James Bragge

According to Bragge's death certificate, he was born in 1833, in South Shields, County Durham, England.

During his time in New Zealand, Bragge made at least two trips over the Rimutaka Range to the Wairarapa, and the Manawatū District.

They in turn would send these postcards to their relative in England, as a kind-of curio of what New Zealand was like.

William Main states in his book, Bragge's Wellington and the Wairarapa, "Street scenes of 1869 are not rare, but those filled with people are.

"It was 1876 when Bragge first hitched a mobile darkroom to a horse, and rode northwards toward the Wairarapa, taking photos along the way.

These show places like Danniverke, Norsewood and Eketahuna, where huge tracts of land were being cleared, and roads bridges and settlements were being built.

Bragge's photos were immediately popular with Wellington audiences, who saw them as representing progress.