Fundraising group in costumes

item details

NameFundraising group in costumes

ProductionUnknown; photographer; 1914-1918; New Zealand

Classificationphotographic prints, gelatin silver prints, group portraits

Materialssilver, photographic gelatin, photographic paper

Materials Summarygelatin silver print

Techniquesblack-and-white photography, photography

DimensionsImage: 132mm (width), 84mm (height)

Registration NumberO.048933

Credit lineGift of Marianne Abraham in memory of T. Wyville Rutherfurd, McKenzie Gibson, Frances and Dorothy Broad, 2019

Overview

This photograph features a fundraising group wearing costumes during the First World War (1914-19), possibly in Greymouth, New Zealand.

Women in particular made a huge contribution to New Zealand’s war effort through hundreds of patriotic organisations around the country. They helped supply material to people in war-torn Belgium and France. They made clothes for Belgian children, knitted socks for New Zealand soldiers, and raised money through garden fêtes and market stalls.

This photograph includes Dorothy Broad (1889-1976) who is standing wearing a fur coat and gas mask. With her sister Frances, they were involved in fundraising (including theatricals, musicals and quiz evenings) and other wartime activities (such as first aid) on the West Coast of New Zealand. They were excellent craftswomen and made many objects to raise money for the West Coast Wounded Soldiers’ Fund.

Like many New Zealand women, Dorothy had an invested interest in soldiers' wellbeing, with her fiancé, Captain Thomas Wyville Leonard Rutherfurd (1890-1918), being overseas in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (13th Reinforcements).