File:Auckland Electric Tramways Recreation Club Handbook (15622089117).jpg

On November 17 1902, Sir John Logan Campbell opened the Auckland Electric Tram service. Campbell was the former mayor of Auckland who had gifted Cornwall Park to the nation in 1901. The first tram was driven by Campbell from Queen Street to the Choral Hall. Auckland City had horse trams from 1884, but the expansion of the city called for a change in the transport network. The opening of the tram service was delayed because three motormen from Sydney, Australia, were involved in the SS Elingamite shipwreck near Three Kings Islands on 9 November 1902, in which they drowned. Full public service commenced a week later on 23 November 1902, and continued to 29 December 1956. With services running from downtown at the Waitemata Harbour, across to Onehunga on the Manukau Harbour, Auckland had the world’s only 'coast to coast' tramway system. They were replaced by trolleybuses and buses.

In 1910 employees of the Auckland Electric Tramway Company applied for incorporation of the Auckland Tramways Recreation Club. Those who signed the application included motormen, pitmen, linesmen, car examiners, engineers and an armature winder. The objects of the club, as described in the rulebook, were “the encouragement, organisation and management of sports and entertainment, the provision and maintenance of Club Rooms and the advancement of social life”. The Club was wound up in 1924. The cover of the rule book is pictured here - from the Auckland Regional Office Incorporated Societies files [Archives reference: BADZ 5579/4/24] For further enquiries please email Auckland.Archives@dia.govt.nz