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| "The Club House", Maclaggan street, Dunedin, taken 1861. Venue for the 1862 "Industrial Exhibition & Bazaar" [Source : Hocken Collections] |
The Forgotten "Industrial Exhibition" of 1862
Most readers will have heard of the hugely
successful 'New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition' of 1925-1926, some will know of the earlier 'New Zealand and South Seas
Exhibition' held during 1889-1890, and a few readers may even have heard of the
'New Zealand Exhibition' held in 1865, all being held in Dunedin, New Zealand. But I would wager that the majority of
readers will have no knowledge of the first Exhibition held in Dunedin, being
the 'Industrial Exhibition' of 1862. To put this in perspective, this was just
fourteen years after the official founding of Dunedin by Free Church of
Scotland settlers in 1848.
In this Blog we shall look primarily at 'how',
'why' and 'where' this Exhibition came about and how its great success would be
the catalyst for the much larger 1865 'New Zealand Exhibition' held in Dunedin. My own connection
to the earlier 1862 Exhibition is that my Great Great Grandfather supplied a
block of dressed stone from Waikava (now known as Waikawa) for the Exhibition
hence my initial interest in learning more about this event.
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| A Bound Copy of the Descriptive Pamphlet Referred To Below [Source : Smith's Bookshop, Christchurch] |
The Year of
the “Great Exhibition” 1862
Coincidentally, 1862 would also be the year of the
Great International Exhibition held in London and in which, I might add, the
Province of Otago would be represented, with Mr Mathew Holmes being
tasked at the last minute with taking with him; “Otago’s hastily collected
contributions” for the “New Zealand Court”. What I can confirm being part
of our contribution included a framed copy of “The [Otago] Daily Times”
printed on satin, photographs, and not unsurprisingly, various examples of Otago
minerals and gold. The latter display would in fact win a Gold Medal. Distributed
at the Exhibition would be a pamphlet entitled “Descriptive Sketch of the Province of Otago New Zealand” which included chromo-lithograph coloured engravings
(taken from the photographs of Mr Melhuish) of the Otago diggings - and of
Dunedin.
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| An Early Advertisement for the Industrial Exhibition, 7 Nov 1862 |
A Worthwhile Adjunct to the Fancy Bazaar
So, with the ‘Great Exhibition’ having been very
much in the news it should come as no surprise that on the 6th November 1862 we
read that Dunedin had decided to hold its own “Exhibition” as a
worthwhile adjunct to a “Fancy Bazaar” being organized as a fundraiser
for the Episcopal [Anglican] Church building fund;
“A very interesting feature is proposed to be
added to the Fancy Bazaar in the shape of an industrial museum, or exhibition
of local arts and manufactures, and natural products. It will be a species of
Great Exhibition on a small scale… A committee has been appointed to make the
necessary arrangements”.
The committee quickly secured funding with this report dated the 15th November 1862 indicating no lack of support or exhibits for the venture;
“The Committee of the Industrial Exhibition in connection with the Fancy Bazaar have been most active in their exertions, and have been promised an amount of support that promises to make the Exhibition a great success. Of New Zealand products they have been assured samples of gold, iron dust, coal, copper, chrome ore, wood, prepared flax, and wools. In local manufactures they are likely to be well supplied, as also with photographic views of local scenery. An interesting feature will be a number of American labor-saving machines. Samples of a variety of Australian products are also promised them.”
That the Exhibition should have wide appeal is clear, with the Editor of the ‘Otago Daily Times’ noting; “…there is good reason to hope that the Exhibition will, although far from being a complete exposition of the varied industries of New Zealand, be extremely interesting to all who have the progress of the country at heart, and by no means unsatisfactory to those who ask only to be amused.”
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| McLaggan street, Dunedin and showing the "Club House" from a photo by William Melluish, 1862 [Source : Te Papa Tongarewa] |
A New Venue - "The Club House"
By the beginning of December 1862 it had, due to; “the uncertainty of the weather, and for other reasons… been decided to hold the Industrial Exhibition at the old Club House, instead of at the Grange as originally proposed.” The original plan had been to hold the Bazaar and Exhibition in large tents and marquees surrounding the home of well-known identity Mr John Hyde Harris in North Dunedin. The new venue would be offered through the kindness of well-known (even today) businessman, Mr John (Johnny) Jones.
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| A Close-Up of those gathered outside and on the Balcony of "The Club House" Maclaggan street, Dunedin, 1861 [Source : Hocken Collections] |
What was "The Club House"?
The ‘Club House’ provided an ideal central city and which would enable most of the exhibits to be placed under secure cover. This building then served as the first (rented) premises of the “Dunedin Club”. Author Ian Dougherty writes that the “Dunedin Club” was formed in 1858 with the first members being from what was known as the “Squatters Association”. These were a group of rural runholders who, desiring to avoid “Dunedin’s boisterous hotels when they visited town for supplies” and with the town “growing short of comfortable accommodation”, rented premises in MacLaggan street. It is these premises that are pictured here in 1861, with members and visitors standing by the fence and on the veranda. The Dunedin Club would occupy these premises until 1867.
After alterations in 1863 the building would re-open as the “Dunedin Club Hotel” before passing through more changes of name including a more substantial re-build. In more recent years I believe the Broadway Hotel stood here until around 1974. After being looked at as a possible Youth Hostel I believe the hotel to have been demolished in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s. Speights Brewery occupied the site as part of their operation until the 1990’s and the site is now approximately where the entrance to Harvey Norman’s store is located.
But we must return to the Industrial Exhibition which was now attracting considerable attention in the Provinces. An Auckland newspaper devoted a leading article to the subject, urging upon its readers, “the advantage of having the province of Auckland fully represented”.
The First Attempt of the Kind in the Colony
The local “Otago Witness” urged its readers; “whether farmers, stockowners, goldminers, or tradesmen of the importance of putting forth every exertion, not only to make the exhibition a success, but to enable this Province to put in an appearance worthy of itself and of its standing among the Provinces of New Zealand. The Exhibition now about to be held will be the first attempt at anything of the kind in the colony, and it is fitting that the wealthiest and must go-a-head Province, should have been the one to originate it; but it is useless to disguise the fact that if a considerable effort is not at once made by the residents of Otago, this Province will be beaten upon its own ground by others, which, although possessing less resources, have taken up the subject more earnestly.”
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| Bazaar & Exhibition Advertisement, Dec 1862 |
Open Daily - Except the "Presbyterian Fast Day"
Opening on Tuesday the 16th December 1862, the Industrial Exhibition would be open daily through to Saturday the 20th December but would not open on Thursday the 18th, being a “Presbyterian Fast Day” (a religious observance that many Presbyterians today will not be aware of, least not adhere to).
“The first industrial exhibition ever held in New Zealand, is to be opened in Dunedin to-day. This exhibition is in connection with a bazaar in aid of the funds of the Episcopal Church, and from the great interest that is manifested in both undertakings, a great success is anticipated. The exhibition will be a partial one, as time has not been given to organise a thorough exposition of New Zealand industries and productions, but will still be very interesting, and will lead the way to a more pretentious exhibition next year.”
Arrangement of The Venue
“For the Bazaar, the club-room is appropriated, but is extended to more than double its original size, by the available ground upwards, and outwards to the street boundary, being boarded and canvassed in. The place is neatly adorned with flags, evergreens, and flowers, the effect being greatly aided by the line of pillars supporting the club-house verandah, which afford a natural line of decoration; for the weather boarding has been removed, so as to form really one apartment, extending from the street to the back of the club-room.”
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| A view looking north over Dunedin. Taken by William Melluish, 1861 [Source : Te Papa Tongarewa] |
We Now Enter the Exhibition & Bazaar
Before entering the Exhibition proper, visitors would pass a series of “large and excellent photographs by Mr William Melluish, illustrating the ‘Progress of Dunedin’”. Also an exhibit of “lithographs and engravings” including a copy of “The Sun” dated the 28th June 1838 containing an account of the Coronation of “Her Most Gracious Majesty” with the first page printed in gold; and a coloured lithograph of the new Church.
Entering the Exhibition proper, through laurel-twined openings we can now view a long line of Bazaar stalls on the right and to the left is the refreshment stall and the Post Office. In front is the orchestra led by “Mr Kohler and his talented assistants” where they “discourse most elegant music”.
A Quick Look at the Bazaar Stalls
As to the various stalls, which were manned by a large number of women, these offer a fascinating glimpse of the type of items that might be offered for sale at such events. These included;
Coral work from Mauritius, leather work, fancy goods for children, pretty vases, needle and wool work, a Christmas tree covered with toys and trinkets, Christmas toys for children, plants in pots, hand bouquets, work boxes, hand-worked cushions and ottomans, papier maché goods, clocks, toilet articles; draught board & dressing case of New Zealand woods, malachite writing desk, Indian robes; flowering plants; and ferns and hanging baskets of sea weed which were “charming in their unpretending elegance, and which are the work of orphans”. We can also observe a fortune-teller who; “found ready listeners”.
We Now Enter the “Industrial Exhibition”
The Industrial Exhibition would be divided between two large rooms, one being the “club room”, as well as “a tent covered courtyard”.
Perhaps due to space and the late arrival of various items the displays do not appear to have been exactly arranged by theme so I have attempted to do so, breaking up the more interesting exhibits into their various groups.
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| The "Pride of Dunedin" Shand Mason Fire Engine of 1861 as Exhibited at the Industrial Exhibition. Now stored at Toitu Otago Settler's Museum [Source Wikipedia Commons] |
Industrial, Scientific Equipment and Machinery
The Volunteer Fire Brigade’s new fire engine “The Pride of Dunedin”, Apparatus for ascertaining the boiling point of water at different elevation; a complete Alpine set of Meteorological instruments; a walking stick “of improved construction, and adapted for the use of naturalists”; castings for machinery from the Otago Foundry; washing board; several washing, wringing and mangling machines; butter churns, cheese press, a portable water-closet (toilet), compound agitator, knife cleaner, rotary and archimedean egg whisk; model steam engines; a “high pressure engine”; a gold-saving cradle; patent bread maker; Griffiths's compound action agitators for mixing fluids and liquids, Stephenson's breadmaker, Kent's triturating strainer, meat cutter and sausage machines; American cow milker, dog power, porthole auger, wheel seed sower, root extractor, quartz crusher, cradle and digger's appliances; paging machine; printing machine, and a lithographic printing press at work.
[And per Mr. John Roberts of Princes street] Glass tubes with specimens of the strata borings from Bell Hill and; “Various diagrams of machines patented by him in Manchester. They consisted of a self-acting vertical boring machine, self-acting planing-machine to cut both ways and in all the angles, apparatus for chambering holes after drilling for blasts, and a patent winch— the latter two being accompanied by models; a self-acting boring and turning-lathe was also exhibited by Mr. Roberts”.
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| My Gt. Gt. Grandfather, Edward Simpson Snr, a Stonemason from Suffolk England, Former Surveyor of South Dunedin, and an Exhibitor at the Exhibition. Shown with his wife Lucy and a Grandchild, taken early 1861. [From my own collection] |
Minerals, Natural Resources & Plants
A gilt “octohedron” representing the 22 tons (600,000 ounces) of gold obtained in the Province since the first discovery in 1861; samples of gold from Wetherstons, the Dunstan, the Arrow & Lake Wakatipu district, Lammerlaw, Tuapeka, Coromandel, and the Australian fields; a collection of named minerals including garnets, chromate of lead and potash from Dr Hector, the Provincial Geologist; a collection of fossils; “only a few” examples of wool, blocks of lignite and coal from Clutha, the Grey River, Canterbury, Tokomairiro, Saddle Hill, Buller, including examples from throughout New Zealand; chrome, copper. Malachite, cutlery made in London from Taranaki black iron sand; examples of polished native woods and furniture including black pine from “Stewart’s Island”; stone building materials; carved chimney pieces and samples of stone from the Caversham Quarry; flooring tiles, bricks, flower pots, drain and roofing tiles, lime stone blocks; stones and shells from Invercargill; grey and black granite from the Bluff; Blocks of Waikava (now known as Waikawa) stone by Mr E. Simpson,“The whole of the stone was well worthy of notice – that from Waikava especially so from its apparent hardness and durability”; marble from the Horse Shoe Ranges and after manufacturing into lime mortar; chrome ore, Moeraki sand, currant wine “made from fruit grown in the Octagon”; [In the centre of the second room] a “fount” [font] constructed of the same stones used in the building of the new Episcopal [Anglican] Church, i.e. blue Caversham and Look-out Point stone; wool, alpaca wool; and New Zealand woods.
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| Dunedin Horologist Mr Arthur Beverly "One of the cleverest men in early Dunedin" [Source : Toitu Otago Settler's Museum] |
Manufactured Goods (for the Public)
A cased display by Mr Beverly of watches and jewellery including, “a fine clock with a lever movement patented by Mr Robertson of his establishment”; “beautiful” brooches, rings and carved ivory; flour and bread “from mixed colonial flours”; Dunedin made soaps and candles, hogsheads of ale from the Well Park and Water of Leith Breweries; “elaborately finished saddles”; New Zealand leather and “well-made boots”, New Zealand candles and soap, inlaid tables and wood carving of New Zealand woods, and “prepared” New Zealand flax.
Labour Saving Items for Home use
Demonstrations of sewing machines including Singer, Thomas, Wheeler and Wilson brands, being the only “machinery in motion”; “Bradford's” washing, wringing, and mangling, carpet sweeping machine, French and English knife cleaners, apple papers, slices and covers, Archimedian and rotary egg whisks, American cheese press and churns, knife cleaners; triturators [mixer]; sausage meat cutters and fillers, coffee mills; apple-parer, corer and slicer; egg whisks.
Flora and Fauna
Fresh specimens of native ferns and shrubs, a display of native mosses, sea weeds and ferns; carrageen (Irish) moss from near the mouth of the Tokomairiro; “perfect” dahlias and other flowers cut from turnips; “strings” of native stuffed birds prepared for presentation to a museum; Australian birds and a penguin; seedling apples from Tokomairiro; and samples of wheat & seeds.
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| The Engraving of the Act of Separation and Deed of Demissionm of the Free Church of Scotland, 1843 [Source : Wikipedia Commons] |
Photographs, Engravings & Paintings
Old paintings and drawings, architectural drawings including of the new Customs House then being erected, a portrait of the Rev. Dr. Burns “the father-pastor of the Province”; stereoscope photos of New Zealand bush scenery; an engraved copy of “Act of Separation and Deed of Demission of the Free Church of Scotland” held in Edinburgh 1845; and a lithograph of (the new) St. Pauls Episcopal Church.
Antiquities & Articles of Historical Interest
Bronzes and antiquities; old Roman coins; Chinese boxes and textile fabrics including “handsome silks from the Emperor of China’s wardrobe, taken at the loot of the Summer Palace”; Maori relics including a canoe, the front bow of a boat, a baler, and “Maori axes and relics from a grave at Murdering Beach”; moa bones; fossils, and fossil wood; thirty-two autographs of eminent persons including those of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, The Duke of Wellington, Sir Robert Peel & Charles Dickens.
The Great Success of the Exhibition
The gross proceeds amounted to about £1,200 and with expenses not exceeding £200 the net amount in aid of the building fund would amount to between £950 to £1000 (approaching $145,000 in today's value)
With needing to open the same day as the Bazaar, and additionally being in borrowed accomodation, time and space were against the Committee, but; “enough has been done to arouse a general feeling of interest… and the Committee have gained practical experience of how to make an organized effort hereafter.”
A final report, written by the Exhibition Secretary Mr Alfred Eccles in December 1862, notes it’s great success and alludes to a future much larger Exhibition :
With the Bazaar opening on the 16th December it was necessary for the Exhibition to open the same day. While the time to organize the Exhibition was “far too short” the committee had intended the Exhibition to be a mere “annexe” to the Bazaar ;
“but the idea was received with so much fervor by the public, and attracted so much attention in all the other provinces, that the chief embarrassment of the committee was to find a proper place for the reception of the numerous and valuable articles promised, and they confidently hope to see held here in the ensuing year an exhibition worthy of the whole colony, and which shall truly represent the progress and resources of New Zealand generally”.
“The [committee] trust that the goodwill so freely expressed from neighbouring Provinces, and the experience gained on the present occasion will not be lost, for they feel assured that if a proper building for this and similar purposes, were erected, an Exhibition on a far larger scale would be successful, and they believe that Otago in her new position could in no way more readily secure the respect and confidence of the other Provinces than by taking the lead in this and kindred movements beneficial not only to herself but to the whole of New Zealand.”
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| The Much Larger 1865 Exhibition Building in Great King street, Dunedin [Source : Wikipedia Commons] |
Planning for the Larger 1865 Exhibition
After the great success of the Industrial and Mining Exhibition of 1862 it should come as no surprise that planning would quickly commence on a much larger Exhibition, also to be held in Dunedin. Based on the interest shown in the 1862 Exhibition, the interest of the public, and the support of the Provinces, the success of a larger event could now be practically guaranteed. International participation would also be sought which was readily forthcoming. And this event would undoubtedly raise Dunedin’s profile as a business and commercial centre and secure for local investment some of the money now flowing out of the Otago goldfields.
After securing Government and Provincial funding of a commendable £4,000 for "general purposes" and another £4,000 to build a suitable venue (totalling over one million dollars in today's values), a purpose built permanent Exhibition building would be erected in Great King street. “The New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition” would open on the 12th January through to the 6th May 1865 with 31,250 visitors viewing 1,600 exhibits from 700 exhibitors. The work - and optimism - of the organizers would be richly rewarded and the event would prove to be a resounding success.
Dunedin would then go on to organize two further and highly succesful Exhibitions, in 1889 to 1890, and 1925 to 1926.
All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved
Bibliography & Sources :
- "Papers Past" [National Library of New Zealand / Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa]
- GenFram Image Collection (held by the writer)
- Te Papa Tongarewa / Museum of New Zealand
- National Library of New Zealand / Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa
- Hocken Collections / Te Uare Taoka o Hākena
- "Papers Past" [National Library of New Zealand / Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa]
- GenFram Image Collection (held by the writer)
- Te Papa Tongarewa / Museum of New Zealand
- National Library of New Zealand / Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa
- Hocken Collections / Te Uare Taoka o Hākena
- Toitu Otago Settlers Museum
- Wikipedia Commons
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