Fun Facts

1The Moreton Bay fig tree next to the public library is fondly known as ‘Old Albert’ (planted from a seedling via Albert Park in Auckland city). It was planted in 1883 and is also known as an Australian Banyan tree.

2The metal musical notes on the band rotunda in Windsor Reserve represent bars of ‘God Save the Queen’, but are wrongly sequenced.

3Flagstaff was the name originally bestowed upon Devonport. Victoria and Albert roads were named after Queen Victoria and her husband Albert. Edward St (now Calliope Rd) and Clarence St were named after their children.

4A bubonic plague scare in 1900 prompted the Devonport Council to mount a campaign offering free rat poison to encourage the slaughter of rats, and included a bounty for each dead rat. Today residents’ groups have formed to catch rats, which threaten native birds.

5The $7.8 million Devonport Library, designed by Athfield Architects, opened in February 2015, replacing a 1953 building. It features a $100,000 silk curtain designed by artist Judy Millar and has beautiful harbour views from the mezzanine floor.

6The top of Takarunga / Mt Victoria features mushroomshaped air vents. They connect to an underground water reservoir. 7 Ella Yelich O’Connor, better known these days as global music star Lorde (right), is one of the famous names to come out of Devonport. She attended Vauxhall Primary School and Belmont Intermediate School (where the below photograph was taken in 2009 – and where

she won a talent quest) before going on to Takapuna Grammar School. Other celebrities to have called the suburb home include Split Enz's Tim Finn (and his son and rising musician Harper Finn) actor Temuera Morrison and Olympic pole-vault medallist Eliza McCartney. From an earlier age, Dame Sister Mary Leo, who went on to train international opera stars Kiri Te Kanawa and Malvina Major, was a pupil at St Leo's Primary Catholic School in 1905-06.

8The Esplanade Hotel (built 1902-03) is one of the oldest on the North Shore. The bar is in its original position in the hotel, with views back to the city.

9New Zealand’s first Scout Troop was launched here in 1908, a few years after the movement was founded in England. Sea Scouts are also represented, with a heritage hall. 10 Cheltenham Beach has had several name changes over the years: White Beach, Rangitoto Beach and Cobley’s Beach. The gardeners who worked on Mr Cobley’s Devonport estate originally came from Cheltenham Gardens, London. The idea of building a kiosk on the beachfront was first raised in 1909 amid public controversy. The kiosk opened four years later and has evolved from a tearooms, to a popular venue for many a fine wedding, ball, or social event.

DEVONPORT FIRSTS

First suburb on the North Shore to get electricity, when the Devonport Power Station was built in 1914-1915.

First recycling depot in New Zealand opened in 1977.

Devonport featured prominently in the lead-up to women winning the right to vote in 1893