Publisher Hugh & G.K Neill, Aotearoa Series postcard list

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Postcards by Hugh & G.K.Neill - by William Main

In the early 1970s, I was given 64 postcards by the late Hardwicke Knight, author and historian. These were real photo postcards featuring a variety of New Zealand scenes, mainly views of Dunedin and Wellington. They were accompanied by a note from Hardwicke which read . . .

“These photographs are reduced from half-plate negatives made by photographers in various parts of New Zealand who were commissioned to take them for reproduction as whole-plate prints and postcards, which were printed by Hugh & G K Neill of Dunedin and sold under the name AOTEAROA SERIES. The enlarger used by Hugh & G K Neill is in the Hardwicke Knight Collection; photographs of the printing room and processing tanks are in the Hocken Library. The photographs date from about 1916 to 1925, and distribution ceased in 1928”.

My interest in this gift lay dormant in my picture files for a number of years until I began to acquire postcards on a more regular basis. Included in some of my finds were cards that had been issued during the New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition in Dunedin in the summer of 1926/7. These stated that Hugh & G K Neill were the official photographers for the exhibition. One particular fact which intrigued me at the time was what I might call the mechanical perfection and presentation of these cards. They had a machine like appearance as opposed to real photo postcards which were usually handled individually by a photographer and darkroom assistants. Then I made a discovery which explained everything when I chanced upon a copy of the British Journal Almanac 1927 edition which carried a four page advertisement for “The Presto” which was an automatic postcard printing and trimming machine for sensitised card makers. In order to give some weight to this firms status, it list over sixty firms around the world that had a “Graber,” the maker’s name. Included in this list was Hugh & G K Neill of New Zealand!

Now my interest was really wetted!

A detailed study my Neill cards revealed the fact that they all dated from the mid to late 1920s. The earliest  view was of Thames Street, Oamaru N569, and a view of Mt Egmont in Winter N1720 had the highest catalogue number.

 

Viewing the collection as a whole from a critical point of view, they are very unevenly produced, with some badly exposed and developed. However, to a certain degree that can be balanced by the fact that there are some very tempting images. For instance, those numbered N1700-1711 feature  views of the Otago Aero Club’s planes and facilities with a montage showing its gypsy moths doing stunts above the club’s hangar!

Also I’m enthralled by the Wellington sequence which runs from N1218 to 1234 showing views of the city's commercial and retail shopping streets in the mid to late 1920s. In fact, one can be more precise with this set because the DIC in Lambton quarry is under construction clad with scaffolding, suggesting 1927 since it opened the following year. Other views of Rotorua, Central Otago and Dunedin from the air dominate the cards I have from Neill’s catalogue. I would be interested to hear from anyone who can add to the list which follows.

 

Download a .pdf of this list  -

 

 Compiled by William Main

'Hugh & G. K Neill' Aotearoa Series postcard list
Number	Caption	Details	Images
Total x listings
N569	Thames Street, Oamaru NZ
N793	Snowballing in Botanical Gardens Dunedin NZ (dated July 1924)
N1117	Glendenning Homes, Andersons Bay, Dunedin NZ
N1148	Bridge on Skippers Road, Queenstown, NZ
N1149	Scott Memorial, Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu, NZ
N1153	The Racecourse, Wanganui, NZ
N1158	The River Avon, Christchurch
N1171	HMS Zealand in Harbour Dunedin, N Z
N1176	Kawarau Dam, Queenstown, NZ
N1171	Accommodation House after Eruption of Waimangu Geyser at Rotor, NZ
N1181	Bath House, Rotor, NZ
N1183	Hongi (Maori Salutation)
N1201	Bank of New Zealand, Invercargill, NZ
N1202	Water Tower, Invercargill, NZ
N1212	Pipe Line Waipori Power Works, Dunedin, NZ
N1213	Waipori Creek, Dunedin, NZ
N1217	Green Lake, Rotor, NZ
N1219	Princes St., from Octagon - Dunedin under Snow.
N1219	Generators Waipori Power Station, Dunedin NZ
N1224	Hongi Track, North Island, NZ
N1230	Lake Rotoiti, Rotor, NZ
N1234	Lambton Quay, Wellington, NZ
N1. . .	Manners Street, Wellington, NZ
N1218	Lambton Quay, Wellington, NZ
N1222	Manners Street, Wellington, NZ
N1231	Grey Street, Wellington, NZ
N1238	Courtenay Place, Wellington, NZ
N1243	Courtenay Place, Wellington, NZ
N1244	Willis Street, Wellington, NZ
N1247	Tasman Glacier from Ball Hut, NZ
N1251	On the track to Ball Hut, NZ
N1254	Camp on way to Ball Hut, NZ
N1255	Mt Cook from Hooker River, NZ
N1278	Princes Gate, Rotor, NZ
N1300	Dawson Falls, Mt Egmont, NZ
N1302	Maori Church, Ohinemutu, Rotor, NZ
N1316	Jollies Pass Hanmer Springs, NZ
N1371	Warm Waterfall, Tikitere, Rotor, NZ
N1476	Tekapo House & Bridge, Lake Tekapo, NZ
N1529	Kinloch, Lake, Wakatipu, NZ
N1542	Lake Pukaki, NZ
N1580	Queenstown, NZ from the Gardens.
N1581	Lake Pukaki, NZ
N1586	Fried Egg Pool, Rotor, NZ
N1639	Track Elfin Bay - Lake Rere, NZ
N1655	New Town Hall, Dunedin, NZ (with Ponga Tree & Tiki postcard back)
N1690	Aerial view of Cliffs at St. Clair Dunedin NZ
N1691	Aerial view St. Clair Dunedin NZ
N1692	Dunedin N.Z. from the air
N1693	Aerial view of Waterfront at Dunedin N.Z.
N1695	Aerial view of Anderson’s Bay Dunedin N.Z.
N1696	Aerial view of Dunedin N.Z.
N1697	Aerial view of Dunedin N.Z. Queen’s Gardens in Centre
N1698	Aerial view of Dunedin N.Z. St. Clair Golf Links in foreground
N1699	Aerial view of Dunedin N.Z. Otago Boys’ High School in foreground
	Aerial view of N1704 Mosgiel N.Z.
N1705	Aerial view of Otago Aero Club Aerodrome
N1706	Aerial view of Hangar at Otago Aero Club’s Aerodrome
N1707	Landing Fields & Hangars at Otago Aero Club’s Aerodrome
N1708	Otago Aero Club’s D H Gipsy Moth
N1709	Planes “stunting” above the Otago Aero Club’s Hangar
N1710	An Otago Aero Club’s Gipsy Moth Plane
N1711	An Otago Aero Club’s Gipsy Moth Plane & Flying Officer Olsen
N1720	Mt. Egmont in Winter
No Number	Mt. Rolleston
No Number	Maori Gate, Rotorua