Precisely 100 years ago in 1924, the British Empire Exhibition, a trade show, was held at Wembley in England. It included a display of some of New Zealand’s finest deer-stalking trophies, and they attracted worldwide attention.

The exhibition was set up over 220 acres of parkland north of London in the suburb of Wembley. This area of the city is known as the ‘Concrete City’, because it’s where architects and engineers designed various lavish buildings all constructed of concrete. This massive project took less than a year to complete, and at one time during its construction, employed 12,000 people. More than 2,000 of them were some of Britain’s finest builders, stonemasons, roofers and tradespeople who were responsible for the city-style layout, which included roads, bridges, street lighting, shops and restaurants. At the time, it was the largest exhibition ever staged in the world and was hosted with the idea of maintaining the Commonwealth’s colonial cohesion, with some 56 out of 58 countries being represented.

Costing a lavish 12 million pounds, the public show was declared open by King George V on April 23, 1924, (St George’s Day) and by the time it closed on October 31 of the same year, it had attracted 27 million visitors.

The entire work was to be of a temporary status and destined for demolition after its closure. However, this destruction was extended a stay of execution when a scaled-back show followed in 1925. Subsequently, the removal of the buildings gradually started, staggering on until the final vestiges of the 1924 exhibition were removed in 2010, with the location and area today becoming the much-revered Wembley Stadium.

NZ Promotion

The New Zealand Government supported the exhibition and erected a purpose-built New Zealand Pavilion. This contribution promoted the South Sea Islands, housing eye-catching displays of wilderness bush scenes, waterfalls, miniature Rotorua geysers and hot pools along with a prefabricated wharenui (meeting house), plus a model of the Waitomo Caves. Admission to the enormous display grounds cost 1/6 (15 cents) and included entry to most of the exhibits as well as an upmarket cinema providing films depicting our country and lifestyle, which in turn supported a wide range of produce and commercial displays intended to pique the visitor’s interest.

Sportspeople were not overlooked, and within the New Zealand Room, mahogany-glazed show cabinets displayed specimens of our splendid fishing possibilities – both river and deep-sea varieties – having been prepared by some of our best taxidermists of the time and shipped to the exhibition. The spacious floor area of the New Zealand Room was backdropped by eye-level display units, one of which housed dozens of wild boar tusks, while the expansive wall areas above the cabinets and adjoining the high raked ceiling were adorned with 40 fully mounted deer heads comprising red, wapiti, fallow and sambar, along with several wild boar heads from the New Zealand backcountry. Twenty other stellar deer trophies were the focal point of the committee room, which ran adjacent to the main hall and also offered access for the public.

Huge Interest

With an estimated eight million people viewing the New Zealand Pavilion, there was significant interest in our wildlife specimens, which was precisely what our government hoped for; many of the deer heads represented trophies far exceeding the size and shape of those available to the sporting stalker’s rifle in their own homeland or neighbouring continent.

The promotion by the NZ Government at the Wembley exhibition of our superb fishing and hunting opportunities was deemed to be highly successful, as it aroused huge interest and resulted in New Zealand’s tourism department and associated businesses reaping financial benefits. Consequent visits to New Zealand by overseas tourists, eager to travel afar to enjoy our country and to explore for themselves its rich fishing and hunting opportunities, saw big increases in numbers.

Many may be unaware that New Zealand had already exhibited red deer heads in Britain as early as 1913, also arousing the interest of the sporting fraternity back then. Six trophies shot in the 1911-1912 season were sent by the NZ Government for display at that exhibition.

With the Government wishing to showcase our very best deer heads at Wembley in 1924, they undertook a programme of procurement as early as February 1923. They enlisted the support of several respected stalkers from various districts to locate suitable trophies. The three individuals chosen for the task were all successful stalkers in their own right: Major Robert Wilson DSO, John (Jack) Forbes and Robert Hill. Their mission was not an easy one; in fact, it was quite challenging, as some of the owners of trophies were not prepared to assist or happy to take down their trophies and have them shipped overseas to the exhibition. Additionally, several stags considered worthy of inclusion had been illegally shot without the required licence and tags.

The final round-up secured 60 mounted heads from persuaded participants from both the North and South islands. The measuring of the heads was left to the expertise of Hill, while the gathering, crating and labelling of them was conducted under the specifications and watch of Major Wilson and John Forbes, with the packaging and shipping costs from Auckland being met by the NZ Government.

Trophies on Display

The timing of the exhibition proved fortuitous for the Government, as that year, Major Wilson and his wife married and were going to be holidaying in Britain at the time. The major’s devotion to New Zealand and his own stalking experience and knowledge was to prove invaluable to many visitors to the New Zealand Pavilion as he greeted and answered enquiries from British and European sportspeople all seeking information about New Zealand and its deer.

It was definitely the stags from the Otago deer forest which attracted the well-healed and influential the most, with their classic wild Scottish antler form exceeding the red deer at home, while the heavy-antlered, park-blooded stags within other acclimatisation areas became the centre of attention also. Two wapiti heads displayed under the ownership of the New Zealand High Commissioner, which had been shot at Lake Marchant by Vivian Donald and Les Murrell, were visually impressive and proved popular additions to the collection. Not all the mounts were displayed under their owners’ names – for a variety of reasons.

Six trophies, tagged 1 to 6, were credited as some of our finest red deer. Trophy No. 1 belonged to the New Zealand Governor-General, Lord Jellicoe, having been taken in 1923 from Block 35 in the Young River area of Otago. This stellar 13-pointer was

somewhat outclassed by a remarkable head taken from the Young River a few days earlier by his aide, Captain Curtis. It was a long, wide 18-pointer that many thought more deserving of Spot 1. Ethne Herrick’s attractive, 12-point Blue River trophy from Otago, a contribution representing women, was showcased as Trophy No. 4.

Publications

Drawing on experience the NZ Government gained from the British Empire Exhibition in 1913, it was decided to complement the display at Wembley in 1924 in a similar mode by publishing a book detailing data on the trophies on display with maps and information about stalking in New Zealand. The foreword was written by the then New Zealand High Commissioner, Mr James Allen, who endorsed the Government’s gratitude to all the participants who’d unselfishly loaned their trophies within the New Zealand Pavilion and helped create a stand-out attraction. John Forbes was selected to collate the book’s stalking information, supply his photographs and author the book, in collaboration with Major Wilson who edited and provided a written introduction to the publication. The book was a replica in size and layout of the publication London Country Life had produced for the 1913 exhibition.

The reasonably large-format, hard-covered book New Zealand Deer Heads was printed in London by Hudson & Kearns for Country Life during the 1924 British Empire Exhibition, and while it was a limited print book of 500 copies, those who exhibited trophies received a complimentary signed copy with a typed message from the NZ Government attached to the opening page. The 37-page book included the displayed heads individually photographed with measurements, ownership details, locations and brief comments, and is today one of the most sought-after and collectable New Zealand hunting books. Some who are fortunate enough to have a copy within their library have also been blessed with great signatures and inscriptions.

Closure and Loss

When the British Empire Exhibition closed on the last day of October 1924, the dismantling of most displays was undertaken immediately, and the repackaging and crating of the antlered heads commenced. It could be said that the trophies which went to the Wembley exhibition were worthy of a book written about them alone, as they would be the subjects of some interesting tales.

Unfortunately, not all the classy heads returned to New Zealand, and misfortune befell some once they arrived home. For example, the Studholme brothers lost all their Hunter Valley trophies when fire destroyed their Te Waimate homestead. The crated heads had arrived some weeks before and were still stacked on the veranda awaiting rehanging in the entrance hall only to be lost in the inferno.

The year 1924 certainly remains a poignant year for the stalker, for it was that year Capt. Thomas Donne CMG – at one time head of our Department of Tourist and Health Resorts – published two books: The Game Animals of New Zealand, closely followed by Red Deer Stalking in New Zealand. Today, 100 years later – like John Forbes’ book New Zealand Deer Heads – they remain keenly sought-after and desirable books for the serious hunter and collector.