Wahine wheel installed at Wellington Museum to mark 57th anniversary 

Wellington Harbour Board and other vessels raced to assist as soon as possible. The wind and mountainous sea were extremely difficult to navigate, and visibility was very low.

One rescuer was seafarer Terry Stuart, who is thought to have volunteered in the search for survivors on the tug Taioma.

He and his crewmates rescued 26 passengers from the water before heading back to safety. While leaning over the tugboat to grab a survivor Stuart was injured himself, breaking his ribs. Along with several passengers and another crew member, he was hospitalised from injuries.

In the weeks after the disaster, Stuart collected the main wheel of the Wahine while the ship’s salvage operation was under way. He intended to donate the wheel to Wellington Museum for many years, as this is where he felt it belonged. After his passing in 2022, his family followed through with his wishes.

Many years after the disaster a friend of Stuart’s spoke with Kenny MacLeod, helmsman at the wheel of the Wahine when the ship struck Barrett Reef. MacLeod said his last recollection was lying on the deck holding onto the bottom of the main ship’s wheel to prevent being swept across the bridge.

By the next day an eerie calm had returned to Wellington Harbour. The Wahine lay off Seatoun for four years during her salvage operation, a harrowing and constant reminder to Wellingtonians of this disastrous day in 1968.

Ian also spoke with Jesse Mulligan on RNZ on 9 April about the significance of the wheel and the lasting impact of the Wahine disaster. You can listen to the interview below.

William Baker had no formal art training. He apprenticed as an upholsterer, working for Wellington cabinetmaker Joseph Martin. It was Joseph Martin who discovered Baker’s artistic talent while having him decorate cabinetry panels. By the late 1880s Baker had left the upholstery trade behind to work as a commercial artist. He remained a close friend of the Martin family – often going on outings to paint with Joseph’s son Charles. It is through Martin family descendants, Heather Keith and Peter Martin, that many of our Baker paintings and objects have been donated.

Contemporary art critics in the late 19^th and early 20^th century argued that Baker’s works were stylised and romanticised, not reflecting the true nature of New Zealand’s landscapes. They were right. Baker would often paint landscapes showing idealised scenes, with stagecoaches, flights of birds or small boats added – not always to scale. Baker would add, remove or rearrange features like rocks or trees to produce the idyllic scene he was after.

One critic, writing in the Evening Post on 11 September 1897 felt, “The trail of the commonplace is over most of the pictures of W.G. Baker.”

Despite this and other criticism, Baker’s art was hugely popular with everyday New Zealanders. In 1911 an exhibition of his work in Wellington was reported to have attracted 100,000 visitors.

Praising Baker as an ‘apostle of brightness’ an article in the Evening Post on 22 August 1908 proclaimed, “The artist has travelled far for his subjects, and has induced the hills and dales, the country roads, and the trees to faithfully give a message of good-will for man.”

It should be mentioned that these words may well have been written by Baker’s canny art dealer John Schapiro and spliced anonymously into the article. Schapiro was a shrewd marketer, providing purple prose promoting Baker’s art to newspapers throughout the country, to coincide with its sale in small town hotels and clubrooms.

Be that as it may, Baker was popular and extremely prolific. In December 1911 he sold an entire exhibition of 101 paintings. Six months later he exhibited 93 more for sale. That’s a production rate of around one painting every three days. According to Heather Keith, Baker even framed many of his own picture frames.

Baker was ignored by the art establishment because of the commercial nature and popular appeal of his work. He doesn’t seem to have cared. He carried on regardless. He managed to raise and support a family from his work, while sharing his creative enthusiasm with friends and his children.

Baker painted many of his artworks in the field, in hard-to-reach locations the length of the country. One of our recently acquired paintings is a watercolour Near Sinclair Heads, Wellington, probably painted around 1903. This scene looks from Sinclair Head toward Taputeranga island along the south coast and shows a wild landscape long before it became the playground of 4WD vehicles.

William Baker made art for sale. He knew what his audience liked and painted what they wanted. He raised a family from his work and gave a vision of New Zealand landscapes to the sitting room walls of everyday homes. He may have romanticised these landscapes but through them showed a genuine love for this country. One which he was happy to share.