John Schlaepfer arrived in New Zealand from Switzerland in 1884. He soon acquired a 3,300-acre (1335-hectare) farm near Pukekohe, which he named Helvetia after the female personification of Switzerland. From 1902 until around 1916 the property was owned by the Helvetia Ostrich Company, which managed some 500 birds at the largest ostrich farm in the country.
This photo was taken at Helvetia in 1910. The Edwardian-era fondness for wearing feathers in hats had dwindled by the time the First World War broke out in 1914.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference:
PA1-o-201-09
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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