Skip to main content

Story: Empire and Commonwealth

Empire's star turn

Image
Empire's star turn

A 1930s advertisement for New Zealand apples notes the imperial connection – New Zealand, or its apples, are the British Empire’s ‘star turn’. Modesty had not hampered the colony, which saw itself from the late 19th century as a ‘better Britain’: healthier, fairer and more open.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: Eph-E-FRUIT-1930s-01

by Edward Cole

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

W. David McIntyre, Empire and Commonwealth – Trade and empire, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/ephemera/33226/empires-star-turn (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by W. David McIntyre, published 16 April 2012.