Ngā Taonga Sound Archives - The Days of the Milkman

The days of having milk delivered in clinking glass bottles to your door are making a comeback, at least in the lower North Island and Nelson, where several companies have started offering weekly home milk delivery services, in reusable glass bottles. In today’s visit to the sound archives of Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, Sarah Johnston takes us back to the heyday of the milkie.

Karori milkman with horse-drawn cart, 1910s. [Courtesy Alexander Turnbull Library]

Milk bottles in their carrier [Courtesy Wellington Heritage Promotion Council]

Milk vendor John Houlihan 1983. Dominion Post newspaper [Courtesy Alexander Turnbull Library]

Wellington milkman Peter Julius 1982 by Evening Post newspaper photographer Ian Mackley.[Courtesy Alexander Turnbull Library]

And you can listen to the full 1996 Spectrum doco on the old Wellington milkman online here