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Story: Energy supply and use

Electric celebration

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Electric celebration

Electric lighting was used to celebrate the 1901 visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York to Wellington, in much the same way that fireworks or cannon fire might be. The General Post Office was hung with 2,400 red, white and blue lights, and transparencies and mottoes in Māori and English hung in the windows. The display was visible from Days Bay to Mount Victoria.

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Alexander Turnbull Library, James McAllister Collection (PAColl-3054)

Reference: 1/1-007960-G

by James McAllister

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

Megan Cook, Energy supply and use – Electricity, late 19th to mid-20th century, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/21437/electric-celebration (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Megan Cook, published 12 April 2010.