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Story: Streets and lighting

Tarsealing, 1925

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Tarsealing, 1925

Onlookers watch a demonstration of a tar sprayer on Waimate’s High Street. Tar- or bitumen-sealed streets considerably improved the quality of urban life; blinding summer dust and tiresome winter bogs were consigned to the past.

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Waimate Historical Museum

Reference: 2002-1026-000662

Permission of the Waimate Historical Museum must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Adrian Humphris, Streets and lighting – Building and funding streets, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/24476/tarsealing-1925 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Adrian Humphris, published 6 April 2010.