New Zealand Centennial Exhibition

The New Zealand Centennial Exhibition opened in Wellington on November 8th 1939. Over the course of that day, over 40,000 people made their way on to the 55 acre grounds, which were situated at Rongotai, near what is now Wellington International Airport. 2,641,043 visitors attended over the five month period that the Exhibition ran.

Features included an amusement park, exhibits showcasing offerings from New Zealand industries and agricultural sector, a scale-model of New Zealand with working model railway and pavilions from other Commonwealth countries decorated to showcase their respective national symbols and industries.

There were several themed areas, called Courts, on the exhibition grounds. These included the Maori Court, the Provincial Court, the Dominion Court, as well as individual courts for Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. The largest court, at nearly 10,000 square metres, was Government Court, which included sub-sections to represent 26 government departments. A Women’s Section provided an opportunity to display, “all aspects of women’s interests in the home and of their part in the earliest days of the Dominion…” (Wellington City Council Archives, AG001-431).

One of the many exciting features for visitors was Playland, the amusement park overseen by the Double Grip Tubular Steel Devices Company. Attractions included various adventure rides, including the Highland Fling, the Octopus, the Speedway and Scoota-boats, as well as a scenic train that wound around the exhibition grounds. A funhouse, named the Crazy House, also drew crowds. Apart from these larger features, there were many smaller concessions, including games of skill, photography booths, musical and educational displays, as well as a "Shark Aquarium", although correspondence indicates there were no sharks present for at least the first month due to delays in acquiring the animals (Wellington City Council Archives, AG001-219).

The New Zealand Centennial Exhibition imparts a complex legacy. The records held at Wellington City Archives predominantly present the views and workings of the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition Company boards, who worked to produce the physical manifestation of a "... comprehensive picture of a century of modern progress and civilisation", as described by Governor-General Lord Galway during his opening ceremony speech. This focus on New Zealand's colonial history reduced the role of Māori in the Centennial celebrations to one primarily of entertainment or counterpoint to colonial progress.

The records held by Wellington City Archives offer a unique look into its planning and operation, including visual materials such as copies of programmes, flyers, posters, certificates and many kinds of tickets, alongside administrative documents including items like board minute books, staffing information and vast quantities of correspondence. Alongside the records relating to the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition, the Wellington City Archives also holds a smaller collection of records from the 1925-1926 New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition.