1989. Dunedin City Councillor Josie Jones looks on. Ref: Chocolate Soldier vol.26 no.4 (December 1989).
CHS had four new suits made, and prepared a ‘Code of Behaviour for Hudson Cookie Bear’, with rules including
When walking, walk with a cheeky Hudson Cookie Bear skip
Hudson Cookie Bear doesn’t speak, except to say ‘Dum de do!’
Never frighten children, e.g. by going up behind them when they are unaware.
In 1990 Cookie Bear introduced Hudson’s last great biscuit – the Squiggle Top. By the end of that year, however, he was under new management. The new owners of Griffin’s, Britannia Brands, came to an agreement where Cadbury Schweppes Hudson transferred its biscuit rights and its Papakura factory to Griffin’s, while Griffin’s transferred its confectionery rights and its Avondale factory to CSH, which was renamed Cadbury Confectionery Limited. The Dunedin bakehouse was closed. As part of the deal, Cadbury was required to give up all Hudson branding, so it branded its newly acquired confectionery range under one of its longstanding brand names, Pascall.
With Hudson, Griffin’s acquired Cookie Bear. The Hudson brand name was phased out about 1994, but Cookie Bear remained. He remained on some wrappers, including Chocolate Chippies, which he became most strongly associated with. Hundreds and Thousands Biscuits, one of Griffin’s own original lines, also came to feature him.
Cookie Bear gradually came to look less like the classic, avuncular version, taking on a more slimmed down appearance. In August 2004 his bow tie was swapped out for a bandana, although it was still red with white polka dots. A further refresh in 2020 radically changed his appearance again. He now looked still more cubbish, and sported a quiff. To older fans he might look more like a Cookie Bear Junior.
For most of the past year Cookie Bear has been on something of a holiday, appearing only on the Cookie Bear Mini Bears and Mini Snack Packs. He will reappear shortly, on Chockie Chippies, Hundreds & Thousands, Stripes, and Shrewsbury biscuits.
Selected references:
‘Papers relating of the history of Cookie Bear’. MS-5414/034. Cadbury Limited records. Hocken Collections – Uare Taoka o Hākena.
Barringer, E.E. Sweet success: The story of Cadbury & Hudson in New Zealand (Dunedin: Cadbury Confectionery Limited, 2000).
‘The “bear facts”: the making of a commercial’ in Chocolate Soldier vol. 17 no. 10 (Jan/Feb 1972).
‘Hudsons biscuits new look wrappers’ in Chocolate Soldier vol. 22 no. 8 (Sep/Oct 1982).
‘Cookie Bear calls it a day’ in Chocolate Soldier vol. 22 no. 14 (Nov/Dec 1983).
‘Cooke Bear’s return’ in Grocers’ Review vol. 68 no. 4 (Apr 1989).
‘Cooke Bear gets a facelift’ in Chocolate Soldier vol. 26 no. 3 (Sep/Oct 1989).
‘Dum de doo… Cookie Bear provides growth in Kids category’ in Grocers’ Review vol. 84 no. 3 (April 2005).
Donovan, Don. ‘I admit it, I am Cookie Bear’s father’ in Donovan’s World blog (28 August 2009). Retrieved from https://don-donovan.blogspot.com/2009/08/i-admit-it-i-am-cookie-bears-father.html
Quinn, Rowan. ‘Cookie Bear – a threatened species?’. RNZ news (26 April 2016). Retrieved from https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/302356/cookie-bear-a-threatened-species
Hocken Collections Māori Archivist Rauhina Kohuwai-Banks (RKB) sat down with Curator of Photography, Anna Petersen (AP), to kōrero about A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa, an exhibition showcasing the history of photography in Aotearoa, now in its last week at the Hocken Gallery.
Moeraki Kāik, 1864-1865. Joseph Perry photograph, P1910-005/1-020.
RKB Tēnā koe Anna, thank you for sitting down to talk with me about A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa, an exhibition which you co-curated alongside Shaun Higgins (from Tāmaki Paenga Hira) and Natalie Marshall (from the Alexander Turnbull Library).
You also contributed to an illustrated publication of the same name, edited by Catherine Hammond and Shaun Higgins.
How did you get involved in co-curating the exhibition and what was the hope for this collaboration?
AP Well it fell naturally, because I’m Curator of Photographs at the Hocken, and the show was curated by the photography curators at the three participating institutions.
I think the hope, the initial hope for the collaboration – because it did evolve from a memorandum of understanding between the University of Otago and the Auckland Museum – kind of changed a bit.
It was first envisaged that the exhibition would accompany a conference held by the Centre for Research on Colonial Culture, and a corresponding production of a book edited by University of Otago academics – but then the conference didn’t eventuate. Although Angela Wanhalla was invited to write the introduction, in the end, the main body of the book was the work of library and museum staff.
… It was determined that it would be a show of early New Zealand photography, and it both set out to demonstrate the evolution – the technological evolution of photography from 1850 to 1900 – at the same time, exploring how photography became embedded in the whole cultural, social, political, economic development of the colony.
RKB It’s very wide-reaching, and the exhibition has toured Auckland, Wellington, and finally Ōtepoti Dunedin, and each iteration of the exhibition has had its own distinct flavour – for example, you decided to showcase some original photographs held by the Hocken in the Dunedin iteration. What did you pick, and why?
AP It was partly the differences in the gallery spaces allocated for the show, and design decisions that gave that different ‘flavour’ in the two other venues. They didn’t add any more early original photographs like we did, but because our space is larger – and I also actually wanted to highlight more the particular aesthetic of early photography, which I felt had been somewhat overridden by a museological insistence on a storyline.
With the consent of the other two curators, I added a whole wall of early photographs of Dunedin for our local audience. Then I also augmented each of the five sections with some more photographs that just complemented what was already chosen. So I didn’t feel that I actually changed the whole nature of the show, but it does have a bit more of a look that I would have liked it to have had all along (laughs)…
RKB I’m sure locals from Ōtepoti appreciate what you augmented the show with!
Taking a bit of a turn… this week we will be commemorating 186 years since the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi by northern rangatira in 1840, and A Different Light doesn’t shy away from the fact that the development of photography coincided with the ‘time of turbulent social change’ that was the colonisation of Aotearoa New Zealand.
I wonder if you would like to share any insights you’ve had, in co-curating this exhibition, on the connections between photography and how mana whenua and early Pākehā settlers viewed themselves and each other during this period?
AP From the start, we had three very large collections of photographs to draw on, but… we could only do our best with those. So, for example, we couldn’t show the earliest known photograph in New Zealand. And by the same token, we knew, for example, that Māori increasingly were hanging photographs of their tīpuna in wharenui, but we didn’t have any original examples of interiors of wharenui that showed that, so that’s a limitation.
Examples of how early Pākehā were relating to Māori … one area in the exhibition is showing how some early Pākehā photographers took advantage of Māori sitters for commercial gain, and to satisfy the worldwide appetite for photographs of people of different ethnicities.
And this was very often done without – well, we don’t actually know, but we presume that the sitters probably didn’t know quite what was going to be done with the photographs. But also that the photographers didn’t note their names.
Having said that, we do have also examples where the names were noted on the back, or in the albums. And these have proven to be incredibly precious, and continue to be so, for Māori now, to discover. The Eccles album, which is included in the show, has proven to be a particularly important example of that.
And then we also have another aspect of Māori agency in the show, including two portraits of King Tāwhiao, who embraced photography in order to promote his presence.
There are also photographs of Māori who had been displaced in the Wellington region.
So we have tried to bring some of those issues out.
RKB Kia ora, thank you for sharing that… So, though the exhibition is closing this Saturday, the legacy lives on in the accompanying publication of the same name. Your chapter, ‘The Give and Take of Photographs’, takes a look at early photographs of Dunedin and Otago. Can you tell me more about early photographers and photographs in this area? Do you have any favourite examples?
AP Sure, well the development of Dunedin in the 1860s, 70s and 80s seem to have been particularly well documented by national standards, and even international standards. And that’s partly because of the discovery of gold – so the money that was generated, and the influx of immigrants, attracted a lot of photographers to the city. And some of those photographers were very gifted and dedicated, like William Meluish and Joseph Perry, and some, like the famous Burton Brothers, were very adept at marketing their photographs.
This period also coincided with the development of the wet-plate collodion method and albumen prints, which were a stable, inexpensive way of producing photographs. And photographs of Dunedin, as well as photographs that were taken around Otago – photographing the scenery, the resources, the development of infrastructure, for example, were used to promote the whole province – both in New Zealand and overseas.
I was particularly interested in photographs by Joseph Perry, because they hadn’t been really thoroughly researched. It was a great thrill to uncover new archival material about those – how they came about.
Bank of New South Wales, Cromwell, 1867. Photographer unknown, Box-216-001
AP One of my favourites is that one of people outside the bank in Cromwell in 1867, which I just find incredibly beautiful – I think it’s just really beautifully balanced. I said that to somebody and he said it was interesting I should feel that way about the photograph because really that photograph could have been taken anywhere in the world, it’s not distinctively New Zealand.
How about you, Rauhina – are there any that stay with you?
RKB (laughs) … I’m not sure I’m prepared to have this question turned back on me!
As I was walking around the exhibition there were so many moments of “Oh, I didn’t know that!” … there’s so much I don’t know about photography, so being walked through how this actually relates to us in Aotearoa, depicting both Māori and Pākehā, and others, and the visceral feeling of actually seeing places [I know]… like the picture of the kāik at Moeraki, … knowing that place myself, being able to step back in time, seeing it up on the wall, that was really special to me.
AP Yes, that’s one of the ones we added to the exhibition, that whole wall.
RKB The exhibition is truly an amazing achievement, and it’s opened my eyes, as I was saying, to the history of photography in Aotearoa – a history that will surely continue to evolve. Are there any other whakaaro you’d like to share?
AP Just, I suppose I’d like to say what a wonderful, exciting project it was to work on, and how much I’ve learned in the process, but also, it really has enhanced collaboration between Hocken and the Auckland Museum and the Alexander Turnbull staff, which is wonderful. And it’s been a great joy to read the visitor comments, and to see how much fun visitors had with the interactive – to create their own 19th Century style portrait.
RKB Kā mihi nunui, Anna – thank you so much for sharing your expertise and insights with me – and everyone – today. And I encourage everyone to go to the exhibition this Saturday!
Anna Petersen is Photographs Curator at the Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hākena, and co-curator of A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa.
Rauhina Kohuwai-Banks (Kāi Tahu – Kāi Te Ruahikihiki, Kāti Māmoe) is the Māori Archivist at the Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hākena. Their work focuses on digitisation, description, access and advocacy.
Carved stern-post of Māori canoe, ornamented with feathers, c.1865. John Kinder photograph, P1922-001-067.
A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa will be open for its final day this Saturday 7 February 2026, closing at 5pm, at the Hocken Gallery, Level 1, 90 Anzac Avenue, Dunedin.
The Hocken will be closed on Friday 6th February for Te Rā o Waitangi / Waitangi Day.
Post researched and written by David Murray, Archivist
Packing Moro bars, 1991. Ref: MS-5400/0960/003.
Several years ago, Hocken collected a large quantity of archives from the old Cadbury factory in Dunedin. We are pleased to share the news that these are now catalogued and available for viewing in our reading room. We are also in the process of putting selected images from the collection into our Digital Collections site. The records relate to R. Hudson & Co. and its successors Cadbury Fry Hudson (from 1930), Cadbury Schweppes Hudson (from 1973), Cadbury Confectionery Ltd (from 1991), and Cadbury Ltd (from 2009). They add to a smaller collection received in 1984.
The Cadbury factory closed in 2018 with the loss of more than 350 jobs. It was the 150th anniversary year of local operations, which began with a biscuit factory opened by Richard Hudson in 1868. The loss has been felt deeply. Production shifted to Australia, and almost all of the old factory buildings are gone.
Hocken is privileged to hold a permanent archive of the business. Particularly significant is the record of staff activity – both work and social, over many years in the local community. We are grateful to Cadbury’s parent company, Mondelēz International, for donating the bulk of the collection. Our thanks also to the former Southern District Health Board for significant additional material, and to the Ex-Cadbury Staff Group for digital photographs taken in the last months of factory operation.
In 2024 and 2025, the records of Hudson, Cadbury, and associated brands were arranged, described, and listed. They take up nearly 25 metres of shelving and are listed on the Hākena catalogue (ref: ARC-0977) as over 1300 issuable items. The collection is particularly rich in photographs (over 10,000!) and advertising, including sales aides and files and albums of packaging. There are directors’ minutes and some other administrative and financial records, although only a little in the way of correspondence or subject files. There are still more wrappers, posters etc. yet to be processed, in the separate Hocken Ephemera Collection.
It was my pleasure to carry out the arrangement and description, although often somewhat wistfully as I am diabetic!
Below is a sample of images from the collection, and an example from the film advertisements. The ad is fun but quirky – I wonder how much use a conductor waving a baton would be to a choir of people wearing blindfolds. Can anyone tell us his name?
In coming weeks and in the New Year we will be adding more images to our Digital Collections site. Much of the material is out of copyright, and much other content may be used under a Creative Commons BY-NC (non-commercial) license, where indicated.
The business went through many administrative changes through the years, from R. Hudson & Co. through to ownership by Mondelēz. For more detail of this sometimes confusing administrative history see the summary at the very end of this post.
The Cadbury Fry Hudson factory, Castle Street, in the 1960s. Ref: MS-5400/0263/001.
A brief history of Hudson and Cadbury in Ōtepoti Dunedin
Richard Hudson established a wholesale biscuit manufacturing business in Dunedin in 1868, on a site off Princes Street, about where no. 178 (Great Wall Takeaways) is today. In 1871 a new factory was built on the south side of lower Dowling Street. By this time R. Hudson & Co. boasted a range of ‘celebrated machine-made biscuits, confectionery, cakes etc.’
Hudson purchased the old Masonic Hall in Moray Place in 1873 and converted it to factory purposes. In 1885 Hudson imported equipment for the manufacture of cocoa and chocolate. R. Hudson & Co. became a limited liability company in 1899. The factory again moved in 1901, to the familiar site between Cumberland and Castle streets.
Cadbury Bros was founded in Birmingham, England, in 1824, and established a subsidiary business in Wellington in 1890. The parent company merged with J.S. Fry & Sons in 1919, and the following year its New Zealand operation became Cadbury & Fry’s (NZ). In 1930, Cadbury purchased a controlling interest in R. Hudson & Co. resulting in the formation of Cadbury Fry Hudson Ltd (CFH). Chocolate and cocoa products were mostly sold under the Cadbury brand, with biscuits and some confectionery marketed under the Hudson name. An additional biscuit manufacturing plant opened in Papakura, Auckland, in 1965.
In 1969, Cadbury Group (UK) merged with Schweppes Ltd to form Cadbury Schweppes PLC. This led to CFH becoming Cadbury Schweppes Hudson Ltd (CSH), effective from January 1973. In 1990, CSH transferred its Hudson biscuit business and Papakura factory to Britannia Foods, in exchange for that company’s Griffin’s confectionery business and Avondale factory. This saw the departure of longstanding products such as Shrewsbury, Chocolate Chippies and Toffee Pops, as well as the familiar Hudson Cookie Bear, which had been a brand mascot since the early 1970s.
CSH dissolved in 1991 and its assets were transferred to the newly incorporated entity Cadbury Confectionery Ltd. As part of the Britannia Foods deal, Cadbury gave up its rights to sell products under the Hudson name. It chose to apply the Pascall brand to the former Griffin’s confectionery lines. The Pascall name derived from the confectionery business of James Pascall Ltd. Established in London in 1866, Pascall had entered into a joint partnership with Cadbury in Australia in 1921, and CFH took on a license to make Pascall products in the 1930s. The UK company merged with R.S. Murray in 1959 and Pascall-Murray was sold to Cadbury in 1964. Other brands manufactured by Cadbury Confectionery included the Red Tulip and Van Camp chocolate ranges.
The Head Office moved to Auckland in 1996 but manufacturing continued in Dunedin. A Cadbury World tourist attraction opened in 2003. The Avondale factory closed in 2009 and production consolidated on the southern site, now under the name Cadbury Ltd. In 2010, Kraft Foods Inc. acquired Cadbury business worldwide. It became part of Kraft’s global snacks business, which was split out as Mondelez International in 2012. The Dunedin factory closed in March 2018, ending Cadbury production in Aotearoa, and resulting in the loss of more than 350 jobs. Production shifted to Australia. The government purchased the Cumberland Street property as a site for the inpatient block of the new public hospital. The old factory was demolished between 2020 and 2022, with the exception of the ‘old dairy’ buildings on the southern boundary of the site.
Post researched and written by David Murray, Archivist
Last month, a wind storm saw the dramatic toppling of two of the big old elm trees next to our building on Anzac Avenue. Fortunately nobody was hurt, and our building was undamaged, but we were sad to lose the trees. It seems timely to look at the history of Anzac Avenue and its trees, especially as the avenue opened one hundred years ago today, on 17 November 1925.
When it opened, Anzac Avenue linked the Dunedin Railway Station with the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition at the newly reclaimed Lake Logan. The Exhibition combined international trade fair, funfair, and festival on a grand scale. It was the largest event of its kind held in the country up to that time. The site was selected two and a half years before the event and required much preparation.
The reclamation of Lake Logan had been begun by the Otago Harbour Board in the early 1910s. There was some opposition, as it had been a popular and sheltered place for recreational boating. The slow pace of reclamation was accelerated once the Exhibition site was confirmed.
The roadway was planned even before the Exhibition was thought of. Proposals for the lake site had included sports grounds and residential housing. The construction of the road was a condition of the Harbour Board when it agreed to handed over the reserve to the City Council for the Exhibition, and later recreation grounds.
The City raised an £80,000 loan to carry out the road building works, which adjusted for inflation is about $10 million today. This was authorised by a vote from the ratepayers. Work began on 5 January 1925. All-night shifts were put in place to ensure completion in time for the Exhibition. The work was overseen by the City Engineer and carried out by City Corporation staff. Road formation used over 21,000 cubic metres of fill. The work included the purchase and removal of old houses and other buildings at the southern end, and the construction of a concrete bridge over Ōwheo, the Water of Leith. The bridge still stands, although it was extended to double its original length in 1936, when a new channel was built as part of flood protection works.
Building the bridge over Water of Leith, 1925. Charles Clark Armstrong photograph. Hocken Collections – Uare Taoka o Hākena, P2013-019-027.
Formation of the ‘highway’. Otago Witness, 17 March 1925, p35. Digitisation courtesy of The Preserving Local History and Educational Trust, Te Pupuri I Nga Hitori o Te Rohe Trust.
The road was at first referred to as the Exhibition Highway, and this name remained in popular use even after the name Anzac Avenue was officially bestowed by the Dunedin City Council in November 1925. Anzac Square, at the railway station end, had already been named in 1916.
The official opening took place on the same day as the Exhibition itself. Dunedin Mayor Harold Tapley performed the honours and declared the new name. The avenue was described as a ‘memorial’, although unlike the memorial oaks in North Otago, the names of particular soldiers were not associated with particular trees. Tapley said it would be a ‘lasting tribute to the memory of the gallant deeds of our citizen-soldiers who had made the name “Anzac” immortal’. The Evening Star reported that within a few minutes of the mayor’s declaration, ‘motor cars and motor lorries where whizzing by on their busy errands to the Exhibition’.
Anzac Avenue on its opening day, 17 November 1925. Otago Witness, 24 November 1925, p.48. Digitisation courtesy of The Preserving Local History and Educational Trust, Te Pupuri I Nga Hitori o Te Rohe Trust.
Grass and small elm trees lined the avenue, along with 250 incandescent electric lamps mounted on columns instead of the usual wooden poles. The trees had been planned before any memorial aspect was decided, and can be seen in a 1924 illustration from the office of the Exhibition Architect, Edmund Anscombe.
A 1924 drawing of the proposed highway by Anscombe and Associates, architects. Otago Witness, 11 November 1924, p.38. Digitisation courtesy of The Preserving Local History and Educational Trust, Te Pupuri I Nga Hitori o Te Rohe Trust.
Elms were not the only trees along the street, although it is not clear how many types were close to the carriageway. It was reported in early November 1925 that ‘The poplars, oaks, elders, and elms planted beside the highway are doing very well, and so far not a single one of them has been lost’. Many other trees, both exotic and native, were planted in or near the Exhibition grounds at the same time. As part of the Exhibition works, the Council’s Reserves Department under the direction of Superintendent David Tannock planted approximately 2,500 trees and 120,000 herbaceous and bedding plants.
Curiously, the Exhibition Directors each planted a tree on the Union Street frontage of the Exhibition, and a map was reportedly prepared recording which tree was planted by which councillor.
The Dunedin Amenities Society provided what the Exhibition Official Record describes as ‘groups of deciduous trees along the Exhibition Highway’. The society was responsible for many associated plantings outside the Exhibition grounds, including flower beds at Anzac Square and native beeches along the ground adjacent to the railway between Hanover Street and Ravensbourne. The Dunedin Returned Soldiers’ Association used Poppy Day funds and the labour of returned soldiers to make improvements ‘in the north end of the city’, but it is unclear what these were.
Anzac Avenue at the time of the Exhibition. Robert Johnston photograph. Hocken Collections – Uare Taoka o Hākena P2008-023-005c.
While many of the trees on Anzac Avenue have stood for a century, even some of the large ones are not that old. The Amenities Society complained in 1934 that ‘trees in Anzac Avenue ware not being given much of a chance as during the week-ends, draught horses are allowed to wander about and damage same. Until this practice has been stopped, it is useless filling the gaps in the trees’. Some other trees were maliciously damaged. The Amenities Society’s president, Crosby Morris, was of the view that the ‘value of the avenue depended largely on keeping the trees there as uniform as possible’. Speaking more generally, he noted that there had been controversy as to the planting of native or exotic trees, ‘and they had on their committee supporters of each kind’. Personally, ‘he thought there was room for both. In areas suitable to each the two types of trees should be planted; he did not think they should be mixed’.
Soon the stock problem was under control and blank spaces were filled. Many trees were planted by school children as part of Arbor Day activities. Children from the Normal School planted six elms in August 1934, and Dunedin North Intermediate School planted 25 ribbonwoods and 25 pittosporums ‘alongside the avenue’. At that time the intermediate school was located on the corner of Albany Street and Anzac Avenue. Most of the buildings are still there. Its pupils planted six elms on Arbor Day 1936, and an unspecified number in 1937 and 1938. The Amenities Society also planted lime trees near the Hanover Street corner.
An outdoor art class from Dunedin North Intermediate school on Anzac Avenue in 1945. The original street lamps were then still in place. C.M. Collins photograph. Hocken Collections – Uare Taoka o Hākena, AG-294-49/059/008.
So it would seem that many of the older elm trees date not from the 1920s, but the 1930s. Looking at Whites Aviation aerial photographs of the 1940s and 50s, it is unclear if the lost trees next to the Hocken Library building were earlier or later ones. Either way, they will be missed by many. The Dunedin City Council has salvaged some of the wood for public use.
Anzac Avenue in 1947, intersecting with Albany Street in the foreground. The photograph shows an empty site (left side) where the Hocken Library is today. Whites Aviation Ltd photograph. WA-06373-F. Alexander Turnbull Library [cropped].
Anzac Avenue in 1955. What later became the Hocken Library building is top centre, with the darker roofs. Whites Aviation Ltd photograph. WA-37710a-F. Alexander Turnbull Library [cropped].
References: City of Dunedin Department Reports.
Thompson, G.E. Official Record of the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition Dunedin 1925-1926. Dunedin: The Exhibition Company, [1927], pp.18-19. Otago Daily Times 18 July 1925 p.10 (‘The Value of Appearances’), 7 November 1925 p.3 (‘At Their Best: Round the City Reserves’). 16 May 1939 p.6 (lime trees). Evening Star 17 November 1925 p.6 (‘The Highway’), 23 March 1926 p.2 (‘Amenities Society: The Annual Report’), 28 March 1934 p.2 (‘Amenities Society: Useful Work Accomplished’), 2 August 1934 p.13 (‘Arbor Day: Observance in Schools), 5 August 1936 p.14 (‘Arbor Day: Twenty-four Schools Take Part’), 9 August 1937 p.11 (‘Arbor Day: Ceremonies on Wednesday); 10 August 1938 p.15 (Arbor Day: Tree Planting Ceremonies for Schools).
Dunedin Amenities Society minutes, 16 May 1934. Hocken Collections – Uare Taoka o Hākena, MS-0606/002.
Post researched and written by David Murray, Archivist
Disabled Soldiers Product label. 91-002/010/051.Suitcase, 1950s, by Disabled Soldiers Products. Te Papa GH024140, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
The suitcases made by Disabled Servicemens Products were popular luggage items for many years, and occasionally still turn up in secondhand shops. Sometimes made from leather, but more usually from a type of fibreboard called Vulcanite, examples can often be identified by a red and gold label with the manufacturer’s name and a symbol of a steel helmet beneath crossed rifles.
Records of the Dunedin Branch of the Rehabilitation League in the Hocken Collections tell something of the story behind these and other products, and of an organisation which began rehabilitating soldiers and evolved into a broader vocational assessment and training service.
In 1930, an Act of Parliament set up the Soldiers’ Civil Re-Establishment League. A national, semi-autonomous body, its district committees were empowered to make arrangements with employers for the employment of disabled soldiers, to establish and carry on schemes for vocational training, and to make payments to supplement earnings. The committees were made up of representatives from Government, the Returned Services’ Association, employers’ organisations, trade and labour councils, the Red Cross, and Patriotic Fund societies.
The first Dunedin workshop opened in Princes Street South in 1933. In 1935 it moved to a larger building off a back alley next to Speight’s Brewery. The League opened its own retail shop in George Street and items were produced under the name Disabled Soldiers Products. From 1939, all ex-members of the forces with disability became eligible for assistance. The name of the organisation changed to the Disabled Servicemen’s Rehabilitation League in 1941, and its production arm became Disabled Servicemens Products. The League was the agent of the Rehabilitation Board for the training and re-establishment of Second World War veterans. This meant that, after discharge, veterans could learn a trade such as basketmaking, carpentry and joinery, or cabinetmaking, and could apply for Government loans to rehabilitate themselves. If they were unable to do that, then positions in sheltered workshops were found where they could apply their skills to produce a wide range of goods for sale. The League was also appointed the agent to control and manage the making of artificial limbs.
Government funded the building of vocational training centres. At Dunedin this included workshops, stores, offices, and a showroom. The site in Anzac Avenue was provided by the Otago Harbour Board for a peppercorn rental. It is almost next door to where the Hocken Library is today. There were attractive gardens where training in gardening was given, and even a bowling green, which allowed the establishment of the Disabled Servicemen’s Bowling Club.
Prime Minister Peter Fraser laid the foundation stone on 11 September 1943, while war still raged. He spoke of his pleasure at the ‘opportunity to get away for a moment from the vortex of political controversy’, and described the ‘second great part of their war effort – caring for the men who had fought to protect us’. The buildings, designed by architect Henry McDowell Smith, were built by the Love Construction Company, and officially opened by C.F. Skinner, Minister of Rehabilitation, on 24 May 1944.
The buildings in Anzac Avenue as they appeared in the 1940s. 91-002/010/053.A view over the league site taken in March 1955. It is at the bottom centre, between Parry Street and Anzac Avenue. It terminates at the long wall of the Williamson Jeffery stationery factory. Above this (top right) is the Otago Co-operative Dairy building, now the Hocken Library. Whites Aviation Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library, WF-37710a-F (cropped) CC BY 4.0.
Photographs in the Hocken Collections show many of the items made in the workshops. They included suitcases, leather bags, boots, dog collars, wooden-soled clogs, book bindings, lounge suites and other furniture, umbrellas, fishing nets, toys, pāua shell ornaments, and jewellery.
Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery, familiarly known as Monty, visited in July 1947. He was presented with a suitcase and posed with an opened umbrella over his head, remarking: ‘A most useful form of equipment for a soldier. Much more so than a sword.’
Lord Montgomery tries out an umbrella at the centre in 1947. Evening Star photo, 91-002/010/027.Umbrella making. Jack Welsh & Sons photograph. 91-002/010/043.Workshop scene. C.J. Leeden photograph. 91-002/010/036.Bob Cogland [sp?] sewing a leather bag. C.J. Leeden photograph. 91-002/010/040.Display of goods made at various centres. C.J. Leeden photograph. 91-002/010/027.
Up to 1956 only one returned servicewoman is recorded as a trainee, but photos show women involved in some of the manufacturing. The first course offered to civilians with disability (both men and women) was in 1955, but it was not until 1969 that the league’s scope more officially broadened. Renamed the Disabled Re-Establishment League, it became responsible for the vocational assessment and rehabilitation of all people with disability. Funding for new rehabilitation programmes came from Government. Focus shifted away from training in specific trades, to work experience in a broad spectrum of employment.
The organisation was again renamed in 1974, becoming Rehabilitation League NZ Inc. In 1975 the Dunedin centre comprised a staff of 60, including executive, professional, technical, supervisory, and trades personnel. Specific positions included a senior rehabilitation officer, a psychologist, a social worker, and an occupational therapist. The League provided full vocational assessments and aptitude tests. Assistance was offered in physical education, reading, and basic education. For work experience there were facilities for printing, bookbinding, leatherwork, suitcase manufacturing, blind roller manufacturing, net making, radio-telephone operating, general assembly, umbrella manufacturing, cafeteria work, janitorial and store work, stock control, office work, horticulture, heavy manual work, metal pressing, and welding. Computer training was introduced in the 1980s. The scope of the organisation expanded to others who were vocationally disadvantaged, including recent school leavers and refugees. Most trainees were men but the number of women gradually increased.
Riveting a fibre case. 91-002/010/003.J. Keegan, District Rehabilitation Officer, and unidentified staff member with display board, 1975. 91-002/010/079.Rehabilitation Board buildings in 1975. 91-002/010/087.In the 1980s training with computers was introduced. 91-002/010/012.
In the 1980s, Government signalled the League was trying to do too much by being ‘all things to all people’ and resolved that assessment services should be separate from training. The League chair spoke of a shift, away from a workshop situation to the idea of training and support in the main stream workforce. In reply, a staff representative said the Dunedin facility was not a sheltered workshop but a place for people to come for vocational assessment and training. Many of those people would then move on to polytechnic courses, experience in local industries, voluntary work, and self-employment.
Restructuring went ahead in favour of a ‘brokerage’ system that coordinated support and training for people with intellectual and physical difficulties, either in workshop facilities or in open employment. This was named Workbridge, and it still operates today. Most of the old League operations were phased out and the workshops were shut down, with Dunedin’s closing on 31 August 1990. The Otago Daily Times reported that only 10 per cent of existing clients would receive training through the new service, and that redundant staff ‘felt that disadvantaged groups, such as the unemployed and those with learning difficulties, had been sacrificed in the name of efficiency’.
The Anzac Avenue buildings still stand, as Otago Polytechnic’s L Block. They house the institution’s Construction, Engineering, and Living Sciences divisions.
The Rehabilitation League Dunedin Branch archives were donated to the Hocken Collections in 1991. They include minutes, correspondence, reports, subject files, newsletters, and photographs. The records provide detailed information recorded by the organisation and are open to any interested researchers (reference code 91-002). Some of the many photographs have been digitised and this month added to Hocken Digital Collections.
We would be interested to hear more from those who were part of the League’s story – please do leave a comment if you have memories. Or perhaps you have one of those old suitcases?
The first entry in the visitors book records the return visit of Prime Minister Peter Fraser on 20 July 1945. Ref: 90-002 box 9.The central portion of the former Rehabilitation League buildings in July 2025.
Newspaper references:
‘The disabled soldier: problem of employment: factory opened in Dunedin’ in Otago Daily Times, 27 January 1933 p.5.
‘Occupation centre foundation stone laid: ceremony on Anzac Avenue’ in Evening Star, 11 September 1943 p.4.
‘Vocational training: Dunedin centre opened: aid for disabled servicemen’ in Otago Daily Times, 25 May 1944 p.6.
‘Ex-servicemen in Dominion looked after better than in England’ in Evening Star, 21 July 1947 p.6.
‘Training enables disabled men to earn a living’ in Evening Star, 26 April 1952 p.4.
‘Trade training: First disabled civilian has started course’ in Otago Daily Times, 23 June 1955 p.6.
‘Cheerful, skilful, – yet disabled – they work industriously’ in Evening Star, 3 November 1956 p.8.
‘New concept in trade training’ in Evening Star, 20 March 1971 p.13.
Mackenzie, Dene. ‘Staff angry over “official ignorance”‘ in Otago Daily Times, 12 June 1990.
Spencer, Leigh. ‘Era ends for trainees’ in Otago Daily Times, 1 September 1990.
‘The day the Rehabilitation League closed its doors’ in Otago Daily Times, 29 September 1990 p.17.
Other references: Training the disabled: The work of the Disabled Servicemen’s Re-establishment League (Inc.) New Zealand. Wellington: the League, 194-. Rehabilitation League (NZ) Inc. [1975].
‘Rehabilitation League NZ (Inc.), history and development of the organisation’. Unpublished typescript, 1986. 91-002 box 5.
Post researched and written by David Murray, Archivist
Zooming in on the detail of a newly-digitised photo, I noticed first-floor signage reading ‘City Private Detective Agency’, ‘Macrae’.
The photo shows a building that still stands in Princes Street, Dunedin. It was built in 1915 for Whitcombe & Tombs, the large firm of booksellers, stationers, and printers. This later became Whitcoulls, which continued on the site until 1985. At the tiled entrance to what is now the Art Fun Wear shop, the monogram ‘W & T Ltd’ can still be seen.
After a little of my own detective work it turns out John Cameron Macrae had an office here in 1924. Born in 1881 in Clacknaberry, Inverness, Scotland, Macrae had been a police constable on the West Coast and claimed sixteen years of police experience. His advertisement stated ‘Investigations made and Information obtained in all matters within the dominion, also United Kingdom and United States. All information strictly private. Divorce Cases a specialty. Also, Rents and Accounts Collected’.
Macrae didn’t stay in this line of work for long and may have only used this office for a year. He is listed in later directories as a builder and second-hand dealer. He died in Dunedin in 1956.
Post researched and written by David Murray, Archivist
There are many photographs of sombre-faced Victorians in the Hocken Collections, but few first-hand accounts of the circumstances and experiences surrounding their creation. A photo titled ‘Joes Cabin’ comes with a description that might change first impressions. Taken at Silverstream Valley near Dunedin on 28 December 1886, it is pasted into a trip diary of John Elder Moultray. A professional artist, born in Edinburgh, Moultray was in his early twenties. ‘Joe’ is identified as ‘Joe C – a man who works on the [water] Race’, with a cabin in the Silverstream Valley. On Christmas Day the two men shared hunting tales at Whare Flat. Moultray recorded: ‘As it was now getting late Joe left to go to his cabin and as I have promised to photograph not only it but himself wife and baby as well he is thoroughly delighted at the prospect of being took’.
On 28 December, Moultray wrote: ‘Really and Truly this is actually a fine day. Now don’t look astonished but get your hat and come out? After breakfast I took the camera and went over to Joes to fulfil my promise. The sun shone brilliantly. The birds were chattering with spasmodic delight, you see the poor beggers have never any tax-gatherers coming around at akward [sic] times to damp their ardour. Henry who accompanied me took up his place in the background to view the proceedings. The camera was set, then over I went and knocked softly at the door, as the door opened I saw enough to cause me regret that I had come. The preparation that was going forward was startling, then there was a desperate struggle to prevent asking if they expected the Queen around. Joes better half led the van carrying her first baby which rolled its eyes dreadfully for the camera and then fixed them on its fathers shirt sleeve in such a marked manner that all eyes naturally followed its steady stare, which made Joe look rather sheepish as he had turned out without his coat to show his contempt for fashion and his feminine companions weakness in donning their best. However I always admire a man of principal and Joe at least strives to act up to his. Next comes Joes mother-in-law, a thoroughly practical old lady with plenty breadth of beam. The Rear was brought up by Joes nephew or grandchild or uncle or grandfather I always get mixed with relationships but he was a little boy in his Sunday togs, who had to be dragged out, but afterwards became interested watching for a beautiful bird to fly out the camera. The adults all struck tragic attitudes and glowered at the lens, an instant afterwards there was a forty horse power sigh went up showing that the deed was done’.
We would love to learn more about the ‘Joe C’ family. The art of John Elder Moultray is represented in the Hocken Collections by 21 oil paintings, mostly landscapes, and a few other works. There is a small collection of his personal papers. Sadly John’s elder brother Henry, who also went on the trip, died just a few months later.
I am currently a student at the University of Otago and am doing my last paper to complete my Bachelor of Applied Science with a double major in History and Physical Education, Activity and Health. I have a passion for both the history of Aotearoa and the outdoors, hence the combination of art and science within my degree.
This summer (2022-2023) I was lucky enough to receive a scholarship from the Centre for Research on Colonial Culture (CRoCC), and Uare Taoka o Hākena Hockens Collections welcomed me as part of their team to carry out research. I was assigned to work with the Pictorial Department where I helped the Hocken Librarian with a publication that was being prepared in conjunction with an upcoming exhibition. This project is a collaboration between Uare Taoka o Hākena Hocken Collections, Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum, and Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand. When I was told I would be helping with a publication that involved all three of the above institutions, I felt like I had landed on a gold mine. This internship very quickly became a once in a lifetime opportunity, especially for me as a student in the History department, who is very interested in both history and writing.
My role within this project was to research and write a chronology from 1840 to 1899 that captured the rapid changes in photographic technology as well as society in Aotearoa in this period. Another focus was to approach the chronology from a Te Ao Māori lens. This aspect of the research was particularly important as it tied into the research CroCC covers. I was also assigned to write a glossary that focused on the key photographic terms covered in the book. Another aspect of my role was to attend the publication meetings and take minutes. These meetings were eye-opening because they gave me a sneak peek into the world of publishing. It was great to listen in on the creative conversations and see the complexities involved, particularly with a book that has multiple authors and institutions involved.
The book’s purpose is to highlight the extensive photographic collections that each institution has, as well as to complement the exhibition that will eventually be on display at each institution. The book’s target audience is diverse, but one objective was to write it at a level that secondary pupils could easily understand. It is hoped that the new New Zealand Aotearoa Histories Curriculum will make use of this book as a resource. The chronology is included in the book to give anyone who is reading it a broad understanding of photography at the time, but it will be especially useful for students who might want to focus on one event or a particular period.
The timeframe that the publication focuses on is significant in many ways because the invention of photography closely coincided with the colonisation of Aotearoa. This gives the history of photography in Aotearoa a special quality as it captured the raw nature of the very new colony. One important point that unfolded while I was researching was that photographs from that period were taken by Pākehā settlers or explorers. For example, in 1865 the construction of Arthurs Pass was photographed in detail which illuminates the significance of the road for settlers. But what these photographs do not capture is how Māori felt about the whenua being carved up and trees being cut down for the industrialisation of the country.
Road over Arthur’s Pass, NZ. Aotearoa Series no N1552. Hocken Collections
This highlights how photography was yet another tool of colonisation. Although many Māori were in photographs there were no known Māori photographers during this period. This signifies how photography at the time might be used as a tool of privilege and control. Pākehā with access to cameras had the autonomy to choose what they deemed worthy of being photographed. When analysing photographs from this period it is important to consider the narrative being told and to remember that the images have been captured and curated by colonial settler society.
Although Māori were not behind the camera they were consumers of photography. Māori incorporated this Western technology into their own culture by displaying photography in their marae. Māori viewed photographs of whānau as much more than just tangible keepsakes and understood photographs of loved ones to hold mauri (life force). Photographs such as these became especially valuable after the person in the image had died.
I found it interesting that by 1860 traditional Māori dress was only worn on special occasions in Aotearoa; portrait sessions often being significant enough. The tradition of men being adorned with moko had also decreased. But images were often retouched and moko were drawn onto Māori after the photograph had been taken; perhaps to inject the indigenous back into the subject. There was a high demand for photographs of Māori because of the popularity of the images overseas. It was eye-opening to find out how widespread early photographs of Māori were around the world. This led me to ponder the ethics around this and question who had the right of ownership over these photographs: the photographer, or the subject?
Maori chief with taiaha (c.1900), photographer William A. Collis, Box-112-010, Hocken Collections
I had never utilised photography as historical evidence before, but after just a bit of research, I quickly became interested in photography and the way photographs can be used as historical evidence to comprehend a particular society. Through this project, I came to realise photographs often tell a story that simply can not be put into words. But on the flip side, it is easy to make assumptions about a photograph – which can be interpreted in so many different ways – which is why it is often valuable to use photographs alongside other evidence.
This internship bought up many questions which I would love to explore in future research and has also sparked my interest in photography. My mind has also been opened to the many different sources and forms of evidence that can be used for historical research. I had a lot of enlightening conversations while working in the Pictorial Department, and I got to see Hocken’s art collection for the first time. I had been on many tours in the downstairs stacks at the Hocken before, but I was amazed to see the extensive art and photography collections in the upstairs spaces at the Hocken Library. My time as a CroCC intern proved to be tremendously informative and interesting because before I started I knew very little about the subject of photography or how the Hocken operated. I have learnt a lot about how to analyse photography in the context of historiography and as a by-product, I have learnt more about the history of Aotearoa.
Post researched and written by David Murray, Archivist
With many students settling into their University of Otago colleges, here are some flashbacks to colleges and halls of residence back in the day. Many were captured for the university’s marketing and publicity purposes, others were formal records.
Selwyn College tennis team 1972. Individuals unidentified. Morris Kershaw photograph, ref: 84-086/66. Hocken Collections – Uara Taoka o Hākena.Toroa International House (now Toroa College) in 2001. Individuals unidentified. University of Otago Marketing and Communications Department, ref: MS-5249. Hocken Collections – Uara Taoka o Hākena.
The dining room at St Margaret’s College in 1949. A publicity photo for the Prime Minister’s Department, ref: Box-184-087. Hocken Collections – Uara Taoka o Hākena.Salmond Hall (now Salmond College) dining room, [1988]. University of Otago Marketing and Communications Department records, ref: MS-5249. Hocken Collections – Uara Taoka o Hākena.First-year Home Science students at Studholme Hall (now Studholme College) in 1936. Individuals unidentified. Unknown photographer. Association of the Home Science Alumnae of New Zealand records, ref: MS-1516/075/001. Hocken Collections – Uara Taoka o Hākena.Knox College, around the late 1980s. University of Otago Marketing and Communications Department , ref: 5249. Hocken Collections – Uara Taoka o Hākena.Aquinas College students and staff in 1976. The college opened in 1954 and was run by the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) until its closure in 1980. The building was sold to Elim Church, and then to the University of Otago, which reopened it as a student residential college, known as Dalmore House, in 1988. It was renamed Aquinas in 1996. Hurst & Palmer photographers. Records of Aquinas College, ref: MS-4752/025. Hocken Collections – Uara Taoka o Hākena.City College from Cumberland Street, about 2005. Opened in 2000, it became Caroline Freeman College in 2018. University of Otago Marketing and Communications Department records, ref: MS-5249. Hocken Collections – Uara Taoka o Hākena.A room in Cumberland Hall (now Cumberland College), around the late 1980s. Cumberland was earlier the Dunedin Hospital Nurses’ Home. University of Otago Marketing and Communications Department records, ref: MS-5249. Hocken Collections – Uara Taoka o Hākena.
Carrington Hall (now Carrington College) around the late 1980s. University of Otago Marketing and Communications Department records, ref: MS-5249. Hocken Collections – Uara Taoka o Hākena.Helensburgh House, Wakari, in the 1980s. Glenys Roome papers, ref: MS-4676. Hocken Collections – Uara Taoka o Hākena.192 Castle Street. The Glendermid Ltd warehouse and offices on this site were completed in 1958. The company had a tannery at Sawyers Bay. In 2005 the building was partially demolished and redeveloped as LivingSpace hotels and apartments. It became Te Rangi Hiroa College in 2014. A new Te Rangihīroa College will open on a new site on Albany Street 2023. The old building is now Te Kāreti o Castle, 192 Castle College. Ref: Home and Building magazine, vol. 22 no. 10 (March 1960).
Post researched and written by Amanda Mills, Curator Music and AV Collections
October 2022 marked 50 years since the formation of Split Enz, one of the most significant bands to emerge from New Zealand, and one which launched the careers of Tim and Neil Finn, Phil Judd, Noel Crombie, and Eddie Rayner. Before the ‘Enz’, they were ‘Ends’, with their original line-up of Brian (Tim) Finn, Phil Judd, Miles Golding, Mike Chunn, and Mike Howard – a five-piece who favoured acoustic folk-pop music. Idiosyncratic, creative and unique, they were unlike anything in the Aotearoa New Zealand music scene. Time, exposure, and evolving music styles meant their sound and image changed over the years, moving through art-rock, prog-rock and post-punk with a distinctive flair for stage (and costume) theatrics.
Split Enz, 1975. [Unknown Otago Daily Times photographer]. 1975. P1998-028/01/20-001. Hocken Photographs Collection, Hocken Collections, Uare Taoka o Hākena. Permission to use kindly granted by Allied Press and Tim Finn.1973 was a key year for Split Ends and began on January 6 with a performance at the Great Ngāruawāhia Music Festival. To say they weren’t the favourite act on the bill is an understatement. Split Ends were booed offstage by 18,000 Black Sabbath fans who did not appreciate their sound, which, according to Phil Judd was (at the time) a “lightweight, puny-sounding acoustic affair” (RNZ, 2005). The experience at Ngāruawāhia was disappointing, but the band were on a trajectory, recording early songs ‘Split Ends’ and ‘For You’ at Stebbings Studios before starting a New Zealand tour. The band line-up was also evolving: Mike Howard and Miles Golding exited the band and were replaced by Geoff Chunn on drums, and Wally Wilkinson on guitar. Honing their sound for the rest of the year, Split Ends’ spot on the New Faces television talent show cemented them as a band to watch, although they came second to last in the final – one judge told them they would be ‘too clever’ to succeed. They may not have won, but they made an impression and were given a 30-minute concert feature on New Zealand television. At the start of 1974 they changed their name from ‘Ends’ to ‘Enz’, signifying a change in style and sound, a move which Tim Finn in 2005 noted as “graphically it sticks in your mind with a z at the end” (RNZ, 2005). A move to Australia, and an emphasis on band visuals (costumes, hairstyles, and movements) saw them sign with Mushroom Records, and they released their debut album Mental Notes in 1975. A glorious, strange album, Mental Notes was voted no. 1 on Rip it Up’s canonical list of 100 best New Zealand records in 2000.
Image: Split Enz. (1975). Mental Notes. [Album]. Original LP on White Cloud Records, and various CD reissues on Mushroom Records and Festival Records. Mental Notes is Split Enz. [Auckland: Pye Records, c.1975]. Split Enz: Ephemera, Eph-0109-ML-D-01/01.Ephemera Collection, Hocken Collections, Uare Taoka o Hākena.Band members including Eddie Rayner, Noel Crombie, Neil Finn, and Nigel Griggs joined at different points, while others including Phil Judd and Mike Chunn departed. The changing line-up and a continuing move towards a leaner, pared-back image and sound in the 1980s gave Split Enz hit singles and albums both in New Zealand and Australia. Their 1980 album True Colours was massively successful, charting locally at no.1 for eight weeks running. Split Enz were now an international success as True Colours also went double platinum in Canada, selling over 200,000 copies there. The lead single ‘I Got You’, a no. 1 single in Australia and New Zealand, also reached no.10 in the UK singles chart – the band’s performance on Top of the Pops seen by an estimated 11 million people. 40 years later, the 2020 reissue (and remix) of True Colours would again reach the New Zealand no.1 album chart position, confirming their place in New Zealand music history. While Tim Finn left the band in early 1984, Split Enz disbanded after their Enz with a Bang tour that same year, but occasionally reformed for one-off shows or tours around New Zealand and Australia. In 2022 Tim Finn and Eddie Rayner formed Forenzics, a musical project that took different melodic or rhythmic strands of Split Enz songs and created new works from them.
A band of idle dreamers: Split Enz at 50 foyer display, 2022. Image taken by Amanda Mills.A band of idle dreamers: Split Enz at 50 foyer display, 2022. Image taken by Amanda Mills.
During the University of Otago’s 2022 second semester, Humanities student intern Emma Aplin worked on a project examining Split Enz, and the materials across Hocken that relate to the band. As well as listing these sources, Emma worked with Music and AV curator Amanda Mills to create the current foyer display highlighting materials about Split Enz, from publications to recordings, posters and ephemera. We found many gems, including a scrapbook of 1980s music donated to Hocken’s archives, and the One Step Ahead newsletter which looks at Australian and New Zealand music and film in the early 1980s (Split Enz feature regularly). To compliment the display is an introductory panel, written as part of the student internship, and a Spotify playlist (curated by our intern and Music/AV curator) celebrating 50 years of the Split Enz, and the band members’ subsequent solo work, or work in other bands.
