Story: Unpaid domestic work

Norman Kirk paints the house

Norman Kirk paints the house

Labour Party leader, later prime minister, Norman Kirk paints a window frame of his house in Cashmere, Wellington, in 1971. As leader of the opposition, Kirk would have earned enough to hire a painter but, in the New Zealand ‘DIY’ tradition, he did it himself. He had previously built his own house in Kaiapoi, and had worked as an assistant roof painter on leaving school. Later he was a railway engineer before becoming mayor of Kaiapoi and then entering national politics.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Evening Post Collection (PAColl-0614)
Reference: PAColl-7796-63

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.

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How to cite this page:

Matt Morris, 'Unpaid domestic work - The shed', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/23339/norman-kirk-paints-the-house (accessed 24 April 2024)

Story by Matt Morris, published 11 Mar 2010