Jane Russell did not make it to Gisborne City for the celebrations — possibly because she was busy with the 1956 movie Hot Blood, or The Revolt of Mamie Stover, or even in rehearsal for The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown.
It is just as possible she did not make it because she had never heard of the East Coast town whose adult populace passed winter nights watching her in Superscope and increasing the population as a result.
August 8 marks the 60th anniversary of Gisborne’s designation as a city.
“Proclamation will appear in New Zealand Gazette tomorrow . . . and becomes effective on first November,” says Internal Affairs minister SW Smith in a telegram sent to Mr Barker on October 19, 1955.
“May I offer my heartiest congratulations to yourself, the councillors and the citizens of your city on reaching this important milestone in municipal progress. The development of Gisborne over recent years culiminating in elevation to city status is a credit to yourself, councillors and citizens.”
He makes no mention of Jane Russell’s part in Gisborne’s population growth.
Long-sought goal“Long sought goal”, boasts a headline in the August 10, 1955 edition of The Gisborne Herald.
“Gisborne has become New Zealand’s 14th city. Official ceremonies in connection with the proclamation of the borough as city are to be deferred until the results of a national census to be conducted next year are officially declared.”
When that happened, hot blooded revelry broke out.
“Celebrations ran from Christmas Day 1955 through to the end of January 1956 with church services, a beach carnival and various sports events,” writes Sheridan Gundry in A Splendid Isolation.
The Gisborne Herald used figures from a 1954 monthly Abstract of Statistics to list cities which achieved that status ahead of Gisborne. From biggest to smallest they were Christchurch, Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, Lower Hutt, Palmerston North, Hamilton, Wanganui, Invercargill, New Plymouth, Timaru and Napier.
At 18,250 people, Nelson’s population fell short of the official minimum population-size of 20,000 to qualify as a city. But even if the citizens’ blood was not heated up with Jane Russell movies Nelson got onto the list “by virtue of it having a cathedral and being the seat of a bishop”, said The Herald.
The association between city status and cathedral ownership was established in the early 1540s when King Henry VIII founded dioceses in six English towns and also granted them city status.
The holding of city status gives a settlement no special rights other than that of calling itself a “city”.
In the US a city is defined as an incorporated urban centre with its own government and administration established by state charter.
One of the earliest references to city-building is said to be found in the Bible in which Cain built the city of Enoch. After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Noah’s great-grandson Nimrod founded several cities. Damascus is said to be the oldest existing city in the world although the earliest description of a city is that of Sodom.
Stadtluft macht frei (city air makes you free) might have been a saying in Germany but travellers are advised to stay away from Sodom.
Government reformsBefore the New Zealand Government’s 1989 reforms, a borough council with more than 20,000 people could be proclaimed a city. Darker than Sodom though is the news that after the reforms an urban area has to have at least 50,000 residents before it can be proclaimed as a city.
Moving along, in 1955, Gisborne periodical Photo News honoured newborn Jill Fisher as Gisborne city’s 20,000th citizen. Born at 2.30pm, August 9, Jill was the last baby to be born before city status was announced.
Perhaps it is appropriate to say Jill really belongs to the country, says the Photo News story, “for isn’t the new status of Gisborne bound inseparably to the primary industries which support it?”
As the nation’s mascot, Jill shoulders a huge responsibility.
Unfortunately the popular pictorial magazine published the date of the Gisborne milestone as August 10. In which case Jill was possibly the first baby to be born after Gisborne was made a city.
“Good luck to you, Jill,” says the item.
“We hope you come back some day and live in the town you made a city.”
That she did. Now a teacher at a Gisborne school, Jill celebrates her birthday on Sunday.
Happy birthday, Jill — and happy 60th anniversary to the town you made a city.
And in case you missed Underwater! with Jane Russell, here's a snippet from the film
