Story: Public holidays

Empire Day, 1940

Empire Day, 1940

Leonard Tripp, president of the Wellington branch of the Royal Empire Society, reads a message from former Governor-General Lord Bledisloe on Empire Day, 1940. Tripp is standing at the foot of a statue of Queen Victoria in Cambridge Terrace, Wellington, where a woman is preparing to lay a wreath. Empire Day, which began in New Zealand in 1903 to celebrate the ties between countries that were then part of the British Empire, took place on 24 May, Queen Victoria's birthday.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Evening Post Collection (PAColl-0614)
Reference: PAColl-8557-51

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:

Nancy Swarbrick, 'Public holidays - Celebrating imperial ties', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/32468/empire-day-1940 (accessed 17 April 2024)

Story by Nancy Swarbrick, published 20 Jun 2012, reviewed & revised 19 Apr 2023