2017: The Class of 2017
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On 23 September, 2017, New Zealand’s 17 day General Election finally came to an end. We stopped having a single Election Day in 2008 and shifted to a Prolonged Campaigning model or what the politicians tell us to call “Advance Voting.” In 2017 48% of votes were cast WHILE voters were under the influence of active […]
Read more..October 9, 2023
1921: Christchurch Electric Car Fleet
By AHNZ
By 1921 Christchurch had a fleet of 48 private and council electric vehicles. Every one of them paraded for this photo that year. A good city for electric cars because Canterbury is flat and had a good power supply. The local MED offered discount rates for charging batteries overnight and this encouraged more users. This […]
Read more..March 24, 2024
1988: Richard and Judy
By AHNZ
Worship the anthropocentric hardware of the teleprompter… “Much of the attention focused on newsreaders, their jobs being about as simple as any known to mankind. A stop-go sign holder at roadworks literally has more intellectual demands placed on him or her than someone robotically reading the lines from a screen. This celebrity treatment of newsreaders […]
Read more..May 11, 2025
1980: Jones on Progeny
By AHNZ
The famous New Zealander, Bob Jones (1939- 2/May/2025) has just died. Businessman, writer, commentator, teacher, humorist, art collector. Only weeks ago he was writing articles and giving long radio interviews. He said he purchased books in triplicate for his 3 libraries in his houses around the world that he would flit between. He had a […]
Read more..May 7, 2025
1903: Canterbury Weka Wiped Out
By AHNZ
Amusing to see that a woodhen managed to hop a ride coast to coast. From an Inangahua campsite on the West Coast it jumped into the vehicle of some campers who discovered the bird when they returned to Christchurch. No weka, aka New Zealand hen, aka Maori hen have been in the wild in Canterbury […]
Read more..May 6, 2025
1866: Engelbrecht’s Ending
By AHNZ
With regret we read that the old Engelbrecht farm at Bennetts (Oxford) is being surrendered after being in the family since about 1866. This time it’s voluntary. The first farm was taken by the flooding Waimakariri. Engelbrecht was ruined and had to start over. Now his second property, Island Farm, previously known as Pine Tree […]
Read more..April 30, 2025
1915: You Go
By AHNZ
“Not I,” said the dog. “Not I,” said the pig. “Not I,” said the cow. Oh, but then who should go to fight this Great War? Some folks inherit star-spangled eyes Hoo, they send you down to war, Lord And when you ask ’em, “How much should we give?” Hoo, they only answer, “More, more, […]
Read more..April 25, 2025
1882: Dye’s Slaughterhouse
By AHNZ
Dye’s Slaughterhouse, Kaukapakapa. Est. c.1882. An iconic road-side feature on SHW16….has now fallen. Cyclone Tam’s remnants in April 2025 took it out at long last after over 140 years. Back in the 1860s and 1870s the way to get stock in and out of the district was by accessing the Kaipara Harbour. It was once […]
Read more..April 18, 2025
1916: St George’s Bay
By AHNZ
An early aerial shot of Auckland Central from 1916, taken from a New Zealand Flying School aircraft. The harbor dredge is in the foreground of what was St George’s Bay. It has been reclaimed from the sea but was named after George Cooper, Hobson’s taxman. Behind we can see Albert Park (walled off?) and the […]
Read more..April 17, 2025
1817: Tohunga Jack
By AHNZ
New Zealand, by 1867, was out of its pioneering era and into a new time period AHNZ calls the Colonial Saeculum. There was a Crisis due to the withdrawal of the Gold Rushes and Maori Wars that we had now come out on the other side of. For now we were doing well as a […]
Read more..April 14, 2025
1893: Christchurch Savage Club
By AHNZ
The Christchurch Savage Club dates from 13 April 1893. A colonial off-shoot of the London Savage Club founded in 1857 by a group of authors, journalists and artists. A male social entertainment club for those with an interest in literature, music and art. However, this gentleman’s club was very different in that they were not […]
Read more..April 13, 2025
