NZ Memories - Issue 142 by Websites Made Easy

A PPET I SER

The Golden Mile “Women dressed up to go to town in fox furs, gloves, hats and stockings.”

This 1933 photograph of Victoria Street, Hamilton‘s ”Golden Mile”, introduces an article by Bev Wood on page 60. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1370-636-09

E D I TO R I A L

Dear Readers, “Off to the shopping mall” simply does not have the same ring as “going to town”. Bev Wood gives a vivid description of changing times in her excellent article set in Hamilton. Gran’s attire for an excursion to the ‘Golden Mile’, the city’s principal retail street in the 1940s, was Sunday best complete with hat, gloves and even a fox fur. My own early teenage experience of shopping two decades later (in very stylish Mary Quant dress and white boots) is of the Auckland City department stores; the lift attendant at George Courts “first floor ladies hosiery”, afternoon tea served on three-tier stands at Milne and Choyce, money whizzing across the high ceiling at Smith and Caughey’s with change given upon the return journey and, of course, the multi-storeyed Farmers with free bus to entice customers to the slightly out of way locality in Hobson Street. The children’s playground on the top floor was a treat for both children – remember the trikes and pedal cars - and tired mothers who could indulge in a pot of tea before the bus journey home to put dinner on. Banks stood proud on Queen Street (as in every other small suburb) and cash was king. No credit cards, EFTPOS or Internet banking back then. Life seemed simpler. Amongst the vast assortment of articles in Issue 142, John Stackhouse leads the way with a tragic account of young lives lost during an aviation accident over the town of Akaroa. A story of high spirits with an unfortunate ending. The name Kathleen Hall is relatively unknown but her achievements are quite remarkable, as you will read in Gordon Campbell’s profile. This dedicated and selfless New Zealand nurse put her life at risk during her service to villagers under her care. Genealogists will be both impressed and encouraged by Wendy Clark’s perseverance in unravelling the mystery of her lineage in the article Ward of the State after much earnest research. Although the owners of a small Blackball hotel couldn’t afford to take on the ‘big guns’ of the Hilton Hotel chain, they had the last laugh and attracted worldwide attention. A gem of a short tale, and befitting of the first ‘Editor’s Choice’ position for 2020. On that note, I hope the new decade brings you much laughter. As the old proverb says, “it’s the best medicine”.

Wendy Rhodes, Editor

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Editor Wendy Rhodes Graphic Design Icon Design Administration David Rhodes Distributed by Ovato Subscriptions & Enquiries Phone tollfree: 0800 696 366 Mail: Freepost 91641, PO Box 17288, Green Lane, Auckland 1546 email: admin@memories.co.nz www.memories.co.nz Annual Subscription $79 for six issues (Price includes postage within NZ) For overseas postage: Add $59.00 for Australia Add $89.00 for Rest of the World Contributors Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, NZ. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collection Bodleian Library Special Collections, Oxford, UK. Body, Ted Campbell, Gordon Christopher Moor Clark, Wendy Collins, Brian Dickie, Blair Dorrington, Evan. G. Doyle, Judith Geraldine Historical Museum Hamilton City Libraries Haskett, Jill Herdman, Lois Isted, Bruce John Kinder Theological Library, Anglican Church in Aotearoa NZ and Polynesia McPherson, Stuart Kingsford Newsham, John Saunders, Alec Shepherd, Angela Sinclair, George Stackhouse, John Stewart, Graham United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Ward, Claire westcoast.recollect.co.nz Wischnowsky, Carol Wood , Bev Opinions: Expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of New Zealand Memories. Accuracy: While every effort has been made to present accurate information, the publishers take no responsibility for errors or omissions. Copyright: All material as presented in New Zealand Memories is copyright to the publishers or the individual contributors as credited.

Contents Akaroa, One Frosty Saturday Morning John Stackhouse recounts a tragic accident.

The Time of My Friendship with Pat

Our First Car

Flax

Three Sporting Heroes

From the Regions: Whanganui / Manawatu

Centrefold: Under Construction

Kathleen Hall: Missionary Nurse in China

Bowlers’ Custard

The Most Beautiful Woman in Auckland

New Zealand’s 1935 Air Mail Stamps and the Jubilee Air Mails

Boxer Mourned

Ward of the State

From the Regions: Waikato

Mailbox

Readers’ Responses

Index and Genealogy List

Editor’s Choice : Formally the Blackball Hilton

A childhood friendship; memories from Evan G. Dorrington. John Newsham recalls the family’s black Austin 10. As a schoolboy, Alec Saunders worked part-time at the flax mill. A family of champions; Angela Shepherd’s story.

A circa 1932 photograph of Waitaki hydroelectric power dams. A dedicated nurse is the subject of Gordon Campbell’s article. Ted Body remembers Thursday’s midday meal. A tale of substance from Miles Dillon.

Written by Christopher Moor.

Jill Haskett’s account of a lightweight boxer’s last match. Wendy Clark unravels family lineage.

Letters pay tribute to Sir Charles Kingsford Smith.

Elite accommodation chain objects to West Coast hotel’s name. Issue 142 February /March 2020

Cover image: Five waka on the Waikato River at Pukatia.

ISSN 1173-4159 February/ March 2020

Courtesy: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collection, Ref: 3-139-7.

3 The Great Stink: An Incentive for British Emigration?

Wellington’s Trolley Buses

F EAT U R E

LAC McFarlane RNZAF Weekly News, Author

igram – Ellesmere Return. Firing practice. A common exercise for the men with the cumbersome title of LAC AP/UT, Leading Aircraftsman Airman Pilot Under Training. Another mid-winter frosty, clear morning dawned over Christchurch, the peace and beauty of the day half a world away from the war being fought in Europe. Number 1 SFTS Wigram was coming to life as the trainee pilots readied themselves to fly. The ground crews had risen early, and as the LAC AP/UTs ate breakfast and were later briefed for their training flights, they worked hard to ready the aircraft for another day’s flying. The cold morning bit hard. Wigram Air Station, on the outskirts of Christchurch, was caught in the icy grip of a chilling, Canterbury frost. On Saturday 15 June 1940, the sun crept above the eastern horizon shimmering for some time, seemingly red, an optical trick played by the pollution from the smoking chimneys of a slowly waking city. Eventually breaking free of the haze, it rose into a cloudless winter sky, condemning the ice to progressively lose its grip on the silently waiting aircraft and the airfield itself. In the distance the snow-clad mountains sparkled in a new dawn. Writing at this time a fellow trainee at Wigram, Ernest Joyce commented: We are having wonderful days here, clear with absolutely no cloud, and tons of sun. Yesterday I went over to Mount Cook on a height test, going up to nearly 20000 feet. I could see every inch of the Canterbury Plain, and on either side the Alps stretched majestically away. They are in constant view of us here at Wigram and are perpetually clothed to sea level with snow.

LAC McFadyan RNZAF Weekly News, Author

Dozens of eager trainees, still donning some of their cumbersome flying gear, then walked to their ‘kites’ for the day and proceeded to check them over before strapping in and gaining the nod to taxi out. Two of those men were A391840 Francis Maurice (known as Peter) McFarlane from Nelson and A391839 John Lindsay (known as Tim) McFadyen from Blackball near Greymouth. These two were flying partners by quirk of fate that they appeared consecutively in alphabetical order on enlistment, hence the service numbers one digit apart. They chatted as they walked across the hard apron towards their machine, Airspeed Oxford NZ279. A modern twin radialengine monoplane, the Oxford was to become a mainstay of pilot training through the war and beyond. However, the bulk of the aircraft was still a wooden frame skinned with a plywood covering, not far off, in some ways, from the construction of aircraft from World War One. It was, however, a robust, flexible and reliable aircraft. McFarlane, born in Napier but raised in Dunedin, had trained pre-war as a pilot under the Government’s Civil Reserve of Pilots training scheme gaining his licence in 1938. The scheme was designed to build up the readiness of the fledgling New Zealand Air Force to mobilise in time of war. He had moved to Nelson when he had gained employment with the Anchor Shipping and Foundry Co. as a clerk. He had become readily involved in the Nelson community and met and married Amy Rogers from Tahunanui in 1937. By June 1940 he was a relatively ‘old man’ at the ripe old age of 24, compared to many RNZAF personnel. McFadyen was 22 years old and had also qualified as a Civil Reserve pilot pre-war with the West Coast United Aero Club. A draughtsman with the Public Works Department in Westport, he, like MacFarlane, was thrilled to be one of the early ones to realise their dreams, to fly at the cost of the government… they were to receive their coveted pilot brevet (wings) in just a couple more weeks. After checks, engine start-up and chocks removed, McFarlane had taxied out towards the designated area, constantly checking for other aircraft and monitoring the dials on the console in front of him. They soon had permission to take-off and they took to the air at 8.49 am. Wigram Air Station quickly lay behind them as they rose over the outskirts of the city, easily finding their bearings and soon glimpsing the outline of Lake Ellesmere against the foothills of Banks Peninsula. This was their destination for today, a chance to practice their air to ground shooting, an interesting but not too onerous task, although hit rates with the machine-gun had proven to be low. The sun, now liberated from the ensnaring smoke haze, glinted off the aircraft’s wing as they flew over farmland between Tai Tapu and Lincoln. In front of them lay the glassy, smooth surface of

F EAT U R E

LAC McFarlane RNZAF Weekly News, Author

LAC McFadyan RNZAF Weekly News, Author

F E AT UR E

Lake Ellesmere and beyond that the surging breakers of the Pacific rolling in towards the flat stone beach of Birdling’s Flat. This could be a very wild piece of coastline, exposed as it was to the roaring southerly winds which originated near the Antarctic polar icecap. All went well with the firing practice, a perfect day and beautiful setting adding to the enjoyment of the task. The second part of the run also went smoothly and they were soon climbing away from the lake for the last time towards the coast and the stony beach at Birdling’s Flat. Turning to the east the two gained a superb view of the jagged Banks Peninsula coastline, a double volcano intruded by the sea where the crater wall had collapsed to form two harbours. Originally a volcanic island it was now, after millions of years, joined to the mainland. The two quickly decided to take a brief diversion over to Akaroa Harbour and the peaceful village of Akaroa. The day was idyllic and the opportunity to do a little exploring was irresistible. Gaining altitude, the Oxford flew parallel to a ridge of hills with rocky inlets and bays exposed to surge of the Pacific Ocean. As they looked out over the ocean if they had kept flying, and the Oxford had the flying range, they would make next landfall in South America. Instead they flew around and through the Akaroa Harbour heads, a raw and rough entrance to the main harbour itself, swells of the Pacific crashing onto rocks not too far below. To their left they passed low near the settlement of Wainui, now enjoying the warming sun, but soon to be enveloped by the afternoon shadow of Saddle and French Peaks. To their right they glimpsed the little Māori settlement and marae at Onuku, the tiny red and white chapel standing near the shore, a beautiful spot. Wisps of smoke marked the position of each settlement, farm house and cottage dotted around the harbour. The smoke of farm burn-off fires added an almost ethereal touch as it rose and then flattened in layers with the post-frost temperature inversion. The harbour was an enchanting scene in the crisp, clear winter air. The tiny Tikao Bay could be glimpsed and the easily identified Onawe Peninula, the site of an inter-tribal massacre of local Ngai Tahu Māori one hundred years before, as the Oxford banked to starboard to fly up and over the low hills west of the village of Akaroa. The lower slopes appeared reasonably gentle, but hills can be deceptive from the air, the volcanic slopes rising more steeply near the village itself. A few local residents, used to the sound of Wigram’s training aircraft, noted the plane was flying low as it came up the harbour. 6

Line-up of Airspeed Oxfords, Wigram, June 1940.

Joyce collection, Author

Airspeed Oxford NZ279 readying for take-off, winter 1940. Joyce collection, Author

A Wigram ‘trainee’s eye view’… a ‘snap’ of Akaroa Harbour, late 1939. Hewitt collection, Author

F EAT U R E

The Oxford climbed as it approached the village and cleared the hills easily. They were soon gaining altitude, skimming comfortably above the bush-cleared and rugged terrain and flying towards rising ground to a height of about 1000 feet. They glimpsed the sparkle of mid-winter sun on the tranquil harbour and then they were over the outskirts of the village. Rugged hills to their right rose steeply and, except for the entrance from the sea, circled the harbour in a complete ring to form the volcanic crater rim. The pilot circled down over the village, banking above Children’s Bay then Takamatua. Little Arnold Priest heard the approaching aircraft as it flew over the hill from Akaroa. He paused to look up and caught sight of it as it approached then banked above them to fly out over the bay. Lining up the Oxford through imaginary gun sights, he and his friend both ‘opened fire’ at the same time, their well-practiced staccato machine-gun chatter peppering the approaching ‘enemy’ aircraft. Both boys imagined their bullets striking home and the crippled ‘enemy’ machine eventually crashing into the sea. Satisfied, they stood outside the Takamatua Dairy Company factory where Arnold’s father, John, was the manager. Contrary to boys’ imaginings, the ‘enemy’ Airspeed Oxford escaped unharmed and circled back over Akaroa. The two circuits meant the Oxford had reduced height significantly and the streets of the village soon flashed beneath its wings. Some heads turned at the sound of the low-flying plane. Although used to air force aircraft buzzing around and over the harbour, this time it was different. The aircraft was closer and lower than what they had seen before. There were many people out and about in the late Saturday morning sunshine and in some who watched there was a tinge of concern as the plane again flew slowly and low overhead. By now the Oxford was approaching the far end of the village and cleared a ridge near Mount Vernon, where the golf links were situated, by only about 100 feet. The ridge at the end of the village, where the main road from Christchurch wound down the hill, was now quickly looming up and the pilot worked the controls to bring the plane around in time to avoid the far slopes of the narrow Grehan valley. The Oxford was seen to bank and the engine tone dropped a little further indicating the airspeed was falling. By now both McFadyan and McFarlane must have realised they were in some trouble. The Oxford flew, still under control, slowly down Grehan Valley, but with the drop in airspeed it lost altitude. It seemed at this point, as village residents looked up in increasing alarm, that the pilot now fully understood that he was in difficulty and seemed to be seeking an emergency landing place, perhaps on the golf links. In a last attempt by the pilot to bring the plane round the port wing dipped further, almost to the vertical, slowing the Oxford even more and finally the aircraft stalled. The airspeed had decreased too much, airflow across the wing did not generate enough lift to keep the aircraft aloft, the nose dropped and the residents of Akaroa below watched in horror as the plane began to fall out of the sky. Their quiet, frosty Saturday morning was about to be tipped on its head. The Oxford plunged almost vertically, spinning from about 500 feet, to crash beside the intersection of Rue Lavaud and Rue Croix. On its way down it hit the drapery shop chimney, severing a wing and engine. The plane crashed through the attic and first floor of a building on the corner of Rue Lavaud and Rue Croix, hitting Mr Kingston’s home as well as Mr Brown’s tobacconist shop and saloon. The wreckage smashed through the building to the ground floor where it exploded as the aviation fuel ignited. Thick, black smoke and leaping flames shot high into the air creating a minor tremor through the town. The two trainee pilots died in the impact and the Oxford was soon reduced to charred and tangled wreckage. Mr. Kingston, the barber, ran with his customers into the street to escape the conflagration. One customer, Mr Keegan, was in the barber’s chair at the time having a shave. Mr Kingston ended up running down the road to the rear of the property to try to find his wife, with the cutthroat razor still in his hand and closely preceded by his customer Mr Keegan, half-shaven with the towel still around his neck. Mr Kingston later described the crash: The machine crashed right onto the shop. The whole shop went up in flames. The man in the chair rushed outside like a shot with one half of his face shaved. I went so fast that I still had the razor in my hand when I reached home.

S P O RT

Three Sporting Heroes Angela Shepherd

imbledon semi-finalist in 1954, New Zealand tennis champion, Olympian husband and All Black brother. How many people can boast that in their resume? Judy Tinnock (nee Burke) is one such inspirational person, now in her ninetieth year, she has only recently put down her racket! “I grew up next to a tennis court but neither of my parents played. I wonder if I would have learnt to play otherwise” Judy recalls. “When I was five years old I picked up my first racket. I played against my brother (the late Peter Burke – All Black and New Zealand selector). He and his friend Bill Rutherford used to give me hits” “I played at the local tennis club then eventually went up by train to Auckland where I won my first title, Auckland Junior Champ. Eventually I became a four times New Zealand Tennis Champion”. What Judy fails to mention is that she was born almost stone deaf, something she hates admitting, though in fact it made her more determined. Fast forward to age 22 where she became engaged to her beau Bill Tinnock, who was also a successful sportsman in rowing with eight New Zealand championship titles among others. Bill, who sadly passed away in 2017, represented West End Rowing Club in the 1950 British Empire Games winning a silver medal. Later he competed in rowing at the Helsinki Olympic Games in 1952 and again in the Commonwealth Games in Vancouver in 1954, winning another silver medal. He used to relay the stories of how the 1948 Olympic team sailed by ship to London, however, in 1952 his was the first New Zealand team to fly by plane. It took them a week to get to Finland as planes during those times had to

Top right: Young Judy Burke next to the tennis court in Edgecombe in the 1930s. Right: Bill Tinnock at the 1954 Commonweath Games.

refuel, flying only short distances at a time. Bill recalled in a pre-written journal: “Well in 1953 I went to the wedding of tennis players Heather Redwood (a local Westmere girl and a great friend of my sister Ailsa) and Jeff Robson. I went along with a ride from my Mum and Dad as I had no car then. It was a first class wedding with a dance held afterwards. Judy was also invited so I was ‘pushed’ by my parents to ‘have a dance with Judy’. Well I did and we got along famously. I took Judy home in the back seat of my Mum and Dad’s car.” Judy’s recollection was quite different. “I met this lovely man at Heather’s wedding. As they dropped me home he asked me to an upcoming ball. Naturally excited, I bought a beautiful gown, and then heard nothing for a month!” Bill used to retell the story in his dry wit. “Well I’d asked her so I didn’t need to phone”. Not the world’s most romantic man; but they got there in the end. (So much so that they were together until Bill passed away the week of their 62nd wedding anniversary.) The following May, in 1954, Judy voyaged to England to represent New Zealand at Wimbledon. She travelled on the Ruahine in a six berth cabin. “Whilst on the ship we had no training, no coach and no other players to help me keep fit. I had to run around the deck until we reached England which took one month”. Even though the Tennis Association had nominated her, Judy had to come up with her own fare. Luckily Stratford Tennis Club offered to pay for her, as she was unable to afford it. She worked for Sportsply (now Dunlop) before going to Wimbledon. They kindly kept her job open for her when she returned.

S PORT

Judy Burke (right) and Heather Robson at Wimbledon in 1954. From left: Bill, Judy and Peter in New Zealand blazers.

Under construction

A magnificent view of dams being constructed at the Waitaki hydro-electric power scheme located on the boundary of the Canterbury and Otago regions. The photograph includes the coffer dam (an enclosure built within a body of water to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out) and the main dam. The Power House stands at centre. Photographer J.H. Christie took the image in about 1932.

37 Alexander Turnbull Libarary, Wellington, NZ. Ref: F-1800-1/4-MNZ Making New Zealand Collection

S TO RY

The Most Beautiful Woman in Auckland Miles Dillon

y father’s cousin, Cathella Holmes, moved from Auckland to the United States in 1940 after she married Pan American Airways mechanic Franklin Hull. They were in Hawaii at the time of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour. In later years Cathella returned to Auckland to visit her elderly mother Ruby and other family. On one of these visits in the 1980s Cathella told me she made a regular pilgrimage to the South British Insurance Building at the bottom of Shortland Street in Auckland City to look at the statue of Britannia adorning the parapet high above the busy intersection. Britannia, I was told, had been modelled on Ruby’s Aunt Ellen. I recall seeing the statue but with the disappearance of South British from Shortland Street, Britannia too has gone. Recently, digging through a relative’s archive of old family photos, I was overjoyed to discover one of the statue of Britannia – a flag held in her right hand while her left rests on a stout anchor. An old note on the photo by a nephew states: “A statue of Aunt Ellen, who, in her bloom, was considered the most beautiful woman in Auckland.” South British was established in Auckland in June 1872 and rapidly expanded throughout New Zealand and overseas. (The company history is detailed in C.W. Vennell’s centennial publication Risks and Rewards.) In early 1878 a sixty-year lease was secured from St John’s College Trust for a site on the upper corner of Queen and Shortland Streets. Richard Keals prepared a design for offices for South British which were built by W. Philcox for around £4800. The first board meeting was held in the new premises in October the following year. Terence Hodgson in The Heart of Colonial Auckland describes the South British building as an architectural flagship, along with New Zealand Insurance nearby. The newspapers of 1878 waxed lyrical about this splendid new addition to the city’s amenities. It was variously described as a “handsome pile”, an “imposing pile” and “a landmark in Queen Street”. The New Zealand Herald, benefitting from a sneak preview of the architect’s drawings, informed the public that “The facade of both frontages will be uniform, a very handsome figure of Britannia with anchor (the seal of the company) surmounting the centre”. Contrary to the nephew’s hyperbolic praise, Britannia came in for some early criticism. On 30 October 1878 the Herald reported: “Yesterday afternoon a number of curious sight seers were watching the erection of the emblematic figure which will grace the facade of the new premises of the South British Insurance Company, at the junction of Queen and Shortland Streets. In the earlier stages of the workmen’s labours the design was not particularly clear, and some of the bystanders were in doubt as to whether it was contemplated to commemorate one of the Twelve Apostles or to symbolise one of the Foolish Virgins, but as ‘Britannia’ grew up under the artist’s hand it could be seen to be ‘a work of rich detail, and curious mould, woven with antics and wild imagery.’ As she is likely to have lively times of it on her perch on high, in gusty weather, her ‘stays’ - if we may be pardoned the expression - are of a more substantial character than in that case usually made and provided for her sex. She is of portly and majestic figure, having but little in common with the modern ‘bread and butter miss,’ who is stated to be principally composed of ‘bustle and boots,’ and when she has got her trident fixed, and some other necessary oddments, will form one of the attractions of Lower Queen Street. As for the artist, he has put both his conscience and his soul into his handiwork and, in this degenerate age, that is saying a good deal.” A few days later some wag, described disapprovingly by the press as a ‘larrikin’, crowned Britannia with a chamber pot! To date I have been unable to determine the identity of the sculptor. 46

S TORY

In a fanciful column in the Herald of Christmas Day 1878, the editor had received a visit from Zealandia herself1 “Well,” she said, “I have just made my most rapid flight from a Christmas visit to Britannia. By the way, I see that since my last look at Auckland, you have erected a statue of myself above the South British Insurance Company’s new offices. I don’t feel very much flattered, I assure you. The artist has given me the arm of a prize-fighter, instead of a handsome, well-rounded arm like this.” So it seems even the goddess herself was not happy with the representation! Who was Aunt Ellen? Ellen Jane Logan was born near Ottawa, Canada in 1852 and was taken with her family to Australia later that year in search of gold. After less than two years in Victoria, the Logans decided to move on to New Zealand. Their ship, Spencer was wrecked. They returned to Melbourne and a few weeks later arrived in Auckland. Ellen grew up on the Manukau Peninsula and in Onehunga. In 1871 she married Onehunga / Manukau man, John Featon, a mining agent. John’s work eventually took them to Te Aroha where they lived for many years. Around 1904 Ellen and John returned to Auckland where Ellen became a publican, holding the licence for the New Lynn Hotel until its closure in 1909. They moved to Mount Eden where John died in 1913. At age 72 years, Aunt Ellen, “in her bloom, the most beautiful woman in Auckland”, died at Mount Eden. Plans were announced to build a new head office in Shortland Street in 1966 on the site of the City Club Hotel, for South British and its subsidiary Guardian Trust. In 1968, while relocating the statue of Britannia from her lofty perch on what is now known as Blackett’s Building, she shattered into sixteen pieces. After repairs by Parkinson Monumental Works the statue was repositioned over the entrance of the new building where I remember her. She appears in a photo in Vennell’s 1972 book but at some stage, perhaps after the merger of South British with New Zealand Insurance, Britannia (Aunt Ellen) disappeared. I wonder where she is now? n 1 Zealandia is a national personification of New Zealand; she usually appears as a woman of European descent similar in dress and appearance to Britannia, the mother of Zealandia.

Portrait of Ellen Jane Logan, “the most beautiful woman in Auckland”. Britannia adorned the parapet of the South British Insurance Company building in Shortland Street, Auckland City.

E D I TO R ’ S

CHOICE

Formally the Blackball Hilton When the Dominion Hotel in Blackball was built in 1910, little would the owners have guessed that the premises would later attract the attention of a worldwide chain of hotels. Hilton Street, opposite the hotel, had been named after a director of the Blackball Coal Company and it was a legitimate reason for the hotel to adopt the name ‘The Blackball Hilton’ in the 1970s. Objections from the elite ‘Hilton’ hotel group in 1992 led to a name change for the West Coast hotel to ‘Formally The Blackball Hilton’. Both the Dominion Hotel postcard and the late 1970s photograph of The Blackball Hilton were supplied by West Coast Recollect.

Courtesy: Claire Ward https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz Courtesy: https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz