Tiki Central / General Tiki / Air New Zealand 75 Years Exhibition, Te Papa, Wellington, New Zealand 20 Dec. 2014 - 7 June 2015
Post #735444 by Club Nouméa on Sat, Jan 17, 2015 11:12 PM
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Club Nouméa
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Sat, Jan 17, 2015 11:12 PM
(The Air NZ plastic tiki, distributed free to passengers from the 1960s to the mid-80s) Te Papa, the National Museum of New Zealand, is currently running an exhibition celebrating Air New Zealand's 75th anniversary. As an airline that developed initially in the 1940s as a carrier to the Pacific Isles, there is a lot of colour and many items of interest:
TEAL is the abbreviation for Tasman Empire Airways Limited, which was the original name of the company when it was founded in 1940 through to it being changed to Air New Zealand in 1965. More posters:
Fly-fishing tiki detail:
Well before they were adopted by American airlines, from the 1940s onwards tikis featured prominently as part of TEAL's corporate image, and later were also a major feature in Air New Zealand's identity.
Envelope used from the 1940s to 1965.
Ticket (circa 1964).
Coaster (early 1960s).
Souvenir toothpick (1960), souvenir swizzle sticks (1965 and 1960).
TEAL carved cigarette box (circa 1960).
A wall panel featuring giant recreations of Air New Zealand tiki swizzle sticks (1970s).
Air New Zealand tiki mugs by Crown Lynn (circa 1970). I'll let these exhibits speak for themselves:
However in the 1980s, Air New Zealand backed away from using the tiki in such everyday items, as it found itself being accused by Maori activists of denigrating Maori culture. The pejorative expression "plastic tiki syndrome" was one that had the Air NZ free plastic tiki firmly in its sights. Consequently, Air New Zealand discontinued providing them to passengers in 1985, and in subsequent decades preferred to associate itself with facets of national identity such as rugby and Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films. The fact remains however that via its plastic tiki, Air New Zealand gave huge numbers of both New Zealanders and foreigners their first contact with NZ tiki culture. My favourite part of the exhibition was devoted to The Coral Route which, in its day, was the only regular passenger air service to Tahiti, and was operated in its original form by TEAL from 1951 to 1960. As, in those days, Papeete did not have an airstrip, TEAL flew Short Solent flying boats and landed in the harbour there. On one wall, there is a projection with an old film from the 1950s showing what it was like to fly The Coral Route, which went from Auckland to Papeete via Laucala Bay at Suva, Fiji, Satapuala at Apia, Western Samoa, and Akaiamai at Aitutaki in the Cook Islands. Near the projection screen, there is a recreation of a Short Solent passenger cabin which you can sit in:
And you can watch the propeller spin outside the cabin window and even hear the engine noise:
The Solent carried 45 passengers and I can confirm the seats were very comfy, with leg room to spare. Each Solent also had its own on-board chef, who made individual meals to order. No cattle class nonsense here! More about the Short Solent flying boat: Here is the link to the Te Papa site on the exhibition: http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/WhatsOn/exhibitions/Pages/AirNewZealand75Years.aspx
[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2015-01-17 23:18 ] |
