Group of factory workers

Could be from Turnbull and Jones (manufacturers of Moffat stoves)

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This extract originally appeared in New Zealand Photography Collected: 175 Years of Photography in Aotearoa (Te Papa Press, 2025).

Any information that was once attached to these [C.002013] two workplace photographs has long since been lost. The same people appear across the two images, with the presumed supervisor seated in front of the staff in one image and standing at the door in the other. In this second shot, some are working on the armature of a small electric motor. Others are sewing what look like mop heads. Perhaps these were components of an electric polisher or cleaner and they were assembled at another factory? In which case, making mop heads and electric motors seems an odd combination for a component supplier to specialise in. Or was this just one department within a larger factory?