Auckland Harbour Regatta by Frederick Rice Stack

Replica Antique Print

Image size in millimetres: 400 x 205 excluding the border with the title and names of ships

Full title of this fascinating print is the “View of Auckland Habour, New Zealand. Taken during the regatta of January 1862 (The Race of the Maori War Canoes)”. Drawn from nature by F.R. Stack, Late Major of Brigade, Auckland, the original lithograph was made in London by Day and Son, “Lithographers to the Queen”. This modern high quality re-print of the original extremely rare lithograph is published by Thorndon Fine Prints.

The first Auckland Regatta was held on the Waitemata Harbour in 1850 and ocassionally over the next 30 years until 1880 when it was established as an annual event coinciding with Auckland’s anniversary (on the nearest Monday to January 29th). Entrants in the earliest regatta were commercial sailing ships, dinghies Maori canoes (waka), whale boats, gigs and fishing boats. By the 1890s many yachts competed in their maiden races in the Regatta and the early 1900s saw the arrival of power craft. “The Race of the Maori War Canoes” is the only contemporary pictorial record of this highlight of the Auckland Regatta. Published in 1862 by Frederick Rice Stack, a professional army officer, this was one of six lithographs published in the pictorial book “Views in the Province of Auckland”, at the time of the book’s publication, still the capital city of New Zealand.

More rints like Auckland Harbour Regatta by Frederick Rice Stack are available for sale in these collections at NZ’s art print specialists:

Frederick Rice Stack Prints
Sailing Ships & Boats
Auckland Prints