106-year-old souvenir paper found
A former Southland man had a blast from the past when he came across a copy a souvenir edition published by The Southland Times and The Weekly Times that is more than 100 years old.
Russell Heeney, who lives in Christchurch, stumbled across the paper when he was cleaning out a set of draws recently in his Sumner home.
The paper is a jubilee souvenir edition covering the years 1862 to 1912 and features a selection of news articles and advertisements.
The paper was found about four years ago during the renovation of a house owned by Mary and John Coker in Cornwall, United Kingdom.
Mary, an antique dealer, found the paper when they were demolishing part the house and sent the paper to her son who lived in New Zealand.
The father-in-law of the son, Bernie Anderson, knew Heeney and gave it to him because he knew Heeney was from Gore and thought he might appreciate it.
Heeney came across the paper recently again when he was cleaning and found it in a draw.
The paper is almost intact missing only the back cover and is a total of 57 pages.
The issue features photos of the printing press at the time as well as pictures of different departments at the paper.
Heeney lived in Gore until he was about 13; his father ran the Gore brewery as well as pubs in Wairio and Tuatapere.
The family then moved to Dunedin where his father ran the Fitzroy Hotel and then the Waterloo Hotel.
Heeney’s brother was a journalist and it was a pity he was not alive because he would have given him the paper, he said.