Lyn Johnston

“Moving pictures” reached Albertland in the 1920s. Local entrepreneur Fred Thomas arranged for them to be shown in Wellsford, Port Albert and Paparoa. This was...

Marianne Smith (nee Caughey) and her husband William emigrated to New Zealand from Ireland. In 1880, Marianne opened Smith’s Cheap Drapery Warehouse on Queen Street....

By Lyn Johnston In 1892, a local correspondent wrote a newspaper item about Christmas festivities at Wharehine School. This little school was opened in late 1879...

By Lyn Johnston, Albertland Museum In 1883 Richard Cutforth wrote to a friend in Wharehine describing the backbreaking work he was doing to bring new...

By Lyn Johnston, Albertland Museum Longer, warmer and windier days are here, and it makes me wonder if anyone still does the annual ‘spring clean’...

By Lyn Johnston   Browsing through a scrapbook in the museum, I discovered a fascinating article written about 1950 by David Woodcock, a Russell businessman....

By Lyn Johnston, Albertland Museum Bennett’s first store opened in 1890, a stone’s throw from Port Albert Wharf. At that time it was owned by...

By Lyn Johnston When the pioneers built their first weatherboard houses, many had a basic plan incorporating high ceilings, a single window in each room...

In August 1925, the American Battle Fleet visited Australia and New Zealand, marking the alliance between America and the British Empire. Albertland photographer Harold Marsh...

The earliest known records of cricket in Wharehine were in a settler’s diary for 1865 and 1866.  Considering the first Albertlanders only arrived in 1862,...