Story: Economic history

Depression, 1928

Depression, 1928

In this cartoon we see Prime Minister Gordon Coates pulling an unemployed man out of a swamp labelled ‘depression’. The image was published on 18 February 1928, though it is often said that the great depression began with the Wall Street stock market collapse in October 1929. The cartoon illustrates the fact that even before the market crash New Zealand was suffering economically, as it had through much of the 1920s.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: A-315-2-155
Cartoon by Trevor Lloyd

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Brian Easton, 'Economic history - Inter-war years and the great depression', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/cartoon/24340/depression-1928 (accessed 30 March 2024)

Story by Brian Easton, published 11 Mar 2010