Sunlight Soap was first imported into New Zealand from England in 1884. It was manufactured in Petone from 1919 until 2003, when falling sales prompted its manufacturer Unilever to discontinue the product.
The soap for several decades was a staple in New Zealand households, and used for laundry, cleaning and washing.
Date: Between 1910s and 1930s
From: AFCM :Six albums containing newspaper and magazine clippings, and some original photographs
By: Barker, Frank Giles, 1891-1955
Reference: PA1-f-002
Description: Includes a page showing the four main university colleges in New Zealand, circa 1930s; pages of botanical drawings; pages showing the Lever Brothers' soap manufacturing building, aspects of packaging Sunlight Soap and Lux soap powder at the factory, all photographed by F.G. Barker of Courtenay Place, Wellington. Also includes photographs and newspaper cuttings of transport used by country children going to school, including horseback and riding on cows. Images of various schools; bombers and fighters at Wigram Aerodrome during the visit to NZ of the Duke of York in 1927, including Bristol fighters, Avro 504 fighters, DH4 and DH9 bombers; map showing NZ as it would be situated if placed in corresponding latitude of Northern Hemisphere, NZ Government Railways; mean annual rainfall map of NZ (signed DG Bates, Director of Meteorological Office, 7.6.1911); farm buildings on Somes Island; cattle mustering at White Rock (Wairarapa); views of trains on the railway line between Pukerua Bay and Paekakariki before the Centennial Highway was constructed; view of the Jubilee floating dock arriving in Wellington in 1931, towed by two Dutch ocean-going tugboats.
Date: Between 1923 and 1928
From: Moore, Robert Percy, 1881-1948 :Panoramic photographs of New Zealand
Reference: Pan-1522-F
Description: Panoramic exterior view of the Lever Brothers Ltd Sunlight Soap factory in Petone. Large brick building in the centre with a smaller stone block addition on the right. In the centre of the picture a driver is seated in a truck laden with packs of Sunlight Soap (Number plate P-965). Two workmen are rolling a couple of barrels behind the truck. Centre right a driver is seated in a car with another man standing nearby. Two small wooden buildings are on the right. Rows of barrels are beside a corrugated iron building on the left and a man is working on a tall storage tank near those barrels. Tall chimney stack centre right. Photograph taken by Robert Percy Moore. Inscriptions: Marginal notes on negative - [On brown adhesive tape] Lever Bros. Ltd. Petone. Lever Brothers New Zealand Ltd Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s). Physical Description: Panoramic negative 24.7 x 117.4 cm
Date: [ca 2021]
From: Ephemera donated to and collected by the Alexander Turnbull Library from 2020
Reference: Eph-B-MARCH-APRIL-2021/12
Description: Box for Sunlight brand soap from circa 2021. The front of the box - coloured yellow, navy blue, and red - reads "Since 1884 | Sunlight Pure Soap | Gentle on hands and everything they wash". The box also includes information about the product and manufacturer. Title supplied by Library. Quantity: 1 folder(s) containing one piece of ephemera.
Date: [ca 1925]
From: New Zealand Free Lance : Photographic prints and negatives
Reference: 1/2-099988-G
Description: Retail shop on Glenmore Street, between the Karori Tunnel and the Kelburn Viaduct, circa 1925. Northland Road is to the right, out of the picture. The firm of S W Moult, motor and electrical engineer is visible, as are signs advertising Nelson, Moate & Co's pure tea, Sunlight soap, Lifebuoy soap, Bate's, Britannia Tyres, Velox and Champion Tyres. Also visible is a girl in the foreground alongside a wheelchair/pram type apparatas, seated in which, is another child. Photographer unidentified. Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s).
Date: 1924
From: Smith, Sydney Charles, 1888-1972: Photographs of New Zealand
Reference: 1/2-048300-G
Description: Exterior view of the Lever Brothers Ltd Sunlight Soap factory, Jackson Street, Petone, taken 1924 by Sydney Charles Smith. Inscriptions: Marginal notes on negative - right of image - 329 Sunlight Soap Works Petone T Box 127 Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s). Physical Description: Dry plate glass negative