The late Sir Colin Meads, with ball, for New Zealand vs British Isles, during the first test at Carisbrook, Dunedin, in 1971. Photo / Peter Bush. Collection of Te Manawa, courtesy of the Bush Family. All rights reserved.
The late Sir Colin Meads, with ball, for New Zealand vs British Isles, during the first test at Carisbrook, Dunedin, in 1971. Photo / Peter Bush. Collection of Te Manawa, courtesy of the Bush Family. All rights reserved.
A selection of work from the doyen of New Zealand rugby photography Peter Bush has been auctioned off an effort to see that his life’s work survives.
As a rugby photo-journalist Bush built up a massive archive of historically important sporting and cultural images since his first assignment as news photographer for New Zealand Herald in 1949.
Now, a collection of 300,000 photographs now known as “The Bushies” has found the perfect home at the New Zealand Rugby Museum in Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science and Heritage in Palmerston North.
Peter Bush's sports journalism career began in 1949, when he photographed his first rugby union test match for the New Zealand Herald.
The Bush family gifted the collection to Te Manawa. It features instantly recognisable images and the body of work was important not only as an historic item, but as a documentation of history itself.
The collection spans more than 50 years of his work and also captured key political and social moments in the nation’s history outside of sport.
While his rugby images were famous, he also took pics of figures like Louis Armstrong, Cliff Richard, Pope John Paul II, and of important events like royal tours, the Māori-land march in the 1970s, the Wahine disaster and the 1981 Springbok tour.
But to do the collection justice it has to be catalogued, digitised and exhibited, a process expected to take many years.
To help fund the work, signed prints of some of his most famous photographs went to auction last week at Te Manawa.
The event boasted guest speakers Dame Farah Palmer, former All Black captain Graham Mourie, and sports broadcaster Hamish McKay.
Dame Farah Palmer was among the list of guest speakers at the Peter Bush Auction at Te Manawa.
More than $8000 was raised from the blind auction, which featured signed copies of some of Bush’s most famous photographs.
Other items includes a huge mural of Bush’s photographs and other signed rugby memorabilia. Former All Black and rugby legend Dan Carter lent his support to chairty auction with a signed copy of his book, titled 1958.
Te Manawa executive assistant Julie Bowe said the auction result surpassed expectations.
“The collection and this work is important not only to the Bush family, to Te Manawa, and to Manawatū, but to the whole of New Zealand,” she said.
Former All Black captain Graham Mourie, pictured on stage with the late Peter Bush's daughter Rachel at the auction at Te Manawa Musuem and Gallery in Palmerston North.
Three staff had been assigned to the task of saving “The Bushies”, which could take as long as five years to complete, maybe longer. There was always the potential to find “gold”.
“For a project this length of time we do need help,” she said, and thanked various organisations and trusts for their support.
The collection also had the support of Palmerston North Mayor Grant Smith, who dug deep with a winning bid on a signed Bush photograph that featured the late Sir Colin Meads, while also taking home signed Hurricanes and Manawatū Cyclone jerseys.
Smith said he planned to donate the items toward future community fundraising purposes.
