The late Queen Elizabeth was in New Zealand for Christmas 1953 and broadcasted her Christmas message from Auckland to London, via the newly opened Himatangi Transmitting Station.
The late Queen Elizabeth was in New Zealand for Christmas 1953 and broadcasted her Christmas message from Auckland to London, via the newly opened Himatangi Transmitting Station.
It was Christmas Eve 1953 and in the quiet seaside town of Himatangi some nerves were frayed, especially among those people working at its brand-new radio transmitting station.
The station connected New Zealand to the wider world but instead of sitting at home preparing for a family Christmas at leastnine anxious staff crammed into the small space, had backup generators ready to go just in case, and a technician on stand-by in case of any break-down.
The station, presently preserved at MAVTech Audio-Visual Museum in Foxton, was crucial in getting the new Queen Elizabeth II's Christmas message across to the Commonwealth from Auckland. It was the station's biggest test by far.
The young Queen and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, were in the middle of a whirlwind tour of the realm and had only just arrived in Auckland.
The staff at the Himatangi station had every reason to be anxious, as two of the generators they possessed had failed just before the Queen spoke.
Fortunately, any fears were unfounded - the London technicians reported that the speech was received right the first time, and by 10pm the team was finally celebrating Christmas.
Auckland radio carried the Queen's words from Government House to Himatangi, via the Waiouru Naval Radio Station, and then to London. It took 20 nerve-racking minutes to arrive at the BBC - a long and nervous wait for the New Zealand staff.
The station was built on the main road about five miles north of Foxton.
We relied on Australia to transmit any radio and phone calls on and in 1951 the government decided to build the station at Himatangi.
Previously, all radio-telephone conversations with England and the USA were routed via Australia, using a station at Wellington to get signals to Sydney in Australia.
"We relied on Australia to transmit any radio and phone calls on and in 1951 the Government decided to build the station at Himatangi," said MAVTech volunteer Jacob Brookie.
A newspaper article from the time said: "The £300,000 project occupies more than 800 acres of land covered for the most part with a sprawling system of aerials. There is also a huge transmitting and powerhouse and administration block, two rows of staff houses and a long single men's quarters and recreation rooms."
It was a full 24-hour day job guarding the flow of signals across the world and close to 20 people worked there.
The ceremony of declaring the station open was carried out by the Postmaster-General, Hon WJ Broadfoot, and a crowd in the vicinity of 1000 was present to witness the event at 2pm on November 9, 1953.
Himatangi Station had proved itself that Christmas Eve and congratulations apparently poured in from government officials who said that Foxton should be proud of the honour the station had won.
Those same officials had conceived of a backup plan as they didn't want to leave anything to chance. A pre-recorded backup speech was already waiting in London if something went wrong at the other end of the world.
"As power cuts were far more common at that time, the station was taken off the national grid and put on to generators to secure power supply," Brookie had discovered.
The Queen had only been in the country for two days, she said in her speech: "I feel completely and most happily at home here."
She added that the Crown is not merely an abstract symbol of unity, but "a personal and living bond between you and me." She said they were trying to see as much as possible of the Commonwealth and Empire and to learn first-hand of their triumphs and difficulties…"
MAVTech volunteers also believe they may have one of the microphones the Queen used during that message. "We are not entirely sure, but there has been plenty of anecdotal evidence over the years," Brookie said.
"It was donated many years ago. We know the Queen broadcasted from other places around the country and we had a volunteer at some stage who worked at one of those stations."
The Himatangi station closed down in 1993 but its control panel is at MAVtech. You can sit in the technician's seat and try to imagine what it was like to be trusted with a message half the world was waiting for.
MAVTech is holding an Open Day on Saturday, September 24th) from 1pm-4pm. The MAVtech team will be demonstrating how our items worked and explaining the impact technology has had on history.
At 3pm there will be a screening of short film clips and cartoons in our cinema.
Entry is free, but a gold coin donation is appreciated.
