Heritage et AL

Soon after the start of the First World War, New Zealand’s Governor Lord Liverpool agreed to send New Zealand troops to capture the German wireless station in Samoa and occupy the German colony . New Zealand troops, supported by three New Zealand cruisers and three other Australian and French warships, took possession of German Samoa on 29th August 1914. Ref: Auckland Weekly News, The British occupation of Samoa, 29 August 1914, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19140917-42-1. Ref: Auckland Weekly News, The unopposed landing of the New Zealanders in Samoa, 7 September 1914, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19140917-43-1.

In 2008 the New Zealand National Maritime Museum featured a 62 page document entitled 'Naval war plan for the attack of Auckland, New Zealand'. This had been produced as an intelligence exercise by visiting United States Naval officers a century before in 1908. They had come to Auckland as part of a visit by the 'Great White Fleet' of 16 United States battleships, and had spent six days in Auckland. Ref: Auckland Weekly News, A portion of the Great White Fleet at anchor on the waters of the Waitemat ā Harbour, 13 August 1908, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19080813-15-2.

Trevor Lloyd was a New Zealand artist, illustrator and cartoonist who lived from 1863 to 1937.  He was largely self-taught although he might have had some lessons from the artist Louis John Steele.  He started doing sketches and caricatures but soon moved on to oil paintings based on his sketches. Lloyd first exhibited his work at the Auckland Society of Arts in 1883.  He re-exhibited at the society in 1896, 1898 and 1899.  By the 1900s he had moved to Auckland and was making a living from his art.  He began illustrating stories and articles in the New Zealand Illustrated Magazine and the New Zealand Graphic .  In 1903 he joined the Auckland Weekly News as an illustrator, graphic artist and cartoonist.  From 1904 his cartoons also appeared in Wilson and Horton’s other publication, the New Zealand Herald .  He retired from the Herald and Weekly News in November 1936. The Angela Morton collection , housed at Takapuna Library, holds a coll...

This year Auckland Libraries remembers it is 100 years since New Zealand’s first major baptism of fire during the First World War when our troops landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. To commemorate that event Sir George Grey Special Collections staff are working to make the Auckland Weekly News Supplement photographs from 1915 more searchable for researchers, librarians and readers who look at the Heritage Images in our Digital Library . These photographs feature events and people from all major war fronts but also include New Zealand personalities and scenes. How our attitudes to the people who were then our enemies have changed during the past 100 years! But back then Auckland Weekly News caption-writers jingoistically stirred up public hatred for the Germans, contempt of the Turks and mockery of the Austrians. The depths of German depravity were unfathomable as this propaganda cartoon of German troops massacring Belgian citizens in Louvain shows. Ref: M Matthews f...

Today marks the start of the Pasifika festival. 'My pride, my treasure, my Samoa / O lo'u mitamitaga, o a'u measina, o lau Samoa' is the title of the new  collection of Samoan photos on Historypin . This collection covers both Samoa and American Samoa and was created from the heritage collections at Auckland Libraries. The images are mainly from the late 19th and early 20th century with a selection from the late 1980s and 1990s giving a more contemporary focus. Ref: AWNS-18980909-2-1, bush scene in Apia, 1898, Sir George Grey Special Collectio These photos capture the timeless essence of what is most important to Samoa; her land and her people and are a good way to mark the start of the Pasifika Festival. They bring together key places and events in Samoa and NZ - from the sliding rocks of Papasea, to the procession of Malietoa’s men on Coronation Day in the late 1800s, to the Bairds Intermediate Samoan group performance at the Otara Festival. To access the ...