CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND 1906-7
New Zealand International Exhibition of Arts and Industries
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Quick List Info
Dates Open - November 1, 1906 to Apr 15, 1907.
Attendance - 1,967,632 Total Attendance. 983,621 paid, balance of admission by season and other tickets. Average daily attendance was 14,000. Number of season tickets was 8,123.
International Participants - 16 nations and 6 colonies/protectorates.
Total Cost - Total expenses L251,995. Main building cost L67,972. Total buildings cost L87,732. 81,430L loss. Government financed.
Site Acreage - Site of 100 acres within Hagley Park. Buildings occupied 14 acres.
Sanction and Type - Prior to sanctioning by the Bureau of International Exhibitions. Would be considered a Special category Recognized event today like those on the 2-3 or 7-8 years of the decade.
Ticket Cost - NA.
Photo top center: View of the New Zealand International Exhibition of Arts and Industries, 1906, Philip Robert Presants. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons. Column Top: Certificate of Attendance given to Mr. and Mrs. Parker of Wellington, April 11, 1907. Courtesy Christchurch Library. Column Bottom: Main Entrance to the exhibition, 1906. Courtesy Christchurch Library.
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It has been stated that the Christchurch international exhibition was primarly a colonial event, but it was the largest so far held in New Zealand. There had been smaller events in Dunedin in 1865, Christchurch in 1882, and Dunedin again in 1889-90. The British were anxious to promote New Zealand and Australia as a place to emigrate to, and a world's fair, or colonial exhibition, or international exhibition, depending on your definition, was one method to urge settlement. The Christchurch exhibition, this time, was housed in one main building, different in composition from the decentralized approach of recent fairs. It was also wholly financed and controlled by the New Zealand government, different, as well, from past New Zealand expos.
R. J. Seddon, the New Zealand Prime Minister in 1903, suggested that year that an international fair be held Christchurch. The site chosen was Hagley Park, around since 1855 and site of the 1882 Great Industrial Exposition. There would be a Machinery Hall along the River Avon, plus a Concert Hall for one thousand six hundred, an Art Gallery, Fernery, Maori Village, and an Aquarium. Exhibits were sent from eight European nations, plus the United States, and a number of Australian states, including Victoria and New South Wales. There were provincial courts from New Zealand for Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu, Wanganui,
Marlborough, Nelson, Westland, North and South Canterbury, Southland, and The Cook Group and other Pacific Islands. The total number of exhibitors was 1,321 with 937 coming from New Zealand and 381 from elsewhere. The exhibition was opened on November 1 by Lord Plunket, the Governor, and remained open for five and one half months.
Highlights of the fair included the Maori and Fijian villages, plus the art exhibit of Great Britain. There was an amusement zone known as Wonderland and the Pike. It included a Cyclorama of the Battle of Gettysburg. The London Times reported at the end of the exposition that the nation of New Zealand was appreciative of the Imperial Government's exhibit because it helped them understand the "activities" of the mother country. Well, at least that was their perspective. It may or may not have been true.
Above photo. Main building of the fair, 1906, photographer unknown. Courtesy Library of New Zealand via Wikipedia Commons. Middle: Plan of the Main Building, 1906-7, Official Record. Courtesy Official Report via Wikipedia Commons. Bottom: The Canada Court Building, 1906. Courtesy Christchurch Library.
Attendance through all sources, including individual tickets, season tickets, and passes reached nearly two million, a remarkable number considering the size and population of New Zealand at the time. How big was the population in 1906? New Zealand, in total, had 956,457; Christchurch only 68,000. So the international expo was considered a big success from the public's sense, although it did lose money for the government, which had a deficit of L81,430.
Is there anything left from the fair? Yes. The lake from the exposition, Victoria Lake, still resides in Hagley Park, which itself was created in 1855 by the provincial government. The lake itself was created in 1897 for the celebration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Hagley Park remains as an open public space in Christchurch, the largest in the city at 408 acres.
Historian's Perspective
Jock Phillips - Both events, (including Wellington 1939), were very much motivated by national pride and were designed to both display it and instill it. In Christchurch there was a good deal of negative publicity before the fair concerning the administration. Once it opened this evaporated. With respect to 1906 there was no particular theme other than the progress of the dominion. Christchurch was only chosen because it was Richard Seddon's pet town. There was no special pertinence to the city.
Empire Exhibition
International Participants Nations and Colonies
Official Report lists exhibits from United Kingdom, Italy, Australia (Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, West Australia, Tasmania), Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Fiji (Colony), Holland, Canada, Belgium, United States, Syria, Transvaal (Colony), South Africa, Trinidad, India, Cuba, Ceylon (Colony), Philippines, Burma (Colony), China, France, Spain, New Zealand.
Other sources state that Norway and the Straits Settlements also participated.
Note: It is sometimes difficult to tell whether certain nations or colonies actually participated in a significant way, especially in joint pavilions. Newspaper reports as well as the official guidebook or report may indicate participation when actual participation did not occur, or occurred minimally. Take the above as a guide, not gospel. Some exhibits listed under government auspices may have been unofficial hosted by private exhibitors.
Expo Tidbits
Closing day, November 1, had largest attendance, 46,853.
The Main Exhibition Building was one thousand three hundred and ten feet long, mainly frame and used over two million feet of timber in its framework.
Wonderland and the Pike Amusument Zone included amusements such as the Victoria Lake Water Chute, the Palace of Illusions, a Dragon Train, Toboggan Course, a gondola, and helter-skelter. It was twelve acres in size.
The Carlton Hotel was built in conjunction with the fair by Ward's Brewery. It was also designed by the fair architect, Joseph Clarkson Maddison. The Carlton remained until 2011 when it was demolished after damage from the February earthquake.
Legacies
Victoria Lake in Hagley Park remains. It existed during the time of the fair, but was built prior to it in 1897. It is referred to by exhibition promoters when promoting the site prior to selection as a feature to build the exhibition around, as well as the park and Avon River.
Those in Charge
Sir J.G. Ward was President of the Exhibition. Joseph Clarkson Maddison was the architect. Patron was Right Honorable Lord Plunket, Governor.
Sources: Official Record of the New Zealand International Exhibition of Arts and Industries held at Christchurch, 1906-7: a Descriptive and Historical Account by J. Cowan; Official Report of the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition 1925-26; The Book of the Fairs; London Times; Historical Dictionary of World's Fairs; History of Fairs and Expositions.
Photo column top: Artist rendering of the exhbition, 1906, D.J.C. Copyright. Courtesy Christchurch City Library. Bottom: Hagley Park with Victoria Lake from the exhibition, 2007, Phillip Capper. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons.
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