As soon as I read about the marvellous New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition, I knew it was perfect place for a scene in Murder in the Devil’s Half Acre.
Grand exhibitions were all the rage in the 1800s, showing off the extraordinary innovation and prosperity of the Victorian period. The Dunedin event was hard on the heels of the 1889 World Fair in Paris, for which the iconic Eiffel Tower was built. Not to be outdone by the French, Dunedin constructed a replica Eiffel Tower, albeit scaled-down to 40 metres and made of wood. Featuring a steam-powered lift, which carried 16 people up to a height of 30 metres, and electrically-powered lights on the viewing platforms, it was a smash hit.
The NZSS Exhibition also had a switchback railway (the humble precursor to roller-coasters – a bit of it can be seen in the photo above), a merry-go-round, musical entertainment, gardens and exhibits of everything imaginable from around New Zealand and the world.
The event was so popular that more visitors were said to have gone through its gates than the entire population of New Zealand at the time.
One can only imagine the wonder and excitement on their faces as they approached the Moorish-domed entrance!
A huge thank you to The Lothians blog for detailed information about a fascinating, but little-known, piece of history: https://the-lothians.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-new-zealand-and-south-seas.html.
Rose Pascoe 
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