Tag Archives: New Zealand history

May 1907 – This month last century

18 May 2011 – 2.48pm

104 years ago, a society for the promotion of health among women and children – known today as Plunket – was formed (14 May 1907)

Sir Truby King, C.M.G., circa 1935, Tripe, M. E. R. (1870–1939). Gift of Karitane Products Society, 1936. Te Papa

Sir Truby King, C.M.G., circa 1935, Tripe, M. E. R. (1870–1939). Gift of Karitane Products Society, 1936. Te Papa

In May 1907, Dr Truby King (above), the director of the Seacliff Lunatic Asylum near Dunedin, addressed a large gathering of women in the town hall. His topic was ‘The Promotion of Health Among Women and Children’. At the end of the meeting, a voluntary society dedicated to this goal was formed.

One of the society’s aims was ‘to stimulate interest and to raise the standard of knowledge and thought among women on all matters affecting the health of themselves and their children’. It began at a time when there were concerns about low birth rates amongst Pakeha and the rate of infant mortality. These concerns were reflected in the society’s motto: ‘to help the mothers and save the babies’.

Book, ’Baby Record’, Royal New Zealand Plunket Society Inc. New Zealand. Gift of the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society Inc, 2010. Te Papa

Book, ’Baby Record’, Royal New Zealand Plunket Society Inc. New Zealand. Gift of the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society Inc, 2010. Te Papa

Truby King advocated a more scientific approach to childcare. As part of this philosophy he promoted breastfeeding; he considered breast milk ‘perfect food – the baby’s birthright’. For those babies who could not be fed this way, King developed a formula to add to cow’s milk. In King’s words, ‘Every infant who cannot be suckled in the natural way is entitled to receive properly modified milk’. His formula ‘humanised’ cow’s milk and brought its composition closer to that of mother’s milk.  The apparatus pictured below was used to modify or ‘humanise’ milk.

Milk Humanizer, circa 1900. Te Papa

Milk Humanizer, circa 1900. Te Papa

Dedicated Plunket and Karitane nurses were trained to carry out the society’s work in the community. Providing advice for mothers and measuring and weighing babies (see Plunket room scales below) in order to chart their development, have always been important components of Plunket nurses’ work.

Scales, Plunket, Wellington Scale Co. New Zealand. Gift of the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society Inc, 2010. Te Papa

Scales, Plunket, Wellington Scale Co. New Zealand. Gift of the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society Inc, 2010. Te Papa

In 1908, the society gained an important patroness: Lady Victoria Plunket, the wife of the Governor General. Lady Plunket was a mother of eight and two of her sisters were involved in nursing in Britain. She promoted the society around the country, as well as a special pram (below) which allowed air to circulate around babies. Fresh and sunshine were considered essential for healthy babies.

Leaflet, "Ventilated Perambulator", Royal New Zealand Plunket Society Inc. Gift of the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society Inc, 2010. Te Papa

Leaflet, "Ventilated Perambulator", Royal New Zealand Plunket Society Inc. Gift of the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society Inc, 2010. Te Papa

Today, Plunket still provides support for parents and babies, its philosophies evolving over the 100 plus years that it has been operating. Most New Zealanders will have a Plunket book tucked away somewhere as evidence of their pre-school milestones.

Te Papa has collected historic material from Plunket which you can see on Collections Online, and you can read more about Plunket and child health and welfare in the exhibition minisite for Slice of Heaven.
 
There is also more about Plunket on NZHistory.net.nz and on the National Library’s website.

Read a biography of Truby King and Lady Plunket: Melanie Oppenheimer ‘“Hidden under many bushels”: Lady Victoria Plunket and the New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children’, New Zealand Journal of History, vol.39, no.1 April 2005, pp. 22-38.

By Kirstie Ross | Posted in Collections Online, History, Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (5)

April 1921: This month last century

27 April 2011 – 2.58pm
 

 

Model Tooth (Human), 1900s, Maker unknown. Gift of the Wellington School Dental Service Training School, Department of Health, 1994. Te Papa
Model Tooth (Human), 1900s, Maker unknown. Gift of the Wellington School Dental Service Training School, Department of Health, 1994. Te Papa
 90 years ago: the first intake of School Dental Service nurses began their training (4 April 1921).
 
The School Dental Service was a response to the dreadful condition of recruits’ teeth observed by dentists in the Army Dental Corps during WWI. Colonel Hunter, leader of the Corps, returned from war prepared to wage another one against the nation’s appalling dental health.
 
He devised a scheme of free preventative dental health care for primary school children. This scheme would be administered by the Education Department and implemented by specially trained dental nurses. 
 
Early intervention and dental education would see an end to the terrible state of the nation’s teeth. The Minister of Education declared that the dental nurses ‘would be privileged to take part in the task of eradicating this great evil’. 
 
In December 1920, newspapers advertised places for 30 probationer dental nurses. In April, 35 out of the 120 applicants began their two-year training programe. To begin with, the trainees used equipment that had been used by the Dental Corps during the previous war. 29 finished their training in 1923. That year, the country’s first school dental clinic opened in HawkesBay. By 1965, 1116 clinics were operating under the supervision of 1045 dental nurses.
 
Visiting the ‘Murder House’, as dental clinics came to be known, was an experience shared by generations of New Zealand children. Eventually the service was transferred to the Department of Health but was wound up in the early 1990s. A collection of equipment, uniforms and teaching material from the Wellington training school was transferred to Te Papa after it closed.
 
Check out Collections Online for examples from the School Dental Service collection.
 
Go to the Slice of Heaven mini-site to read more about the importance of dental health in New Zealand’s programme of social welfare.
By Kirstie Ross | Posted in Collections Online, Exhibitions, History, Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (2)

March 1909: This month last century

30 March 2011 – 9.53am

102 years ago: Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward announces that New Zealand will gift a ‘first-class battleship’ to the Royal Navy (22 March 1909).

Prime Minister Ward was positioning New Zealand as a loyal and active participant in the defence of the British Empire. This was a time of increasing naval rivalry among the world’s leading nations. There was great anxiety in Britain and the Empire about emerging threats to the Royal Navy’s supremacy.

HMS New Zealand, 1910s, New Zealand. Te Papa

HMS New Zealand, 1910s, New Zealand. Te Papa

The New Zealand government borrowed heavily to pay for the war ship (pictured above) which visited New Zealand in April and May 1913. Huge crowds turned out to greet the new battle cruiser, HMS New Zealand, described by one observer as a ‘grim and formiddble fighting machine’. Many gifts were presented to the ship’s crew, including a pair of silver kettle drums (or timpani), one of which is seen here.

Kettle Drum, 1913, Hawkes and Son (1860–1930), London. Te Papa

Kettle Drum, 1913, Hawkes and Son (1860–1930), London. Te Papa

HMS New Zealand was ready in time to serve in the ‘European War’ which began in August 1914. The ship participated in the Battle of Jutland, an important sea battle in the North Sea near Denmark. The 1916 battle is commemorated in the embroidered picture shown below.

Embroidered picture ’Victory for the Allies’, 1916, Maker unknown. Purchased 2007. Te Papa

Embroidered picture ’Victory for the Allies’, 1916, Maker unknown. Purchased 2007. Te Papa

The ship’s duty was done by the 1920s. It was decommissioned and scrapped in 1922. But the debt remained and the country was still paying off the loan at the end of WWII.

See more objects related to HMS New Zealand in Te Papa’s collections.

See a model of HMS New Zealand and read about its role in imperial relations, on the Slice of Heaven minisite.

By Kirstie Ross | Posted in Collections Online, Exhibitions, History, Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Dame Judith Binney 1940-2011

11 March 2011 – 9.43am
Boots, woman’s, 1973, Maker unknown, Menorca. Gift of Judith Binney, 2005. Te Papa

Boots, woman’s, 1973, Maker unknown, Menorca. Gift of Judith Binney, 2005. Te Papa

This pair of boots belonged to historian Dame Judith Binney, who will be remembered for her monumental contributions to New Zealand history over the last four decades through her writing, research and teaching.

These boots were the historian’s favourites, and had a colourful history of their own. The question is: who will fill them now, after her untimely death last month?

Judith Binney was an important figure in my own pursuit of history. In 1994, I was a student in a history paper that she taught at Auckland University. The course was about colonial encounters in Mexico and Peru. Her lectures were totally absorbing; the entire class was transfixed by Judy’s charismatic presence and presentation of the past. She did not chronicle conquest but highlighted survival, resilience and individual agency. Her approach opened new historical vistas for me and, as a result, I was hooked on history.

Tomorrow, Te Papa will commemorate Dame Judith’s life and her significant contributions to New Zealand history.

Further details about the commemoration are on Te Papa’s website.

Read more about Judith Binney’s life in a blog on Te Ara by Jock Phillips.

By Kirstie Ross | Posted in Collections Online, Events, History | Also tagged , , | Comments (5)

February 1950: This month last century

23 February 2011 – 5.48pm

Empire Games are held in Auckland, 4-11 February 1950

1950 Empire Games commemorative cup, 1950, Crown Lynn Potteries Ltd (1948–1991), Shufflebotham, Ernest (1908–1984), Auckland. Purchased 1998 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa

1950 Empire Games commemorative cup, 1950, Crown Lynn Potteries Ltd (1948–1991), Shufflebotham, Ernest (1908–1984), Auckland. Purchased 1998 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa

The cup above was produced by Crown Lynn as a souvenir of the Auckland games, which 590 athletes from 12 nations attended.  

New Zealand came third in the medal tally with 54 medals: 10 gold, 22 silver and 22 bronze. Golds were won in boxing, lawn bowls, rowing, swimming, weightlifting, and athletics.

Yvette Williams won a gold medal in the long jump. Two years later at Helsinki in Finland, she became the first New Zealand woman to win an Olympic gold medal.

The Empire Games were first held in Canada in 1930. Since then they have been held every four years, although there was a 12-year gap gap after 1938 due to the Second World War. They are now called the Commonwealth Games and sometimes ‘The Friendly Games’.

The countries that compete in the games are members of the British Commonwealth, previously known as the British Empire. New Zealand, as a member of both, has been present every time the games have been held.

Empire Games medal, 1934, Phillips, F. England. Gift of Douglas Crump, 2009. Te Papa

Empire Games medal, 1934, Phillips, F. England. Gift of Douglas Crump, 2009. Te Papa

The bronze medal above was awarded to swimmer Noel Crump at the second games held in London in 1934, when he came third in the 100 yards freestyle event.

New Zealand hosted the tenth Commonwealth Games in Christchurch in 1974. These games were televised and reached a wide audience who enjoyed colour on their tv sets for the first time.  There was also an official Games pop song, ‘Join Together’, which reached no. 2 on the pop charts.

Coasters, ’Xth British Commonwealth Games’, 1974, Maker unknown, New Zealand. Gift of Jan Sammons, 2008. Te Papa

Coasters, ’Xth British Commonwealth Games’, 1974, Maker unknown, New Zealand. Gift of Jan Sammons, 2008. Te Papa

The distinctive games logo was created by Wellington designer Colin Simon. It cleverly referenced NZ, X (the Roman numeral for 10), and the Union Jack (Britain’s flag). The logo appeared on official team uniforms and souvenirs alike.

Auckland hosted the Games again in 1990. These were New Zealand’s most successful, in terms of the number of medals won.

The 1990 games were part of New Zealand’s sesquicentennial. This was the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, which saw New Zealand become a colony and part of the British Empire.

Read more about New Zealand and its relationship with the British Empire in Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa. 

By Kirstie Ross | Posted in Collections Online, History, Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (4)

Curious curios: I show – you tell!

10 November 2010 – 9.43am

This Saturday at 12 noon, you can bring along a treasured object to the Marae on level 4 at Te Papa where curators and an antique dealer will look at it and tell you a bit more about it. 

Or you might have a mystery item lurking in your garage or in the back of a cupboard that you’ve always wanted to know more about. We’ll rack out brains to come up with an answer!

Or just come along and be intrigued and amazed at some the things that come out of the woodwork. Read more about the Antiques: You Show – We Tell event here. (If you’re bringing something along, remember to register it at the Wellington Foyer at 11.30 am.)

Mystery item 1, 1800s, PC002789, Te Papa

Mystery item 1, 1800s, PC002789, Te Papa

I was looking through Te Papa’s history collections and spotted some pretty mysterious and weird-looking things. Here are three to begin with – see if you can guess what they are or what they were used for.

Mystery item 2, 1900s, GH002299, Te Papa

Mystery item 2, 1900s, GH002299, Te Papa

 

Here’s a hint – you can find them all on our collection database, Collections Online. 

Keep reading the blog – I’ll have more curious curios to challenge you with tomorrow.

Mystery item 3, 1800-1852, GH003203, Te Papa

Mystery item 3, 1800-1852, GH003203, Te Papa

And check out the astroturf room in our new exhibition, Slice of Heaven: 20th Centure Aotearoa, where you can explore even more treasures and oddities from the 1900s.

By Kirstie Ross | Posted in Collections Online, Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (3)

November 1918: This month last century

8 November 2010 – 4.47pm

92 years ago – an armistice (truce) between Germany and the Allies was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest in France (11 November 1918).

The armistice marked the end of fighting in World War One on the Western Front in France and Belgium. This occurred on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Back home, New Zealanders took to the streets to celebrate the event.

The armistice marked the end of fighting in World War One on the Western Front in France and Belgium. This occurred on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Back home, New Zealanders took to the streets to celebrate the event.

Mr W G Vickers dressed up as John Bull at Levin's Armistice Celebrations, 13 November 1918, Leslie Adkin (1888–1964), Levin. Gift of Adkin Family, 1997. Te Papa

However, the joyful moment was diminished by the influenza pandemic sweeping through the country and the loss of over 12,000 lives during the war.

Peace with Germany was not officially settled until the Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919. New Zealand photographer Bert Green was in London at the time at and took photos of the celebrations.

Untitled (women dancing), 1919, Bert Green, Green and Hahn. Purchased 1999 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa

Two women celebrating the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, 28 June 1919, Bert Green. Purchased 1999 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa

See a pressure sprayer that was used to fight the flu in 1918

See a poster that celebrated the Peace in 1919

Read more about events and objects from November 1918 in Collections Online

By Kirstie Ross | Posted in Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (9)
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