King Street, Pukekohe. Avondale probably looked a little like this back then. As with Pukekohe, Avondale was a rural service centre for its district as well as West Auckland.
What attracted me to this postcard off TradeMe, though, was the woman and the two youngsters, laughing and skipping (?) along the footpath. Was this something put on for the photographer, or did he just catch a candid shot?
Manukau Library on their Footprints website dated this image as c.1911. But, Charles Randall Lusher, Watchmaker & Jeweller, left Manaia for Pukekohe in May 1912, after being in business there for 17 years. (Hawera & Normanby Star, 3 May 1912) He was green superintendent of the Pukekohe Bowling Club by October 1913, and was on the council of the local Chamber of Commerce by August 1916. Early 1924, he was selling Edison phonographs, both cylinder and disc types. His parents were Randall and Georgina Lusher, who arrived the the country c.1862 (Georgina died April 1926). He died 18 March 1938, at his King Street, Pukekohe residence.
My postcard may well have dated from the pre-WWI period, but it was postally used around 1970, with a 3 cent Lichen Moth stamp on it -- and sent to Pukekohe. Perhaps someone found it elsewhere, and decided it looked great to send.
I don't care if the scene was staged. It is a great photo and reminds us that old photos are not just about buildings and things, but people too.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree with you there, Andrew. It's the people factor, as much as anything else, that draws me to these postcards an' such.
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