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Story: Department stores and shopping malls

Riding Sammy the seal

Image
Riding Sammy the seal

A boy gets a grip on Sammy the seal in Johnsonville Mall, Wellington, which opened in 1969. Malls in the 1960s and 1970s often featured animal statues children could climb on and concrete plant tubs.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP-Municipal-Towns, Wellington and suburbs, Johnsonville and Ohariu-02

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

Helen Laurenson, Department stores and shopping malls – New Zealand’s main malls, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/22228/riding-sammy-the-seal (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Helen Laurenson, published 4 February 2010.