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Story: Anniversaries

One hundred crowded years

Video file

The Government Film Studios at Miramar produced a centennial film, One hundred crowded years. It was dedicated to the European pioneers of New Zealand and proudly portrayed the way the country had been transformed by a century of material progress. This clip shows a pioneering man fashioning a home 'by axe and saw' from the bush, while his wife undertakes domestic chores in primitive but picturesque conditions.

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Archives New Zealand - Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

Reference: One hundred crowded years. National Film Unit, 1941

Permission of Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga must be obtained before any re-use of this material.

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How to cite this page

Jock Phillips, Anniversaries – New Zealand’s centennial, 1940, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/video/43024/one-hundred-crowded-years (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Jock Phillips, published 14 October 2013.