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The Farmers Queen Street Santa — An Auckland Christmas Icon

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The Queen Street Santa is one of those pieces of Auckland Christmas iconography that's hard to explain to anyone who didn't grow up seeing it. Standing 18 metres tall, the statue's history is more layered than most people realise: it started life on the original Farmers building at the corner of Hobson and Wyndham Streets in 1960, moved briefly to the Manukau City Shopping Centre in the early '90s, then settled onto the Whitcoulls building on Queen Street, where it stood through the 1990s and 2000s — which is where I photographed it in January 2010, in the photo below.

Farmers itself later moved back into that same Queen Street building in 2020, and the giant Santa went back up that Christmas along with them. As far as I can tell, though, it hasn't reappeared since — 2020 seems to be its last confirmed outing, which fits with what a lot of older Kiwis have told me: they remember it fondly, but suspect it's gone for good.

The 18-metre Farmers Santa statue on Queen Street, Auckland, photographed against a garland-decorated building in January 2010
The Farmers Santa — Queen Street Auckland Christmas Landmark

I put together a second version of this one specifically for apparel and stickers — background removed, with festive sparkle, lights, and gift boxes added around the statue for a more decorative, greeting-card feel.

Decorative version of the Auckland Santa statue with added sparkle, lights, and wrapped gifts, on a transparent background
Auckland Santa Statue — Festive Christmas Design

Available on Redbubble

Both versions are available at my Redbubble shop across the full product range, and are part of my Kiwiana and Christmas collections.

Browse the Kiwiana Collection

Browse the Christmas Collection

You can find all my work at my Redbubble shop, KornKob Art. Or search Redbubble for kornkobart (one word).

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