Back in early November, I decided to experiment with the idea of a one day “live research” project on my sister page for Longwhitekid on Facebook, History Always Repeats.
The result was The Sugar Boiler. I think it went quite well, so I decided to do another which, I think, ended up being far more interesting than the first – uncovering a wealthy, industrious and enterprising family – who contributed notably to a major New Zealand industry. It even took me back to my hometown (electronically) on land we used to roam around as kids not far from that extraordinary architectural curiosity, Swan Arch, in Henderson.
This research project “Pipped By The Post” was inspired by an unusual lot that came up for auction on Trade Me a while back. This was an old fruit crate label for “Whangarei Fruit Farms”, and was accompanied by a postcard sent to an orchard inspector in Whangarei in the early 1910s from Mexico. It was so interesting I put the images aside to look into later on and see what I could find out. I suppose I was wondering whether there was any early connection to the hugely popular Crest Fine Foods brand which was a fruit and vegetable canning business in New Zealand from the mid 1940s through the mid 1970s (now completely forgotten).
As it turns out I can’t prove that, although the items came from two brothers, and in fact involved three siblings, that there was ever any real connection between Hampshire, U.K. and Northland, New Zealand. Read away, and find out for yourself. The album is here with the comments underneath telling the story, over two days, as I progressed.
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