CHARM OF AKAROA

Press, 25 February 1978, Page 17

CHARM OF AKAROA

Akaroa By Gwenda Turner. John Mclndoe. 96 pp. $15.95.

A drawing is often a poor substitute, as an architectural or historical record, for even a mediocre photograph. "Akaroa” is a happy exception to this general observation. This may be partly because Gwenda Turner’s sketches, with their

meticulous detail, have an almost photographic quality. They stand up well as an architectural and, to a lesser extent, historical record beside the photographs which are scarcely fewer or less important in the volume. The sketches are also a delight because they capture something of the town’s over-touted, but authentic charm. They are likely to entice the regular visitor to Akaroa to a closer examination of the town’s detail and to encourage those who have overlooked Akaroa to make good their omission. The text which accompanies the sketches and photographs is something of a pot-pourri. It has the random quality and lack of balance that might be expected of notes in an old family photograph album. But all that is needed is something to carry the pictures through, which the text provided does, just. — JOHN WILSON.