Jump to content

File:The White Swan (14269130558).jpg

Page contents not supported in other languages.
This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Original file (2,285 × 1,664 pixels, file size: 395 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Summary

Description

On 29 June 1862 the steamer White Swan wrecked off the Wairarapapa coast. The White Swan was en route from Auckland to Wellington, and was intended to arrive in time for the first session of Parliament ever to be held in Wellington. On board the steamer were many significant political figures of the day, including the Premier, William Fox, and several Cabinet Ministers, their wives, and government officials. During the morning of the 29th, the White Swan struck rocks south of Castlepoint. Captain Allen Harper deliberately ran the ship aground to save the lives of those on board, and all passengers made it ashore easily. Parliament was eventually opened in Wellington on 14 July.

The most significant loss resulting from the wreck of the White Swan, however, was that of the government records that were on board at the time. The passengers aboard the ship had been travelling with many official papers and books necessary for the opening of Parliament. A great number of these were lost, despite efforts to float the cases containing the papers ashore. Many records from this time in Archives NZ’s collection are reproductions of originals lost on the White Swan.

This photograph of the White Swan comes from the collection extracted from the holdings of New Zealand Post Archives, which is part of the Post Office Museum and Archives.

Archives reference: AAME 8106 W5603 115/ 11/8/138

For updates on our On This Day series and news from Archives New Zealand, follow us on Twitter twitter.com/ArchivesNZ
Date
Source The White Swan
Author Archives New Zealand from New Zealand

Licensing

w:en:Creative Commons
attribution share alike
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
You are free:
  • to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
  • to remix – to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
  • attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
  • share alike – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same or compatible license as the original.
This image was originally posted to Flickr by Archives New Zealand at https://flickr.com/photos/35759981@N08/14269130558. It was reviewed on 8 September 2016 by FlickreviewR and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-sa-2.0.

8 September 2016

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Items portrayed in this file

depicts

18 June 2014

404,948 byte

1,664 pixel

2,285 pixel

image/jpeg

bd1ebe965b108cede67c9b74640d23705398be91

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current21:31, 8 September 2016Thumbnail for version as of 21:31, 8 September 20162,285 × 1,664 (395 KB)Vanished Account ByeznhpyxeuztibuoTransferred from Flickr via Flickr2Commons

The following page uses this file: