Lure of the Trail – Programme 4 – Westland

NZ Department of Tourist & Publicity, 1939

Early Westland tourism posters © Pinterest

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 Switzerland and the Black Forest region of Germany with the Westland region of New Zealand’s South Island.

Digital audio © Radio Heritage Foundation

Westland postcard
© postart.co.nz
In 1934 Newman’s Bros. Ltd provided transport to Westland
© West Coast New Zealand History
“All roads lead to home, and the Government Tourist Bureau knows all the roads”

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.

Transfer docket between the ZB stations © Radio Heritage Foundation
Some of the well-travelled packaging originally use to ship these records around NZ © Radio Heritage Foundation
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