On 29 July 1952, fire ripped through the Hope Gibbons Building in Wellington, destroying boxes and boxes of New Zealand's public records.

In the days before a proper national archive was established, government records were stored in a variety of Wellington buildings. A considerable collection of these was stored on several floors of the Hope Gibbons Building, on the corner of Inglewood Place/Taranaki Street and Dixon Street. Sadly, the fire destroyed files from the Marine Department, the Public Works Department, the Labour Department, and early records of the Lands and Survey Department (up to 1891).

The event was highly significant in the history of recordkeeping in New Zealand. Because of the loss of such important records the 1957 Archives Act was passed, leading to the creation of the National Archives of New Zealand. Over the years Archives New Zealand has been based in a number of locations across Wellington, including Borthwick House on The Terrace, the Air New Zealand building on Vivian Street, and now in Mulgrave Street (the ex-Government Printing Office building).

Although many records were lost, Archives New Zealand does hold a number of burnt files from the Hope Gibbons fire. When searching on the online finding aid Archway, you may notice that some items have been annotated to state that the item was damaged by the fire (for example: archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=17306031). These items have preservation restrictions in place, preventing them from being issued in the Reading Room.

This photograph of the fire is from a series of records relating to Archival Facilities and Personnel.

Archives reference: ARCH 458 Box 1/c AR1/5 archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=21921452

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