Story: Sport and society

Wood-choppers compete in the Putaruru Handicap at the local carnival in 1953. Wood-chopping as a competitive sport, rather than as a job, emerged in rural communities such as Putaruru in the Waikato at the turn of the century, and remained popular in such areas for most of the 20th century. Unlike many other New Zealand sportspeople at that time, wood-choppers were not amateurs. They competed for prize money.