Labour Day parade in Dunedin, 1894.
If you click on the thumbnail above you can see one of the floats has a banner reading 'Otago Central Railway We Must Have It'. From the beginning Labour Day parades were often used to draw attention to other political or economic issues – in this case urging the government to complete a controversial regional transport project. Work on the Otago Central Railway had begun in 1879, but progress was slow. The line would not reach Cromwell until 1921.
See also: newspaper report of this parade (PapersPast).
Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: 1/2-140512-G (see original sterograph image here)
Photographer: William Williams
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
