agriculture

Richard Gross was a New Zealand sculptor, famous for his creation of war memorials, which typically depicted the nude male in precise detail.

• Read more about Richard Gross

A 1927 poster produced by the Empire Marketing Board to promote the clean, healthy sheep-raising environment in New Zealand. The Board, established in 1923, was a key funder of New Zealand’s Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), which was founded three years later. Government scientists employed by the DSIR helped drive the ‘grasslands revolution’ that turned New Zealand into the Empire’s dairy and sheep farm.

From a dairy factory at Pukekura, Waikato, Henry Reynolds launched his Anchor butter. The brand name was allegedly inspired by a tattoo on the arm of one of his workers. It would become one of this country’s best-known trademarks.

Reverend Samuel Marsden is generally credited with planting the first grapevines in New Zealand. The vines were planted as part of Marsden’s efforts to establish a settlement for the Church Missionary Society at Kerikeri. He recorded the planting in his journal of his second visit to New Zealand:

Held at the South Pacific Hotel in Auckland, the competition was open to all members of the Young Farmers’ Club. The inaugural winner was Gary Fraser from Swannanoa, near Christchurch. The contest has since become an established part of the farming calendar.