New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition (1889)

The New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition was an international exhibition held in Dunedin, New Zealand from 26 November 1889 to 19 April 1890.

The main fair building of the exhibition, Dunedin

Organization

D. H. Hasting proposed the hosting of an international exhibition in Dunedin, New Zealand to celebrate the golden jubilee in 1890 of the proclamation of British sovereignty over New Zealand in 1840. A meeting was held on 25 October 1888 to form an organizing committee. John Roberts was elected president and Richard Twopeny, executive commissioner.^[1] Alfred Lee Smith was one of the directors of the exhibition.^[2] The national government officially recognized the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition, and granted £10,000 for its organization.^[3]

 

Plan of the various exhibition areas

Architecture

A site of about 121 acres was donated by the Otago Harbour Board, bounded by Crawford, Anderson's Bay, Cumberland, and Jervois Streets. The main building was designed by James Hislop and built by contractors McMath and Walker of Invercargill. The building consisted of several annexes and halls forming an irregular quadrilateral with its longest side measuring 1,162 feet and a total width of 465 feet. A huge dome 50 feet in diameter rose 80 feet above the main entrance and was covered in eight tons of lead.^[4][5]

 

Interior views of the exhibition halls

The main building was described as being of Moorish design. Inside, there were large arches draped with velvet curtains and bordered by wooden spandrels decorated with New Zealand ferns and flowers, mirrors and baskets of flowers, and a multi-coloured decorated ceiling.^[4] Friezes above the arches were decorated with inspiring mottoes on gold backgrounds: Fax mentis incendium gloriæ (Glory is the torch of the mind); Forti omne solum patria (The man of courage makes every land his home); Virtutem sequitur gloria (Merit wins credit); and Labor omnia vincit improbus (Incessant toil conquers all).^[4] A statue of Queen Victoria stood on a pedestal directly under the dome.^[4]

The exhibition

The exhibition was opened on 26 November 1889 by Governor Lord Onslow. The fair celebrated industry and products from New Zealand and overseas. Places represented included Mauritius, Canada, Costa Rica, United States, Ceylon, Japan, Syria, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Cook Islands, Fiji, Hawaii, New Guinea, New Hebrides, New South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland, Samoa, Solomon Islands, South Australia, Tonga, Victoria, and Western Australia.^[6]

Exhibitions included New Zealand's Eiffel Tower, a 40-metre-high (130 ft) wooden structure built by the Austral Otis Elevator Company, based on the newly-erected Eiffel Tower in Paris.^[7] The tower was estimated to cost £1200. An elevator ascended about 30 m up the tower, and there were four landings where people could alight. The elevator could carry 16 people at a time, for a fee of sixpence per adult.^[8][9] A smaller Eiffel Tower about 12 m (40 ft) high, without an elevator, was situated in an adjacent garden area near the internal courtyard of the exhibition. It was used for displaying whisky.^[10][11] Another very popular attraction was the switchback railway, similar to a roller coaster, which swooped up and down inclines on a 122-metre long (400 ft ) track.^[12][13] At the 'Anthropometrical Laboratory', visitors could have tests such as lung capacity, eyesight, and strength and have their body measurements analysed.^[14]

During the 125 days the exhibition was open there was an attendance of 625,248, before the exhibition closed on 19 April 1890.^[15] The exhibition made a profit of almost £900, which was distributed amongst the shareholders of the organising body, the New Zealand Exhibition Company.^[16]

After the exhibition closed, the various buildings and fittings were sold off or demolished and the site was cleared.^[17][18] One of the last existing sections of the exhibition an octagonal tower, made of timber and corrugated iron, which was sold and removed to a farm at Kuri Bush near Dunedin. It was used for many years as housing for cows and chickens and as a haybarn, gradually becoming more decayed. The structure collapsed in strong winds in November 2015.^[19]

John Roberts was awarded the Companionship of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1891 for his services as president of the exhibition.^[20]

A book was published on the occasion of the exhibition, titled Picturesque Dunedin. It was edited by Alexander Bathgate, and gave a description of Dunedin and its neighbourhood, with a short historical account of the city and its principal institutions.^[21]

References

1. "The Dunedin exhibition". Evening Post. 24 November 1888. Retrieved 15 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
2. "Obituary". Otago Daily Times. No. 16994. 3 May 1917. p. 6. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
3. Pelle, Findling, ed. (2008). "Appendix B:Fair Statistics". Encyclopedia of World's Fairs and Expositions. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 414. ISBN 9780786434169.
4. "The exhibition building". Otago Daily Times. 20 March 1889. Retrieved 15 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
5. "The exhibition building". Otago Daily Times. 26 November 1889. Retrieved 17 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
6. "Evening Star newspaper". Papers Past. 26 November 1889. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
7. "New Zealand's Eiffel Tower". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
8. "Opening of the Eiffel Tower". Otago Daily Times. 18 December 1889. Retrieved 20 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
9. Wolf, Erika (2011). "The Eiffel Towers in Dunedin: stereo photography and modernity at the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition, 1889-1890". In Wolf, Erika; Wanhalla, Angela (eds.). Early New Zealand Photography: Images and Essays, 1839-1918. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press. p. 97. ISBN 9781877578168.
10. "New Zealand's own Eiffel Tower open". (Ministry for Culture and Heritage). Retrieved 12 November 2011.
11. "British and foreign exhibits: Scotch whisky". Otago Daily Times. 21 January 1890. Retrieved 20 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
12. "Exhibition notes". Otago Daily Times. 29 November 1889. Retrieved 17 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
13. "Exhibition news". Otago Witness. 7 November 1889. Retrieved 17 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
14. "The Anthropometrical Laboratory". Otago Witness. 2 January 1890. Retrieved 20 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
15. "The closing of the exhibition". Evening Star. 21 April 1890. Retrieved 17 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
16. "[untitled]". Otago Witness. 5 February 1891. Retrieved 17 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
17. "Sales by auction [advertisement]". Otago Daily Times. 13 May 1890. Retrieved 18 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
18. "[untitled]". Nelson Evening Mail. 1 July 1890. Retrieved 18 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
19. Gibb, John (11 November 2015). "Winds bring down historic building". Otago Daily Times Online News. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
20. "Mr. John Roberts". The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]. 1905. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
21. Bathgate, Alexander, ed. (1890). Picturesque Dunedin . Dunedin: Mills, Dick and Co. – via Wikisource.

External links

New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition