It was good fun being a kid growing up in Lower Hutt (aka the ‘Hutt’) in the 70s and 80s. We spent all day at the river, or a swimming pools or one of the many parks, eventually going home when we got hungry. The roads were flat so we rode our bikes everywhere. My best friend lived around the corner and my school, the dairy and the best fish ‘n chip shop (like, ever) were at the end of my street. What more could a kid want?
I was reminded of all these things when I played with the Lifelines project, a three metre long touch table that Click Suite has developed and built for the National Library that is due for installation later in the year. It’s like a giant iPad with thousands of photos that I could tap to enlarge, spread to a larger size and flip over with my fingers.
The photos are from the National Library’s extensive collection of everyday New Zealand life; ordinary people doing ordinary day-to-day things in towns and cities across the country, from 1880s to modern day. It includes political cartoons, photos of places and buildings, and video clips from songs, TV shows and TV commercials. They’re snap shots of society at particular points in time and are fascinating to look back at.
Photos of motor mowers and advertising posters for bottles of Lion Brown reminded me of Dad religiously mowing the lawn every week to a height no greater than 3mm and then rewarding his hard work with a beer. He brought his motor mower home the same day that Mum brought a new baby home (me) so that lawn mower is almost like my twin. If a lawn mower could be a bit special, this one is. And despite both our advancing years, it’s still mowing lawns to a precise height of 3mm.
Pictures of Count Homogenised and Radio with Pictures made me realise that life was better when there were only two TV channels and no reality shows. There were pictures of guys with mullets and you can always find the best mullets in the Hutt (I admire their resistance to fashion). There were pictures of clean and orderly new subdivisions with Fords or Holdens parked in the driveways, pieces of 1970s furniture and of course, the Hutt River. I found photos of ancient relatives and the church my parents were married in, which no longer exists.
Photos and clippings that are relevant to me can be dragged to my own ‘lifeline’ at the bottom of the touch screen and emailed. I’m going to email the clippings to myself and make a book from them for my parents.
The National Library should be congratulated for investing in cutting edge technology that makes this collection of everyday life so accessible. They’re making it easy to reminisce of carefree times and the tactile nature of the touch table will really let visitors get up close and engaged. All it needs is a scratch and sniff component and the smell of BBQs, sunscreen and the river would really take me back. This functionality surely isn’t too far away, but in the meantime, I encourage everyone to visit the National Library when it’s in its new building later in the year and collect your own lifeline.