The New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition was an international exhibition held in Dunedin, New Zealand from 26 November 1889 to 19 April 1890. A previous exhibition had been held in 1865, the first world's fair in New Zealand, and a later exhibition opened in 1925.
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]
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]
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 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]
There was an attendance of 625,248 during the 125 days the exhibition was open, before it 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 was 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 hay barn, 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]
The Otago Daily Times (ODT) is a newspaper published by Allied Press Ltd in Dunedin, New Zealand. The ODT is one of the country's four main daily newspapers, serving the southern South Island with a circulation of around 26,000 and a combined print and digital annual audience of 304,000. Founded in 1861 it is New Zealand's oldest surviving daily newspaper – Christchurch's The Press, six months older, was a weekly paper until March 1863.
Otago Polytechnic is a public New Zealand tertiary education institute, centred in Dunedin with additional campuses in Cromwell and Auckland. Otago Polytechnic provides career-focused education and training, offering a range of New Zealand accredited postgraduate qualifications, degrees, diplomas and certificates at levels 2–10. In November 2022, it became a business unit of the national mega polytechnic Te Pūkenga, ending its existence as an independent entity.
Robert Arthur Lawson was one of New Zealand's pre-eminent 19th century architects. The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography states that he did more than any other designer to shape the face of the Victorian era architecture of the city of Dunedin. He is the architect of over forty churches, including Dunedin's First Church for which he is best remembered, but also other buildings, such as Larnach Castle, a country house, with which he is also associated.
The New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition was a world's fair held in Dunedin, New Zealand, from 17 November 1925 until 1 May 1926, which celebrated that country and the South Seas. It was the third such exhibition held in Dunedin, with earlier exhibitions in 1865 and 1889. The exhibition had over 3 million visitors. It had added a new 'Special Exhibits' section focusing on art and craftwork made by women, a breakthrough that lifted the profile of women's art and craftwork.
St Joseph's Cathedral is the cathedral for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dunedin. It is located in City Rise in the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. It serves as the seat of the bishop of the Latin Church Diocese of Dunedin, which was erected on 26 November 1869.
David Pinkerton was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for Dunedin City, in the South Island.
Caversham is one of the older suburbs (neighbourhoods) of the city of Dunedin, in New Zealand's South Island. It is sited at the western edge of the city's central plain at the mouth of the steep Caversham Valley, which rises to the saddle of Lookout Point. Major road and rail routes south lie nearby; the South Island Main Trunk railway runs through the suburb, and a bypass skirts its main retail area, connecting Dunedin's one-way street system with the Dunedin Southern Motorway. The suburb is linked by several bus routes to its neighbouring suburbs and central Dunedin.
Albert John Turnbull was a New Zealand cricketer who played a single first-class match for Otago during the 1896–97 season.
Leonard Montague Harris was an Australian-born cricketer. He played first-class cricket in New Zealand for Otago and Wellington between the 1881–82 and 1893–94 seasons.
Choie Sew Hoy also known as Charles Sew Hoy was a New Zealand merchant, Chinese leader, gold-dredger and a New Zealand Business Hall of Fame laureate. He was born in the village of Sha Kong in the Poon Yu District of Guangdong Province, China in about 1838.
Alfred Lee Smith was a Yorkshire-born businessman from Dunedin, New Zealand. He was a member of the member of the New Zealand Legislative Council for one term from 1898 to 1905.
Joseph Barnes Borton was a New Zealand goldfields warden and cricketer. Along with William Gilbert Rees, Gibson Turton, James Fulton, and Herbert Kissling, he is credited with reviving interest in cricket in Otago in the 1860s.
Daniel Patrick Claffey was a New Zealand sportsman. He played two first-class cricket matches for Otago, one in each of the 1888–89 and 1889–90 seasons, and played provincial rugby union for the Otago side.
Allen Clyde Holden was a New Zealand cricketer. He played two first-class matches for Otago, one in each of the 1937–38 and 1939–40 seasons.
Arthur Edmund Symonds was a New Zealand sportsman. He played one first-class match for Otago during the 1926–27 season.
Surefoot was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire whose exceptional racing ability was combined with a violent and unpredictable temperament. As a juvenile in 1889 he was regarded as the best colt of his generation in England after winning three of his four races including the Woodcote Stakes and New Stakes. He also demonstrated his precocity by reportedly siring a foal as a two-year-old. In 1890 he was an emphatic winner of the 2000 Guineas but despite being regarded as a near certainty for the Epsom Derby he finished fourth after spending much of the race attempting to savage other horses and jockeys. He went on to win a minor race at Royal Ascot and later defeated a strong field to take the valuable Prince of Wales' Stakes at Leicester Racecourse. As a four-year-old he showed little worthwhile form early in the season but returned to his best to win the Eclipse Stakes. After his retirement from racing he stood as a breeding stallion in England and France but had limited success as a sire of winners.
Semolina was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. Bred and owned by the 6th Duke of Portland, she was one of the best two-year-olds in England in 1889 when she won thirteen times from fifteen races. In the following spring she recorded her biggest success when she won the 1000 Guineas. She went on to run fourth in the Oaks Stakes and third in the Coronation Stakes, but never won again and was retired from racing at the end of the year. She had modest success as a dam of winners.
Lily Attey Daff was a British-born designer and artist who worked in New Zealand and published watercolour paintings and line drawings of many native New Zealand birds and flowers.
The Colonial Bank of New Zealand was a trading bank headquartered in Dunedin, New Zealand which operated independently for more than 20 years. A public company listed on the local stock exchanges it was owned and controlled by New Zealand entrepreneurs and not London or Australian bankers. Still subject to the same vicissitudes as its fellow colonial banks it was bought by the Bank of New Zealand in 1895.
Dunedin Symphony Orchestra is a professional symphony orchestra based in Dunedin, New Zealand. It hosts an annual subscription series of concerts in the Dunedin Town Hall, performing repertoire from the Classical, Romantic and contemporary periods. It also regularly accompanies Dunedin stage performances by the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Opera Otago and City Choir Dunedin.
The New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition, Dunedin, 1889-1890
