Lure of the Trail – Programme 2 – Hanmer Springs
NZ Department of Tourist & Publicity, 1939
In the late 1930s the New Zealand Department of Tourist and Publicity produced a series of radio programmes to encourage New Zealanders to holiday within New Zealand rather than travelling overseas.
This series, entitled “Lure of the Trail”, was produced by Radio Features Ltd and aired on the National Commercial Broadcasting Service stations 1ZB (Auckland), 2ZB (Wellington), 3ZB (Christchurch) and 4ZB (Dunedin).
In this episode the narrator compares the European health resort of Aix les Bains with Hanmer Springs in the South Island of New Zealand.
The virtues of a visit to Hanmer Springs for your health are extolled.
Early Hanmer Springs tourism posters © Pinterest
Digital audio © Radio Heritage Foundation
These records were found in a library sale in New York by one of our supporters, who donated them by hand during a cruise to New Zealand!
The recordings are 12″ 33⅓ rpm records that play from the inside out.
In the 1980s a similar media campaign was run using the catchphrase, “Don’t leave town till you’ve seen the country”, a slogan which is still part of the Kiwi vernacular today.
