This is the camera used to take many of the photographs in this article. Other cameras from MAVtech can be seen in the background. The Reflekta was a budget 'twin lens reflex' camera, but still offered full focusing control and a selection of shutter speeds. Many smaller camera companies traded in East Germany at the time, but most were merged into the giant VEB Pentacon company by the middle of the 1960s.
One of the smallest record labels in the country, TALA was set up in Levin in 1957. In the beginning it stood for 'To Assist Levin Artists' but, with few local acts coming forward, it was changed to 'To Assist Local Artists'. Either way, this label had around forty releases, each featuring New Zealand artists.
The label's owner, Wally Clark, was quick to pick up on international trends in music and always found local bands who were playing the right tune. This particular tune is by the Warren Sisters who were one of Clark's original TALA talents. 'Lace Covered Windows' was released in around 1968 and was among the last TALA releases.
Follow the link below for a picture of these artists on Kete
https://horowhenua.kete.net.nz/item/b734f09f-9000-4f64-a332-7f4c1bb84990
Wally Clark was also a professional photographer who also cornered the Levin TV hire market- a very busy man!
This 'kit' was prepared by the Department of Education, most likely in the early 1970s. These resource packs were made to cover topics as diverse as water safety, road safety, animals of the world, New Zealand industries and religious topics.
Each kit contained film strips which were shown, one image at a time, through the classroom's projector. There was also an audio cassette which provided narration to the film strip and a booklet which gave a transcript of the presentation as well as activity ideas for the class.
This particular kit was issued to Levin's Saint Joseph's School and featured the story of the nativity. There was a printing error on the box which reads 'The Holy Knight'- something which has since been corrected by hand. Did the children expect to hear a story about sword fighting and archery battles instead?
The MAVtech museum has a range of these filmstrips in it's collection and are working to display more of these pieces of history.
This classroom resource was issued by the Department of Education to Levin's Saint Joseph's School in the 1970s. It brings to life two of Aesop's fables- The Tortoise and the Hare as well as The Rat and The Lion.
These audio visual kits were the 1970s equivalent of today's smart whiteboard and internet connection- they brought the world into the classroom. Each contained one or more filmstrips- single images (sometimes cartoons, sometimes photographs) on a long strip of 35mm film which were shown one at a time through a projector. An audio cassette tape provided background narration and music while a booklet contained a transcript and ideas for class activities.
The Department's 'Visual Production Unit' made some filmstrips themselves of local topics such as industries and New Zealand geography. However, these children's stories were bought from Weston Woods Studios, an American company based in Connecticut. Weston Woods was acquired by Scholastic in 1996.
Chemist shops often sold photographic equipment in the early 20th century- especially in small towns which couldn't support a specialist business. Given that photography meant darkrooms and darkrooms involved chemicals it was a perfect match! The fact that F&R Campbell were opticians made even more sense- snapshot cameras all had lenses after all.....
This is a packet of masks for magic lantern slides. The masks were finely cut pieces of black paper in various shapes such as square, oval, thick boarder etc. The masks were pressed against the glass magic lantern slide to focus the viewer's eyes on the most important, central part of the picture. The lantern would project these images onto a wall.
F&R Campbell were based in Feilding. They were advertising in the local paper in 1914 which would have been around the time these 'Primus' slide masks were made.
One of the smallest record labels in the country, TALA was set up in Levin in 1957. In the beginning it stood for 'To Assist Levin Artists' but, with few local acts coming forward, it was changed to 'To Assist Local Artists'. Either way, this label had around forty releases, each featuring New Zealand artists.
The label's owner, Wally Clark, was quick to pick up on international trends in music and always found local bands who were playing the right tune. This particular tune is by the Warren Sisters who were one of Clark's original TALA talents. 'Lace Covered Windows' was released in around 1968 and was among the last TALA releases.
Follow the link below for a picture of these artists on Kete
https://horowhenua.kete.net.nz/item/b734f09f-9000-4f64-a332-7f4c1bb84990
Wally Clark was also a professional photographer who also cornered the Levin TV hire market- a very busy man!
These boxes were sent to the managers of local theatres decades (in one case even around a century) ago! In them were slides promoting upcoming films which were projected onscreen during the intermission.
From the 1910s big cinema chains began appearing in New Zealand and they competed for the rights to show overseas releases. At a time when a town Foxton's size had two cinemas this differentiation was important for business.
Some of these boxes bear the names of Aotearoa's big cinema names like 'Kerridge'. The 'Pacer-Kerridge' alliance was founded in 1987 making the upper left box the newest of the assortment seen here. By contrast, the Paramount logo seen here was phased out in 1967!
If spending an afternoon at the cinema sounds like a relaxing way to spend the day, think about the times when you didn't even need to leave your seat to get your treats! 'Usherette Trays' were worn by cinema staff during the intermission and they were filled with tasty food and drink. Spend some coins, get well fed and stay seated to see the advertisements flash past on the screen!
This tray was for 'Frosty Jack' ice cream- a Wellington brand which was sold from 1924 to 1967. Like many local companies it had a limited distribution- 'Frosty Jack' didn't even get to the South Island until the 1960s. However, this effort may have caused the company to loose money and they sold to a larger firm who then stopped making ice cream a few years later.
As early as the 1930s 'Frosty Jack' trays were being used in cinemas during the weekend matinee screenings which were popular with children.
This 'usherette tray'' was most likely used in Horowhenua cinemas.
'Columbus' was the 'house brand' of the Radio Corporation of New Zealand Limited- a New Zealand company. Just as radio travels over waves so did the company's logo. Signs like this one would have been displayed by all retailers of Columbus radios. This radio range was sold from 1937 until 1961.
Radio Corporation of New Zealand Limited also founded TANZA- New Zealand's very first local record label in 1949. In fact, New Zealand made radios were popular right up until the late 1980s. But Columbus had set sail over the horizon by then.
You can see this sign in person at MAVtech- a technology museum located in Foxton's Coronation Hall. You'll also see lots of Columbus radios as well!
From 1953 to 1993 the Himatangi Radio Transmitting Station was one of our links to the outside world. Before it opened we could only radio as far as Australia and relied on Sydney technicians to patch us through to other locations. The opening of the Himatangi Station changed all that.
For much of it's life the station was a 24/7 operation with married staff living nearby in Post Office housing and single men living in hostels onsite. This duty logbook covers much of the 1980s and was the record of who was operating the station each shift. It is pictured with part of the station's control panel. By the 1980s much of the station was automated and the Warkworth Satellite Station (opened in 1971) had eclipsed Himatangi in importance. But keeping the station on air was still a big job.
Parts of Himatangi's control panel and transmitters can be seen at the MAVtech Museum in Foxton's Coronation Hall.
This is a page from the last log book of the Himatangi Transmitting Station. The station started it's career in 1953 with an early highlight being the transmission of the Queen's Christmas Message during her 1953 New Zealand tour. By 1993 satellite stations were replacing radio as the main means of international communication and the station shut down only a few weeks after these entries were made.
The station was government run and transmitted messages via radio- another station in Wellington acted as the receiver. Before undersea cables and satellites, these radio stations were our main link with the outside world.
Attack submarine motors were used as backup generators in the 1960s to ensure Himatangi never ran out of power.
A control panel from the station, and many historical documents, can be viewed at the MAVtech Museum in Foxton's Coronation Hall.
A vintage gramophone from 'His Master's Voice' (The Gramophone Company Ltd) from around 1910. This model belonged to the Burr family and seldom left Foxton in over a century! It is now on display with many other vintage musical machines at MAVtech in Foxton's Coronation Hall.
This gramophone was made before electric amplifiers were invented so needed a large horn to make itself heard. There was no volume control- putting a sock (or cloth) into the horn was the only way of quietening down a gramophone!
With intermissions becoming less popular and automation taking over in cinemas around the world, projectionists needed a way of screening a whole movie without a break. The answer was the film platter- a giant motorised spool for a length of 35mm film.
This platter was made by Foxton local Colin Martin. Projectionist Gavin Cowren (now the projectionist at MAVtech) remembers it being powered by a series of vacuum cleaner motors. Despite it's home-made appearance it had a long, useful life and could screen a three-hour movie in one go!
You can see the platter at the MAVtech Museum in Foxton- and find out more about it's incredible story!
A portable transistor radio bought on the 13th of April 1962 from Woolworths in Oxford Street, Levin. With original box, user manual, warranty and sales card. Transistor radios were smaller and more reliable than the old valve radios and did not need a 'warm up time'. They first became popular in the mid 1950s and were soon the latest and greatest thing to have.
Autocrat made this model in New Zealand- but in the late 1950s these portable radios were hard to get. In fact, they were one of the most common items Customs found being smuggled into the country at the time! It wasn't the only illegal thing involving these little radios- teenagers would use them in their rooms to secretly listen to the 'pirate radio stations' of the 1960s.