| Brief Description |
This black and white panorama photograph is of the Wanganui Swankers’ Club “Help the Blind” Appeal, 1923, in its original frame.
The Wanganui Swankers’ Club was founded during World War I to raise funds for Red Cross nurses and hospitals. According to later newspaper reports it raised “thousands of pounds for brave men who suffered in wartime.” After the war the club continued raising money for deserving charities by means of elaborate stunts and carnivals. One is depicted here, on Saturday 1 September, 1923, when £1,217, a considerable sum at that time, was raised for the blind. In 1929 the Swankers’ Club was dissolved and its activities taken over by the Savage Club.
The name "Swanker" is derived from a slang word of the time meaning to swagger or strut with a pompous or affected gait, and the Club’s badge featured such a figure wearing a top hat and frockcoat; members were determined not to take themselves seriously, despite the seriousness of their aims.
This panorama shows the site of the present Museum building, opened in 1928. The view is from the edge of Queens Park looking towards Victoria Avenue, and includes prominent buildings such as the Army Drill Hall on the far left (site of the present War Memorial Hall), and in the centre, old St Marys Church, built in the 1850s and demolished in 1972.
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