Kevin Miles with the chest of tools donated to Horowhenua Historical Society.
Kevin Miles with the chest of tools donated to Horowhenua Historical Society.
A chest full of old tools from the turn of the last century has helped to shine a light on an industrial revolution that changed the face of Levin.
The chest originally belonged to Josiah Harvey, who along with his brother Howard, had immigrated from Cornwall in England in 1909 and started a cabinet and furniture-making business in Oxford Street, operating from a building currently occupied by Unichem.
Josiah’s son Ray Harvey recently donated the original carpentry tools used by his father to the Horowhenua Historical Society. That donation was the spark for a feature display now on show at Levin Library Te Takeretanga o Kura-haū-po.
Kevin Miles and Ray Harvey.
Descendants of the Harveys continue to operate businesses in town today.
The old chest started a conversation between the Historical Historical Society, the heritage team at the library and the Horowhenua Family History Group, who collaborated to work on what was a shared passion.
The display highlights the growth of business in Levin in the period between the 1950s and 1970s.
Post-World War II, people were leaving smaller towns and moving to cities for work. Levin was seen as an ideal place to retire. But that all changed in the mid-1950s.
Led by a progressive mayor who formed a promotions committee, leaflets and booklets were distributed all over New Zealand touting Levin and the wider Horowhenua region as the ideal place to live, work, do business and raise a family.
The town staged industrial fairs and expos attended by thousands of people. Its proximity to major centres and rail links was espoused, and the fact that housing and land values there were comparatively cheaper.
Historical Society member Kevin Miles said the display wasn’t just about the factories, but the people that worked in those industries, too.
Wallpaper made from a major manufacturing plant in Levin during the industrial boom of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
“Businesses started to set up to support those established businesses. It really was a boom period for the town. You realise, talking to people who worked at these places or whose parents did, that it played a big part in the history of the town,” he said.
“The population really boomed and there was talk of Levin becoming a city.”
Library local history team lead Kiri Pepene said Levin has a fascinating past and Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō was the ideal place to showcase that history.
An advertisement in the Horowhenua Chronicle in 1972.
The display highlights some of the larger industries and stores that were huge employers in the town during the boom period, and also shows the fallout when that boom largely went bust in 1979 with the introduction of a new government-imposed tax.
The 20 per cent sales tax had a massive effect on many manufacturing businesses almost overnight, forcing several businesses to either close or lay off large numbers of staff. More than 600 people took to the street in protest.
There is a section in the display dedicated to the infamous Rixen factory protest in 1981, when workers - mostly women - staged an occupation of the Oxford Street premises that lasted 96 days. Before that, the longest industrial protest of its type in New Zealand lasted six hours.
Some of the 67 workers found new jobs and moved on, but others couldn’t and remained steadfast in their belief of an injustice. Some of them had given the company 11 years of service.
Rixen mechanic Norman MacFarlane talks to Clothing Workers Federation president Joyce Howe during protest negotiations. Federation secretary Frank Thorn is behind.
Twelve of the staff took the first offer and left on September 4, while another 12 left a week later, leaving 43 to fight on. But that number dwindled again soon after, leaving 29 remaining, who cooked and slept on-site for almost six months, working in shifts.
Their plight received national attention and was documented in a film titled Even Dogs Are Given Bones.
Film director Kanya Stewart stayed for three nights in the Rixen building and feels inspired by the workers to this day.
Since that industrial period, the population of Horowhenua has hovered around 30,000 for the best part of 30 years, but history seems to be repeating itself.
Fast-forward to 2023, and Horowhenua is beginning to experiene another growth spurt with new businesses popping up, along with established businesses choosing to relocate to the province.
That has led to Horowhenua District Council factoring into its planning some eye-watering forecasts showing the population growth rate in Horowhenua will continue to outpace the rest of New Zealand for at least the next decade.
By 2041, it is estimated more than 62,000 people will be living in Horowhenua.
The Businesses That Built Levin display at Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō runs until the end of the month.
