Story: Apprenticeships and trade training

End-of-apprenticeship ritual

End-of-apprenticeship ritual

In 1983 Wellington printing apprentice Mark Elphick was tied to a lamp post and drenched in glue, paste, ink and waste paper by his workmates to mark the completion of his apprenticeship. This is a long-standing ritual in the printing trade known as ‘meeting the binder’s daughter’.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PAColl-7327)
Reference: EP-Labour-Printers-01
Photograph by John Nicholson

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:

Jeremy Baker, 'Apprenticeships and trade training - The post-war years', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/23785/end-of-apprenticeship-ritual (accessed 27 April 2024)

Story by Jeremy Baker, published 11 Mar 2010, updated 1 May 2022