Description
The Paekākāriki Station Museum has recently published Railway Recollections of Wellington, a book of black and white photos taken by John David Buckley who was a New Zealand Railways (NZR) worker and train driver from 1923 to 1963.
JD Buckley was also an enthusiastic photographer, and this book captures some historic recollections of rail (and some road) travel and development between Wellington and Otaki mainly during the 1930s and 40s.
John moved to Paekākāriki in 1934, living in one of the railway cottages in the village. During the four years he lived there, he purchased a barbershop which he converted into a darkroom.
He eventually moved back to Ngaio in Wellington and lived there until he passed away in 1983, leaving behind a library of 45,000 negatives – a treasure trove of images capturing a significant era of New Zealand’s railway history.
Chair of the Paekākāriki Station Museum Trust Dave Johnson says that our community museums are vital as recipients and guardians of local, regional and national history – items that end up in community museums often happen through small conversations that lead to a myriad of connections and unexpected treasures.
“With JD Buckley I happened to see some of his photos posted by his daughter on Facebook. I contacted her and it turned out she lived up the road in Otaki. We arranged to
meet, and she showed me a huge pile of his extraordinary rail-related photos. I was aware of her dad’s photography as he had taken quite a few of Paekākāriki and we had enlarged his “Paekākāriki Refreshment Ladies” photo which is on display in the Paekākāriki Station Museum.”.
The book contains thirty-two photos with a brief caption describing the subject and the date and time the photo was taken.
