New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition, 1925-26
- Text, photographs and concept by Jonathan Howard
On November 17 it will be 100 years since the New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition opened at Logan Park, showcasing the manufacturing, educational, governmental and artistic achievements of Dunedin, the province and Aotearoa - but also the Empire and the world.
Before it closed on May 1, 1926, more than 3.2 million people had visited. The closing day saw nearly 84,000 - more than the population of Dunedin.
This year’s Ōtepoti Dunedin Heritage Festival, October 1-31, run by the Southern Heritage Trust, celebrates this and earlier amazing exhibitions held in Dunedin.
For information on the festival talks, tours, film screenings, exhibitions and children’s activities go to southernheritage.org.
The exhibition overcame incredible obstacles, to open then to vacate the site afterwards. Lake Logan was reclaimed with harbour dredgings. Clay and topsoil were laid for the 2500 trees and shrubs and 120,000 garden plants of the exhibition gardens.
Edmund Anscombe (1874-1948), appointed the exhibition architect in 1924, designed more than 20 temporary buildings, including seven pavilions (a footprint of 44,515sq m), a grandstand, entrance pavilion, restaurant, band rotunda and domed Festival Hall. For speed and economy Anscombe used standardised materials and construction details.
Construction of the exhibition buildings began in late June 1924, using 1638.5km (ie. sufficient to stretch from Bluff to Auckland) of timber, 48,216sq m of roofing Malthoid (enough to roof five Octagons) and 8717sq m of glazing (enough for a 2m-high window stretching from the south end of the Oval to the north end of George St).
To make the exhibition more enticing, Anscombe designed an amusement park along its west side, importing attractions from America. After the exhibition closed the seven main ones, The Whip, Merry Mix-up, Caterpillar, Dodg’ems, Scenic Railway, River Caves and Fun Factory, became part of Luna Park, Auckland, and in 1931, Luna Park, Sydney.
This massive standardised construction project was a joint venture between two local firms, Love Brothers (later merged to become Naylor Love) and Fletcher Brothers.
After the exhibition it took until the end of 1927 to clear the site for the new Logan Park sports ground. Some buildings were reused but most were carefully dismantled, their materials sold for new projects.
Let's take a tour
New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition, Dunedin 1925/26. Robert Percy Moore 1881-1948: Panoramic photographs of New Zealand. Ref: Pan-0467-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/30664609
1. The presence of
Mataatua Wharenui (the ‘‘Māori House’’) at the exhibition represented one stage of its long journey home to Mataatua from Australia, via London and Otago, remembered this year in
Dame Gillian Whitehead’s new work for the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra.
2. The Fernery showcased native ferns and shrubs and was lit by coloured lamps at night. Reassembled in December 1926 as the new fernery in the Winter Garden at Dunedin Botanic Garden, later demolished.
The women’s rest rooms (left), originally the site office, and the ambulance station (right) under construction. DCC Archives, New Zealand & South Seas Exhibition Series, 3/1, page 27. Photo Album by photographer CM Collins.
3. The ambulance station was handy to the playground (see 28) and amusement park. St John staff and volunteer nurses treated 1332 illnesses and accidents here. After the exhibition it became the art gallery caretaker’s residence.
4. The creche opened during the day, run by one permanent staff member and volunteers. A total of 3318 infants were registered for care here during the exhibition, after which it seems to have been dismantled.
The relocated exhibition women’s rest rooms (circled) near the north entrance of the botanic garden. (Detail of) North East Valley, Dunedin City, Otago Region. Whites Aviation Ltd: Photographs. Ref: WA-52047. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
/records/32972560
5. The women’s rest rooms (not toilets, found elsewhere on site) had a nursery, lounge, cloakroom and kitchenette. Their use by 36,000 women demonstrated demand and at the end of the exhibition the organising committee gifted them to the DCC, who relocated them to the botanic garden. They were demolished in the early 1970s.
6. During the exhibition, 35,000 cars were parked in two carparks, one here by the sports ground and one opposite the entrance pavilion.
7. The timber grandstand seated nearly 3000 spectators. After the exhibition it was placed on trolleys and swung around, facing north, in the position of the existing Caledonian grandstand. In September 1941 a man died when it was destroyed by fire.
8. The
exhibition art gallery was the only building Anscombe designed in brick, and one of only two buildings still in situ (see 26). With long views and natural lighting it displayed 931 paintings and 46 sculptures by living artists from Britain, France, America, Australia and New Zealand. In 1927 the Dunedin Art Gallery moved here, staying until 1997.
9. The Festival Hall hosted concerts, theatre and a festival choir, and could seat an audience of 2500. With its flagpole, the dome was about 30m high, and was brought down with explosives when the building was dismantled.
10. Pavilion 3 housed the New Zealand Provincial Courts and general exhibitions. Like all seven pavilions, it was dismantled for recycling after the exhibition.
11. Pavilion 2 was the smallest and housed machinery and part of the Otago Provincial Exhibition Court. Used by the demolition company Scott and Cooper after the exhibition as a sales store for recycled building materials, it was the last pavilion to be dismantled.
12. The band rotunda, where the 93rd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders 2nd Battalion Band played throughout the exhibition. Afterwards it sat forlornly waiting for a buyer who never came.
13. Pavilion 1, the British Pavilion, H.M Government and British commercial exhibition space.
14. The Entrance Pavilion contained turnstiles, fire station (on the right in the photograph), left luggage office (left) and police station beside it.
The Entrance Pavilion. Johnstone, Robert, Entrance gates (1925-1926). Hocken Digital Collections, accessed 28/09/2025, hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/60022
The exhibition reported only one fire and, with six or more uniformed police on duty at all times, no crimes.
15. Pavilion 4, the British Colonial Pavilion, housed the Canadian, Australian and Fijian courts and the women’s section.
16. Pavilion 5, the New Zealand Government Court.
17. Pavilion 6 was the largest at 110m by 94m and housed the New Zealand Secondary Industries Court.
18. Pavilion 7, the Motor Court and Education Courts, exhibited motor vehicles from 25 American, 21 British, three French, and one Belgian vehicle manufacturer.
19. A total of 160 staff were employed, serving 831,000 meals in the quick lunch building (left) and two dining areas of the restaurant (right). These buildings were dismantled.
20. ‘‘The Whip’’ sold 278,490 tickets. Ngā Taonga digitised film footage of
Luna Park, Auckland, shows The Whip between 04.38-04.42.
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The Whip’’ at the New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition, Dunedin, 1925, Dunedin, by Hugh & G. K. Neill. Purchased 2022. Te Papa (PS.003988). https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/2114251?page=1&rtp=1&ros=1&asr=1&assoc=all&mb=c
21. ‘‘The Caterpillar’’ ride sold 255,137 tickets, and can be seen on Ngā Taonga
Luna Park footage at 01.50-02.10 and 02.30-02.41.
‘‘The Caterpillar’’. Johnstone, Robert, Amusement zone (1925-1926). Hocken Digital Collections, accessed 30/09/2025, hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/60015
22. ‘‘The Fun Factory’’, with ‘‘cake-walks, blowers, dark passages and magic mirrors’’, sold 394,791 tickets.
23. The Scenic Railway was the amusement park’s star attraction, selling 507,168 tickets. Although the
Luna Park ride was lengthened you see the cars and the height of the ride between 02.51-04.30 on the Ngā Taonga footage. The River Caves sold 290,352 tickets. Although with different scenery you can see it on the Ngā Taonga footage of
Luna Park at 00.19-00.36, 00.53-01.34 and 04.42-05.30.
24. ‘‘The Dodg’ems’’ sold 340,165 tickets and can be seen at
Luna Park between 01.35-01.50 on the Ngā Taonga footage.
‘‘The Dodg’ems’’ at the amusement park. Johnstone, Robert, Dodgems, New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition (1925-1926). Hocken Digital Collections, accessed 28/09/2025, hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/69389
25. ‘‘The Merry Mix-up’’ sold 145,966 tickets.
26. The Cabaret (dance hall) opened in the evening and housed a professional dance orchestra, superb dance floor and comfortable seating. It was built in sections to make it easy to relocate. It made its way to Kaikorai Valley as a factory and is still there today.
27. The corrugated iron Aquarium was lined with tree ferns and featured a large fountain. In 1927 the Otago Lawn Tennis Association took it on to serve their new tennis courts at Logan Park, which it still does today. Some of the 25 tanks housing New Zealand freshwater fish were moved, with the Fernery (2), to the botanic Garden.
