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Argosy Aerial - Shannon

Description: This aerial is believed to be of Shannon. The road running from the centre to the top left of the image is State Highway 57, Margaret Street, the main road. Prominant buildings on this road on the right from the centre have been identified as the Club Hotel (with the large white roof), the Post Office, the Bank of New Zealand, and the Albion Hotel (demolished in 2013) near the top of the photo. The railway line runs parallel to Margaret Street, with the railway station down a path opposite the Post Office.

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.