Union Company
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Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand Limited was once the biggest shipping line in the southern hemisphere and New Zealand's largest private-sector employer. It was incorporated by James Mills in Dunedin in 1875 with the backing of a Scottish shipbuilder, Peter Denny. Bought by shipping giant P&O around the time of World War I it was sold in 1972 to an Australasian consortium and closed at the end of the twentieth century.
Head office, Water Street, Dunedin designed 1883
Five directors (back) of the Union Steam Ship Company in 1881, including John Richard Jones, John Cargill, and George McLean; David and James Mills in the foreground
Hawea run ashore at the entrance to the Grey River, 1908
Union Steam Ship Company's 3,721 ton MV Kaimiro loading cargo in Lyttelton, New Zealand, in 1968
Union Airways of New Zealand
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Union Airways of New Zealand Limited was New Zealand's first major airline. It was founded in 1935 by local shipping giant Union Company. Its services reached main centres from Auckland to Dunedin and extended to Gisborne and the West Coast of the South Island. Union Airways was instrumental in the establishment of Australian National Airways and TEAL.
Union Airways' Karoro at Milson in November 1936
The pilots beside Karoro at Milson in January 1936
De Havilland DH86 Express Karoro
Miles M-3B Falcon Major ZK-AEI, Milson Airport. At that time NZ's fastest aeroplane Union Air intended it for service and taxi work