Postcard Pretty

According to research published by the Wellington City Library, the collecting of picture postcards was a world-wide phenomenon which began about 1900 and lasted until the beginning of World War I. The library research attributes the popularity of postcards to the reduction in postal rates in 1901, including half price for postcards, to the development of cheap photo-lithographic colour printing in Germany and to the widespread sale of the cards in shops.  Previously souvenir photographs were  sold only by photographers, and were expensive.

“At the height of Wellington's postcard craze, people would buy a number each week for personal collections or for mailing. New releases were eagerly anticipated. They were sent to friends and relatives with the expectation that one would receive postcards in return. Collections were often mounted in elaborate albums that would be placed in a conspicuous place in the family home for visitors to see and admire - taking second place only to the family bible. The design of the cards became increasingly intricate with vignettes, fancy edging and deep embossing all becoming fashionable”. 

The postcard collecting fashion ended with the start of World War One, which cut access to German printers, and coincided with improved telecommunications, and was also marked by a return to letter-writing. Postcards with later dates can be found, however. 

Island Bay seems to have been a particularly popular subject of  postcards.  It is not known how many were produced, but one local collection gathered in recent years from antique shops and auctions contains more than 50 examples.  The most popular subjects in this collection are the rocky coast and surf, followed by Island Bay itself.  Other subjects include Erskine College, the Home of Compassion, and wide views of Island Bay looking both north and south.  Houghton Bay features in one or two, and the City Library collection has a card appearing to show Owhiro Bay after a southerly storm.

Messages on the cards, where they have been used for their intended purpose, tend to be short, and consist mainly of greetings rather than the news you would expect in a letter.  “Dear Maggie I trust this card will find you and Father and Mother as well as I wish you all to be,” wrote M Lavery from Wellington to Mrs M. Galbraith of Te Wharau, Wairarapa on the 19th of December 1910.  The picture side of his card featured “Best Wishes for Christmas and the New Year", with a small picture of Tapu Te Ranga Island taken from above Beach Street inset.

A rather wistful young man called Will chose a romantic, though black-and-white, sunset scene to send to a Miss Ellis of Onehunga, who was perhaps his sister: “We have struck lovely weather here, plenty of fun, but no girls.  We are all too  shy.  Will see you at the races. Will”

It may be that Miss Harrison of Clark St, Mt Roskill, was herself the recipient of her card, showing the beach settlement and the bay.  It is stamped, addressed and postmarked October 10 1906 but contains no message.  

A woman called Ella chose a glossy card with two oval pictures – one of Kelburn and one of Island Bay.  “We have been to both of these places” she noted, without further comment, as a postscript to her message to her sister Freda.

Miss Ethel Gordon, of “Awaroa” on Waiheke “Isle” was sent a postcard of the Eastern side of the Bay from  "Lewis" on 27 December 1907, ending with the postscript: “Best Love, Lewis.  I will write you a long letter after the holidays if I have time.  When I am sober”. 

Ellen wrote to Myrtle Mutton of Pollen St, Thames in 1903, using a coloured postcard of the rocks and breakers of Houghton Bay, which was, intrigingly, postmarked in Auckland.  She was a disappointing correspondent: “I have no news to tell you dear, hoping to hear from you soon”.

The postcards of the early 1900s tell us something of the way the area was viewed by Pakeha settlers and visitors.  It was the wild intersection of the land and sea; but the land, at least, had been tamed and was being transformed into a fine settlement, linked by good roads and public transport to the city.  It was a scenic delight, a seaside resort, and an attractive place to raise a family, with spacious houses, and fine schools.  To those sending and receiving the cards, Island Bay represented the most attractive aspects of New Zealand.