New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition (1889)

The main fair building of the exhibition, Dunedin

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

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[Narrator] Dairy farming has formed the basis of Taranaki's economy for over a hundred years. Today, there are around 600,000 cows in the province. The south Taranaki town of Eltham is the birthplace of the province's dairy industry. Once settlers began to acquire land in south Taranaki, much of it still had to be cleared of dense bush. After the settlers felled the forest, the remains were often burnt or simply left to rot. In 1866, a Chinese man called Chew Chong arrived in New Zealand. While travelling in Taranaki, he found an edible fungus growing on newly felled trees. He recognised it as a traditional Chinese gourmet and medicinal food, so began collecting it to ship to China. In 1882 he established a store in Eltham and encouraged locals to collect the fungus, now known as 'Taranaki wool', which they sold to Chong. For the heavily indebted settlers, struggling until their dairy farms were established, this was a useful source of cash. Even better, Taranaki wool could be collected by women and children while men continued their farm work. Chew Chong also accepted farmers' produce, such as butter, to pay for purchases from his shop. In 1885, he sent a small amount of Eltham butter to England, beginning an export trade that would soon become vital for the whole country. In 1887, the entrepreneurial Chong opened one of New Zealand's first dairy factories -- the Jubilee dairy factory near Eltham. He continued to innovate, and received an award for his export butter at the 1889 South Seas Exhibition in Dunedin. Chew Chong's almost singlehanded creation of Taranaki's dairy industry is all the more remarkable given the prejudice against Chinese in New Zealand that existed at the time. Migrants like Chong were required to pay an exorbitant immigration fee, or 'poll tax', of up to £100 to enter New Zealand. Once here they were often treated badly by European settlers, as Chinese were considered 'undesirable' in the new nation. However, Chong, who spoke and wrote English fluently, overcame this prejudice and became a naturalised New Zealander in 1873. He married a local woman two years later. In the 1890s, Taranaki dairy farmers began to form co-operatives to process and sell their milk. By 1901, milking machines had been introduced and the province had over 120 dairy factories producing butter and cheese. The reason that there were so many factories was that cheese factories and others that used whole milk, needed to be close to suppliers. As the twentieth century progressed, improved storage facilities and communications made it more economical to have bigger centralised factories, and the number decreased steadily. By the 1960s, regulations imposed by overseas markets saw many smaller factories further amalgamate, often seriously affecting local communities. In 2008, while there were far fewer dairy factories in Taranaki, over two thousand people were employed in dairy farming, and over 1800 in dairy product manufacturing. If you are interested in seeing a recreation of Chew Chong's Eltham store and a model of his Jubilee Dairy Factory, you can visit the Tawhiti Museum, three kilometres northeast of Hawera. This museum, housed in a converted dairy factory, has an impressive collection of colonial memorabilia, as well as a number of displays depicting Taranaki's past.

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]

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]

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]

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]

References

^ "The Dunedin exhibition". Evening Post. 24 November 1888. Retrieved 15 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
^ "Obituary". Otago Daily Times. No. 16994. 3 May 1917. p. 6. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
^ Pelle, Findling, ed. (2008). "Appendix B:Fair Statistics". Encyclopedia of World's Fairs and Expositions. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 414. ISBN 9780786434169.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "The exhibition building". Otago Daily Times. 20 March 1889. Retrieved 15 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
^ "The exhibition building". Otago Daily Times. 26 November 1889. Retrieved 17 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
^ "Evening Star newspaper". Papers Past. 26 November 1889. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
^ "New Zealand's Eiffel Tower". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
^ "Opening of the Eiffel Tower". Otago Daily Times. 18 December 1889. Retrieved 20 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
^ 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.
^ "New Zealand's own Eiffel Tower open". (Ministry for Culture and Heritage). Retrieved 12 November 2011.
^ "British and foreign exhibits: Scotch whisky". Otago Daily Times. 21 January 1890. Retrieved 20 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
^ "Exhibition notes". Otago Daily Times. 29 November 1889. Retrieved 17 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
^ "Exhibition news". Otago Witness. 7 November 1889. Retrieved 17 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
^ "The Anthropometrical Laboratory". Otago Witness. 2 January 1890. Retrieved 20 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
^ "The closing of the exhibition". Evening Star. 21 April 1890. Retrieved 17 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
^ "[untitled]". Otago Witness. 5 February 1891. Retrieved 17 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
^ "Sales by auction [advertisement]". Otago Daily Times. 13 May 1890. Retrieved 18 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
^ "[untitled]". Nelson Evening Mail. 1 July 1890. Retrieved 18 March 2023 – via Papers Past.
^ Gibb, John (11 November 2015). "Winds bring down historic building". Otago Daily Times Online News. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
^ "Mr. John Roberts". The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]. 1905. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
^ Bathgate, Alexander, ed. (1890). Picturesque Dunedin . Dunedin: Mills, Dick and Co. – via Wikisource.

External links

The New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition, Dunedin, 1889-1890 [1]

World exhibitions

Bureau International des Expositions (BIE)

Retroactively
recognized
expositions

BIE-recognized
Universal
expositions

BIE-recognized
specialized
expositions

BIE-recognized
horticultural
exhibitions (AIPH)

Not BIE-
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Africa	Freetown 1865 Cape Town 1877 Kimberley 1892–1893 Johannesburg 1936–1937
Asia	Calcutta 1883–1884 Hanoi 1902 Nanking 1910 Semarang 1914 Hangzhou 1929 Taihoku (Taipei) 1935 Nagoya 1937 Clark 1998 Shenyang 2006 Chiang Mai 2011–2012 Udon Thani 2026
Europe	London 1760 Dublin 1853 Manchester 1857 Porto 1865 Stockholm 1866 London 1871–1874 Lyon 1872 Vienna 1873 Amsterdam 1883 Liverpool 1886 London 1886 Copenhagen 1888 Glasgow 1888 Frankfurt 1891 Prague 1891 Lyon 1894 Oporto 1894 Berlin 1896 Stockholm 1897 Glasgow 1901 Cork 1902 London 1905 London 1906 Marseille 1906 Dublin 1907 London 1908 Zaragoza 1908 London 1910 Dresden 1911 London 1911 London 1912 Lyon 1914 Cologne 1914 London 1914 Kristiania 1914 Malmö 1914 London 1921 Marseille 1922 Gothenburg 1923 British Empire Exhibition 1924–1925 Antwerp 1930 Stockholm 1930 Paris 1931 Porto 1934 Glasgow 1938 Stockholm 1943
North America	New York City 1826–1897 Bryant Park, New York City 1853 Atlanta 1881 Louisville 1883–1887 New Orleans 1884 Atlanta 1887 San Francisco 1894 Atlanta 1895 Nashville 1897 Omaha 1898 Buffalo 1901 Charleston 1901–1902 Portland, Oregon 1905 Jamestown 1907 Seattle 1909 Knoxville 1913 San Diego 1915–1917 Bronx 1918 Philadelphia 1926 San Diego 1935–1936 Dallas 1936 Cleveland 1936–1937 Dallas 1937 San Francisco 1939–1940 Chicago 1940 New York City 1964–1965
Oceania	Melbourne 1866 Sydney 1870 Melbourne 1875 Brisbane 1876 Sydney 1879 Adelaide 1887 Melbourne 1888 Dunedin 1889 Christchurch 1906 Auckland 1913–1914 Dunedin 1925 Wellington 1939–1940
South America	Lima 1872 Santiago 1875 Quito 1909 Buenos Aires 1910 Rio de Janeiro 1922