Queen Street Railway Station
1900s, likely 1908 (New Zealand Graphic) - 2024
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1900s image: unidentified photographer for The Weekly Graphic and New Zealand Mail | Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections NZG-19081104-0020-03
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The historical image was published in the Weekly Graphic and New Zealand Mail of 4 November 1908. It was part of a section celebrating the completion of the North Island Main Trunk Line and the long-awaited linking by rail of Auckland and Wellington. The picture was captioned:
GENERAL VIEW OF THE PRESENT AUCKLAND RAILWAY STATION.
To be replaced by something more adequate to requirements now that the line with Wellington is completed.
Below: Archives New Zealand have a very similar picture in their collection.
Archives New Zealand Reference: AAVK W3493 Box 379 E-2547 R16470624
Indeed, when the Archives NZ image is superimposed on the Graphic version (suitably scaled and with distortions adjusted), it makes an exact fit. The only differences are in the light (one is in sunshine the other overcast) cropping, copying distortions and other image quality issues. So precise is the registration that I'm pretty certain the two pictures were made on the same day from exactly the same camera position. Note the wagon near centre (of coal?) emptying (or filling - the order of the pictures is unclear) and at bottom right, what appears to be an informal display of artworks or publications of some sort, perhaps being offered for sale. The station's arrival platform is at left; departures at right.
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Archives New Zealand give a date of 1904 for their picture. However, one of the advertisements in the scene is for a Skeates two speed bicycle, and a search of newspapers of the time shows that there were 29 newspaper advertisements for that particular bicycle model placed between May and July 1908. That would suggest that the Graphic picture was indeed from 1908, and cast some doubt on Archive NZ's 1904 dating.
The Queen Street Railway Station had opened in 1885 and continued operating here until 1930. The building in the 2024 picture, Auckland's old Chief Post Office (built between 1909-1912) saw the return of passenger rail in 2003 and is now the Britomart Train Station. Below is a panoramic view of the scene in 2024 (click on image for a more detailed version).
Below: the chaotic plethora of advertising hoardings ouside the old station was not uncontroversial. This cartoon appeared in a 1907 issue of the Observer.
Observer, Volume XXVII, Issue 23, 23 February 1907, Page 16
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TO19070223.2.27.2
Below: a reconstructed facsimile of the page in the Graphic that carried the photograph of the railway station. The portraits are of men variously associated with the making of the Main Trunk Line (click on image for a more detailed version).
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/new-zealand-graphic/1908/11/04/20 | Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections NZG-19081104-0020-01—08
For another then-and-now treatment from this section of the Graphic see the next page in this collection or click here.
Below: the present day (2024) platforms in Britomart Station.
