For 125 years Taranaki rugby has maintained the rugby traditions associated with New Zealand’s rural hinterland. Tough, uncompromising forwards complemented by accurate kickers saw the ‘Naki set the benchmark for provincial rugby during its heyday in the late 1950s and mid-1960s, when two tenures of the Ranfurly Shield yielded 28 successful defences.
The arrival in August 1860 of Major-General Thomas Pratt heralded the development of a new strategy to break the cordon that encircled New Plymouth.
New Plymouth South African War memorial, now reinstated at its original location on Marsland Hill.
The Marsland Hill New Zealand Wars memorial in New Plymouth. A statue of a soldier on top of the memorial was destroyed in 1991.
This memorial stands on Marsland Hill in the Taranaki city of New Plymouth. It records the colonial and imperial forces and kūpapa (pro-government Māori) who served in the New Zealand Wars. The process of erecting this impressive memorial can be traced over a five-year period through a local newspaper, the Taranaki Herald.
This cartoon from Taranaki Punch, 21 February 1861 is titled 'Awful Impudence'. It has a Maori man asking, 'Please when will it be convenient to begin Burning the Houses in the Town, for we have nearly done the job outside.'
The scene of the Puketapu feud, Bell Block, just outside New Plymouth. This cross was erected by the New Zealand government in 1941. It replaced an earlier wooden cross erected by W.H. Skinner, part of which is held at Puke Ariki museum, New Plymouth.
New Plymouth in about 1857, looking south. Marsland Hill stockade is in the distance on the left, with St Mary's Anglican Church below it to the right.
When war broke out in 1860 New Plymouth was a small town. Fewer than 3000 Europeans lived in Taranaki province, nearly all of them in the vicinity of the provincial capital. Seven hundred adult Pakeha males were confronted by twice as many Maori. Only troops could ensure the settlement's safety.
A carved boundary post, known as Fitzroy Pole, erected near Bell Block, New Plymouth in 1848 by the Te Atiawa chief Te Waitere Katatore. This post marked the boundary of European settlement. The carving depicted a male European cowering underneath Parata Te Huia, a chief of the Puketapu hapu of Te Atiawa.
A replacement Fitzroy pole was erected to mark New Zealand’s centennial in 1940.
The New Plymouth Public Health Committee's instructions to volunteer nurses or family attendants dealing with influenza, probably issued during the 1918 pandemic.
The flyer advises that patients be kept isolated in a bright, well-ventilated room with windows fully opened. No one except the nurse or attendant should enter the room. Instructions for mild, serious and extreme cases are given, and there are suggestions for medicines and foods.
Cabbage tree leaves, kiwi, a farewell in the Maori language and the New Zealand and Union Jack flags decorate the royal procession in New Plymouth on 9 January 1954.
Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: PAColl-9005
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
