Wellingborough in England's east Midlands; Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Wanganui, New Zealand - where's the connection? This is the mystery Paul Butler from Canada, who is holidaying in New Zealand, hopes to unravel. After his father Ivan died in 2006 in Britain, Mr Butler was sorting through his dad's things and cameacross an old photo album. The photographs, all taken between 1926 and 1928, are set in New Zealand, with the majority taken in Wanganui. But even though there are names written underneath, Mr Butler has no idea who they are. He asked his father's elderly sister, who lives in Britain, if she had any idea who they were, but she knew nothing about them.
"The more I thought about it, the more I knew I had to come to New Zealand to try and find if the pictures were significant to our family," Mr Butler said. He'd always wanted to come to New Zealand and see if he liked it, he said. "And so far I do, very much." He flew into Auckland on January 5 and is touring through the North and South Islands until early March. Among the photographs in the album is a group shot taken at Christmas 1928 in Wanganui captioned "The Yob Company", with the names Dud McKenzie, Toni Palmer, Vic North, Thelma Relph, Art North (son), Amy North and Roy Mowatt. There is also a shot of the same group taken on Castlecliff beach at Christmas 1927. There is a picture of the marble sculpture The Wrestlers at the Sarjeant Gallery taken in 1928, a picture of the Imlay Freezing Works at Castlecliff in 1926, and "the backview of our home" 1926 in Castlecliff. There were a few shots taken in Auckland and Hawera, possibly on family trips, and a loved german shepherd bitch called Spy taken in 1928. There were also several pictures of the same group picnicking at Upokongaro over the Christmas holidays in 1927. Mr Butler said the album fascinated him and he would be very keen to know if he does have relatives in New Zealand. "I just can't think how my father came to have this album. I have no explanation and I would really love to find out."
