Post #613684 by Club Nouméa on Sat, Nov 12, 2011 1:23 AM

Tiki at Ohinemutu, Rotorua, New Zealand, 1923 (Burton Brothers Studio)

I have been gathering a few images of vintage Rotorua, so I thought I would compile them into a thread.

Here is a Wikipedia link with some brief background on the town for those unfamiliar with it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotorua

Rotorua has been a Polynesian-style tourist destination since the 1880s, and consequently predates Waikiki in this regard. New Zealand also featured tikis in its Rotorua-related tourism iconography well before they were commonly integrated into Hawaiian tourism brochures (which was circa 1960, according to p.93 of Tiki Modern).

Here is an example from an NZ Government tourism brochure from 1930:

And here's an NZ railways brochure, which looks like it is from the 1940s:

Or we could go back to the turn of the century, for images like this postcard (note the canoe's prow):

NZ Government Department of Tourism and Health Resorts - Series 2 1904, by Benoni White.

So in no particular, order, here are various other items for your perusal:

Cover of a 1951 publication about the Pink and White Terraces, Rotorua's biggest tourist attraction in the 1880s, which were destroyed by the eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886.

Some postcards from the 1960s:

"A Maori carver, Fairy Springs, Rotorua":

"Tikitere (Hell's Gate), Rotorua":

"An extensive area of weird steaming infernos, mud volcanoes, boiling cauldrons, ponds of boiling mud and other subterranean outbursts, often half hidden in clouds of sulphurous steam. According to legend, a Maori girl of high rank was given in marriage to a local warrior chieftain. The young wife, Huritini, feeling herself to be treated with insufficient regard by her husband, cast herself into the pool that now bears her name."

And, to close this entry, here is a photo of Whakarewarewa village that my father took on holiday circa 1960:

I'll add more stuff as I come across it, or if anyone else has choice pics, feel free to contribute.

CN

Toto, j'ai l'impression que nous ne sommes plus au Kansas !

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2011-11-12 01:27 ]

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2011-11-12 01:27 ]

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2011-11-12 01:28 ]