Tag Archives: royalty

June 1901 – This month last century

30 June 2011 – 6.05pm

110 years ago the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York visit New Zealand (10-27 June 1901)

A royal tour of New Zealand was mooted by arch-imperialist Premier Richard Seddon in 1897, during the Diamond (60th) anniversary of Queen Victoria’s accession to the throne.

Flag, Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, 1897, Maker unknown, New Zealand. Purchased 2004. Te Papa

Flag, Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, 1897, Maker unknown, New Zealand. Purchased 2004. Te Papa

By 1900, such a visit had assumed greater importance. By this date, New Zealand was involved in the war in South Africa and supporters of a royal visit believed that it would encourage and reward New Zealand’s loyalty to the British Empire and its campaign against the Boers.

Queen Victoria agreed to her grandson, the Duke of Cornwall and York, making a tour of the colony, although she did not live to see the Duke and his wife embark on this trip.

Invitation to ’Maori demonstration’ at Rotorua for the Royal Tour, New Zealand, 1901, White, Benoni (1858–1950), A. D. Willis, New Zealand. Purchased 2001. Te Papa

Invitation to ’Maori demonstration’ at Rotorua for the Royal Tour, New Zealand, 1901, White, Benoni (1858–1950), A. D. Willis, New Zealand. Purchased 2001. Te Papa

The royal couple, who would later reign as George V and Queen Mary, arrived in New Zealand five months after the death of Victoria. They stopped in the four main centres: Auckland, Wellington, Chrischurch, and Dunedin. They also went to a hui in Rotorua where a ‘Grand Carnival of the Tribes’ took place. The invitation above was designed for the event.

Triumphal arches punctuated the routes of the royal processions through these towns. The one featured in this image was sponsored by the Dairy Association of New Zealand and was made from butter boxes.

Royal Visit - Butter, 19.06.1901, Maker unknown, Wellington. Te Papa

Royal Visit - Butter, 19.06.1901, Maker unknown, Wellington. Te Papa

Foliage, garlands and bunting also lined the streets. Electric lights were arranged on buildings to spell out patriotic messages. In Wellington, 2,400 adorned the Post Office. This was described as ‘the greatest effort of electric illuminations ever achieved in the colony’.

School children, many of whom created ‘living flags’ in the form of Union Jacks, received special tokens of the visit. The Duke reviewed soldiers and presented medals to veterans from the South African War. The invitation below was for a review held in Potter’s Park in Auckland.

Invitation, 1901, Hawcridge, Robert (1866–1920), J Wilkie and Company, Dunedin. Purchased 2004. Te Papa

Invitation, 1901, Hawcridge, Robert (1866–1920), J Wilkie and Company, Dunedin. Purchased 2004. Te Papa

New Zealanders received the Duke and Duchess enthusiastically. As the journalist assigned to the tour wrote: the couple experienced ’a thousand miles of loyalty’ as they journedy through the colony.

Read more about how New Zealanders greeted the royal couple in Judith Bassett, ‘A Thousand Miles of Loyalty, New Zealand Journal of History, 1987.

See the Slice of Heaven website for more details about imperial loyalty in New Zealand at the beginning of the 20th century.

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

Public talk: Textiles and the State Bed

4 April 2011 – 8.44am

The museum sector is currently gearing up to its annual conference in Nelson in a couple of weeks. I am particularly excited about this year’s conference as one of my most favourite historians is making an appearance as a keynote speaker - Annabel Westman. Annabel is also going to present three public talks (Auckland, Nelson and Wellington) which will be a must for anyone interested in textiles, furnishings and/or English history.

Annabel Westman is freelance textile historian whose clients include heritage bodies such as English Heritage, The National Trust, Historic Royal Palaces, The Victoria and Albert Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

At Te Papa, Justine Olsen, Curator of Contemporary Decorative Arts and myself, have been lucky enough to be recipiants of a small part of her vast wealth of knowledge as attendees of the Attingham Trust Summer School in the UK, and as such we can recommend her as a fascinating and engaging speaker.

Perhaps fittingly, as we build up to the first English Royal wedding of the century , Annabel’s lecture topic is the sumptuous  ‘State Bed’ – a site of romance, intrigue and most of all, politics.  

The Melville state bed, c. 1697, Victoria and Albert Museum

‘Splendid Magnificence: Textiles and the State Bed in the English Country House’

 A remarkable number of state beds survive in the English country house which give a glimpse into a lost world of sumptuous splendour and ceremony. The majority date between 1670 and 1730 when they were regarded as great symbols of prestige and status. Money was lavished on their textile hangings making them easily the single most expensive item of furniture in the fashionable and wealthy household.

Annabel will be speaking at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, Auckland Monday 11 April, 6pm (09 309 0443),  The Suter Gallery (Theatre), Nelson   Wednesday13 April, 6.30pm (Bookings: info@thesuter.org.nz  Tel: 03 548 4699) and of course at Te Papa’s Soundings Theatre,Wellington  Sunday 17 April, 4.30pm  (Bookings: friends@tepapa.govt.nz   Tel: 04 381 7051).

Admission: Public $15 , Friends of MA, Suter, Te Papa and Auckland Museum $10

ANNABEL WESTMAN’S VISIT HAS BEEN ORGANISED BY MUSEUMS AOTEAROA

By Claire Regnault | Posted in Events, History | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)

December 1953: This month last century

19 December 2010 – 5.09pm

57 years ago – Queen Elizabeth arrives in Auckland, becoming the country’s first reigning monarch to visit New Zealand (23 December 1953)

The Queen and her husband, Prince Philip, arrived in New Zealand just before Christmas in 1953 for a 39-day tour. In the past, only sons or brothers of monarchs had visited the country, such as the Duke of Cornwall and York who visited in 1901. The Duke was the son of King Edward VII and grandson of the late Queen Victoria.

GH009568 Invitation to the hui at Rotorua put on for the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York, 1901, by Benoni White. Te Papa.

 New Zealanders had been waiting patiently to see a reigning royal in their homeland. At long last, over the summer of 1953-1954, we had the opportunity to express our loyalty to the Queen and the British Commonwealth.

It was as if all our Christmases had come at once. Altogether about three-quarters of New Zealand waved Union Jacks and craned their necks to catch a glimpse of the newly-crowned Queen Elizabeth II.

A.008487 The Queen at the Basin Reserve, Wellington, 16 January 1954 by Leslie Adkin. Te Papa

Finally, the Queen was face-to-face with her subjects. Her Christmas message, broadcast from Auckland, touched on the importance of this:

‘I want to show that the Crown is not merely an abstract symbol of our unity but a personal and living bond between you and me.’

Elizabeth and Philip had sailed south to New Zealand after visiting Fiji and Tonga. Brian Brake took personal photographs of this leg of their tour, while he was covering it for the National Film Unit.

CT.045267 Fiji - Royal Tour 1953 by Brian Brake. Gift of Raymond Wai-man Lau. Te Papa

The Queen’s first port of call in New Zealand was Auckland. According to one newspaper, the day she arrived ‘was the best day in Auckland’s history’.

While they were in New Zealand, the Queen and Prince Phillip passed through 46 towns and cities from the Far North to Bluff. And after the Queen and Prince Philip sailed off in the Gothic, the Prime Minster Sid Holland proclaimed that ‘New Zealand has known nothing like this before’ – and probably not since.

GH13242 Beer tankard made as a souvenir for the 1953-54 royal tour. Te Papa

Many New Zealanders made or bought souvenirs to keep the memories of the royal summer alive. There were tour souvenirs to suit all tastes and budgets. Regardless of a souvenir’s cost or quality, all were treasured keep-sakes of a glorious royal summer.

Collections Online has a selection of souvenirs from the 1953-54 royal visit and the 1953 Coronation.

Visit the Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa mini-site for more about these topics.

By Kirstie Ross | Posted in Collections Online, Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Recent acquisition: Tongan fangufangu (nose flute)

10 August 2010 – 2.59pm

In March 2009, Te Papa was gifted a small but significant collection of objects from Derek J. Wilson. This collection included two Tongan fangufangu or nose flutes that were made from bamboo.

Fangufangu (nose flute); Te Papa: Gift of Derek J. Wilson, 2009

Fangufangu (nose flute); Te Papa; Gift of Derek J. Wilson, 2009

Historically, fangufangu were used to awaken the Tongan royalty from their sleep. The newly acquired fangufangu, have intact nodes at each end, forming a sealed cylinder. Around one of the fangufangu are burnt and incised images of birds, ships, human figures and the words “Vavau” and “Tuanuku”. Tuanuku is a coastal village located in the Vavau group of islands. This fangufangu, possibly records the coming and going of European ships in the harbour area in the 19th century. These are a welcome addition to the collection, as examples documenting a slice of Tongan history.

Click on the link to view the playing of fangufangu during Queen Elizabeth II’s royal visit to the Kingdom of Tonga:

Watch Video

By Safua Akeli | Posted in Pacific | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (2)
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