We are in winter at this time. I live 90 mins drive from where the photo was taken. James Smith Ltd is a department store and commonly known as 'James Smith Corner'. Great to see these photos of my country on Shorpy.

Down Under, August is the equivalent of a northerly February, with days and nights in the 50's and 40's Farenheit. These cuties are getting ready for the hot weather ahead in December and January!

OK - its late August but the lady on the right behind the mike is wearing a heavy coat, hat, and scarf. Is is safe to assume this is one of those "end of season sales", and only the models (or perhaps customers) are trying on the goods. The lady on the left with her back to the camera also appears not to be in summer clothing. Wonder what the temperature was outside that day?

[Seeing as how it's winter, it probably is cold out. -tterrace]

The little girl on the far left has her index finger pointing toward the floor and the blonde sitting on the right? Her index is just out there also , yet she is looking at the girl. Interesting.. maybe it's a unified way to say "we're number one"?

It's amazing how realistic those mannequins looked back then. But considering New Zealand's place on the globe, aren't these figures almost standing upside down??