Abraham Wachner

Abraham (Abie) Wachner OBE
35th Mayor of Invercargill
In office 1942–1950
Personal details
Born	(1892-08-15)15 August 1892 London, England
Died	23 August 1950(1950-08-23) (aged 58) Dunedin, New Zealand
Resting place	Eastern Cemetery, Invercargill
Spouse(s)	Mabel Christina Rice
Children	2
Military service
Allegiance	New Zealand
Branch/service	New Zealand Army
Years of service	1914–1915
Battles/wars	World War I, World War II

Abraham (Abie) Wachner OBE (15 August 1892 – 23 August 1950) was the 35th Mayor of Invercargill from 1942 to 1950. He was awarded the OBE in 1946.

Early life[]

He was born in London; his father was a furniture manufacturer of Polish-Jewish ancestry. His family moved to Australia when he was three months old and to New Zealand when he was 15. He was in the NZEF in Egypt and Gallipoli; a bugler in the field ambulance in Egypt, then he was a stretcher-bearer at Gallipoli and was invalided home after an injury at Walker's Ridge. He worked at a Greymouth drapers, then moved to Invercargill about 1919, where he worked in a footwear shop then started his own footwear shop. He was known to give shoes to those in need, and to fire them down stairs to those he did not like; he had fits of temper partly attributable to his war injury. He served in the Military Reserve and Home Guard in World War II.

Political career[]

He was elected to the Invercargill City Council in 1938, becoming deputy mayor in 1941 and mayor in June 1942 after the previous mayor resigned through illness. He was a colourful and enthusiastic mayor, promoting Invercargill as the Auckland of the South, developing Oreti for recreation and securing the first air service to the city.

Personal life and death[]

He married Mabel Rice (who he had met while in Greymouth) in 1922. They had two children. He died in Dunedin aged 58 after a short illness while waiting for an operation. He is buried in the Eastern Cemetery, Invercargill.

References[]

• Thomson, Jane, ed. (1998). Southern People: a dictionary of Otago Southland biography. Dunedin: Longacre Press. p. 529. ISBN 1-877135-11-9.
• Abraham Wachner No 3/181 WWI NZEF Military Personnel Record (online)