Wellington Working Men's Club, 1977

Patrons of the Wellington Working Men's Club and Literary Institute enjoy a drink in July 1977, when the Club celebrated the centenary of its founding on 10 July 1877.

The Working Men's Clubs (WMCs) established on the West Coast during the 1947 beer boycott were modelled on 19th-century institutions like Wellington's. Both the Wellington and Petone WMCs were called 'Working Men’s Club and Literary Institute'. All of the West Coast WMCs have a similar official title: ‘______ Workingmen’s Club and Mutual School of Arts’. The latter part of the title was presumably a legal device to meet charter requirements – perhaps to demonstrate that the clubs had a higher purpose than simply drinking.  The significance of these titles have long been forgotten. As West Coaster Ray Scorgie commented: ‘We always felt that the “art” lay in the drinking’.