Mass-produced china and household goods were popular in the mid-century. Photo / Andrew Warner
Some of Rotorua’s earliest souvenirs were ordinary, everyday objects — made extraordinary by setting them in silica from the famed Pink and White Terraces.
Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa Rotorua Museum social history collection curator Emma Liley says Rotorua’s role as a tourist town meant souvenirs soon became significant in the 1870s, when the “first tourists” would head straight for the “eighth wonder of the world” — Te Otukapuarangi, the Pink and White Terraces.
Locals realised they could gain extra income from tourists, not just for charging to visit the Terraces — Te Otukapuarangi — but for a tangible memento of the experience.
“The very first souvenirs were made and basically they were everyday objects ... that were put into the Terraces and then the silica in the water would flow down over top of it ... over time, this film of silica would build up and they would be sold to tourists as the first souvenirs.”
“People wanted to remember their trip so of course being able to take a memento away ... would help them remember their experience here in Rotorua.”
Items such as bowler hats, boots, even natural objects like twigs and feathers would undergo the process, the items now a ghostly reminder of the destruction of the Terraces — known as the “eighth wonder of the world” — when Tarawera erupted in 1886.
Liley said it was “absolutely” a novel idea at the time.
“That use of geothermal waters ... there weren’t any industries to make any souvenirs here, it was very remote and the population was really sparse.”
Moving closer to the modern day, the museum’s storage boasted a collection of examples of how souvenirs in Rotorua transformed to mass-produced objects over time.
“In the very early days looking at the tourists who were going to the Terraces, we’re looking at your wealthiest Europeans and North Americans. It wasn’t an everyday thing for tourists to travel all the way to New Zealand ... it was the wealthiest of the wealthy.”
After that, it was mostly domestic tourists, particularly after World War II.
“After the war, it really was domestic [tourism] ... When the Government said ‘hey Kiwis, get out and see your own country’. Prior to that, Kiwis didn’t travel around New Zealand, but the exports of meat and dairy were doing well, and farmers suddenly had a little bit of money, so for the first time Kiwis started to travel.
“A lot of them, for the first time, came here, to Rotorua. It was mainly geothermal, Māori culture [tourism], and it didn’t change really until about the 70s, and places like the Agrodome — man-made attractions — came on board.”
Liley said at that time materials for souvenirs also changed.
“We go from natural and local to mass-produced, imported.
“From the late 1800s, early 1900s, up until about 1930, we saw this mass production of fine china. Not produced or manufactured in New Zealand, but from Germany, Austria, the UK, even Czech Republic. All featuring Rotorua places, landscapes.
“It was a bit of a status symbol to have a teapot on your mantelpiece [from New Zealand].”
Some of the souvenirs from the mid-20th century were also not in as common use today, such as tea strainers.
That was, to some extent, where the collection ended, however, and the museum was keen for the public to help fill the gaps in its more contemporary souvenir collection.
“We’ve got very little that’s contemporary souvenir-ware.
“[What] we’d like to do is a bit of a shout-out to the public to see if there are things that are missing, if anyone could help us.”
Liley said nowadays it was more common to see some sustainable souvenirs made from natural products — such as wood — echoing the earliest souvenirs.
“What we don’t have that we would love is to be able to record some of the tourist attractions that have closed.”
An example of one of those was Rainbow and Fairy Springs — later named just Rainbow Springs — which closed last year after 90 years in operation.
“We’ve got nothing on the Orchid Gardens.”
The museum also had no souvenirs from Ogo or Zorb, Tamaki Tours or Mitai Village, and also sought souvenirs from newer attractions like the Redwoods Treewalk and Rotorua Canopy Tours.
Liley said there were also other types of popular souvenirs that simply did not exist in the collection, such as Rotorua-themed tea towels, mugs, stationary (such as pencils, pens and erasers) and sheepskin products.
Those were also on the “wish-list”, Liley said.
She said “a lot of consideration” went into what was accepted, as it needed to be relevant to Rotorua or Te Arawa.
“We have to look carefully about their fit, their condition, are [whether there are] duplications already in the collection. There’s a lot of consideration that goes into it because of the care involved ... you can’t say yes to everything.”
Local Democracy Reporting is public interest journalism funded by NZ On Air.