Pages tagged with: centennial exhibition

'You Can Have One Guess' teases the title card, and then we are shown the Octopus at night, with the lights on its arms spinning in the blackness. The next cards says 'And "Goodbye" It Was Jolly Fine'.

A tour of the exterior of the Centennial Exhibition in Rongotai, including views of the buildings and fountain and of the statue of Kupe.

A moving neon sign proclaims 'The Crazy House'. This was one of the most popular attractions in Playland.

Film showing construction of Centennial Exhibition

Film showing buildings at the Centennial Exhibition in Rongotai

Speech by Governor-General Lord Galway at the Centennial Exhibition in Wellington, 1940

Film of haka being performed at the Centennital Exhibition

Now that the exhibition has been officially opened, people are enjoying riding the dodgems.

The camera pans along a dark blue locomotive engine. But this isn't a full-size engine, it is part of the Exhibition's miniature railway.

'This is the Octopus', but, because it is night, all we can see are its lights in an asterisk shape, spinning in the darkness.

Interview with Charles Hainsworth, manager of the Centennial exhibition

Street scenes at the Centennial Exhibition grounds at Rongotai

Maori group performing, Centennial Exhibition, Wellington 1940

Maori carver Tuhaka Kapu demonstrating his skills at the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition in Wellington 1940

Carvers and builders outside the unfinished Maori meeting house, Centennial Exhibition, 1940.

An aerial view of the Exhibition grounds and buildings.

Poster advertising a sideshow exhibit, 'Mexican Rose the 54 stone fat girl' at the 1940 Centennial Exhibition

The New Zealand Centennial Exhibition in Wellington attracted more than 2.6 million visitors, including tens of thousands of rail travellers from all over the country, during its six-month run from 1939 to 1940.

New Zealand Centennial Exhibition Certificate of Attendance

New Zealand Centennial Exhibition, Wellington, special souvenir cover

Zoom around Charles Haines' The Fun of the Fair poster for the Centennial Exhibition.