Unwanted piece of history
It’s a 121-year-old piece of history nobody wanted.
A photo album gifted in 1897 has been found among the 65,000 novels, biographies and paperbacks donated to Ka¯ piti’s annual book fair.
Featuring photos of an empty Remuera, Franz Joseph Glacier, plus a Mrs Mueller and an Isabel, the album was one of eight discovered in this year’s donations, organiser Joe Franklin said.
‘‘We suspect we get collections following people moving into retirement villages, or perhaps ever after deaths.’’
Mildewed and tattered in places, the heavy album bore the inscription: ‘‘To May, from E and G.R, Christmas 1897, in token of loving kindness received’’.
Tiny captions under each photograph provided clues to the people posing grim-faced for the camera: Betsy, Douglas and Harper stare from a canoe on the Wanganui River while in another image, an Eric Mueller poses on an Auckland hill.
The scenery included Mahinapua Creek and Mt Cook, and in one photo a blanketdraped man smokes a pipe next to his drying clothes.
The album appeared to be the record of a tour of New Zealand presented in gratitude to the tourists’ hostess, an Alexander Turnbull Library spokesman said.
‘‘It was quite common for visitors from Europe, often combining a visit to relatives with a tour of the country, to compile photographs as a memento of their tour.’’
Quite a number of the albums had survived and their value depended on condition and the quality of the images.
Franklin said that while the 1897 album was an unusual find, newer albums had been just as thought-provoking for volunteers.
‘‘Another album from the 1980s has pictures of a then very happy wedding day and one wonders why it’s no longer wanted. Perhaps things went sour in later years and only brought back bad memories?’’
Photographs of children featured in yet another album; all eight would be displayed at the fair and anyone with a legitimate claim was welcome to take them away.
❚ The Lions Monster Bookfair is at Waikanae Memorial Hall on October 13 and 14, from 8am. Zealandia’s pest intruder has been living large in the sanctuary for more than a week, with the offender caught on camera.
They’ve checked the fences, set traps and trackers, but the weasel remains at large, and how it got inside remains a mystery.
Zealandia spokesman Cameron Hayes said 110 traps had been set, and Zealandia were investigating about 60 additional traps to be installed over the coming weeks.
Hayes said traps were set yesterday after being put out, baited, but not set.
‘‘Because they are new traps they will look quite novel in the environment, and not setting them first is a tactic to build the animal’s trust and confidence to enter trap boxes.’’
The 110 traps that had been set with fresh bait were DOC200 traps, and the further 60 sought would be victor traps, he said.
‘‘[We’re] hoping that the diversity in traps will help.’’
The footage of the weasel from a camera trap was encouraging, he said.
‘‘It confirms what we’re up against, and that we are working in the right area of the sanctuary.’’
It is the first incursion pest in 10 years. of a