During February 1932, Hāwera celebrated its fiftieth jubilee
celebrations. A half-ton jubilee cake studded with silver and gold coins took
pride of place at an exhibition where photographs, paintings, sketches and
Māori artefacts were on display. The Water Tower was lit by 500 lamps to mark
the occasion.
The organisers declared a small profit and the Borough Council
unanimously agreed that it would be well spent placing neon lighting tubes
around the drum of the tower as a memorial to the town’s pioneers and a
perpetual memorial of the Jubilee.
The neon lights gained official recognition as aids to
navigation by ships at sea and passing aircraft and in 1932 were said to be the
highest neon lights in Australasia as well as the tallest lighthouse in New
Zealand.
