It has not been forgotten - a striking mural adorns a building in the city.
Invercargill’s Horace’s Spice Shelf a mural by Palmerston North realism artist SwiftMantis won the People’s Choice award for South Sea Spray Mural and Street Art Exhibition in 2022.
Horace was a stray cat who found his home in Invercargill, after being rescued from the streets of Blenheim and lived for a short stint in Auckland.
The cat had a corneal graft in one eye from a previous cat fight and a mysterious ‘C3’ tattoo in his right ear.
His human ‘‘mum’’ managed the Southland Education building on which the mural is painted.
The Esk St site was also the historic location of Strang’s Coffee and Spice Works.
Despite other references crediting a Japanese-born chemist based in Chicago inventing instant coffee in 1901, David Strang of Invercargill invented the brew in 1889, and registered his Dry Hot-Air process patent in 1890.
- APL
