Heritage et AL

The majority of the F. Douglas Mill Collection contains images which represent some of the first civil aerial photographic surveys in New Zealand, the images range from the late 1920s to the middle of the 1930s and document the country at that time from the Bay of Islands down to Waimate and Dunedin. Details of the collection can be found here in Local History Online . The photographs include an early aerial survey of Auckland containing images such as this one of the Auckland War Memorial Museum under construction: Ref: F. Douglas Mill, Auckland War Memorial Museum under construction, from the air, 1929, West Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, FDM-0544-G.

Ref: AWNS-19250924-48-4, the Hobsonville site purchased by the Defence Department, 1925,, Sir George Grey Special Collections Douglas Mill’s house is one of 15 houses at Hobsonville Airbase classified as a heritage building. These built heritage landmarks are being retained during the transformation of the former RNZAF base into a new housing estate.  One of the reasons the house is being preserved is due the significance of Douglas Mill; one of New Zealand’s pioneer aviators. Ref: AWNS -19280816-47-1, constructing the new naval base at Hobsonville, 1928, Sir George Grey Special Collections Mill was one of the first fliers to see the potential for commercial aviation in New Zealand.  In 1927 he established the Air Survey and Transport Company at Hobsonville.  One of its specialities was aerial surveying and photography, but the company was also the New Zealand agent for Britain’s De Havilland Aircraft Company .  As De Havilland’s agent the company import...