Historical records from over 4,700 employees of the Chelsea Sugar Refinery going back to the 1880s have been digitised and made available to the public thanks to funding from the Kaipātiki Local Board.
The Auckland Libraries Heritage team digitised and transcribed the records from a collection of 10,654 physical employee record cards held at the Birkenhead Library. Part of the library’s Chelsea Archives, the cards themselves date from 1974 back to 1921, but also cover earlier periods of service for some employees going back to the 1880s.
Employee record for F. Hubble (born 1859) who originally joined Chelsea in 1886
One of the notable names in the collection is famed New Zealand poet James K. Baxter, who worked at the Chelsea Sugar Refinery for a short period in 1969. The remark on his employee card says “Unsatisfactory. Do not reemploy.”
James K. Baxter's employee record from his short time working at Chelsea
Kaipātiki Local Board Chair John Gillon explains that the board was happy to initiate and fund this project as the records form an important part of Kaipātiki’s history and will be an invaluable resource for local historians, genealogists, and anyone keen to research their family history in the area.
"The Chelsea Archives provide a unique window into the lives of those local families who helped establish early-Birkenhead and the surrounding area, as the sugar factory provided employment for so many over the years. This is a really important set of documents for our recent heritage, and I’m really pleased that by digitising it, we’ve been able to make it much more accessible for everyone."
You can find the collection and search within it at the Auckland Libraries’ Kura Heritage Collections online.
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