| Brief Description |
This black and white photograph of Wairere House, also known as the Wanganui Computer Centre, was taken in 1976. The image shows the large two storey building with a single row of small windows on theupper storey.
Officially known as the National Law Enforcement System, the Wanganui Computer – a Sperry-Rand UNIVAC 1110 mainframe – began operating in 1976. It was designed and installed by US corporation Sperry Univac (now Unisys) and was housed in the purpose-built Wairere House on the corner of Somme Parade & Bates Street.
Planning for the Wanganui Computer Centre began in 1971. It was built by Fletcher Construction, windowless and with extra-thick the walls to withstand attempts to breach security. An incinerator provided secure disposal of confidential paperwork because, after all, the computer was only a database, and information still had to be printed out to be used. Plans to install a second mainframe at Taihape never eventuated.
By the mid-1980s 450 remote terminals at police stations, courts, and transport offices around New Zealand were attached to the Centre and the system was handling 28 million requests for information each year. At its peak, the Centre employed 150 people in a 24/7 operation.
Plans for a $1.78M additional storey were lodged in 1988, and were finalised by 1990 after obstruction of view and parking concerns were addressed. Over time, however, the justice sector developed in-house computing capacity and the Wanganui Computer Centre was closed in 1995.
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