Kōrero: Governors and governors-general

Domestic staff at Government House, Auckland, 1903 (2 o 2)

Domestic staff at Government House, Auckland, 1903

From the 1890s until the late 1940s, 15 to 20 domestic staff normally accompanied British governors to New Zealand. For Governor Ranfurly’s servants – seen here at Government House, Auckland, in 1903 – it might have seemed like a five-year exile. Some took jobs or spouses in the colony, but the ones who wanted to return to loved ones back home had to serve out their term, since few had the money for a return passage. The man at the right of the back row was an orderly provided by the New Zealand government.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library, Ranfurly Collection (PAColl-5745)
Reference: PA1-f-194-37-2
Photograph by Herman John Schmidt

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.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Te tuhi tohutoro mō tēnei whārangi:

Gavin McLean, 'Governors and governors-general - Vice-regal support', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/mi/photograph/33668/domestic-staff-at-government-house-auckland-1903 (accessed 19 March 2024)

He kōrero nā Gavin McLean, i tāngia i te 20 Jun 2012, reviewed & revised 28 Sep 2016