15 minute read
North Shore History: David Verran
The Devonport and Mount Victoria Domain Boards 1880-1901 By David Verran
As part of the Mahurangi Purchases from Māori, around 21 acres of Flagstaff Hill (now Takarunga/Mount Victoria) and around 20 acres of what is now the Devonport Domain and Vauxhall Reserve became Crown Land. Thomas Duder, the initial signalman at the signal station, had grazing rights on the maunga until the 1870s, while, amongst others, Roderick Alison (1850-1882) who was the proprietor of the Willow Grove Strawberry Gardens tearooms, had a lease on part of Devonport Domain which
at that time was still largely a swamp. The Devonport and Mount Victoria Domain Map 3404, courtesy of Auckland Libraries Heritage Collection. Dated 1899, this map shows the tennis courts on the south-west corner of the Domain, while rugby football is on the north-west, bowling in the middle of the Domain and cricket to the east. Note the Devonport School on the south-east corner of Mount Victoria. Boards were gazetted on 14th December 1880. On 8th January 1881 the members of the two boards, (they were the same the tennis, cricket and football grounds. Some fences had palings while people), met as one committee and the minutes are still preserved with others were just heart kauri or pūriri posts with horizontal strands of iron Auckland Council Archives. wire strung between them.
It’s fascinating to read back through those early minutes. From the The Auckland Harbour Board paid for a path to the signal station start, the Boards took direct responsibility for maintaining the grass, and in the early 1880s a surveyors’ trig station was erected. From 1886 trimming trees and hedges, eliminating dock weed and gorse, draining the football club was allowed to charge admission fees to their leased the “raupo swamp”, fencing, and laying paths. They also issued tenders grounds and other sports soon followed. for grazing sheep, cattle and horses, and later cropping. In 1885 and The Mount Victoria Domain Board continued to engage with the 1887, the Devonport Domain Board took over the remainder of the Devonport school committee regarding shared boundaries, including swamp area. an extension of the school site for a playground. The Board also
What is also interesting is the Board’s ready support for local sport. dealt with the Devonport Borough Council (formed in 1886 from the At that time, this was the recently formed Devonport lawn tennis club Devonport Road Board) regarding excavation work developing Kerr along with more established cricket in summer months and rugby Street. football in winter months. One early addition was a roller for the cricket In 1889 an Order-in-Council added the Mayor of Devonport pitch, the laying of which was part financed by the North Shore Cricket Borough as an ex-officio member of the two Boards and this heralded Club. a closer relationship with the Council into the 1890s. In the early 1890s
One problem arose in 1887 with the rugby football club using the drainage work on the eastern half of Devonport Domain required the tennis club’s changing rooms without permission. A tender was then let Boards to pick up a third of total costs. Later, in the mid-1890s the for a separate changing room for the football club. In 1888 the Boards Boards worked with Council over water piping from Lake Pupuke to the issued a five pound reward when all the glass windows of the tennis reservoir on the summit of Mount Victoria. club’s shed were broken by vandals. The tennis club lasted until 1963, The two Boards appointed a caretaker in September 1895 and in while the bowling club was formed in 1895. The North Shore Athletic May 1897 the government combined them together as the Devonport and Cycle Club also met on the cricket grounds from the 1890s. Domain Board.
Board tree planting was almost exclusively of exotic trees, including Board meetings had often lapsed for lack of a quorum and the blue gums, poplars, willows, oaks and insignis, mainly along the Boards were underfunded. Accordingly in July 1901, the Domain was boundaries. Some trees were donated. vested in the Devonport Borough Council, as had already occurred with
There was fencing along the boundaries with Devonport School the Rangitoto Island Domain in 1890. and ‘the burial ground’, and local residents had private gates onto the domains. Fencing also ensured that grazing animals didn’t take over david.verran@xtra.co.nz
Winter Lights Takapuna
4 Spectacular Nights July 28th to 31st
ISSUE 132 – July 2022
NORTH SHORE’S MONTHLY MAGAZINE FOR NEWS, VIEWS, EVENTS AND PEOPLE Proudly published by 21,500 Copies monthly
Distributed to homes with welcoming letterboxes in Devonport, Cheltenham, Stanley Bay, Stanley Point, Vauxhall, Narrowneck, Bayswater, Belmont, Hauraki, Takapuna, Milford, Westlake, Forrest Hill, Crown Hill, Castor Bay, Sunnynook, Campbells Bay, Mairangi Bay, Murrays Bay, Rothesay Bay, Northcote, Birkenhead, Chatswood, Northcote Point, Birkenhead Point, Hillcrest and to businesses, shopping centres and foyer/reception areas in these areas and Shore-wide. We also have many magazine stands throughout the North Shore.
Badjelly – School Holiday Fun at The PumpHouse Jock McKenzie A rare all-rounder JULY 2022ISSUE 132 Kindercare Celebrating 50 Years
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Our next issue: October 2022 - out Friday October 7th
Contact Kim McIntosh: kim@channelmag.co.nz, 021 419 468 or Liz Cannon: liz@channelmag.co.nz, 021 204 3395
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www.channelmag.co.nz
ISSUE 133 – August 2022
Summer is coming! Summer is coming!
EDUCATION
NORTH SHORE’S MONTHLY MAGAZINE FOR NEWS, VIEWS, EVENTS AND PEOPLE Proudly published by 21 ,500 Copies monthly Distributed to higher socio homes with welcoming letterboxes in Devonport, Cheltenham, Stanley Bay, Stanley Point, Vauxhall, Narrowneck, Bayswater, Belmont, Hauraki, Takapuna, Milford, Westlake, Forrest Hill, Crown Hill, Castor Bay, Sunnynook, Campbells Bay, Mairangi Bay, Murrays Bay, Northcote, Birkenhead, Chatswood, Northcote Point, Birkenhead Point, Hillcrest and to businesses, shopping centres and foyer/reception areas in these areas and Shore-wide. We also have many magazine stands throughout the North Shore. AUGUST 2022ISSUE 133 OUT & ABOUT ON THE SHORE COMMUNITY NEWS
Re-cladding your home
If you own a plaster-clad home that was built pre-2008, chances are your home has water tightness issues. Many houses built in this period were built with internal gutters, flat roofs and plaster cladding directly fixed to framing. Unfortunately, most of these homes are needing specialist maintenance or re-cladding. They tend to have issues with moisture getting in which affects the internal structural framing.
What are the advantages of recladding?
• A warmer dryer home taking advantage of changes to the building code such as double glazing and better insulation. • New modern materials can be used to change the look and feel of your home. • It will result in your home being brought up to the current building code requirements and make it more valuable and more sellable. • If your home does not have a Code of Compliance Certificate, then through this process a CCC can be obtained which adds a lot of value and makes the home easier to fund and sell. • It can lower your long term maintenance costs on the home by removing tricky internal gutters and decks.
The re-clad process isn’t daunting. SO Renovate has specialised reclad teams with over 14+ years of experience to ensure your project runs as smoothly as possible. We can help from the start with building consent plans, pricing and can manage the entire process right down to handover.
For more about us or our latest projects visit our website www.sorenovate.co.nz or follow and interact with us on social media instagram @sorenovate facebook @so_renovate
AUCKLAND 141 Wairau Road, Wairau Valley
FINAL NOTICE
Subject Site
* Approximately For Sale
Last Greenfields Site To Develop In The Valley
Boundary line indicative only
www.cbre.co.nz/AKL100437 – 856sqm* - zoned ‘Light Industry’ – Services at boundary – Huge profile for your business to over 18,000 vehicles (ACC 2018 STATS) – Close to motorway on/off ramps – Surrounded by national and internationals businesses – Property being subdivided by Mobil, which has been approved and is awaiting for final title expected in around 12 weeks
For Sale by Deadline Private Treaty closing Tuesday 20 September 2022 at 4:00pm (Unless sold prior)
Deborah Dowling 021 248 0060 James Lee 021 344 517
Simon Gundry is a Devonport and North Shore identity, and character, who is known for calling a spade a spade. He is a director of contracting company Gill & Gundry, is an enthusiastic sailor (past crew-member of Ceramco New Zealand, Lion New Zealand and Shockwave) and is a life member of the North Shore Rugby Football Club. He has been writing this thought-provoking column for Channel ever since the very first issue (well over a decade ago!).
Grumbles galore and ramping up!
Simon Gundry.
I cannot believe the madness around town with road closures, and traffic control. The prime example was in Vauxhall Road, Devonport last month, with contractors digging up perfectly good asphalt paving and replacing it. There was a man on a digger loading a truck, a couple of men detailing the excavations and no fewer than 10 traffic control people directing traffic out of five different streets with road cones and lollipop men spreading over at least 200 metres. My men at the coal face tell me that the road control costs were more than the actual cost of replacing the asphalt. This absolute madness cannot go on, who is paying for it? We are.
We had a problem down on the foreshore opposite the lovely old Masonic Hotel and the Devonport Sea Scout den, where again the wooden ramp has broken away from the main structure due to the easterly winds and wakes from ferries passing. This is probably the last ramp on the Devonport waterfront, now that the one at the foot of Huia Street has disappeared, leaving the locals unable to launch their dinghies. Devonport Yacht Club wharf has been reduced to a fifth of its former glory, and we are rapidly losing all our ramps and boat launching facilities in Davenport, much to the delight of Auckland Transport.
I am part of a working party to rebuild the Sea Scout boat launch ramp, along with a local Engineer and another contractor and we need all the help we can get from the local Community. If you look around the North Shore there are very few places for people to launch their power boats and retrieve them safely. This Sea Scout ramp is so important for the Devonport Sea Scouts, without it they are almost homeless.
At the moment the slipway is very, very unsafe for young people. Just thinking about this, and the growing population of the North Shore and their love of boating, there are very few decent facilities that people can launch their power boats for a day of cruising, water skiing, fishing etc. There is a facility at Bayswater Marina which is in danger of being lost due to development there. There is a very small launching ramp at Torpedo Bay Devonport, and there is a facility at the northern end of Cheltenham Beach. There is another by the Takapuna Beach Cafe which become chaotically busy each weekend.
There is a facility at Narrow Neck beach, which can be quite dangerous, with the backing down of large trailers mixed with beach users, as there is no designated area to launch a boat. Sooner or later there is going to be a dreadful accident. It seems like the powers that be, like Auckland Transport and the local Council, are dead set on stopping us all from accessing our Harbour.
Here's another, I have a friend who has a boat down at Bayswater Marina, and a few weeks ago he had a letter from Auckland Transport and the letter contained information about the condition of the antifouling on his boat. He was asked to supply information to Auckland Transport about when he was going to renew the antifouling on his boat. This again is madness, we have spies underwater now, looking at the condition of our boats and we are paying for it. The vast majority of boat owners are very responsible and don't need these underwater spy Nazis keeping a watch on our boats. And again, who is paying for this? We are.
I read somewhere that kitchen waste which includes potato peelings, broccoli stalks, cauliflower stalks, carrot peelings, and the lemon slices that were added to the gin and tonics, make up to 50% of our rubbish that we put out in our waste bins. I find this is a load of crap, there is no way that this could be right. I now see that the Council will be providing us with extra two bins, per household, to collect this kitchen waste, one for our kitchen benches and one to be collected at the street. Personally, I have a well functioning worm farm that uses up all my kitchen waste, but the thought that Council personnel are walking around the streets inspecting and policing our rubbish is ridiculous.
Let's be honest about this, all the so called recycling ends up with the vast majority of it in landfill anyway.
Another question that begs an answer, what the hell has Ireland done to deserve Trevor Mallard, who is no doubt soon to be our latest Knight of the Realm. And, if our children are all to learn Te Reo at school and take exams in this and the Treaty of Waitangi, when are teachers going to have time to address our terrible rates of literacy and numeracy in our children. I saw a cartoon recently from Tremain, depicting a teacher at the front of her class saying "This term, we are going to learn to say "I failed English, Maths and Science" in Te Reo".
By Shore Junction’s Youth Development Specialist Josh Martin
Two years on
Josh Martin.
September 4th 2020 is a special day for Shore Junction. Not only was it my 38th birthday (hip hip hooray!) but it was the first day we ever had young people in at Shore Junction. That day there were a number of prototype users who came in to use the space but also to be photographed for the national Ara Taiohi Youth Worker Code of Ethics handbook.
When we opened that day there was only a group of 10 rangatahi christening the building by jamming with the instruments, playing on game consoles and using the dance studio. Now, two years on we have 900+ active and excited youth members who call this place their home.
In the two years since we’ve opened to the public we have implemented incredible programmes, events and opportunities for local youth to develop their passions and goals in life.
Some of the highlights include:
• Professional music artists and producers teaching youth to create and write their own songs which were then launched through
Shore Junction Records and are now available on all streaming services. • The relationship created with Starbucks Takapuna and head office, where we are sponsored with coffee stock and supply, plus professional barista training for youth members and a pathway to employment at Starbucks when positions are available. • Our technology space which includes robotic building and competitions, PC building from donated old computer parts, 3D design and printing, and this month we have our first eSport competition being hosted at Shore Junction, where we’re working toward an interschool tournament next year, plus many other amazing successes.
I will finish with a quote from a Year 10 student when they came here after a particularly hard day at school: “Even though I had a hard day today, Josh; I knew I could still come to Shore Junction because I feel safe, I always have a good time and it’s like coming home to see my family. Except it’s even more fun.”.
We are only two years into this important and exciting work with young people, some who identify as Māori, the forgotten Pasifika, queer, disabled and lower socio-economic, and though there’s been huge wins for the rangatahi there is so much more we want to do alongside young people to continue making a difference on the North Shore and beyond. Tihei mauri ora!
By Kathryn Robertson, Takapuna Residential Bayleys Real Estate Ltd Choosing an agent
Kathryn Robertson.
There are so many real estate salespeople out there, it must be hard to know where to start, and it’s a very personal decision. Time to do some research – which brand suits your home, which agents are active in your suburb, and which agents come recommended by family and friends?
29 Hororata Road, Hauraki.
Real Estate companies rely on their brand and reputation to position themselves in a marketplace. Some offer cheaper fees and marketing with the promise of a journey that resonates more with the lower end, some pitch at the middle bracket to be all things to most, while others prefer to align with the higher end and offer a service in line with that, with their agents being the personal touch and face behind that brand. Establishing what type of experience you want, and how you want your home to be perceived, is a great first step. If it’s all about the agent for you, then research who is actively selling in your neighbourhood – not just their online profile, but do they have a successful track record? Social proof is important. Attend open homes, sort out the good from the bad. Is the agent knowledgeable, professional, relatable, easy to talk to? Are they experienced? Would you trust them if you were a buyer? Are they ‘your’ kind of person and can you imagine working closely with them for an intense six weeks, trusting them with your biggest asset? Big decision. For many, the recommendations of family and friends is the way to go – tried and tested!
