1903: Hokitika Town Clock
June 7, 2019
By AHNZ
This week in history: Hokitika, 3 June 1903, 1.05pm and 1.15pm: The unveiling of the new Hokitika Town Clock.
Also a commemoration of the new King, Edward Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (better change that name to Windsor before WW1 buck’o…).
Especially, to me at least, it is a memorial to Premier Seddon’s bloody politicking by involving us in Britain’s unjust annexation of the Boers. Britain won diamonds and gold, Seddon won the 1899 and 1902 elections (hard to vote out a government while a nation is at war.)
In these 1903 photos there are two scenes, one (left) seems to be 1.05pm. I found this one at West Coast Recollect perhaps during the initial unveiling…
In the second photo (right) Premier Seddon seems to be giving his speech. This photo came out of Anarchist History Archives and shows a time of 1.15pm on the clock. The envelope it came in reads “Hokitika Town Clock. Ceremony. R.J.Seddon.”
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image ref. Colour image taken by me, March 2008
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