Description Comments

Argosy Aerial - Hokowhitu and Terrace End

Description: This aerial is set in Palmerston North. It is believed to be predominantly part Hokowhitu suburb and part Terrace End suburb. The street which runs from the bottom right corner is Albert Street. Hokowhitu School can be seen on the far left of this street. Ruahine Street runs parallel, near the centre of the image. Memorial Park can be seen further up on the left of the image, with Main Street adjacent to it.

Argosy Studio (Argos Industrial Photos) was a photography business owned and operated between 1950 and 1980 by Joe Greening (formerly employed by Elmar Studios). Originally located in Broadway, Argosy later moved to Cuba Street on the corner with Lombard Street.

As well as commissioned work (such as photographing the old railyards or aerial shots for the Council) Greening was known to operate as a street photographer, capturing the likenesses of passersby, offering his card with the negative number so they could buy the image if they wished. Many of these images will be in family photo albums.

A fire in 1965 destroyed many negatives in Argosy's collection but this image was one of the 400 or so survivors. Greening donated many of these surviving images to the Ian Matheson City Archives in 1989 before retiring to Kaitaia. He died in 2001.