William Crawford

William Crawford.  1844 - 1915

William Crawford was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1844 and he immigrated to New Zealand arriving on 6 May 1864. Like Charles Blomfield, William Crawford also lived in Thames before settling in Gisborne and was a storekeeper during the gold-rush era in the town. It was the brewery business that brought him to Gisborne to live and he soon became the owner of it. He was also elected as the first Mayor of Gisborne in 1877.

A scientific and technical man and a great adventurer, his fascination as a documentary photographer became his occupation. He is renowned for his early images of Gisborne, which have given historical insight to the development of the times. He did however venture further afield as he had always loved the bush and tramping in the wilds and had travelled extensively throughout the country. On at least two of his expeditions he visited the lakes district, Rotomahama and The Pink and White Terraces and the first visit was quite close to the eruption.  Soon after the event he returned to record the after effects of the devastating event. Quite clearly we are able to see not only how he travelled but the immensity of the destruction of the previously romantic and iconic scenery now ironically changed.

This wonderful series of reproductions of his original photographs clearly sets the scene of the before and after images of the Tarawera Eruption of 1886. Previously to this period his works were taken by the cumbersome wet-plate process, whereby the photographer virtually travelled with his darkroom producing beautifully clear images. Crawford later also worked with a half-plate camera, using the new dry-plate process. But in 1884 he bought a 10 inch by 8 inch camera which he used extensively over the next 12 years (Robinson, 2010).

The Burton Brothers of Dunedin also photographed the Terraces as did several other well-known artists and photographers of the time. Thanks to William Crawford Gisborne has its own special record of The Pink and White Terraces before and after the fateful eruption as can be seen in the images here.

Sheila Robinson. 'Crawford, William Fitzgerald - Biography', from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 1-Sep-10 
URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/biographies/2c37/1