Work continues on the digitisation of print photographs held within the Ngāi Tahu Archives at the Macmillan Brown Library and within Te Rūnanga. We currently have over 3000 entries of photographs that have been digitised and saved on the Ngāi Tahu server with back-up images held on external hard-drives.

Occurring alongside the digitisation project is the identification of people, places and events that have been captured within the photographs. This of course, can take a bit of time, and archives staff, with assistance from iwi members, have been systematically working through the photographs to capture information and record it before it is lost to us.

Since February of this year, staff have also focused on quality control by reviewing the entries already recorded in our spreadsheet to ensure accuracy.

From left: Robyn Walsh, Rahui Denny and Dawn Kottier viewing and naming Te Waipounamu Māori Girls College images.

From left: Robyn Walsh, Rahui Denny and Dawn Kottier viewing and naming Te Waipounamu Māori Girls College images.

From left: Shana Ormsby, Jennifer Walsh and Rangimarie Takurua viewing and naming Te Waipounamu Māori Girls College images.

From left: Shana Ormsby, Jennifer Walsh and Rangimarie Takurua viewing and naming Te Waipounamu Māori Girls College images.

From left: Christine Denny, Maria Korako Tait and Karen Hubbard viewing and recording Te Waipounamu Māori Girls College images.

From left: Christine Denny, Maria Korako Tait and Karen Hubbard viewing and recording Te Waipounamu Māori Girls College images.

Whakaahua Tīpuna/Whānau

Last month Te Pānui Rūnaka published this image on the back page and requested names or information be provided about the photograph. This photo is in the A C Graham Collection at Macmillan Brown, and is recorded as ‘Black & White photograph Māori – South Westland’.

The information attached to the image states ‘Family group outside house c. 1903’. We would like to acknowledge and thank Josie Wilkinson, Terry Scott, Suzanne Walker, Fred Te Miha and Mike Rochford for making contact and for providing names and information. We have been advised that the location of the photograph is Makaawhio and the date is January 1904. It is a photograph of the Bannister whānau. The names provided to us are from left to right:

The lady at left is Hera Bannister (nee Te Koeti, daughter of Te Koeti Turanga and Ripeka Patiere Tūtoko). Behind her, with the shovel is the eldest son, William (named after his father). Immediately beside Hera is her son, George. The lady in the doorway has been named as daughter, Hinepare Mahuika, however one caller thought that this lady could be the second-eldest daughter, Margaret (this may be the same person?). The young boy squatting at the front is another son, David. The gentleman holding a hat is John William Bannister. Beside him, wearing a hat is another son, James. The child sitting in front is the youngest son, Tuhuru. Unfortunately, none of the callers named the woman standing to the right in the photograph.

The Bannister whānau.

The Bannister whānau.