This file contains material relating to the research, publication and reception of Lady Smedley’s history of the official residence of the British High Commissioner , ‘Homewood and its families: a story of Wellington’ (Wellington, 1980).

This file contains material presumably prepared for the incoming New Zealand High Commissioner, R.J. Stratton, including information on running the house, tending to the large garden, speeches and office details (circa 80 sheets).

97 x 140 mm. A studio photograph showing two Maori women dressed in korowai performing the Maori greeting of Hongi, pressing noses together. The greeting is performed by lightly pressing noses together, first on one side, then on the other, and not by rubbing.

187 x 148 mm. A view showing the terrace formations filled with water which drops down from the geyser above.

360 x 266 mm. A view showing the front of the ‘Wanaka Hotel’, a small single storied wooden building with a stone chimney at either end, owned by Theodore Russell. On the verandah, a group of men and women pose for the photographer.

Niece of M. Papakura. [Doorway with name on lintel and girl seated in doorway].

Landscape format. House is named Tuharomatakaka. [House with elaborate carvings on eaves and with masks and totems. Margaret Pattison Staples-Browne, also known as Maggie or Mākereti Papakura, 1873-1930, stands on the verandah].

An album containing 95 snapshot photographs with handwritten captions beneath, most measuring approximately 105 x 60 mm, and depicting life on a New Zealand sheep station. The album also contains 2 loose uncaptioned prints. Although an amateur family album, the pictures give an interesting and varied record of the sheep farmer's life and work. Huiarua is situated in the east coast district of the North Island between Opotiki and Gisborne.

55 x 80 mm.

60 x 74 mm. A view looking up-river towards the start of this series of falls.

191 x 140 mm. A view showing the small settlement of Kinloch on the lakeside, with the Humboldt Range rising in the background. The range, which lies north west of Queenstown, stretches northward along the shores of the lake and beyond.

Full-plate. [No print]. [Missing].

198 x 148 mm. A view of the countryside in the Hutt area north of Wellington, showing fields interspersed with palm trees.

Half-plate. [Solid brick building seen from grassy spot].

Full-plate. [No print]. [Missing].

The album now contains photographs numbered in the range 6787-7005 (originally there were 173 in the album). Added numbers are: 6933-7005; not used: 6791, 6821, 6834 and 6872; missing 6790, 6792-6794, 6802, 6809, 6812, 6814, 6848-6849, 6936-6937, 6941, 6944, 6947, 6981, 6984, 6989-6890, 6992-6993 and 6995.

[Pond with black swan and willow trees around it].

196 x 138 mm. A view showing Maori men, women and children bathing in a hot spring.

Half-plate (landscape format). [Two men, one blurred].

201 x 151 mm. A view showing the priest, or ‘Tohunga’ (a word basically meaning an expert, of which there are several classes), standing in front of the decorated inner wall of the meeting house. The rafters are painted in a typical Maori motif (probably in red, black and white), while the walls are constructed of lattice ‘tukutuku’ panels forming a geometric decoration.

194 x 142 mm. A view looking across fields towards the centre of the town. Invercargill, situated on the banks of the Waihopai River, is the southernmost city in New Zealand, first settled by James Kelly and his wife in 1855.

200 x 130 mm. Group of nine stood before an aeroplane. Persons identified are: 'Mayor and Mrs Wachner and U.K. Mission.' Tymms is fourth from the left.

154 x 88 mm. A group of men and women, including Frederick Tymms, standing in front of a plane.

Landscape format.