{"id":604970,"date":"2026-09-19T04:36:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T04:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/604970\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T04:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T04:36:22","slug":"country-life-the-farm-photographer-who-captured-a-changing-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/604970\/","title":{"rendered":"Country Life: The farm photographer who captured a changing New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ron Vine’s crisp, observant and sometimes intimate black and white photos capture New Zealand farming at a turning point.<\/p>\n

Now a collection of more than 1400 images he took between 1934 and 1947 has received UNESCO recognition, sitting alongside the papers of Katherine Mansfield and the photography of Marti Friedlander.<\/p>\n

Vine travelled to remote parts of the country as the Great Depression was easing, towing his mobile dark room behind him to record how farmers and communities were transitioning into more modern methods.<\/p>\n

His photojournalism helped influence the take-up of new agricultural trends and developments, according to archivists.<\/p>\n

The farm photographer who captured a changing New Zealand<\/p>\n

Follow Country Life on Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, iHeart<\/a> or wherever you get your podcasts.<\/p>\n

The collection has been recognised by Aotearoa New Zealand’s UNESCO Memory of the World Trust and achieved inscription on the Memory of the World Register<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is now housed at the Walsh Memorial Library in the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) in Auckland.<\/p>\n

Vine’s attention to detail is a feature of the collection, MOTAT pictorial librarian Malcom Duffy told Country Life.<\/p>\n

\"Mr<\/p>\n

Mr E.D. McLennan and farm workers in a paspalum field, 1940<\/p>\n

Ron Vine, Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT)<\/p>\n

“They were very beautiful and it took a bit of research to understand the context and the place of this photography in the New Zealand context, but they were still remarkable, very, very crisp and clear photography, done in natural light, of course, because he was out in the field.”<\/p>\n

And there was a real sense of intimacy between Vine and his subjects.<\/p>\n

“Especially when it came to the farmers, the farm workers – there was a real sense of the pride in their work that came through.”<\/p>\n

Vine began his agricultural journalism career riding a motorbike.<\/p>\n

\"Ron<\/p>\n

Ron Vine sitting on a motorcycle sidecar combination<\/p>\n

Ron Vine, Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT)<\/p>\n

“He literally just hit the road in his motorcycle sidecar. He went out there, he introduced himself to farmers, was happy to talk about their problems, possible solutions and this was a network he built up over the next four or five years. So we do know that he got sick of travelling on the motorcycle side car after roughly 12 months.”<\/p>\n

Vine then moved on to a more sophisticated way of getting around.<\/p>\n

“That’s where his story really starts to pick up as both an agricultural journalist and a man very invested in technology because he proceeded to then take a Model T Ford and break it down and made a whole caravan from packing cases – the Model T Ford chassis – and that’s how he continued his journeys for the next few years, towed by a little Austin 7 and he built his own dark room in that caravan as well, which was made by hand, with almost no training or experience, and he created his own photographic enlarger using a headlamp from a car.”<\/p>\n

His number 8 wire solutions included a developing tank designed to be placed in creeks and streams to wash film and prints when he was out and about.<\/p>\n

\"Ron<\/p>\n

Ron Vine’s car on road to Maungapiko, 1936<\/p>\n

Ron Vine, Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT)<\/p>\n

Vine’s photos are significant as a record of New Zealand agriculture in transition.<\/p>\n

In the 1930s and ’40s, land was being cleared and turned into pasture.<\/p>\n

“The landscapes and areas he documented, a lot of them had been deforested and then had just developed naturally into scrubland, a lot of fern, a lot of m\u0101nuka, and so when he arrives in the 1930s, the government is actually starting to release these lands.<\/p>\n

“They still don’t have the significant visual elements we always identify with farming – there’s no full irrigation ditching, the races aren’t really visible yet, the fences, the sheds, the shelter belts, they’re not fully there.<\/p>\n

“Often they’re very wide open vistas and to me it’s a very interesting aspect because we often see either the wilds of New Zealand or we see farms that are very well established.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A man standing near fallen trees and scorched earth.<\/p>\n

Ron Vine, Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT)<\/p>\n

\"Seedling<\/p>\n

Seedling pine trees planted on sand dunes.<\/p>\n

Ron Vine, Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT)<\/p>\n

Experts say the collection is also significant for its images of Sir \u0100pirana Ngata’s M\u0101ori land development scheme and M\u0101ori communities.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s really important to Ron because he was raised amongst the native school communities, and he grew up in M\u0101ori communities which were often farming not the best lands, not totally productive, and so for him to be there as the M\u0101ori land development scheme was gathering strength, I think his connection with M\u0101ori communities around the Ruatoki and Urewera area, that enabled him to get that sort of relationship where he could be very documentarian in his photography.<\/p>\n

“It was very warts and all, but it’s also possibly the best record of \u0100pirana Ngata’s M\u0101ori land development scheme in the country.<\/p>\n

Duffy said mutual respect comes through in the photos of M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n

\"Mr<\/p>\n

Mr P. Osborne and students standing outside Horohoro Native School, 1939<\/p>\n

Ron Vine, Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A group of children standing near the Kaikohe Native School bus charabanc., 1940<\/p>\n

Ron VIne, Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT)<\/p>\n

“Also his respect for the hard work that’s gone into the land. So much of it was done without any sort of mechanisation. It was all done by hand or with horses. And it’s a real testament to the hard work that was put in.”<\/p>\n

Farmers, labourers, livestock breeders and heads of local agricultural associations were typically subjects for Vine’s camera and many would become friends and subjects of future reporting for publications like The New Zealand Farmer.<\/p>\n

“There’s a real dichotomy in those images too, because he was also photographing communities that were actually quite wealthy at times … but then we go to those rural communities and we see people who are often living and working within raup\u014d huts or very primitive structures, so we’ve got that real contrast between urban and rural life of New Zealand in the 30s.”<\/p>\n

Vine wanted people to prosper and believed in the value of institutional and generational knowledge, without being judgmental, Duffy said.<\/p>\n

\"Opouriao<\/p>\n

Opouriao Dairy Factory in R\u016b\u0101toki, 1932<\/p>\n

Ron Vine, Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT)<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Two men and a dog on the porch of a house at Glinks Gully<\/p>\n

Ron Vine, Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT)<\/p>\n

“I think his approach often was looking back at what had worked and what hadn’t.<\/p>\n

“We know that that’s very important in the agricultural sector – if the farmers aren’t aware of the sort of problems and outputs of their land and their stock over the previous decades, it’s hard to find a way forward that’s going to be productive.”<\/p>\n

Duffy said people can view the collection at MOTAT in Auckland and librarians would be happy to guide them through it.<\/p>\n

“If there’s a particular family or geographic location that people are interested in, we can always assist them with that.”<\/p>\n

\"Men<\/p>\n

Men packing lemons inside the Kerikeri Citrus Factory.<\/p>\n

Ron Vine, Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT)<\/p>\n

\"Miss<\/p>\n

Miss Lampshire and her horse drawn-herd testing wagon<\/p>\n

Ron Vine, Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ron Vine’s crisp, observant and sometimes intimate black and white photos capture New Zealand farming at a turning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-604970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}