Background
George Leslie Adkin was born in 1888 in Wellington, New Zealand. The first child of seven of William George Adkin, a draper and his wife, Annie Denton. The Adkin family later moved to Levin to farm.
archaeologist environmentalist ethnologist farmer geologist Photographer tramper
George Leslie Adkin was born in 1888 in Wellington, New Zealand. The first child of seven of William George Adkin, a draper and his wife, Annie Denton. The Adkin family later moved to Levin to farm.
George Leslie Adkin completed his schooling by boarding at Wellington College. During his time as a boarding student Adkin developed an interest in collecting plants and rocks and also learnt to process his own photographs. His enthusiasm for photography never faltered during his lifetime and his large collection of negatives form a visual diary of his life and activities.
In 1913 George Leslie Adkin took over part of his father's farm. Although farming was his main occupation he continued to explore and helped start up the Levin-Waiopehu Tramping Club. When the sport of tramping became popular in the 1920s he became the acknowledged authority on the northern Tarauas.
Adkin continued his research into geology but discoveries of archeological sites led him into archeology and ethnology. In 1926, Adkin provided photographs for Te Hekenga, an account of Māori life in Horowhenua and with the help of local Māori, he described and mapped hundreds of Māori sites between the Manawatu and Ōtaki rivers. Adkin followed the advice of a close friend, Elsdon Best, and joined the Polynesian Society and contributed his ethnological articles to the Polynesian Society Journal.
When Adkin’s son, Clyde, took over the farm in 1946, Adkin moved to Wellington and joined the New Zealand Geological Survey. He in Wellington, where he produced bibliographies and papers on the geomorphology of the southern North Island. His 1948 book, Horowhenua, gave accounts of Horowhenua place names and controversial essays about the history of New Zealand’s Māori occupation.
Adkin died at Wellington on 21 May 1964.
The order of the bath
1971photography
Group of sailors and friends
Group under the wattle
photography
1909photography
Rere Nicolson of Ngati Raukawa during the Armistice celebrations in Levin
1918Unidentified group of women and children wearing fancy dress during the Armistice Day celebrations in Levin
Armistice Day parade in Levin
1918Adkin was also a passionate environmentalist. He was an early critic of bush-felling on the uplands and recognised the threat of newly emergy earthmoving technology to both natural and archeological sites.
Quotes from others about the person
According to W. N. Wilson of the National Museum of New Zealand: "Leslie Adkins used his camera as a scientific recording instrument, as a means of logging the day-to-day activities of his family and friends, and to capture other scenes and incidents that either fascinated or amused him. His photographs are quite unpretentious and, when photographing people, his approach was always sensitive and sympathetic."
Adkin married Elizabeth Maud Herd, an accomplished violinist, pianist and painter, on 14 December 1914. They went on to have two children, Nancy and Clyde.