RIP Deirdre Roelants Tohill (4 February 2018)

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Livngstone Street

Leighton Street

Named after David Livingstone, explorer, missionary and anti-slavery campaigner.

The indispensable craft of bookbinding has its roots firmly planted in antiquity.

He was born in 1813 in Blantyr, a miil town in Scotland. His parents were very poor and David slept with his seven siblings in a single room at the top of a tenement building built to house the workers at a cotton mill on the banks of the Clyde River. His father was a Sunday school teacher and a major influence on the young David who was determined to become a missionary.

It’s possible it originated in India where Hindu sutra aphorisms were copied on to palm leavers and cut into two lengthwise then threaded with twine to make a palm -leaf book. Ancient Egypt also compiled priestly texts on scrolls of papyrus. Mayan civilisation had another version but only four survived the Spanish invasion of Latin America. In addition, wax tablets were commonly used as writing surfaces. At the turn of the first century a folded parchment notebook was invented in Rome and spread rapidly to the Near East.

When young he was also fascinated with geology and science but worried these subjects might conflict with his religion. But after reading ‘Philosophy of a Future State’, which was written by Reverend Thomas Dick, a Scottish church minister known for his works on astronomy and practical philosophy, combining science and Christianity (and arguing for harmony between the two), David now felt he was able to reconcile religion with science.

At 10 years of age, he had to work long hours in a local cotton mill. He toiled there till he turned 16 but found time to study after work. This experience instilled in him respect and empathy for workers which lasted all his life. He finally gained admission to Anderson’s College in Glasgow where he trained as a medical missionary. The opium wars put an end to his dreams of going to China, but he was persuaded by Robert Moffat, the notable Scottish missionary, to work as a missionary in Africa. He accepted that his sphere of influence should be there. He arrived at Cape Town in 1841. His immediate ambition was to ‘open up a path to the interior or perish’.

This invention was taken up by churches and the word ‘bible’ comes from the town where Byzantine monks assembled their first scriptorium and from then on the book format became the preferred way of preserving printed material. But all these various methods paled into insignificance when Johannes Gutenberg invented the famous press named after him. The printed word became available to the masses, and was no longer the exclusive domain of scholars and the educated elite.

Mr James Francis Leighton was a bookbinder par excellence who was born in the parish of Clerkenwell, London in 1830. He was educated at a private school and then apprenticed at the young age of 10 to the well-known firm, Messrs Eyre and Spottiswoode, printers to the Queen and during the next four years he acquired enough experience to work for his cousins, Messrs Leighton and Son, bookbinders of the Strand, London.

For the next 15 years he was constantly on the move experiencing geographic discoveries.

Even narrowly escaping death when badly mauled by a lion wasn't a deterrent. The resulting injury to his left arm meant he would never be able to steadily support the barrel of a gun. In 1845 he married Moffat’s eldest daughter who accompanied him on many of his expeditions until her health and the families’ needs for security and education forced him to send her and their four children back to England. Before their departure he was the first European to sight Lake Ngami for which he was awarded a gold medal and monetary prize from the British Royal Geographical Society.

After a merger the firm was called Messrs Leighton, Son and Hodge of Shoe Lane, Fleet Street. During his time there he was thoroughly taught every branch of the bookbinding trade. He must have demonstrated significant ability because the usual rule of keeping apprentices in one branch only was overlooked in his favour. When he had finished his apprenticeship in 1851 he gained employment with Messrs Samuel and Son where he was occupied binding special editions of the bible for the Royal courts of Europe. He later worked for Messrs Eeles and Sons of Chancery Lane and was engaged on the first issue of Dickens’ works.

With his family safe back in Scotland he was free to push northward to beyond South Africa’s frontiers into the heart of the continent. He travelled with very little equipment and only a small party of Africans. His intention was to find a route to the Atlantic Coast that would allow for legitimate commerce and so undercut the slave trade.

But the siren call of the new world was irresistible and he left London in 1853 on the ‘Investigator’ to travel to Sydney arriving there in August that year. He was immediately employed by the Church Press Office to set up a bindery department but remained there for only two years in spite of excellent inducements to stay. He found the hot climate was too much to bear so he decided to approach the proprietors of the ‘Southern Cross’ where there was an opening in their bindery. He arrived in Auckland on the ‘William Denny’ in 1855 but instead of taking up employment, he opened a business in Shortland Street and later secured premises in High Street. While Auckland remained the capital he was bookbinder for the government and also gained the contract for the supply of stationery to the Imperial troops during the Maori war. On the removal of the government to Wellington he was urged by parliament to follow, but for domestic and business reasons he decided to remain in Auckland.

After an arduous journey he reached Luanda and on returning made further explorations of the Zambezi. His most spectacular discovery was the thundering waterfall on the mighty river which he named Victoria Falls after the Queen. News about him stirred English-speaking peoples everywhere. His great success as an explorer was his ability to get on with tribal chiefs. He didn’t push his evangelical message and never forced the indigenous people to accept it.

After recording his work in ‘Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa’ which quickly sold over 70,000 copies, honours flowed and his increased income allowed him to provide adequately for his family who had lived in poverty since returning to Britain.

He delivered a series of lectures at Cambridge which were published and aroused as much interest as his book and in 1966 he returned to Africa bent on discovering the source of the Nile. He never attained this goal but it helped to fill in details about Lakes Tanganyika and Mweru.

Back in Britain in 1864 he wrote his second book ‘Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambezi and its Tributaries’. At that time he was advised to have surgery for bleeding haemorrhoids. He refused and they contributed towards his death on his third and last African journey.

A year before he died, a New York Herald correspondent found Livingstone in UJiji and greeted him with the famous words, "Dr Livingston I presume." Livingstone replied, "Yes and I feel thankful I am here to welcome you." Finally his illness overcame him. His African servants found him dead, kneeling beside his bedside as if in prayer. His body was taken to England and buried in Westminster Abbey against the wishes of his African attendants so they cut out his heart and gave back his body, saying "You can have his body, but his PN heart belongs in Africa." (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

Meanwhile his eldest son joined Leighton in the business as junior partner. He was born in Ponsonby and educated at Auckland College, later named Auckland Grammar.

He stayed in the business for only a short time before travelling to England where he acquainted himself with many of the leading manufacturers of stationery and formed many connections that proved to be exceedingly useful.

On his way back to Auckland he stopped off at Sydney where he stayed for three years in order to gain commercial experience. He finally left Sydney for Auckland on the ‘Wairarapa’ which proved to be the vessel’s final voyage to New Zealand. After an absence of nearly five years, all the souvenirs that he had collected from the many of the countries he had visited during his sojourn abroad were lost in the ‘Wairarapa’ wreck. He revisited Sydney for a short time but returned to Auckland and joined his father to take over managing the commercial side of the business.

In the interim his father, even though a prominent citizen, avoided taking active participation in public affairs. Instead, while continuing to enjoy excellent health he lived very quietly, content to be supervising the practical side of his business. It is worth noting that James Leighton was the first person to introduce ruling machines into the PN newly fledged colony more than 150 years ago. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

William Denny Avenue

Kirk Street

There has been shipbuilding at River Leven in Scotland as early as the 15th Century and none were more famous than than William Denny & Son.

Thomas Kirk was born in 1828, the son of Coventry nurseryman George Kirk and his wife, Sarah, a suffragette and florist.

William Denny was born in 1779 and came from a farming family who, for several generations had been established at the entrance of the Vale of Leven. Instead of becoming a farmer, William took up carpentry and used those skills to start a dynasty of shipbuilders and his seven sons all became involved one way or another in the same trade. During those early years the business mainly built wooden coastal vessels and schooners and the like, but from the outset the standard of work must have been excellent because the yard was provided with one of Morton’s patent slipways which was an indication of enterprise and advancement in those early days.

As time went by 1500 ships were built in the Wood Yard as it was called, which was situated just below the rock at the mouth of the River Leven. William’s oldest son, John, assisted him in the business and he built the first steamship, the Margery, to cross the English channel in 1814. When William died in 1833 the firm was renamed William Denny & Sons and became the most important yard on the Leven. Always innovators, they built a number of ‘firsts’. In 1878 the Rotomahana was the first all steel merchant ship, in 1901 the King Edward was the first commercial turbine steamer, in 1934 the Robert the Bruce, a car ferry on the Firth of Forth, was the first welded vessel as well as the first diesel-electric paddle. The company flag had a blue elephant against a white field, symbolising the strength and solidity of the firm’s products.

From 1845 the company was renamed Denny Brothers with William junior, Alexander and Peter then it was reconstituted as William Denny & Brothers Limited with William, James and Peter at the helm. Peter was responsible for the office management side of the business. In partnership with McAusland and Tulloch he formed a marine engineering company, which complemented Denny’s shipbuilding operations. William Denny junior died in 1854, and James retired leaving Peter as the main partner in the business. Tulloch also retired in 1862 and there was yet another name change to Denny & Company. As a member of the Free Church of Scotland he contributed towards the Free Church in New Zealand and came in contact with Paddy Henderson & Co. He became a partner in their shipping interests, which resulted in orders for Denny’s new ships.

In 1859 Denny’s expanded into North Yard and the engine works were enlarged.

In 1864 some ground was obtained directly opposite the original shipyard which remained the property of William’s estate. Denny’s also engaged in the profitable business of constructing blockade runner ships during the American civil war and purchased large shareholdings in the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company and Albion Shipping Company. This led to further orders for ships specially designed to operate in Burma’s shallow Irrawaddy River.

Peter’s eldest son, William Denny, became a partner in the company in 1868 and eventually took over its management. He was very interested in hull design and was responsible for the the forming of several companies which built trialled models of hull designs before construction. Peter in the meantime diversified his interests becoming a director of many shipping companies and he also sought out orders from foreign governments including Spain, Portugal and Belgium and took a financial interest in encouraging local industry. He donated large amounts of money to local hospital charities and established educational scholarships. In 1890 Glasgow University awarded him an honorary doctorate (LLD) in recognition of his charitable works for education and in 1876 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

In 1886, his son William Denny committed suicide in Buenos Aires because he made some disastrous investments in La Platense Flotilla Company four years earlier.

Overwhelmed with grief, Peter retired further from his business interests and died at the family home, Helenslee, in Dumbarton on 22 August 1895. He left an estate of only £200,000 so he must have given much away because his lifetime earnings were in the region of £1.5 million.

On 31 August 1895 the Hawkes Bay Herald broke news of Peter’s death that had occurred the previous day. It announced that the flags at the shipping offices and on ships in the harbour were flying half mast as a tribute to the memory of Peter Denny whose name was a household word in shipping circles all over the world. The firm that PN William Denny founded ceased to exist in 1963. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

Not surprisingly, he displayed a keen interest in botany. He married in 1850 and because of poor health and stretched finances the couple decided to emigrate to Auckland, arriving here in 1863. Kirk almost immediately started to collect botanical specimens. He prepared a set of ferns and plants for the New Zealand Exhibition in Dunedin in 1865.

Three years later he was meteorological observer in Auckland and in the same year appointed secretary of the Auckland Institute as well as taking on the position of curator, an office he filled for five years.

Kirk was indefatigable in his search for botanical specimens, writing and publishing papers on his discoveries. He visited Great and Little Barrier Islands, the east coast of Northland then southwards as far as Rotorua and Taupo. He also served as secretary and treasurer of the Acclimatisation Society, taught botany at the Auckland College and Grammar School and was elected fellow of the London Linnean Society. All in all, totally steeped in his early childhood interest.

His next move was to Wellington where he lectured in the natural sciences at Wellington College at the same time being affiliated to the University of Auckland. He was an excellent teacher, popular with both students and staff. So much so that when a royal commission decreed the separation of university and secondary education, the college raised funds to retain him for another year. He also joined the Wellington Philosophical Society, becoming president for one year. In 1881 he lectured in natural science at Lincoln School of Agriculture in Canterbury but it was a dispiriting time for Kirk because he couldn’t fine suitable housing and suffered poor health. In spite of these problems, he continued to collect botanical specimens in Arthur’s Pass, Banks Peninsula, Lake Wakatipu and Stewart Island.

In 1884 the government engaged him to report on the country’s indigenous forests and a year later he was appointed chief conservator. He eventually was appointed Chief Conservator of Forests. During his time in this role, he established the forest and agriculture branch of the Crown Lands Department and drew up regulations in order to reduce the wasteful use of forests and by 1888 he had organised the allocation of 800,000 acres as forest reserves. All this good work came to an end with the onslaught of the economic recession and a change of government.

Kirk was made redundant but this didn’t come into effect for three months, giving him time to complete his most notable publication, ‘Forest Flora of New Zealand’. The illustrations for the publication were done by the survey department’s draughtsmen but carried out under Kirk’s supervision.

For the rest of his life he retained his botanical interests, visiting Stewart Island, the Campbell and Antipodes Islands, then exploring headwaters of the Turakina and Rangitikei rivers. According to records, Kirk was a kind-hearted and magnanimous man with firm Christian convictions. He was a foundation member of the Wellington Baptist Church, serving as secretary and deacon for many years, and he was elected president of the Bapist Union of New Zealand. Though quiet and reserved, he had a winning persona that endeared him to his family and friends, and for 30 years he corresponded with former students and fellow botanists. He contributed more than 130 papers to several journals and his most important published works apart from ‘Forest Flora of New Zealand’ were his report on the durability of New Zealand timbers and students Flora of New Zealand, which was published posthumously.

Thomas Kirk was impoverished when he died at Plimmerton on 8 March, 1898 and he was buried in an unmarked grave in Karori Cemetary, Wellington. He was survived by his wife Sarah and five of his nine children. Sarah was a well-known suffragette and temperance campaigner. It’s hard to fathom why he was so poor, after all, for more than three decades he had been the leader of botanical inquiry in his adopted country.

The incumbent president of the Otago Institute stated that "a message of sympathy has been sent to Mrs Kirk with the following resolution: that the council records its deep sense of the loss sustained by the colony in the death of the late Thomas Kirk, F.L.S. whose scientific labours have contributed so largely to the advancement of the study of botany in New Zealand." Despite appeals, Sarah was denied any compassion by the PN government. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Murdoch Road

Pompallier Terrace

David Limond Murdoch was born in Ayr, Scotland. He married in 1948 and the couple travelled to Australia where he worked for the Bank of New South Wales.

Jean Baptiste Pompallier was born in France in 1801.

He was appointed manager of the Bathurst branch then was transferred to Geelong where he acted as sub-inspector of the bank’s Victorian branches. Early in 1861 the BNSW decided to enter the New Zealand market and Murdoch was sent there to manage the Auckland branch. He was disturbed by Thomas Russell’s account so when he hesitated to take it on Russell threatened to found his own bank. Murdoch declared this was a ‘harebrained’ idea but Russell was encouraged by a group of business elite that wanted a New Zealand bank. The BNZ was established with Russell as director.

Meanwhile Murdoch was appointed colonial managing director of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Company which was London based and founded to raise funds for investment in Auckland.

Murdoch continued to manage the BNSW for two more years then requested a year’s leave of absence wanting to return to England so his ailing wife might regain her health.

This was refused so after a brief sojourn in Melbourne he resigned and returned to Auckland to sign up as inspector with the BNZ. In spite of their earlier confrontations Murdoch soon established a close relationship with Russell who was associated with a so-called ‘limited circle’ with members, such as Mackelvie, James Williamson, Josiah Firth, F. A. Whitaker and others who shared an aspiration to make money. This group, persuaded by Russell, had taken the initiative to form the BNZ. When the general manager retired, Murdoch took over as chief executive and eventually was appointed General Manager.

He wasn’t very ethical, chasing business agressively, entering deposit rates with other banks then breaking them when it suited. This gained him a reputation for ‘tortuosity’.

In 1872 he went to Melbourne where he opened the BNZ’s first Australian branch. After further rates manipulation, a second branch was opened in Sydney. During his tenure the BNZ attracted the majority of domestic deposits. He also searched out profitable lending opportunities, working in tandem with the Loan and Mercantile company, granting advances for real estate investment where prices were rising. As a prominent banker he became very friendly with members of the ‘limited circle’ and was involved in a number of speculative companies. He was on several boards including mining enterprises, frozen meatworks and several land development companies.

Members of the circle persuaded the normally cautious Murdoch to support land development companies. However, prices collapsed in the depression that set in by the end of the decade. Rather than let his friends and old customers fail he arranged finance for them, often accepting collateral such as property and securities of doubtful valuation. With support from Russell he refused to take instructions from the BNZ and the London Loan Company boards prompting them to suggest he retire. Meanwhile some of his duties were taken over by his deputy, John Murray, who was worried about Murdoch’s liberal lending and his reluctance to confide in London. After massive losses Murray demanded the state of the bank’s balance sheet be reported. This resulted in Murdoch being summoned to England to explain matters to the London board. He resigned under a cloud and severed his ties with the London Loan Company.

In spite of all this skulduggery he continued to live in his elegant Italianate home named Prospect situated on the slopes of Mt St John. He and his wife, Eliza, were keen gardeners and their friend Mackelvie sent them seeds from England to plant in their flower beds. He became chairman of the Mackelvie Trust and was instrumental in the completion of the Auckland Art Gallery and the display of the former's collection. He died at home in 1911, his wife having predeceased him in 1901. The bulk of his £145,000 estate was passed to his brother’s children and grandchildren.

So Murdoch continued to lead the good life but many of the other makers and losers of fortunes in those early colonial times didn’t fare too well. James Williamson, after a glittering social ascent, died impoverished but was frantic with worry during during his last days. Rumour had it that he committed suicide but according to his death certificate he suffered from ‘cardiac disease’. Thomas Russell was also in severe financial straits but Logan Campbell saved his bacon enabling him to live a comfortable life in England.

F. A. Whitaker committed suicide in the Auckland Club while depressed by the failure of his Waikato land speculations. Josiah Firth turned to a reinforced concrete construction PN enterprise but died of heart failure. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

He received an education befitting a gentleman and for a short time served as an officer in the dragoons or infantry who rode horses instead of marching, but a higher call drew him to the church so he entered the Lyons seminary in 1825, was ordained in 1829, and served for seven years in the archdiocese before being consecrated titular bishop in 1836. He was chosen by Pope Gregory XVI to head a mission in Western Oceania so with four priests and three brothers of the Society of Mary, Pompallier sailed from Le Havre in 1836. Two missionaries disembarked on two Pacific Islands, one priest died of fever on the voyage so with one remaining priest and one brother he reached the Hokianga in 1838 where some Catholic families lived. Kororareka, now named Russell, was to be his headquarters for the next 30 years and the house he built there still stands today.

Captain Hobson invited him to attend the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi from which he absented himself but gained an assurance from Hobson that there would be religious freedom in the colony.

There was some opposition to Pompallier’s arrival because settlers feared French annexation but his courage and dignity impressed many Maori leaders, which helped him overcome European suspicions. Those few early missionaries encountered language difficulties as none of the three were conversant with either Maori or English but Pompallier was quick to master both.

Over six feet tall he was an imposing figure and his personal charm endeared him to Irish catholics in the area. Jean-Claude Colin, founder of the Society of Mary, later called the Marist Brothers, gave generous aid to Pompallier enabling him to establish mission stations in several North Island settlements, where he walked long distances overland to visit them. While setting up these missions Pompallier made four voyages down the east coasts of both islands reaching Otago where again he explored the hinterland. There were unfounded allegations that French missionaries were encouraging insurgency among Maori chiefs in Northland but Governor Grey investigated these claims and completely cleared Pompallier and his priests of any such subversion.

Unfortunately Pompallier was an inept administrator and overreached himself financially.

On his mandatory visit to Rome in 1846 it was obvious to church authorities that it was time for him to end his association with the Marists and that the missions were to be divided with into two dioceses, one in Auckland with Pompallier in charge and another in Wellington staffed by the Brothers. Pompallier was absent from New Zealand for four years as he travelled extensively throughout Europe gathering funds and personnel for his new diocese. He finally arrived back with two priests, 10 seminarians and eight Irish Sisters of Mercy. In his absence the Catholic population in the Auckland region had doubled, but the Maori missions in the North had collapsed because of the Northern war and the antipathy it generated towards Europeans.

On his return Pompallier finished training his clergy and after their ordination they were sent to the missions vacated by the Marists. He remained in Auckland where the Catholic Church made steady progress due to the strong united team he formed with the Sisters of Mercy. He sailed again to Europe in 1859 and returned with eight Fransiscans eight seminarians and four French women intended for his new order, the Sisters of the Holy Family. Though a british citizen since 1850, he stayed neutral during the 1860s wars but had to watch helplessly as Maori Catholics drifted away.

In Auckland he was more successful. His seminary produced some outstanding priests and the Sisters of Mercy formed a sort of colony on Mount St Mary in Ponsonby. But there were still financial problems. The Maori missions never paid back the money he had borrowed for them, government aid to his schools came to an end and the laity resented bearing the burden.

He borrowed what little he could and mortgaged 45 acres of land owned by the diocese but the debt continued to climb and creditors wanted repayment. When he left for Europe in 1868 he realised the situation was very bad indeed and he knew he was too old and sick to deal with it. He resigned in 1869 and was made honorary archbishop of Amasia.

Accusations and suspicions of misconduct without substance or proof clouded his last days in New Zealand but his only guilt was poor administration. Pompallier was a devout man with talent and vision who spent his life in the service of others. He died at Puteaux in 1871, the man who founded the Catholic Church in New Zealand.

PN (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Russell Street

Potatau Street

Thomas Russell was a leading member of an early cartel that found New Zealand, and Auckland in particular, ripe for speculation.

Potatau is the family name of a dynasty of Maori kings.

He was born in Cork in 1830 and in 1833 his parents emigrated to Australia where his father farmed in NSW. Seven years later the family sailed to New Zealand and eventually settled in Auckland where his father was by turn either farmer or carpenter. His mother, Mary, ran a drapery store in Shortland Street to help support the growing family. Her sudden death in 1847 at age 36 was a severe blow and the family was further disrupted by their father absconding with two of his sons to the Californian goldfields, leaving Thomas to look after his remaining siblings.

He already evinced a maturity beyond his 20 years, and was charismatic and very ambitious. His resourcefulness was demonstrated upon hearing that California was at the height of the gold rush and vegetables had become scarce so he bought all the onions he could get hold of in Auckland and shipped them to San Francisco where they fetched enormously high prices.

At that time he was employed in a law office and as soon as he was licensed to practise, he set up his own firm helped by his connection with the Wesleyan church where he was first a Sunday school teacher then a lay preacher. He enjoyed Reverend Walter Lawry’s patronage, which was further strengthened when he married Lawry’s niece.

As a consequence many Wesleyans used his practice for their private business matters.

Thomas, now successful, helped his younger brothers, having a strong sense of family loyalty. He articled all four to his practice and each founded their own firms which have endured to the present day.

But Thomas was more interested in the cut and thrust of speculative commerce. He was an active supporter of the Progress Party which represented the interests of Auckland’s business community and due to his initiative the New Zealand Insurance Company was formed in 1859. During the following 10 years he promoted a number of financial institutions and gold mining companies.

An apocryphal story put about by his arch enemy, Falconer Larkworthy, is that the manager of the Bank of New South Wales had doubts about Thomas Russell’s credit worthiness and prevaricated about renewing his account, thereby inducing Thomas to establish the Bank of New Zealand. In subsequent years, his influence within the bank enabled him to get generous and sometimes improper advances in order to build up a substantial private fortune.

As if all these activities weren't enough to keep him occupied, he began a brief foray into politics and was appointed a minister without a portfolio in in the Domett administration, and then with the outbreak of war in the Waikato, he was made Minister of Defence. He continued to hold this post in the following Fox-Whitaker administration and represented the settlers’ views towards ‘rebel’ Maori. Governor George Grey became uneasy at the scale of confiscations planned and mistrusted Russell who wanted to encourage land -buying schemes that would benefit his own legal firm.

After the shift of New Zealand's capital to Wellington, Russell withdrew from politics but he had powerful friends in government on whom he could call for favours, so much so that William Rolleston, Minister of Lands, observed that an "idea exists that Mr Thomas Russell is not a representative of the Colonial Government but the Colonial Government is the representative of Mr Thomas Russell." While he was loyal to those who supported him, he could be vindictive towards those who did not. He never lacked enemies. He was forced to carry a loaded revolver in case a disaffected investor in gold mining who held Russell responsible, tried to hunt him down at Russell's home. However, he was arrested and gaoled for life. Finally the colony was too small for his financial ambitions and social aspirations so in 1874 he took up permanent residence in England and soon became an influential mortgage broker in London City.

Although living abroad he made lengthy visits to inspect his estates in New Zealand enabling him to maintain ascendancy over the directors in Auckland. When the colony fell into a depression in 1886, his companies fell into a desperate plight but a successful deal with Logan Campbell saved him and he and he was able to live in comfortable circumstances in a country house near Farnham in Surrey until he died in 1904. His estate amounted to £160,000. For more in-depth knowledge of those times read ‘Makers of Fortune, a Colonial Business Community and its Fall by R.C.J. Stone.

PN (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

The Potatau came to the fore as royalty in 1858. Potatau Te Wherowhero, the first Maori King was was born about 1800, the son of a famous warrior, Te Rauangaanga who waged many campaigns against the Ngati Toa tribes in Taranaki until the European missionary effort influenced the warlike chiefs to desist hostilities and they became more inclined towards peace. Although Te Wherowhero attended church services regularly, he refused to be baptised.

When Governor Grey sent emissaries to the Waikato in the hope of getting leading chiefs to sign the Treaty of Waitangi, none of them, including Te Wherowhero would cede sovereignty to the British Crown. Nevertheless, he tolerated European settlers in his region but became less friendly towards them as they started to gobble up more and more Maori land. Because of his huge mana, he was declared Maori King in 1858. His investiture was celebrated with great ceremony at Ngaruawahia.

Potatau cut an impressive figure and was probably the most famous warrior of his day.

He was over six feet tall and apparently Te Wherowhero means red man because he was the first among his people to wear a scarlet blanket. Potatau means ‘he that counts by night’, the name given to him when his wife, for whom his love was so great that he sat sleepless for many nights as she lay dying. Te Wherowhero died on 25 June 1860. Many tribes gathered to pay tribute to the great warrior chief and he was succeeded as king by his senior wife’s son, Tawhiao Tukaroto Matutaera Potatau Te Wherowhero.

First named Tawhiao, he was brought up by his maternal grandparents and his reign lasted for 34 years right through the most turbulent era of Maori-Pakeha relations. He was a Christian and bible student as well as being very familiar with the Tainui priesthood’s ancient rites. Later he was baptised by an Anglican missionary and named Matutaera or Methuselah. During his adolescence his father had encouraged him to be a man of peace and in later years his sayings were regarded as prophetic. The main problems that Maori had to contend with after signing the treaty were the accumulation of land by the settler population and the social mayhem caused by European contact. The wars of the 1860s in Taranaki and the Waikato, and the government's confiscation of Maori land saw Potatau and his people landless and forced to retreat into King Country.

When British forces invaded the Waikato on the pretence that the Maori tribes were intending to attack Auckland, Tawhiao, as he was now called, and his people lost more than a million acres to the settlers. He was a strong advocate of guerilla warfare but his warriors insisted on retreating into fortresses which were overwhelmed by the British. If his tactics had been adopted the Waikato campaign would have been more problematic for the British. Tawhiao then moved deep into the King Country where he ran a prosperous pa until peace was made in 1881.

The third Maori King, Mahuta Tawhiao Potatau Te Wherowhero was Tawhiao's second son but elected to the office of king by the Kauhanganui or King Parliament that was set up by Tawhiao to complement the Colonial legislative council but was denied by Auckland authorities. The parliament's members consisted of tribally appointed delegates who advised the king on policy and was used by him to communicate with his subjects. It remains in existence today. Mahuta did a deal with Seddon which enabled him to accept a seat on the Legislative Council. This was in exchange for opening up one million acres for settlement on a leasehold basis. He later decided not to remain on the council in order to maintain the King Movement’s independence. He died in 1912.

Te Rata Mahuta Potatau Te Wherowhero, the eldest of Mahuta’s five sons was the fourth Maori King. He travelled to England and was granted an audience with King George V when he presented yet another petition asking for the restoration of confiscated land but the British government reiterated that Maori must look to the New Zealand government for the redress of grievances. Te Rata fell ill during the failed expedition but it confirmed his status as the first Maori King to be received by a reigning British monarch. He died in October 1935. The following Maori Queen Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu was a descendant of Te Rata as is the present Maori King.

David Batten runs a Facebook page - Arch Hill Matters and tells us that about 1935 Potatau Street was known as Codrington Street. He doesn't know why it was changed except that soon after Codrington Crescent appeared as a street name in Mission Bay. PN (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Boardman Lane

Renall Street

Grey Lynn was once divided into three wards, Richmond, Surrey and Sussex.

This Freemans Bay street was named after Alfred William Renall who was born in Essex and sailed to New Zealand on the ‘Martha Ridgeway’ in 1840.

When the borough was formed in 1885 it was named Newton but later in 1889 there was a name change to Grey Lynn in honour of Sir George Grey. Boardman Lane was previously called Prime Lane named after Frederick L. Prime who was briefly Mayor of Auckland from 1874 to 1875. Abraham Boardman’s tenure as Mayor of Auckland was just as brief, lasting from only 1896 to 1897 when he retired because of ill health. He was born in Lancashire and after serving as headmaster of an important church school in London, he emigrated to the colonies, arriving in Auckland in January 1864 when the Waikato Campaign was in full progress.

Almost immediately he obtained a position in the Superintendent of the Province’s office and was later Curator of Intestate Estates under the General Government. He also served on the Auckland Harbour Board, the Auckland Savings Bank Board as trustee, and was extensively connected to many earlier gold mining companies. Another of his roles was as general manager of the South British Insurance Company, which was first established in 1872 as the South British Fire and Marine Insurance Company of New Zealand but subsequently underwent a name change.

Under his management, business got off to a brisk start and its first policy was issued to William Morrin who insured his furniture against fire. A further 35 more proposals were received just three days after commencement of operations and then the company accepted its first marine risk on the hull of the ‘Forest Queen’ owned by Captain Daldy but the first major marine risk was written for 25,000 ounces of gold in transit from the Thames Goldfields. It was also a prime mover in the establishment of the Northern Club.

Boardman was also an active member of other organisations, including the Anglican Church and for many years served in the Diocesan Synod, and was for a long time associated with the trust boards connected to the diocese. He was also a standing member of the Diocesan Pension Board. When he died at his residence on Ponsonby Road, the New Zealand Herald published a long obituary notifying readers of his unexpected death. Apparently he caught a cold while attending a meeting of the New Zealand Rifle Association on the North Shore which developed into a severe bronchial affection. He succumbed quite rapidly in spite of the skill and attention administered by his doctor till finally death brought an end to his suffering.

Boardman was an old colonist and of great service to Auckland with his excellent management of so many companies. He also took an active part in local government and was successful in bringing Ponsonby into the city and served on the Ponsonby School Committee. The funeral service took place at All Saints Church in Ponsonby and he was interred Purewa Cemetery. Flags were displayed half-mast on the Municipal Buildings, the fire brigade station and at Albert Park out of respect to the memory of Abraham Boardman who had long enjoyed the respect and affection of his fellow citizens. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

He received useful training when employed by his father who was a miller and a carpenter -trades that were needed in the new colony. On arrival he first worked as a carpenter in Wellington then tried farming, which occupied him for several years. He was thrown into contact with Maori from whom he gleaned a wealth of information and from 1841-42 was called upon to act as undertaker for several old warriors such as Waireporo, the warlike chief of the Ngati Awa. Anecdotally, he often referred to himself during that time as the Undertaker to the Black Brigade.

In about 1849, a man named Charles Mabey commenced to build a watermill at Taita.

Mabey was unable to complete the work and Renall took over and completed it by the end of 1850 and commenced milling. It was the first watermill to be erected in the Hutt Valley. Renall applied himself with great zeal to his new enterprise, working successfully for many years.

In 1853 he was induced by fellow colonists to enter the political arena. The first Provincial Council for Wellington was established later in the year. Renall added his name to the list of candidates and even though he was competing against popular men, he succeeded in reaching the head of the poll but only by a single vote. In 1850 he became a member of Parliament and was later a member of the General Assembly for six years representing Wellington on a national political level.

Wellington was already noted for the frequency and violence of its earthquakes and in 1855 ‘the great earthquake’ shook the city. Fortunately this struck on a general holiday and even though The Provincial Council was in session it was adjourned in honour of the province’s anniversary.

This was just as well because the upper floor where the meeting would have taken place collapsed to the ground floor level and fatalities were most likely to have occurred.

Renall suffered financially by damages to the mill but it was repaired and continued to work till 1858 when it was damaged by a flood in which several settlers drowned.

Sir George Grey granted relief by setting aside a large tract of land that victims of the flood could access on easy terms. Renall along with others named the site Masterton and Greytown and having splendid waterpower he erected another waterwheel equal to 20-horsepower. Back into politics with a vengeance, he was elected as a member of the General Assembly which sat in Auckland. He next established the first road board in Masterton of which he became chairman and acted as engineer as well, laying the first road. He also built some of the bridges.

At this time he became involved in an organisation called the Small Farmers Association that was formed with the intent to prevent the Waiararapa being taken over by large run holders and ensure ordinary folks could afford to buy parcels of land. The Association is still active today.

About 1875 he took a trip back to England and during his absence a town board replaced the old road board. When he returned he sketched out the boundaries for the Masterton borough of which he was elected mayor three times. In 1859 he was sworn in before a judge as a justice of the peace, a position he held for many years. He was a very colourful mayor and hugely popular, a larger-than-life character who was very outspoken with a fondness for story-telling and a very successful self-promoter. In his late 70s, he retired from the council.

Apparently he was a philanthropist who gave money to the needy and bags of flour to the Salvation Army. He was also a Free Thinker which was a common 19th Century term for those who who based their opinions on logic and reason. Nevertheless he respected church-goers but believed people were entitled to have their own thoughts about the hereafter. Perhaps this was because four of his 16 children met violent deaths. One was shot, another burned to death, the third crushed in a windmill and the fourth killed by a falling tree. Four others died leaving only eight alive before Renall himself shuffled off this mortal coil.

Renall lived to a great old age, from 1913 till1902. He had been a good colonist in every respect and must certainly be numbered among New Zealand’s successful setters. When PN he died the turnout at his funeral was huge. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Brisbane Street

Upton Street, Herne Bay

Named after Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane who was born 1773 at Brisbane House near Largs, Ayrshire.

Named after John Henry Upton who was born in Lincolnshire, 1845.

His family were of ancient Scottish lineage and he was first educated by tutors, then attended the University of Edinburgh and the English Academy in Kensington. In 1789 he was commissioned an ensign in the 38th Regiment in Ireland, then rose through the ranks to finally command the 69th Regiment in Jamaica where he earned high praise from the Governor. When the 69th was ordered to India, he went back to Scotland on half pay because of health problems. This enabled him to indulge his interest in astronomy, which was sparked after almost being shipwrecked in 1795. He took this opportunity to build the second observatory in Scotland at Brisbane House.

His father was a surveyor as well as a farmer.

John was educated at a private academy in Spalding and on attaining his majority set sail for Auckland on the migrant clipper ship ‘Chili’.

His brother William had already arrived at Port of Auckland, as a passenger aboard the ship 'Evening Star' in 1858. He immediately established a successful book-selling and stationery business in Auckland so there was plenty of enticement for his younger brother to join him and the firm became known as Upton Bros. By the beginning months of 1865 they were advertising a move to new premises in Queen Street (three doors below the Brunswick Hall). All manner of stock was advertised, books, music, stationery and among the books, a selection from Bohn's Standard, Scientific, and Illustrated Libraries which were offered to schools and teachers at a discount.

In 1812, at Duke Wellington's request he was promoted brigadier-general and commanded a brigade that was heavily engaged in the Peninsular War battles while continuing to practise his astronomy. When he returned to England in 1818, he married Anna Maria, daughter and heiress of Sir Henry Makdougall whose surname was added to his own. In 1815 he had applied for appointment as Governor of New South Wales before the post was vacant. He finally arrived in the colony in 1821 after Wellington advised he replace Lachlan Macquarie. At that time NSW was beset with problems. Promised land grants hadn't been located, lands were occupied and transferred without legal title, and boundary disputes seemed never ending. Brisbane's policies were sensible answers to pressing troubles. Though he was on good terms with Macquarie he condemned his 'system' and told Earl Bathurst that he had changed New South Wales in so many ways that if the latter ever returned 'he would not have recognised the place'.

He appointed additional surveyors to reduce arrears in the surveying and granting of land, but Brisbane promised tickets-of-occupation only when applicants had obtained sufficient stock. He granted lands to sons of established settlers only if their fathers' properties had been considerably improved, and to newly arrived immigrants in proportion to their capital. He was anti granting land to newly appointed officials, which subjected him 'to a most unpleasant feeling'. He also insisted that grantees should maintain one convict labourer for every 100 acres they were given and insisted on this rule in spite of criticism from the Colonial Office that feared it would hamper settlement.

He also ordered convict mechanics be hired instead of being assigned, opposed excessive corporal punishment and reprieved many prisoners sentenced to death.

Brisbane was broad minded when it came to religious matters and was prepared to support any sect that did not threaten the state. He encouraged Wesleyan societies, advocated and gave financial aid to Roman Catholics, but opposed the Presbyterians' extravagant demands, considering them wealthy enough to build their own churches.

He believed that clergy, like government officials, should not indulge in private trade, but his policy towards Aboriginals was ambivalent. On one occasion he ordered some to be shot; on another he imposed martial law beyond the Blue Mountains because of "the aggressions of the Native Blacks". Nevertheless he favoured compensating them for lost land and in 1825 granted the London Missionary Society 10,000 acres for an Aboriginal reserve.

With all that was going on, a governor could no longer attend to everything. As the colony expanded, Macquarie had ruined his health and peace of mind with every administrative detail and all the petty squabbles so Brisbane did not concern himself with trivia.

Unfriendly contemporaries regarded him as amiable, impartial but weak and his enemies accused him of lack of interest in the colony, both claims being untrue, but which prompted Wellington's comment "there are many brave men not fit to be governors of colonies". His interest in astronomy continued in Australia and was probably the reason he sought the appointment. He built an observatory at Parramatta and made the first observations of stars in the Southern Hemisphere since Lacaille's in 1751. When he was recalled from the governorship, he left his astronomical instruments and 349 volumes of his scientific library to the colony.

Once back in Scotland he built another observatory at Makerstoun and later, when president of the Edinburgh Astronomical Institution, did much to make the Royal Observatory highly efficient. In 1832 he succeeded Sir Walter Scott as president of the of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and four years later was created a baronet. Much of his later life was occupied in paternal works at Largs. He improved its drainage, endowed a parish school and the Largs Brisbane Academy. He died aged 87 loved and PN respected by the local community. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

Paper, newspapers, and books have always been an integral part of New Zealand life and even more so in earlier times. William’s enterprise played an important role in Auckland’s social life. As well as selling books, magazines, music, stationery and fancy goods, the shop sold tickets to theatre productions, local shows, lectures, balls and events it was an art union agency and a location where tender and other documents could be inspected by the public and messages could be left for collection. Its Queen Street window was a focal point, displaying artefacts, artworks and items of community interest. The company was actively involved in Auckland’s affairs and contributed generously to fundraising activities.

Also, a number of books were published by the firm, one in 1892 by Williams, Archdeacon of Waipu.

Sadly William Upton died not all that long after his brother had arrived to join him. He was only 29 and an obituary in the Daily Southern Cross read "Quite a gloom was cast over the whole community by the death of Mr W. B. Upton, senior partner of the firm, Upton Brothers who was respected and esteemed for his sterling qualities as a citizen and his excellence as a business man.’" The Auckland Star described how his sudden death caused a general feeling of sorrow. John Upton continued to run the business in partnership with his brother-in-law, William Gorrie jnr, whose family were early settlers arriving in New Zealand in 1840, William having been born on their arrival at Kororareka. They eventually called the business Upton & Co which continued for 50 years. When William Gorrie died in 1911, the reins were passed to Upton’s two sons.

The firm continued to flourish under their management till it was sold to Whitcombe and Tombs that had branches in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. It was advertised as "successors to Upton & Co", closed the old premises and reopened on the corner of Queen Street and Durham Street West.

Meanwhile, John became very involved in politics and held so many public offices that are too many to enumerate here, but whatever he undertook was carried out successfully because his unvarying rule was to thoroughly qualify himself for any role he was called upon to fill. For instance, before becoming chairman of the Education Board he acquainted himself with the duties this entailed throughout his tenure as a board member. He also used his experience as a school committee member when one of the governors of Auckland College and Grammar School. In like manner, he served some four years as a borough councillor before he was elected Mayor of Auckland.

He filled the Mayoral chair with great credit to himself and profit to the city. Probably his greatest achievement was getting support from David Murdoch, John Logan Campbell and Thomas Russell to support him in securing an appropriate area in the city collection to house the famous Mackelvie Art Collection. The trustees all appeared before Mr Justice Conolly to make their submission at the Supreme Court 12 September 1892. This action was taken in order to secure the Court’s approval for a scheme to enable the collection be placed in the annex built by the City Council at the Art Gallery. Later when a vacancy occurred though the death one of the Mackelvie Trustees, John was elected to the board.

As a churchman, John was prominent for a quarter of a century, being connected with almost every Anglican function including the Diocesan Synod for many years. He was a member of the General Trust, the Melanesian Mission Trust and many other boards.

He lived with his family in Herne Bay near Point Erin Baths and died 14 October 1929.

PN (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Hepburn Street

Bannerman Road

Named after Major General Sir Francis Hepburn, born 1779, the Scotsman who commanded the Battalion of Guards at Waterloo in 1815.

Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman was born September, 1836 in Glasgow to Sir James Campbell and his wife, Janet Bannerman.

So many streets in Auckland are named after brave men who took part in that famous battle. Hepburn was a descendant of James Hepburn who spent his fortune supporting the Stuart cause. He was noted for his association with, and his abduction of and marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots - which was her her last venture into connubial bliss.

All that must have been water under the bridge for Francis, who joined the British army and was appointed ensign in the 3rd footguards in 1798. He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming lieutenant and captain four years later, then lieutenant-colonel and so on till finally he was a major-general in 1821.

In the meantime he was aide-de-camp to General W. P. Acland in Malta and Sicily but was laid up with fever and ophthalmia during the battle of Maida. He joined his battalion at Cadiz and his leg was shattered at the battle of Barossa during the Peninsula War. He refused to submit to amputation and when he recovered enough, he rejoined his battalion, even though his wound remained open, causing frequent and severe suffering during subsequent campaigns. At the end of 1813, he was ordered home to take command of his regiment in an expedition to Holland. He joined the Duke of Wellington’s army in 1815, and commanded his battalion at the Battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo and along with other troops occupied Chateau Hugoumont which was was one of the first places where British and other allied forces faced Napoleon's army.

Later Hepburn and his troops were posted in the Chateau’s orchard, an important service, the credit of which was mistakenly given to a junior office. The error was explained officially but never made public so consequently Hepburn was deprived of the higher honours awarded to other senior officers. He was made C.B. which was The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, a British order of chivalry founded by George I. He also had fourth-class decorations of the Netherlands Lion, a Dutch order Chivalry founded

by William I and from Alexander Nevski, the Grand Prince of Kiev. He married an heiress in 1821 with whom he had two sons and a daughter. He died at Tunbridge Wells in 1835, aged 56 years.

Hepburn Street was named after the redoubtable Sir Francis Hepburn. The city also had the foresight to plant it with Platanus acerifolia, or plane trees that thankfully are on the Auckland Council’s list of Notable Trees and likely to remain there for succeeding generations to enjoy. In the Saturday edition of the Auckland Star, Auckland author and journalist, Jack Leigh wrote an extensive article about the rise and fall of Hepburn Street. It appeared 27 October, 1973 and, oh my gosh, how things have changed! He interviewed several people who had first-hand knowledge of Freemans Bay, some who probably are no longer alive.

Early pioneers viewed the street as a desirable place to live with its views of the harbour and proximity to the industries that were established in the young colony. The street flourished when several fine old homes were built that backed onto Western Park.

Number 17 which particularly exemplifies its best years has historical significance in that Captain Daldy of the Auckland Harbour Board Tug fame lived there and in later years when it was converted into flats some former tenants regaled Jack with tales of what they’d heard about the lifestyles enjoyed in those far-off days.

The 1866-67 Auckland Directory lists 29 residents living on the street. Among them was a well-sinker, a ginger beer manufacturer, a merchant, a stonemason and seven carpenters. By 1891 the the list had swelled to 41 residents and increased further to 79 in 1901.

The street now was populated in the main by what is termed, ‘the working class’. There were four merchants, six mariners, three wharfies, two engineers, a carter, a blacksmith, a chimney sweep and seven carpenters. Add engine drivers, railway employees and boiler makers to this mix. The ‘middle class’ was conspicuous by its absence and the ‘upper class’ had decamped to mansions in the eastern suburbs.

Now its status has changed big time. Any property that comes up for sale is ripe picking for developers and investors who have closed ordinary folk out of the market. And forget about diversity. Polynesians have gone and with them the street’s once special character.

PN (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

His father had started work at a young age in the clothing trade before going into partnership with his brother to found a business that expanded into a retail drapery business. When Henry inherited Hunton Court in Kent from his maternal uncle the will required him to use Bannerman as his surname. He was educated at Glasgow High School and later studied at Trinity College where he received a degree in classics. After graduating he joined the family business and became a partner following his marriage to Sarah Bruce. Apparently the couple were prodigious eaters and in their later years each weighed about 130kgs.

Campbell Bannerman as he was now known had a desire to pursue a career in politics.

At the age of 31 he stood as the Liberal candidate for Stirling Burghs a constituency he won and represented for almost 40 years. He rose quickly through the ministerial ranks becoming the Liberal government’s spokesman on defence matters. He continued in this role under Gladstone’s second government and served as Parliamentary Financial Secretary to the Admiralty before being promoted to the cabinet as Chief Secretary for Ireland. During Gladstone’s third and fourth governments he served as Secretary of State for War. During his tenure in this office he persuaded The Duke of Cambridge, the Queen’s cousin to resign from his post as Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces for which achievement he earned a knighthood.

In 1899 CB as he liked to be called, succeeded Sir William Harcourt as leader of the badly divided Liberal Party caused by the Boer War. He at first pursued a middle course between the imperialists and the antiwar ‘pro Boers’ but in 1901 he provoked further disunity by condemning the British concentration camps as ‘methods of barbarism in South Africa’. By the end of the war tensions eased helped by CB’s ‘step by step’ approach to the problematic subject of Irish Home Rule. When the Conservative Prime Minister, Arthur James Balfour resigned in 1905, Edward V11, a friend of CB’s, asked him to form a minority government.

Earlier in 1903 the Liberal Party’s Chief Whip, Herbert Gladstone negotiated a pact with Ramsey MacDonald of the Labour Party to undermine the Conservatives which proved very successful. CB got on well with the Labour leaders, saying “we are keenly in sympathy with the representatives of Labour . We have too few of them in the House of Commons.” Despite this comment he was not a socialist but as one biographer wrote, "He was deeply and genuinely concerned about the plight of the poor." In his first public speech as Prime Minister, CB launched the traditional Liberal election campaign of “peace, retrenchment and reform."

The Liberals won by an enormous majority, gaining 216 seats and CB would be the last ever Liberal to lead his party to an absolute majority in the House of Commons. He was also given official use of the title ‘Prime Minister’ and because of being the only MP with the longest continuous service he achieved the honour of becoming the Father of the House, the only British PM to do so. His cabinet included two future prime ministers, Herbert Henry Asquith and David Lloyd George. He also included, John Eliot Burns, the first working-class person to attain cabinet rank in Great Britain.

His government, supported by 29 Labour Party MPs, crafted the People’s Budget, and introduced a great deal of social legislation, such as old age pensions and unemployment insurance for a significant part of the working population. Equally groundbreaking was the Parliament Act which removed the law-making veto enjoyed by the House of Lords making it constitutionally expedient to run any future government from the House of Commons. This mean’t that the Lords could continue to enjoy purely ornamental ancient privileges but be deprived of all real legislative power. CB maintained that the House of Commons predominance must prevail. His Trades Disputes Act of 1906 gave labour unions considerable freedom to strike and self-government for the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony was ceded.

In 1907 CB suffered a series of heart attacks and fearing he wouldn’t be able to survive till the end of his term he resigned and was succeeded by Asquith. Before he had time to relocate he passed away, the only former PM to die at 10 Downing Street. Many tributes followed and an emotional Asquith declared "he had the admiration and affection of all parties and creeds." His bronze bust sculpted by Montford is in Westminster.

PN (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Ring Terrace

Buller Street

This street has long been associated with Flora MacKenzie but it was actually named after Charles Ring who was born In Guernsey.

James Buller was born in 1812 in Cornwall, son of James Fuller, deacon of the Helston Baptist Church.

His father, a London merchant, lost his fleet of ships through a bank failure. With no prospects in sight the family emigrated to Tasmania when Charles was 15. Later in 1841 Charles tried his luck in New Zealand where liberal land laws enabled him to purchase two farms in the Mt Roskill area that he stocked with sheep and imported cattle. This venture failed so he and his brother Fred left, hoping to make a fortune in the Californian gold fields where they had some success.

He grew up absorbing the Christian atmosphere surrounding him but during his adolescent years started attending the local Methodist prayer and penitence meetings.

Friends he had made invited him there to their Class meetings. This prompted a desire to become a lay preacher, taking services from time to time till he realised his calling was to the full time ministry. He preached his trial sermon before the Reverend Walter Lowry who had returned after six years of missionary work in New South Wales and Tonga. He finally left England as a fully fledged Wesleyan missionary, landing in the Hokianga in 1836 where he remained for three years before going to Kaipara, Wellington, Christchurch, and finally serving as superintendent minister in the Thames district.

Charles next bought goods he intended for store keeping but lost them in a shipwreck, so he decided to return to Australia in the Ceres which was wrecked on a coral reef off Fiji. With hardly any water or provisions saved, Charles with some other passengers attempted to reach Queensland in an open boat. After enduring great hardship they were rescued by an American whaler who altered his course, picked up the rest of the passengers and landed them all in Auckland in 1852. Many of those on board the Ceres were experienced miners and Charles had an idea they might be induced to prospect for gold. He met with Mr Whitaker, later knighted, who was Attorney-General at the time with regard to getting a bonus for the discovery of gold as was the practice in Australia.

A public meeting was held that appointed a committee offering a reward for the discovery of a goldfield, the proclamation being signed by Whitaker, David Nathan, Captain Daldy, John Williamson and other prominent colonists. The two Ring brothers then prospected for gold in the Coromandel and the Thames ranges, their expenses paid by an Auckland syndicate. They discovered some at Cabbage Bay in the Coromandel, at McCaskill’s Driving Creek, Ohinemuri and at Te Aroha. They returned to Auckland and reported their find to the Reward Committee, showed samples and applied for the reward. Ring’s statements were greeted with scepticism, the Committee suspecting the samples might have come from California.

The two brothers accompanied a deputation from the committee back to where the gold had been found and collected larger samples to take back to Auckland. The committee reported at a public meeting that the existence of gold was proved but further investigation was necessary to find out whether there were sufficient quantities to make mining it worthwhile. The secretary of the committee, Mr T. S. Forsaith acknowledging the Ring’s reward application and the accompanying specimens said: “I desire, in the absence of Mr Whitaker, to express the satisfaction which the prospect of eventual success which you entertain affords the committee, and to tender their acknowledgement for the promise of further information.”

Unfortunately for the Rings, their find led only to a small patch of alluvial gold and

by April 1853 less than £1200 worth had been mined. Even a small strike attracts prospectors and if it fails they search again. Many of the Coromandel’s towns owe their existence to gold fever and its port was kept busy servicing the associated industries.

The region's gold mining history is evident in the old gold rush buildings at towns such as Thames, Coromandel and Waihi. It wasn’t until the 1860s that diggers discovered the precious metal in the peninsula’s quartz reefs but extracting it was difficult The goldfield had little success until well financed companies with quartz-crushing equipment arrived in the late 1860s.

Even the government and the gold committee recognised the immense importance of the Ring brother’s discoveries but they were never recompensed beyond a paltry £200 paid for their actual expenses let alone the arduous prospecting they undertook, which was not without danger as Maori in the district were not welcoming. Several men on the committee offered to recompense the brothers but they were so disgusted they refused these offers and a niggardly government wriggled out of having to pay them their just claim.

Charles continued to live in the Coromandel for many years and became a good Maori linguist and was on such good terms with ‘the natives’ he was one of the few colonists who dared remain there during the 1863 war. He returned to Auckland in 1875 where he lived in affluent retirement till he died in 1906 aged 90. His obituary in the Auckland Star credits him as the first discoverer of gold in New Zealand, describes his adventurous life and extols him as the type of hardy pioneer who had done so much towards the spread of the British Empire.

PN (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

As soon as he had arrived in Hokianga, he set about mastering the Maori language.

At that time, there was no lexicon for reference so he studied printed translations of church manuals, bible texts and had daily conversations with Maori. Next he compiled a grammar and vocabulary treatise for his own use in order to help his missionary school work. Towards the end of his first year’s time in the Hokianga, he made an attempt to preach in Maori which aroused much interest in his audience who appreciated his efforts and thanked him profusely.

This was a major achievement and of great value to him at the commencement of his long apostleship. He wrote of this later, "At the end of the year I made my first attempt at preaching in Maori. I afterwards found that I had made some ludicrous mistakes."

Nevertheless, by 1837 the Wesleyan District Meeting was congratulating him on his proficiency in the difficult language.

His three years of mission work in the Hokianga were successful. Cannibalism was checked, slavery discouraged, schools erected, and large congregations listened to the preaching of the gospel. In 1839, Buller was moved to a new station called Tangiteroria on the Wairoa river. The Kaipara was very different then from what it is today. Buller’s first recorded impression was. ‘The station, situated upon the banks of a winding stream, is closely environed by sombre, impenetrable forest and a universal gloom prevails.’

He was to spend the next 15 years there as missionary to the Maori. Because the new parish was very extensive, his work involved long absences from home on journeys of up to 120 miles in order to reach settlements, including the new one in Auckland.

Buller soon found that "with savage tribes, the missionary is thrown upon his own resources, not only for the conveniences but sometimes for the necessities of life."

He had to be jack of all trades in order to maintain and extend his mission property; he had to be a trader to obtain certain essential goods; and to the Maori he had to be pastor, evangelist, doctor, magistrate, schoolmaster and counsellor.’ A Dr Morley praised Buller’s achievements: "Tangiteroria, with its excellently laid out orchard and neat, trim outbuildings, soon became an object lesson to the Maoris." At several villages he had built for his own use small cottages so that he could stay several days. In time, a number of villages could boast their own chapels and Church membership by 1843 had risen to 169 on trial, while two hundred and sixty men and women attended Sunday Schools.

But life, especially for Mrs Buller, was lonely. European contact was rare and mail was infrequent. "For more than 15 years", wrote Buller in 1878, "this solitude was my home.

There, nine of my children were born, and two of them buried." For one of the family these years were invaluable. Young Walter became interested in the flora and birdlife of New Zealand and grew up to be one of the most distinguished men of his time, leaving us a remarkable heritage in his famous books about the history of New Zealand birds. When James Buller’s sojourn in the Kaipara ended, he ministered to Wesleyans in many parts of the country and set up church organisations during the West Coast and Coromandel gold rushes. Throughout his life he demonstrated extraordinary stamina and administrative ability but always cherished a deep interest in Maori wellbeing.

In 1876 he retired from active work and paid a visit to England where he stayed for five years, engaged in writing ‘Forty years in New Zealand’ and ‘New Zealand: Past and Present’. He returned in 1881 to reside in Christchurch where rendered services to churches in St Albans. He died of an illness in 1884. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Stack Street

Stanmore Road

On March 26 1835, Mary West wife of missionary James Stack, gave birth to their first child in a tent on a Maori pa at Puriri near Thames.

The Hon. Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon ( later Lord Stanmore) was born in London,1829.

The child was named after his father and James junior spent his formative years with his parents at missionary stations in the north and East Cape. When living remote from European contact, James learned to snare birds and catch eels, growing up familiar with the Maori world, although he retained the understanding he belonged to a different culture. This view was influenced by his father’s unfortunate experiences with preChristian Maori at mission outposts in the colony.

He was the youngest son of the Fourth Earl of Aberdeen who was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1852 to 1855. The delicate boy was educated privately at first then at Trinity College Cambridge and graduated in 1852. He was very attached to his father and a year later became his private secretary becoming familiar with many influential people. In 1854 he entered the House of Commons himself but lost his seat after three years and next became Gladstone’s private secretary. He began his colonial career in 1961 at the age of 32, which lasted 29 years. During this time he was colonial governor in New Brunswick, Trinidad, Mauritius, Fiji, Ceylon and New Zealand.

James first attended school at St John’s College in Auckland but when his father’s health and sanity collapsed, he spent a year at Sydney College before the family returned to England.

There he was supported by the Church Missionary Society till he was 14. He was then employed by them as a clerk but had no intention of becoming a missionary himself. This attitude changed when his beloved mother died unexpectedly.

A reunion with Reverend Williams consolidated his vocation. The reverend had translated the Bible into Maori and taught at a boy’s school in Paihia for CMS families. Too young to be a missionary, he spent a year teaching at the CMS training College at Islington. Notable Maori leader, and evangelist Tamihana Te Rauparaha was in London at the time, which gave James the opportunity to revive his fluency in Maori as an interpreter and companion.

James sailed to New Zealand in 1852 with Tamihana, disembarking at Wellington. For the next six years he taught boys at the CMS industrial school, first at Maraeti, then at Waikato Heads and finally at Te Kohanga under Reverend Dr Robert Maunsell’s supervision. When Bishop Harper invited him to work at the newly founded Maori mission In Christchurch, he accepted, was ordained deacon and became a priest in 1862. The mission complex was sited at Tuahiwi on 20 acres Maori had gifted from the Kaiapoi reserve. Stack travelled extensively around Banks Peninsula and occasionally as far as Stewart Island. His wish was to set up a Maori church within the Church of England and Reverend George Mutu’s ordination as deacon was a hopeful sign this could be realised.

But by the 1870s the church was suffering from a lack of money and the prophet, Hipa Te Maiharoa’s teachings drew many Maori throughout the district. Stack believed that their bitter sense of betrayal over loss of land ‘blighted all our work’. He lobbied the government on their behalf to prevent the leasing of Maori land on disadvantaged terms and he considered the reserves ‘ridiculously small’. He also complained about the government’s slowness in settling claims and was perturbed by the extreme poverty among South Island Maori, who were now feeling the impact of European settlement.

When the Mission House at Tuahiwi accidentally burned down there were no funds for a rebuild so the Stack family moved back to Christchurch. His proficiency in the Maori language enabled Stack to supplement his meagre clerical income by taking an appointment as government interpreter. He later became inspector of native schools in the South Island as well as presenting reports to the Native Department on the condition of Canterbury Maori.

In 1880, due to government cost-cutting, he lost his employment and accepted the incumbency of the Duvauchelle Parish which gave him access to Banks Peninsula Maori with whom he rebuilt some church connections. He and his wife Eliza visited England briefly in 1883 then returned to take charge of a series of parishes - St Albans, Kaiapoi, Woodend, and Fendalton. He also became honorary canon of Christchurch Cathedral.

In 1898 Canon and Mrs Stack left New Zealand to live with her brother in Bordighera, Italy until 1907 when they moved to Worthing, England where James died in 1919.

Private cable advice was received of his passing by several New Zealand newspapers that paid tribute to this remarkable man. They detailed his many achievements during his years as an Anglican missionary in this country. His friend, Julius von Haast at the Canterbury Museum consulted him as an expert on Maori matters. He wrote on Maori subjects for the local press and gave public lectures hoping to enlighten European society in Canterbury, which largely ignored the Maori world. He was an advocate for the preservation of Maori place names, arguing from his in-depth knowledge of local tradition that ‘every part of the country was owned and named’ which is verified in the detailed maps he sent to the provincial surveyor in 1896. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

Gordon was a successful Governor of Crown Colonies but far from happy in New Brunswick and New Zealand which both had strong governments which he strongly desired to participate in himself. He was happier in the Crown colonies where he had scope for his liberal paternalism, particularly in Fiji where he was able to practice his own native administration principles. A. P. Maudsley, his private secretary there, wrote a character sketch of him: “The governor - a short man, dark, not good looking, careless of his appearance, shortsighted. Nowhere has he been popular, since he has a very bad manner with strangers, and he is perfectly aware of it and regrets it very much, but with people with whom he is in sympathy, though not agreeing, he is perfectly open to discussion and even diffident to subordinates. His personal staff have always been strongly attached to him; with them he is always on the most perfectly easy terms, and not in the least exacting.”

In fact Gordon did not wish to be Governor of New Zealand because he abhorred its native policy of which he strongly disapproved. He accepted the post of British High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, which enabled him to oversee Fijian affairs, the reason he consented to come here. His major conflict with the government was over its treatment of Te Whiti who led a passive resistance against European confiscation of Maori land. Te Whiti was educated at a mission school and identified as a teacher and spiritual leader. When he left the school he set up a flour mill near New Plymouth, living peacefully there till colonial troops burned his village in 1865. He then moved to Parihaka south-west of New Plymouth where he gave sanctuary to disaffected Maori but would not let his followers engage in warfare. However, he was opposed to any land being sold to Europeans and claimed that 16,000 acres seized in Taranaki should be returned.

When Gordon arrived in New Zealand in 1880 his first report was about this dispute which caused concern in Britain. His sympathies were with Maori and he angered his ministers by informing the Secretary of State that they were in the right. In 1881 he left New Zealand to visit Fiji and the government took advantage of his absence, using a provocative speech by Te Whiti as a pretext to invade Parihaka. On 5 November, 1600 armed constabulary led by the Native Minister, John Bryce, descended on the settlement to arrest Te Whiti. The 2000 Maori inhabitants put up no resistance. Instead they greeted Bryce’s contingent with bread and song. The soldiers wrecked the settlement and Maori tradition speaks of brutality and rape. Te Whiti was charged with contriving to disturb the peace and imprisoned without trial.

Gordon heard of these developments only through his private secretary and hurried back to New Zealand but two hours before he docked in Wellington the government made legislative moves against Te Whiti and Gordon had to reluctantly take no action as he believed his ministers had the support of the Assembly. A month later the government was returned to power but Gordon firmly refused to allow ministers to see and comment on his account of these controversial matters in his confidential dispatches to the Secretary of State. A constitutional crisis developed when he accused the the ministry of taking unwarranted action against Maori leaders, and was illegally holding them without trial. Te Whiti was released with his mana intact, built up his following again and renewed his policy of passive resistance.

Gordon left New Zealand in 1882 and after his retirement in 1893 was raised to the peerage. He was an active member of the House of Lords committees and frequently spoke on colonial matters. He died in London in 1912 and was buried at All Souls, South Ascot. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Smith Street

Beresford Street

People are familiar with Nelson’s victories but another British naval hero seems to have been forgotten, even though Bonaparte said of him “that man made me miss my destiny”.

Lord Charles William de la Poer Beresford (what a moniker) was the second son of John Beresford, 4th Marquess of Waterford whose family’s ancestry goes back to those who invaded Ireland during the reign of James I.

Admiral Sidney Smith was born 21 June 1764 into a military and naval family. At age 11 an escapade demonstrated he was unusually adventurous and capable: One summer evening he went missing during evening prayers in the grounds of Midgham Hall where he was holidaying with his father. Eventually he was found sitting in a washtub with a little girl on a deep-water lake where he’d dropped the punt pole. With no boats available to there was no means to bring them ashore. Little Sidney gave instructions to the non-plussed adults telling them to take the string from his kite, tie it to his favourite dog which he would then call. This way the tub was hauled ashore and before his father started scolding him he calmly suggested, “Now father, we will go to prayers.”

This incident was a harbinger of further feats of aquatic daring. At age 13, Sidney went to sea and showed an utter contempt of danger which presaged well for a career in the Royal Navy. He fought in the American Revolutionary War and for his bravery was appointed lieutenant of the 74-gun Alcide, despite being under 19, the required age.

He was a man of singular physical beauty with magnetism that inspired devotion among the men who served under him. He soon was promoted to captain a large frigate but following the peace of Versailles in 1783, was put ashore on half pay. Smith then travelled to France where he dabbled in amateur espionage while observing the construction of the new naval port at Cherbourg. He also travelled to Spain and Morocco, both being Britain’s potential enemies.

In 1790 he applied for permission to serve in the Royal Swedish Navy when that country was at war with Russia. King Gustavavus was delighted to to have such a self-confident officer aboard and appointed him commander of the ‘light squadron’, small frigates including some that were rowed. An apocryphal story credits Sidney swimming two miles through the Russian fleet carrying a letter from the king to the Swedish admiral. The Russians lost 64 ships and a thousand men were killed. The Swedes lost only four and had few casualties. For this Smith was knighted by the king and used the title with permission from George III, but was mocked by fellow British officers as ‘the Swedish knight’.

In 1792 when his younger brother was serving in the British Embassy in Turkey, Smith travelled there. When war broke out with France, he purchased a tiny craft at Smyrna, picked up a mixed crew and joined Lord Hood who was holding Toulon. When the British abandoned the port, Sidney volunteered to burn as many French ships as possible, a task he performed with audacity and skill worthy of Nelson, who blamed him for failing to destroy the entire French fleet. On his return to London, he was given another command and fought a dozen brilliant attacks in the Channel. During a fight on a captured ship, it drifted into the mouth of the Seine. The wind dropped and Smith was captured and imprisoned in the forbidding ‘Temple’ where he was held for two years. Eventually undercover Royalists pretending to be taking him to another prison, helped him escape.

This escape made him a popular hero in England, but there was resentment amongst naval officers over his high-handed manner and use of a foreign title. In 1799 Napoleon determined to take Constantinople but had to conquer the city of Acre first.

Smith was sent to the Mediterranean to carry a military mission to Istanbul, in order to strengthen Turkish opposition to Bonaparte. This appointment caused Nelson to resent Smith’s apparent superseding of his authority in the Levant and his antipathy affected Smith’s reputation in naval circles. During Bonaparte’s siege of Acre, Smith defeated the French head-to-head on land yet his immediate superior, Nelson, never lifted a finger to help him.

After Waterloo, Smith took up the anti-slavery cause. He had run up significant debts through his diplomatic expenses, which the government was very slow in reimbursing.

He also lived a high lifestyle and his efforts against the slave trade were very expensive. Debtors were often imprisoned at the time, so he moved his family to Paris.

Despite many attempts to obtain a seagoing position, he never held a command again.

In 1840 he died following a stroke and is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery.  PN (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)

The Marquess’ estate comprised of 100,000 acres near Waterford in South East Ireland which had stables for 100 horses and employed 600 people. The entire family was keen on hunting even though Charles’ uncle was killed in a riding accident, his brother crippled in another, and he himself suffered 10 broken bones when engaged in the same pastime. Apparently he was determined to enter the navy after seeing the Channel Fleet at age 12 and started training as a naval cadet year later, successfully completing his passing-out examination in 1861.

He also entered Parliament in 1874, representing Waterford, but ran into difficulties with the Lords of the Admiralty who objected to a junior officer debating naval matters in the House of Commons. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli feared the seat might be lost to the opposition if Beresford was forced to resign. Whilst an MP, he continued to serve in the Navy, becoming a commander in 1875. A year earlier, he was one of 32 aides chosen to accompany the Prince of Wales on a tour of India which was a lively mixture of social engagements and animal hunts. The Prince insisted on dressing for dinner, even in the jungle, but agreed to cutting off the tails, thus creating the dinner jacket!

Beresford’s naval career took him to every corner of the globe, from the wild tribes of Terra del Fuego to the shadowy figure of Japan’s Emperor and even to New Zealand.

In his journal, he recorded details of his visit to our shores, describing how he saw a live pig being chased by some Maori children into a hot spring where it was boiled in a moment. He travelled to the Pink and White Terraces and bathed in water as warm as milk close to springs of boiling water where occasionally a jet of steam made him jump. He also watched what he called the “Maori’s weird and magnificent war dances” and wrote, “never have I seen finer specimens of humanity than these men. When after leaping simultaneously into the air, they all came down to the ground together, the impact sounded like the report of a gun.”

According to Richard Freeman’s biography, the British Navy never had a more wild, eccentric and outrageous Admiral than Lord Charles Beresford. When at sea he was something of a rebel and almost always critical of those in power. It’s surprising his senior officers tolerated his insubordination but being a nobleman would have mattered at that time. He also displayed a vicious streak, seeking to destroy the careers of not only those whom he regarded as enemies, but also of others who refused to side with him.

He became an overnight hero with the general public in 1882, and remained so to his death when his tiny HMS Condor took on a massive fort’s guns during the bombardment of Alexandria. Three years later, his even more spectacular adventures in Sudan made him the main hero in the failed attempt to rescue General Gordon from Khartoum. To his credit, when not recklessly throwing himself into perilous riding and wild hunting, he was found risking his life to rescue fellow sailors. His work for the poor, especially for sailors and their widows was tireless.

In fact, he was surprisingly progressive at a time when the aristocracy regarded ordinary folk as important only when they were serving their ‘betters’. He supported voting rights for women and increased pensions for widows.

During the First World War, he threw himself into committee work for various organisations such as those involved with hospitals and ambulances. During this period, his eleven committees were instrumental in raising £800,000 which equates to £34 million in today’s terms and is evidence of his popularity with the masses.

These charitable activities are in sharp contrast to his vindictive attitude towards those who disagreed with his decisions, Winston Churchill being among them. In Parliament, Churchill denounced him in a speech, saying that Beresford nourished many bitter animosities to do with naval matters.

Beresford became so difficult that his naval career ended ignominiously when, at the age of 64, all appointments were closed to him but he still continued to make his mark as an MP. He remainined centre stage when speaking in Parliament up to a few weeks before his death and was still writing letters of complaint on the day he died.

(DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Sheridan Lane

Hector Street

Acclaimed playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan was born in Dublin,1751.

James Hector was born in Edinburgh 1834 and educated there, qualifying as a physician as well as training in geology, botany and zoology.

There’s an apocryphal story that his mother remarked to her three sons’ tutor, “patience was needed for they were such impenetrable dunces she had never met with”. Sheridan certainly belied his mother’s humorous description. After the family moved to London he was educated at Harrow where, according to a Master, he was extremely popular, winning “the esteem and even admiration of all his schoolfellows”! Upon leaving Harrow, he corresponded with a schoolfriend, N.B. Halhed who was at Oxford. Together they made a number of literary plans and wrote a farce called ‘Jupiter’ which is of interest because it contained a rehearsal device used brilliantly in Sheridan’s play, ‘The Critic’.

When his family moved to Bath, he made acquaintance with the daughters of composer Thomas Linley, the eldest of whom was very beautiful and had many suitors, among them Sheridan, Halhed and a Welsh squire, Major Mathews. The details of Sheridan’s courtship read like a Georgette Heyer romance. To protect Elizabeth from the Squire’s unwelcome advances, he escorted her to a nunnery in France, returning to fight two duels with her persecutor after the pair had secretly married during their flight. On their return, Miss Linley’s father denied Sheridan access to his daughter, whom he considered an unsuitable match. Sheridan was sent to Waltham Abbey to continue his studies, was entered at the Middle Temple as a barrister in 1773, but after a week defied his father, gave up a legal career and married Elizabeth openly at Marylebone Church in London.

His happy marriage gave him confidence to choose theatre for a livelihood. ‘The Rivals’ opened in London and the play reveals Sheridan’s remarkable sense of theatrical effect.

It coined the word ‘malapropism’ with its mockery of affectation and gives a sense of caricature to ‘Mrs Malaprop’. ‘The School for Scandal’ is regarded as Sheridan’s masterpiece and it drew larger audiences than any other play showing at the time. With its ridicule of pretentiousness, it’s considered the greatest comedy of manners in the English language. ‘The Critic’ lampoons all classes connected with the stage such as authors and actors. An example of his ingenuity is evident in the ballad opera ‘Duenna’.

With charming lyrics set to music by his father-in-law, it was so popular it set a record of 75 performances.

Thomas Linley must have got over his initial aversion to Sheridan because he and a Dr Ford paid £35,000 towards a half share in Drury Lane with Sheridan contributing only £1300, the remainder raised on a mortgage. Two years later they bought the other half. By this time Sheridan’s interests had turned to politics. He entered parliament for Stafford in 1780 as friend and ally of Charles James Fox, a prominent Whig statesman, and soon took a place as one of the best speakers in the house. He continued to adapt plays and improvise spectacular shows at Drury Lane but as a succession of managers took over the burden of direction, his time was increasingly taken over by politics. He was under-secretary for foreign affairs during the Rockingham ministry and in debate his critical acumen singled out weaknesses in opponents’ arguments and he had no match when it came to ridicule.

His potential was recognised by leading Scottish geologists which gained him a position as surgeon and geologist on an expedition of exploration in Canada. For his work there he was elected fellow of the Edinburgh Royal Society and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. These honours prompted the New Zealand government to second him for a Geological Survey of Otago in 1861. After extensive exploration of the southern part of the South Island, Hector’s name and talents attracted further favourable attentional and he was asked to consider establishing a geological institution. Hector detailed his ideas to ministers on how it should be set up, his concept was accepted, and in 1865 he was appointed director of the Geological Survey and Colonial Museum (now Te Papa) in Wellington.

The work at the museum soon fell into a pattern. During summer Hector worked strenuously in the field with as many of his staff who could be spared. For the rest of the year, they were all involved in writing up reports, classifying specimens and arranging them for display in the museum. In 1867, The New Zealand Institute was established to encourage the spread of scientific knowledge and the museum and laboratory became its property. Hector managed the institute under a board of governors until 1903. The survival and expansion of the institute, which by 1933 became the Royal Society of New Zealand, is one of Hector’s major achievements.

Being the only scientist of standing in government, other small scientific bodies were placed under his control. At various times he was responsible for the Meteorological Department, the Colonial Observatory, the Wellington Time-Ball Observatory, Wellington’s Botanic Garden, custody of the standard weights and measures, and the Patent Office library. History emphasises Hector managed many organisations but doesn’t take into account he was continually coping with different priorities and achieving a huge work load with only a small staff. To top up all this, in 1871 he became a member of the University of New Zealand’s first senate and in 1885 was elected chancellor, a position he held for 18 years. He was three times president of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science. Many of these subsidiary services were of great interest to Hector. He introduced plants such as radiata pine and macrocarpa, which could be used for timber and shelter as well as a basis for industry. He viewed the Botanic Garden’s function as a centre of acclimatisation for useful plants. Consequently, he introduced other species of pines as well as mulberry for possible silk production. He was often asked for official advice on a host of scientific, technological, medical and commercial problems and wrote clear, concise, balanced reports which were remarkably cogent, considering the limited literature and resources available at the time. He also wrote 45 scientific papers on geology, botany and zoology which were published in the Institute’s ‘Transactions’.

Upon the defeat of the Whig party, Sheridan became an ‘independent member’. Along with Fox, he maintained that after the revolution the French should be allowed to manage their own affairs, but when Napoleon came to prominence, and realising the General’s dangerous ambitions, he used his eloquence to urge retaliation. He broke with Fox once the French threatened England’s security. Throughout his time in parliament, he became the Prince Regent’s boon companion but was distrusted while acting as adviser to the unpopular and self indulgent Prince of Wales, who later was crowned George IV. Eventually they quarrelled because of their differing attitudes to Catholic emancipation which Sheridan strongly supported.

Eventually, government departments under Hector’s control were removed and the subsidiary units dispersed. The reforms resulted because of the Liberal Government’s desire for economy and Hector was left as director of the Colonial Museum and manager of the New Zealand Institute with a greatly reduced staff and budget. The Institute’s constitution was reviewed but nothing was done to action urgently needed repairs to the museum. Hector was due to retire in 1903, embittered and in poor health. He took leave of absence and travelled to Canada where official appreciation of his work there was blighted by the death of his son Douglas, who had accompanied him. He returned to New Zealand to find the Institute’s new constitution allowed for a president. Hector was elected in 1906 but he died at Lower Hutt the following year.

When he stood for election in 1812, he was defeated and his life spiralled downwards from then on. His financial difficulties were brought about by his extravagance and no longer protected as a Member of Parliament against arrest for debt, he was prey to his creditors. Without income from Drury Lane, which was destroyed by a disastrous fire, he was besieged by bailiffs until he died in July 1816. He was buried with great pomp in Westminster Abbey. Lord Byron wrote a ‘Monody on the death of the Right Honourable R. B. Sheridan’ to be recited at the opening of the rebuilt Drury Lane Theatre.

(DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

During his career he received many honours and the New Zealand Institute paid homage to him in 1911 by establishing the Hector Medal as their major award for research excellence.

Because of his special interest in the whales and dolphins in our waters, he also built up a collection of their skeletons in the Colonial Museum and now his name is associated with the endangered Hector dolphin he first described way back in 1873. This year is the 150th anniversary of his appointment as the first government scientist in New Zealand and the Geoscience Society of New Zealand has published a book by Simon Nathan that is packed with information about Hector’s life and times. It includes a coloured plate depicting a sculpture of two Hector dolphins on Hector township’s foreshore. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Picton Street

Pollen Street

Sir Thomas Picton fought in a number of campaigns in the Napoleonic wars and was “respected for his courage but feared for his irascible temperament”.

Daniel Pollen was born in Ringsend in Dublin, June 2 1813.

His father, Hugh Pollen was a dock master who according to some accounts helped build the United States Capitol.

He was born in Pembrokeshire 1758 and obtained an ensign’s commission in the Regiment of Foot at the tender age of 13. Some years later when stationed at Gibraltar he was made a captain, then returned to Britain, where he lived on his father’s estate for nearly 12 years before going to the West Indies as the commander -in-chief’s aide-de-camp, and was eventually promoted to major. During his tenure, he gained a reputation for having a violent temper but also respect for courageously leading troops into battle. He was present at the capture of Saint Lucia after which he was promoted to lieutenant colonel.

Following the British victory in Trinidad, Picton was made governor of the island. When reports of the brutality associated with his command reached Britain, there was a demand for his removal. He was making money from speculation in land and slaves, supposedly influenced by his mulatto mistress. Further, he authorised a magistrate’s request to force a confession from a 14-year-old ‘free’ mulatto girl by picketing. She was accused of assisting in a burglary of the house belonging to a man she was living with and was suspended by her wrists while supporting her body weight on an upturned peg, which didn’t break the skin but caused excruciating pain. Picton was ordered home to stand trial and the girl, Luisa Calderon, was brought over to give evidence. The widespread sale of engravings depicting a very personable young girl trussed up and enduring torture in a semi-undressed state generated unprecedented interest in the trial.

Though convicted, Picton immediately sought a retrial which was granted. His counsel stressed that the use of torture was legal under Spanish law and that Picton acted without malice. The jury found it was legal at the time of the cession and the guilty verdict was overturned. Military friends and many slave owners subscribed towards his legal expenses and he in turn contributed the same amount to a relief fund following an extensive fire in Port of Spain. Apparently Luisa suffered no ill effects from her treatment and after being released from custody, walked more than a mile to where the crime took place, smoking a cigar.

In 1802 William Fullerton was appointed senior member of a commission to govern the island, and Picton became his junior. Picton’s policy regarding various sections of the Trinidad’s population had been ‘let them hate so long as they fear’ so he and the liberal minded Fullerton soon fell out. Fullerton commenced a series of enquiries to do with allegations about Picton’s governance and reported unfavourable views to the commission whereupon Picton resigned. Surprisingly, in spite of a his dodgy reputation, the Duke of Wellington appointed Picton commander of a division in Spain, finding him “a rough foul-mouthed devil as ever lived but no man could do better in different services I assigned to him”.

For the remaining years of the Peninsular War, Picton was one of Wellington’s chief subordinates. His greatest successes were in Spain where he was instrumental in the battle of Vitoria helping Wellington claim victory. He was wounded in a terrible engagement at Badajoz but the day after, having recently inheriting a fortune, he gave a guinea to every survivor in the battle. His wound and a fever forced him to return to Britain where he was invested with a knighthood by the Prince Regent and was made a Lieutenant-general in the army. He reappeared at the front in 1813 and a number of engagements further raised his reputation as a resolute and skilful fighting general.

When Napoleon returned from Elba, Picton was appointed high commander of the Anglo-Dutch army. He was severely wounded at the Battle of Quatre Bras but concealed his injury and retained command. When Napoleon sent troops to attack the Angloallied centre, Picton launched a bayonet charge on the advancing enemy shouting his last words “Charge! Charge! Hurrah! Hurrah!” before being shot through the head by a musket ball.

Since his luggage had not arrived in time, he had worn civilian clothes but family folklore contends he did not wear tails but a nightshirt and top hat because he had overslept and that he was shot by one of his men, who all hated him. This is not backed by any historical source!

By order of Parliament, a monument was erected to his memory in St Paul’s Cathedral PN and his body lies there close to that of the Duke of Wellington. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

Not much is known about Daniel’s early life except that he spent some time in both Ireland and America. He claimed to have a medical degree, although there’s no record of where he graduated from. He travelled to New South Wales in the late 1830s then crossed to Auckland a few years later. He was in time to sign the white residents’ welcome address to Captain Hobson 1 February 1840 and witnessed the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. In the same year, he was elected to the provisional committee of the New Zealand Banking Company then spent about 18 months in Sydney and the Pacific Islands.

When he returned to New Zealand, he bought a seven acre farm at the Auckland land sale as well as a section in the Rosebank area where he built a homestead. At this time he was living in Parnell, practising medicine and his land acquisitions signified a decision to remain in Auckland. Like many early settlers, he had an eye out for the opportunities his adopted land offered. In 1855, he bought Pollen Island and land at the end of the Whau Peninsula, where he started a brickworks, the first in the region. The island is now a marine reserve established in 1995 to protect the inner reaches of the Waitemata Harbour. It has gained permanent protection as a conservation and scientific reserve and is now managed by the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society.

Pollen was appointed a coroner in 1844, a post that he held for the next four years. In 1846 he married Jane Henderson and a year later he became medical officer to a copper mining company. The couple then moved to Kawau Island where they lived for several years during which time Pollen contributed articles to The New Zealander, supporting the agitation for responsible government. He also supported New Zealand’s temperance, scientific, and library movements. From 1852, when the New Zealand Constitution Act became law, Pollen was increasingly involved in the colony’s legislative affairs. He forsook medicine and after being appointed chief clerk in the Auckland Superintendent’s Office he quickly rose through the ranks to become Commissioner of Crown Lands for Auckland. By 1870 he held four positions, Receiver of Land Revenue, Commissioner of Confiscated Lands, Commissioner under the Native Land Act of 1870, and Immigration Officer.

After his appointment as Commissioner of Crown Lands for Auckland, he began to champion the Maori cause in The New Zealander and remained a supporter from thereon.

During the Maori Wars being waged in the central North Island, Pollen advised the land baron Josiah Clifton Firth to use his best endeavours to persuade the renowned warrior, Te Kooti to surrender. Te Kooti repeated an earlier pledge that made it clear if “left alone”, he would “remain at peace with all”. Firth travelled to Auckland to plead Te Kooti’s case but the government, mindful of settlers’ interests, refused to negotiate and rejected Firth as an interfering fool. Premier Fox even referred to him as “that meddlesome sweep”. As a consequence the war was renewed. Pollen was censured and he resigned as the Auckland agent, but then withdrew his resignation at the Government’s request.

Pollen sat on the Legislative Council no less than four times. First in 1862, before he resigned to become agent for the Central Government. He returned to the Council in 1868 to represent the Stafford Government then resigned in 1870 to be agent in Auckland again. The Vogel Ministry recalled him to the Council in 1873 and he stayed till he formed the Pollen ministry which he led, but it collapsed after a few months. He then became a member of ‘the continuous ministry,’ administering the Colonial Secretary’s department under Vogel and Atkinson. For a short time he was Native Minister and from then on was appointed yet again to the Legislative Council, serving on it for 23 years until his death 18 May 1896.

By all accounts, Pollen had a very engaging personality: cultured, genial and open-minded.

Politically he made swift, perceptive decisions and his debating style was forthright and compelling. He was a Tory who worked for women’s enfranchisement and championed the rights of Maori but didn’t engage himself in public affairs apart from politics. He died at his home in Avondale at the advanced age of 82. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Cowan Street

Tole Street

The Rev. Grant Cowan was born in England and studied at both the London College of Divinity and Christ’s College, Cambridge.

The Honourable Joseph Augustus Tole, BA, LLB, was born in Yorkshire in 1846 of Irish parentage.

He was ordained in 1905 and came to New Zealand in 1912, where he was vicar of Hunterville before transferring to Hawera. During his five years in the parish, he was so well liked that his farewell ceremony was recorded at length in the Hawera and Normanby Star with the headline in large print, A Popular Vicar. Some of the value placed on his work as an Anglican vicar as well as in the wider sphere of civic life was reflected by the size of the crowd that met at St Mary’s Hall on 13 February, 1920 on the eve of his departure to Auckland where he had accepted the charge of St Matthews.

The first part of the evening, the local talent provided ‘an excellent concert’ followed by addresses from various dignitaries and prominent churchmen. Mr Burgess, the people’s warden presided over the function and explained that when Mr Cowan had received the invitation to accept St Matthew’s invitation a short time ago, he was very doubtful about the course he should adopt at first, but he finally accepted the invitation and would be leaving early the next week. Mr Burgess went on to say that he was very pleased to see such a large attendance, which demonstrated the feeling his parishioners had towards the vicar.

It seems Mr Cowan would be a hard act to follow. Ever since his arrival in Hawera, his organisational talents, application and perseverance was such that he left the church in a very prosperous situation. When he arrived in Hawera, he saw the need for the building where his farewell function took place. The cost was scary but on this occasion it was debt-free due to his parishioners’ generosity, but nevertheless credit was also due to Mr Cowan. His organisational powers resulted in increased numbers attending St Mary’s School and he negotiated provision for country scholars by acquiring a valuable property at a reasonable price.

Among the dignitaries at the function was a Mr Parkinson, one of the oldest members of the church, who spoke glowingly of Mr Cowan as the most courageous and energetic man they had ever had in the district. The methodist minister, Reverend A Liversedge, described how Mr Cowan had welcomed him warmly on his arrival in the town and that they had been real friends ever since. He described how when he had to go out into the country, Mr Cowan would arrive at his gate in his redoubtable Ford to relieve him of having to travel on his rather bone-shaking bicycle. He said he had come to regard Mr Cowan as a kind of colleague - a sort of superintendent Methodist minister. Mr Liversedge went on to say that he found great joy to know that even though they differed on ecclesiastical matters, on Christian fundamentals they were absolutely at one and could work hand-in-hand in Christ’s Kingdom.

When it was time for the Mayor, Mr Dixon, to give his oration, he emphasised that for the past 25 years he had friendly associations with vicars in Hawera but there were none whose work he valued as much as Mr Cowan’s and how he appreciated the way he had stood by him as Chief Magistrate. He went on to praise Mr Cowan’s work on patriotic bodies and his connection with the Soldiers’ Club, which was a credit to the town.

Spontaneous applause and a rendering of “He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” greeted Mr Cowan when he rose to make his farewell speech. He spoke of the friendships he had made during the five years of his incumbency that neither time nor distance would sever, and that whatever he had done could not have been achieved without a magnificent band of unselfish helpers. He concluded by saying he would be pleased to meet any of his former parishioners should they visit the Queen City.

In his role as vicar of St Matthew’s Church, Mr Cowan continued to impress. He was indefatigable in assisting the Community of the Good Shepherd to raise money for a proposed new mission house in Grey’s Avenue. In recognition of his organisational work the Standing Committee of the Auckland Diocese decided that he should be appointed canon of St Mary’s Cathedral in Parnell. In his new office he undertook special PN organising work for the whole Diocese. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

The family emigrated to Auckland where he attended St Peter’s Catholic School that was under Mr R J O’Sullivan’s direction at the time, the man who gave many years’ of service to the cause of education in the Auckland district as Inspector of Schools. Incidentally, one of Joseph’s school fellows was the Honourable John Sheehan whose career was like a shooting star that flashed across the political landscape before falling into disgrace and whose grave is now covered by a motorway.

Joseph must have demonstrated early promise because some years later his parents sent him to pursue his studies in one of the higher educational institutions in Sydney, St John’s College, which was affiliated to Sydney University. He matriculated in 1865, entered university where he gained a B.A. in 1868 and decided to make lawhis profession.

While reading law, he continued his studies and eventually obtained the LL.B degree. On returning to New Zealand, he had to undergo the usual ordeal of further examinations and finally, in 1872, was admitted to the law fraternity in the colony.

He soon began to take an active role in public affairs, where his ability was recognised by his election to the Ponsonby Highway Board, which he chaired for several years as well as being one of the Auckland Harbour Board’s more progressive members. In the 1876 general election he was persuaded to contest the Mt Eden seat as a staunch supporter of Sir George Grey who had re-entered politics to champion the threatened provincial institutions and to crusade against the capitalists and landed monopolists in the colony. Tole was elected and afterwards, backed Sir George in most of the important submissions made to Parliament. He continued to hold his seat against all comers and when the Stout-Vogel ministry was formed he became Minister of Justice till 1887 when he was finally defeated at the general election.

During his parliamentary career he introduced and amended many important measures such as the Adoption of Children Act, Abolition of Grand Juries, the Criminal Code, The First Offenders’ Probation Act, the first of its kind in the British Empire. This merciful legislation marked a new era in criminal law administration and was adopted in England and neighbouring colonies. Furthermore, he made efforts to introduce shorthand writers into the Supreme Court. After his election defeat Tole resumed practice as a barrister in 1892, and only a year later was appointed crown prosecutor for the Auckland district.

He showed marked ability during some very high-profile cases and remained in this role until his death.

Tole took a very active interest in the colony’s life and progress. He held many varied and important offices he was the University Senate’s representative on Auckland Grammar’s Board of Governors, a member of the Auckland University Council, a trustee of the Jubilee Blind Institute, a patron of the Auckland Catholic Literary Society and president of the Auckland branch of the Irish National Federation where he proved his attachment to the land of his forefathers by ungrudgingly promoting Ireland’s lawful aspirations. He married Eleanor Blanche Mary Lewis, the eldest daughter of a merchant in Wanganui, and in his private life was genial and unassuming, taking care to make both his associates and friends at home in his company.

He certainly had cultural interests as well. He was an accomplished violinist and was connected with several musical societies such as the Choral Society and Liedertafel of which he was vice-president. He was also a performing member of the Choral Society and sang the tenor solos in Spöhr’s ‘Last Judgement’, the ‘Messiah’ and other classical pieces. When His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh visited Sydney University in 1868, Tole took a leading role in a French play staged by the undergraduates. His histrionic performance was described in the press as equal to that of a good professional actor. He became a Queen’s Counsel in 1907 and then died suddenly on 13 December 1920. His obituary states that “In private life, at the bar and in parliament, in civic and in national institutions, in the discharge of his many duties and as a cultured Christian gentleman, Hon Joseph A Tole has achieved a record any colonist might feel justly proud, and which might be studied with advantage by the younger generation.”

PN (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Jervois Road

Gunson Street

Named after Sir William Francis Drummond Jervois who from 1875 to 1888 was consecutively Governor of the Straits Settlements, Governor of South Australia and Governor-General of New Zealand.

Auckland owes a debt of gratitude to Sir James Henry Gunson, a successful businessman and Mayor of Auckland from 1915 to 1925.

He was born September 1821 at Cowes, in the Isle of Wight and belonged to a military family of Huguenot descent. No surprise then, that he entered the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich. After graduating he was trained at the School of Military Engineering in Chatham for two years where his work was renowned for its excellence. After being promoted to lieutenant, he was sent to South Africa where he served as a brigade major and was engaged as a second captain in the 7th Xhosa War. On his return to Britain in 1848 he commanded a company of sappers and miners at Woolwich and then on Guernsey, after which he became the commanding royal engineer for the London Military district.

Jervois was particularly interested in the American Civil War and visited the United States twice to examine its defences. He even sketched both Portland’s and Boston’s harbour defences from rowing boats disguised as an artist. When sent to Canada to inspect its fortifications, he submitted a report that stated the Great Lakes and upper Canada were not defensible. This proved to be very politically controversial. He was eventually appointed to the War Office to take responsibility for designing Britain’s Harbour defences.

In 1875, Jervois was appointed Governor of the Straits Settlements, a British dependency which included Penang, Malacca and Singapore. He distrusted the Malays and had little respect for them but he showed sympathy for the Chinese in Singapore and later strongly defended Oriental migration to both Australia and New Zealand. In fact, when he was next appointed Governor of South Australia, he was credited for having ‘done much to modify unreasonable prejudice against Chinese labour’. His term there coincided with good rainfall and unprecedented extension of agricultural land. He turned the sod of the colony’s first tramway, opened new railways and visited the far northern and southern limits of the settlement, even buying land there for himself!

Following the withdrawal of British garrison troops from Australia, Jervois and Lieutenant Colonel Scratchley were commissioned by a group of colonies to advise on defence matters. The two inspected each colony’s defences and their report emphasised the importance of shore-based fortifications to defend against naval attack and also led to the establishment of local infantry and artillery units. Jervois was made KCMG in 1874, raised to the rank of major general in 1877, received a final promotion to lieutenant general in 1882 and was appointed Governor General of New Zealand the same year.

When Jervois took office in New Zealand, the government accepted his advice on harbour defence. He reaffirmed the importance of heavy guns rather than mines and torpedoes.

Sir George Grey originally rejected the earlier Julius Vogel report based on Jervois’ advice but the weapons were ordered during a war scare in 1885.

After the scare subsided he oversaw the main harbours’ permanent fortifications.

Nevertheless, his influence on government met criticism by some who disapproved of the expensive defences at the ports while the colony was dealing with increasing financial problems (not ‘issues’ as they would be termed in today-speak!). Even though his position left him with little opportunity other than to offer recommendations he carried out his duties without fuss, but being a practical man and used to colonial politics he could be firm when necessary.

Jervois enjoyed his tenure in New Zealand, so much so that he gave serious consideration to living here permanently. He became very involved in social life, serving as patron of various sporting and cultural bodies and travelled extensively throughout the country.

After the Tarawera eruption, he established a committee to find ways to provide for the survivors. Such was his popularity that when he left in 1889 he received many ‘sincere and heartfelt expressions of regard and esteem’. He revisited in 1892 to find his advice was still valued.

Richard Seddon used it in favour of the existing harbour defences in an 1894 dispute with the New Zealand forces’ commandant, F. J. Fox. William Jervois died on 17 August in 1897 after a carriage accident and was buried near Virginia Water, Surrey. His name is remembered in so many places here and in Australia - a bridge in Adelaide, mountains and a mine in Central Australia, Jervois Quay in Wellington, two streets in Singapore, a glacier in Fiordland and of course our Jervois Road in Ponsonby. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

During his 10-year term in office he undertook the building of Auckland Museum and Cenotaph, the Wintergardens in the Auckland Domain, and the construction of Tamaki Drive. Other innovative measures he presided over were the purchase of the city tramways, the establishment of the Auckland Electric Power Board, the Zoological Park, the water supply extension from the Waitakere dams, widening and concreting streets, and absorbing Point Chevalier into the city.

Later in life he was responsible for the monument on One Tree Hill and tree planting in Cornwall Park, which was part of Sir Logan Campbell’s vision. His farm in Manukau called Totara Park was eventually gifted to the city and his house on St Andrew’s Road became the Tongan Royal family’s Auckland residence.

He was born in Auckland 26 October 1877, the son of Jane and William Gunson, immigrants from the North of England. William was initially a storeman who rose quickly to become a successful grain and seed merchant and an active member of the Methodist Church. In 1902, he was appointed chairman of the Auckland Harbour Board. Son James was educated at Auckland Grammar and on leaving school joined his father’s firm where he proved to be adept at business, becoming managing director by 1902. In 1905 he married Jessie Helen Wiseman from another prominent Methodist family and they had three children.

Soon after, he gained a New Zealand first as the youngest president ever to be elected to the Chamber of Commerce and a year later, like his father, he became chairman of the Auckland Harbour Board, retaining the office for four years during which time he employed non-union labour during the waterfront strike. Next he was elected Mayor in 1915 and remained in office unopposed till he retired in 1925.

His mayoralty was not without dissension. During the First World War he spent much time and energy recruiting volunteers but received criticism for not joining the armed forces himself despite having important work to do at home as chairman of the Auckland Patriotic and War Relief Association and joint committee of the New Zealand Branch of the British Red Cross and Order of St John. He fell out big time with Bishop James Liston for condemning, at a St Patrick’s Day rally in the town hall, the British troops’ conduct in Ireland. An enraged Gunson demanded the Bishop be charged with sedition. The very popular and philanthropic prelate was put on trial, but needless to say, was acquitted.

Apparently they later made up their differences and became good friends.

At this time he received a number of honours; an OBE in 1918, a CBE in 1919, a CMG in 1922 and was knighted in 1924. A year later, he quit local body politics to stand twice as a Reform Party candidate for Parliament, first unsuccessfully contesting Eden in 1926 then likewise Auckland Suburbs in 1928.

Meanwhile, he became increasingly involved in business matters. In 1926 he became chairman of the New Zealand Insurance Company. After serving on the Government Railways Board from 1931 to 1935, he was awarded yet another honour, the King George V Silver George Jubilee Medal. From 1945 to 1947 he was director of the Kauri Timber Company, the Auckland Gas Company, J. Wiseman and Sons, and the Dominion Investment and Banking Association.

His wife Jessie was also very active in the community. She organised women’s groups to pack Red Cross parcels during the First World War and arranged relief work for returned servicemen, for which work she was made an OBE. After her death in 1959, James Gunson married Margaret Mary Ryan in Sydney only a few months later. He died at the great old age of 86 in 1963, survived by his second wife and the two sons and daughter from is first marriage. There’s no doubt he was a man of abounding physical and mental energy and his vision and foresight was invaluable at a critical stage in Auckland’s development.

When president of the Chamber of Commerce at a time of its rapid growth, he fought for improved shipping and railway connections to the city. According to family anecdotes while in his 80s he could still run up stairs two at a time! John Stacpoole has contributed a comprehensive biography of this outstanding businessman, mayor and community leader to the Dictionary of New Zealand from which much of this information was sourced. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Hargreaves Street

O’Neill Street

Joseph Hargreaves was born in Liverpool in 1821. While still a young man he emigrated to New Zealand, settled in Auckland and purchased a property in East Tamaki where he lived for many years.

Allan O’Neill was born in the County Leitrim, 1802. He was a direct descendant of the historical O’Neills who for centuries were Kings of all-Ireland, Kings of Ulster and Princes of Tyrone.

The colony offered ripe pickings during those early times with Crown Land Grants favouring speculators and pastoralists who were allowed to take up large tracts of land, while those who hadn’t the wherewithal turned to market gardening or dairying on small farms. This was the main pattern of settlement back then and small farming didn’t thrive when wool became the major export which placed favourable emphasis on large properties.

The family’s lineage has been traced in a book ‘The O’Neills of Ulster, High Kings of Ireland’

by Sir Iain Moncreiffe that was published by the Irish Heritage Association and the Royal O’Neill Clan Society.

Hargreaves eventually sold his station and removed to the Kaipara where he purchased a large tract of land from the local Maori, or natives, as they were referred to back then.

He was elected to represent the Auckland Suburbs in the House of Representatives in 1860 and was also a member of the Auckland Provincial Council. He married Miss Spain, daughter of Mr Spain who was Land Commissioner and an eminent barrister.

Records differ as to how many children he sired, one source claims he had four sons and two daughters and another that he had only one son. He was a keen sportsman and particularly fond of field games but otherwise led a very retiring life. Being a successful breeder of racehorses, he must have relaxed his retiring habits from time to time because he was always conspicuous on the grand stand at Ellerslie meetings.

Mention must be made of Mrs Hargreaves, who landed here on Christmas Eve 1841 after a journey that was adventurous to say the least. She sailed from England in the Prince Rupert which had to put into Bahia in order to set ashore the captain, who had fallen sick. Another captain took command, but provisions ran out and the ship had to stop at Capetown. The new commander mistook the anchorage and the vessel was totally wrecked. The passengers lost all their possessions and had to wait in Capetown till a small brig, the Antilla, was chartered to bring them to Auckland and, for Miss Mary Spain, to a life of happiness and prosperity. By the time she died in 1880 at the age of 84, she was one of Auckland’s oldest settlers.

Like many of those who purchased land from the Maori in the early days, they did so without knowing much about titles, relying upon the sellers’ word or bond. They took possession of the land and enjoyed undisturbed occupation believing the transaction was completely valid. Many in subsequent years found themselves subject to inquiry before the Maori Land Board, one of them being W.H. Hargreaves. Joseph had predeceased his wife and when she died her executors forwarded a petition to parliament asking for title validation of 185 acres he had bought for £100 between the Utamatea and Oruawhare Rivers. The block adjoined his property and the transfer was signed at the time but no trace of it could be found.

Upon completion of the purchase, Hargreaves took immediate possession and fenced the land in with his existing property. From that time forward he and his family remained there in undisputed possession and occupation with no attempt ever being made to oust them. Hence the executors’ petition was the only means of securing the title that had been lost. When the matter came before the Maori Land Board, the original Maori vendors’ successors opposed the application. Evidence was given by Aperanika Wi Karaka and his sister, Makareta Kerei Mu, both declaring that their father, Wi Karaka had told them the block had not been transferred by a sale and that payment for use of the the land was a horse. Now they wanted money instead of a horse. Both stated that they had not objected to the Hargreaves’ occupation of the land.

President of the Takurau Maori Land Board, Judge T. H. Wilson, reviewed all the stated facts and decided after having heard all the evidence, was satisfied an actual sale of the block had been made to Mr Joseph Hargreaves and that the transfer from the Maori owners to him should be validated, much to the relief of the worthy man’s descendants.

(DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

During his early years he was employed on the Ordinance Survey of Ireland. He then emigrated to New Zealand in 1842 arriving in Taranaki aboard the Timandra to work as surveyor for the New Zealand Company. He stayed with the company for only a short time and walked overland all the way to Auckland, a trek that took six weeks and was a hazardous undertaking.

There were no roads or tracks, deep and dangerous rivers to ford or swim across, and the possibility of encountering hostile Maori. This intrepid traveller reached Auckland on the day Governor Hobson’s funeral took place.

Shortly after his arrival he was was appointed the first city surveyor, later the provincial surveyor and given the task of laying out a number of Auckland’s streets. This work was so satisfactory the government soon seconded him to survey the North Shore along with its own surveyor, John Campbell, which included the district round Takapuna.

He was next sent, again on behalf of the government, to map out the district between Auckland and the Bay of Islands and laid out the whole length of the Great North Road.

He was the first white man to make the journey and in walking overland had to zig-zag from coast to coast to get an outline of the whole area. One cannot but marvel at such stoicism and determination.

O’ Neill eventually entered the political arena and was elected a member of the Auckland Provincial Council and for a number of years represented the Northern division. He also held the position of Provincial Secretary for three years. A fervent anglican, he was a member of the Church of England Synod. His interests extended to Takapuna where he became chairman of that district’s Road Board and chairman of the Lake School committee. He and his brother, James Frederick who was a doctor of medicine, bought seventy-one acres at the end of Bayswater Avenue, now known as O’Neill’s Point. Allan built a home there for his wife and seven children.

One of his descendants, James Frederick had a distinguished career in the Royal New Zealand Navy in World War II, serving on HMNZ Kiwi at Guadacanal where the vessel assisted in sinking a Japanese submarine. He is buried in the cemetery named after the two brothers.

The Catholic Bishop took over James’s former house in St Mary’s Bay as his official residence and it eventually became St Anne’s School for Maori Girls run by the Sisters of Mercy. Allan died in 1886 after serving his adopted country with outstanding ability. He had taken part in all the struggles and vicissitudes of the young colony and was buried in the cemetery that bears the family name.

At the time of his death his eldest son was chairman of the Waitemata County Council. For some years prior to his demise he took no part in public affairs but lived in retirement at his home on the North Shore, respected and loved by all who knew him. It’s very fitting a street in Ponsonby also bears his family name because he probably laid out the roads PN in our area. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Fitzroy Street

Old Mill Road

Captain Robert FitzRoy had more aristocratic connections than the heroes in Georgette Heyer’s regency novels.

Old Mill Road derives its moniker from a water mill that was constructed by two Scotsmen who arrived in New Zealand in 1839.

His father, Augustus Henry, the third Duke of Grafton was a direct descendant of Charles II and Barbara Villiers. His mother was the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Londonderry and his half-brother, Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy was governor of New South Wales from 1846 to 1855.

Many early settlers who arrived here found opportunities galore that would never have been available in the ‘old’ countries. Among the earliest pioneers was William Motion, who was born at Broughty Ferry, Forfarshire, Scotland in 1820. He was a carpenter and at the tender age of eighteen, he sailed to Australia with his friend, Joseph Low but a year later, in 1839 they both arrived at the Bay of Islands. Coincidentally William was present at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and his name appears on the list of witnesses. A year later the boys decamped to Auckland and the two enterprising lads, because that’s all they were, formed a partnership and built the city’s first flour mill at Mechanic’s Bay. This business was very successful for many years but they had been investigating various streams around the city that would be suitable to power a larger mill and so extend their activities.

All these privileged connections instilled a sense of service to the nation in the young FitzRoy who, after having lived in a Palladian-style mansion since he was four, entered the Royal Naval College in Portsmouth when he was nearly 13 years old. He entered the Royal Navy in 1819 and completed a course which included mathematics, the Classics, history, geography, English, French, sketching, navigation, fencing and dancing with great distinction and on leaving the college he was promoted to lieutenant with ‘full numbers’, which was a first in naval history.

In 1828 he was given his first command, the Beagle, which was surveying the coasts of Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego and the Straits of Magellan. Later the Beagle continued the survey with young Charles Darwin aboard. During this second voyage FitzRoy visited the Bay of Islands and suggested there be a regular naval presence in the young colony. He was now an excellent navigator, a sound surveyor, and recognised as a man of science.

On returning to Britain he played a major role in writing and editing two of the three volume narrative named ‘His Majesty’s Ships of Adventure’, Darwin competing the third and in 1837 was awarded the premium gold medal by the Royal Geographical Society. He began a short-lived parliamentary career as the Tory member for Durham but in 1843 he replaced Hobson, who had died suddenly of a stroke, as governor of New Zealand.

FitzRoy inherited a host of problems that beset a now bankrupt colony and had experienced its first inter-racial conflict on the Wairau plains, and was threatened by hostilities in the Bay of Islands. The Wairau skirmish resulted from a fraudulent land deal instigated by Captain Arthur Wakefield who had bought it from a whaler’s widow who falsely claimed ownership. When a group of settlers, including Wakefield tried to clear Maori off the land a clash resulted, the first since the signing of the Treaty. FitzRoy, instead of avenging the settlers, blamed them for the so-called ‘massacre’ that had ensued. His decision met with approval from the Colonial Office, but engendered the New Zealand Company’s permanent hostility.

Meanwhile, a more serious situation was brewing in the north sparked off by the Bay of Islands chief Hone Heke who had been the first to sign the Treaty. When the government moved to Auckland, the Far North’s importance diminished and the region also suffered economically. Heke, full of resentment, repeatedly cut down the Union Jack flagstaff in Russell and FitzRoy found himself having to deal with New Zealand’s first racial war.

The English government was not prepared to provide funds, troops or a warship so lack of money was a major problem. FitzRoy then offered a reward for Heke’s capture and restricted action to establishing a military presence in Kororareka. Having insufficient money to pay the militia and the Colonial Office regarding his call for troops from New South Wales unjustifiable, the engagements continued for 18 months.

Finally FitzRoy’s despatches were not sufficiently explicit about what was happening because of reluctance to incur official disapproval, so Charles Buller, representing the New Zealand Company confronted the House with information about the true state of affairs. The man first regarded as ideal for the post was recalled, but before leaving he co-operated generously with his successor, Grey, and gave him a wealth of useful information even while aware Grey had double the parliamentary grant and had determined the settlers’ interests be paramount.

There were no honours accorded him once back in England but for a year or two Grey’s despatches were referred to him for comment. He refused to admit failure and wrote a pamphlet defending his administration and pointing out the British Government was faced with a problem that required more time and money, which view was supported by Bishop Selwyn. History has put him down as an ineffectual governor but his determination that Maori should be treated with fairness, while European settlers should lead their lives in peace and harmony, constituted a major contribution to the new colony. In the end his PN failure was down to the Colonial Office rather than his governance. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

Maori valued Waiorea or Western Springs for its clean clear water and the eels that thrived in the stream. It was fed by rain falling on the slopes of the three volcanoes, Three Kings, Mount Albert, and Mount Eden. The water ran underground for several miles through lava flows and was well filtered by the time it emerged as the spring that was acquired after colonisation. The partners were now affluent enough to look at purchasing a large property where they could grow their own wheat and grind it as well as other growers’ crops. Their fields extended as far as Meola Road and they constructed a water mill that was situated at the seaward end of what is now the Auckland Zoo. Wheat from outlying districts was sailed in to Auckland and punted up to the mill at high tide. Over two decades the plant expanded into a massive operation employing as many as 13 cutters during the peak season in the mouth of the waterway now known as Motions creek.

In the meantime, with the influx of new migrants Auckland was growing and in dire need of a reliable and plentiful supply of unpolluted water. In 1874 the government decided to approach the well-to-do William Motions and Joseph Low and persuade them to sell 120 acres of their land, including the springs, to the Provincial Council. A pump house was built next to the springs and supplied Auckland with its water till the early 1900s when large dams and reservoirs were constructed in the Waitakere Ranges. The old pump house is on display at MOTAT, which opened in 1964, and Western Springs Park now surrounds a natural spring fed lake that is a wildlife sanctuary for both birds and people. The lake is also a refuge for the native orea or eels that can be seen trailing the the swans and ducks, remaining an original part of Western Spring’s ecological heritage.

The lake’s Maori Name is Te Wai Orea, which means ‘waters of the eel’.

Supposedly, the sale was extremely beneficial to William and Joseph. The former retired from business at the age of 54 and lived at his residence, Western Springs Lodge until he died in 1894. Curiously the mansion, for that’s what it was, had a change of name to Hastings Hall for some unknown reason. At that time it looked over green fields and dirt tracks with no other houses in sight. Unlike later ‘makers of fortunes’ who often made unwise decisions and consequently suffered financial loss, William’s affluence remained secure. He married one of Joseph Low’s daughters who produced six children before she died in 1865. He married again in 1869 to a daughter of Mr John Cowie, a very prominent man of Londonderry, Ireland. There were two sons from that union who farmed a large property on the Otaua swamp near the road that bears their name.

Records have hardly any information about Joseph Low, and William seems to have been the one that created a dynasty, but they certainly made a formidable team and deserve PN that a street commemorates their energy and enterprise. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Mackelvie Street

Warnock Street

James Tannock Mackelvie was born in Glasgow 1824, the son of a customs officer.

Robert, James, William and Richard Warnock were born in Belfast and emigrated to Auckland on 21 October, 1862.

He first worked in the mercantile industry, eventually managing the Birkenhead Steam Ferry in Liverpool then he later moved to London to manage a shipping company that ran services to China and India. By chance, Mackelvie was introduced to William Brown who offered him a junior partnership in the Auckland firm he had set up with John Logan Campbell. Mackelvie accepted the proposal that included a fifth share in the firm’s profits plus a £250 per annum retainer if he would invest £4000 in the enterprise. This sum took up his entire capital so feeling confident in his decision, he set sail for New Zealand and in 1865, stepped ashore in Auckland.

They must have regarded New Zealand as a land of opportunity because, in the same year they set up a soap and candle manufacturing business, first in Newton, before moving to Chapel Street, which was eventually re-named Federal Street. At the time there was only one other like manufacturer in Auckland, the Parnell Steam Soap and Candle Works, owned by a Mr Allender. Both enterprises were down to the vision of individuals who recognised the proverbial ‘gap in the market’.

Being a partner in an important firm opened all sorts of doors and he soon had many successful friends within the business community. He had a hand in forming the Auckland Acclimatisation Society and in 1867 was a founding member of the New Zealand Philosophical Society. In 1868 he was elected a director of the Bank of New Zealand. As well as having a share of the profits from his initial investment this canny Scot unofficially speculated shrewdly in the Thames goldfields on his own account but backed with the firm’s capital and credit. Meanwhile Brown had retired to ‘live at Home’ and Campbell had taken the opportunity to travel extensively through Europe but returned from his lengthy sojourn enraged when he learned what was happening in his absence. He forced out who he regarded as two errant junior partners and took over as sole proprietor and manager.

Whatever the rights or wrongs of Mackelvie’s behaviour he certainly amassed a fortune within four years and left New Zealand with his original modest capital multiplied many times. Before returning to Britain, he had prepared for his affluent retirement over some months by buying into sound local companies that produced a steady yield such as the BNZ, NZI, NZL and the Hauraki Sawmill Company. Once he was abroad he continued to invest money as a mortgagee on Auckland real estate and assumed the self-appointed role of patron of the arts, an interest he first demonstrated in New Zealand. Once settled in London he continued to attend exhibitions and art auctions. He certainly was a prodigious collector and gradually built up an extraordinary collection.

Auckland has benefitted from private donations, probably more than any other city in the country, and Mackelvie, in spite of the short time he spent here, became a major contributor. He was grateful for the opportunities New Zealand afforded him and by way of thanks he arranged for 500 of his books to be shipped to the newly established Auckland Public Library. They included volumes with superb lithographs and a book of tapa cloth specimens brought back from Captain Cook’s third Pacific voyage. His philanthropy didn’t end there. He also sent several consignments to Auckland from his art collection which included a ‘Saint Sebastian’ by Guido Reni, pencil drawings by JMW Turner and a bronze statue of a draped female figure, believed to have come from the ruins of Pompeii.

A few months before he died, Mackelvie produced a 60 page record of over 1800 items titled ‘Catalogue of the Mackelvie Collection for Auckland, New Zealand, 1885’. He died a bachelor that same year and left his entire collection and the money from his estate for Auckland’s citizens. His will directed that a trust be set up and administered by an independent committee. The initial trust members were to be John Logan Campbell, David L Murdoch, Thomas Russell and Albin Martin, all prominent Auckland investors.

The City Council added an extension to the recently opened art gallery and in 1893 named it the Mackelvie Gallery. Boxes which had been stored in the Brown and Campbell warehouse were opened and the entire collection put on display which included an extraordinary diversity of furniture, sculptures, paintings, miniatures, textiles, enamels, glassware, bronzes, ceramics and archaeological artefacts.

Eventually, in 1931 many items from the collection classed as applied or tribal arts were transferred to the Auckland Museum and by 1958 a private member’s bill authorised a departure from Mackelvie’s will and an agreement between the Mackelvie Trust Board and the City Council allowed the collection to be divided between the Art Gallery, the Public Library, and the Auckland Institute and Museum but ownership still remaining with PN the Mackelvie Trust Board. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

Previously, every pound of soap for sale was imported from England or Melbourne.

The English product was expensive and the Melbourne ‘stuff’ had a disgusting smell.

Good soap was a luxury but thanks to these two manufacturers, soon every family had a plentiful supply of a very good product.

The Warnocks produced from 30 to 40 tons of soap a month and obtained the certificate of merit at the New Zealand Exhibition held in Dunedin in the 1870s even though the factory was operating in cramped conditions in a densely populated area. Despite this drawback, the trade carried out in the plant was the largest in the colony.

Success brings prosperity and the Warnocks moved their factory from the city to the banks of Cox’s Creek in Grey Lynn. They also purchased one acre, two roods and 35 perches from James Boylan for the princely sum of £150. The Crown grant for the land had been accorded to a Mr Christie in 1844 who sold it on within two years. Boylan bought it in 1864 but there seems to have been no development on the site prior to the Warnocks’ purchase in 1874.

Already many companies in the area round Cox’s Bay were slaughter houses, tanneries and tallow works. Fat from slaughtered animals was used to make the soap and candles.

Horse drawn wagons containing the tallow would pull up the Bullock Track on the way to the Warnocks’ factory, which had expanded rapidly to include 20 acres, a large tannery, oil works, wool-scouring, and manure production.

It employed more than 60 hands and sent produce around the colony as well as exporting to the South Pacific Islands. The two principal partners were Robert, who looked after the day to day running of the operation, and Richard who attended to the firm’s interests at offices in Durham Street. James and William were also involved.

A double-storey concrete single-bay villa at 350 Richmond Road was built for and lived in

by Richard Warnock and the almost identical house at 334 Richmond Road was occupied

by Robert Taylor Warnock. Richard married Mary Finlay in 1872 and birth records indicate they had at least six children between 1873 and 1890. Mary Warnock died in 1899 aged 48 and was survived by her husband Richard who died in 1924 at the age of 82. Robert eventually took office on the Newton Road Board, serving as chairman for 13 years.

When the borough’s name changed to Grey Lynn he was elected mayor. There were only 80 people living in the district when Robert entered public life and 27 years later when he was re-elected in 1901, the number had expanded to more than 4000.

0n 6 April, 1903 a gathering took place at his residence where councillors and officials of the borough assembled to make a presentation to Robert on his retirement from the mayoral chair. They had met to demonstrate their appreciation of the time and energy he had devoted to the welfare of the borough and presented him with ‘handsome silver tea and coffee service of five pieces, artistically chased, each having engraved on it the initials of the Mayor”.

Mr Warnock’s political record was unique in that he had been elected 26 times as member and chairman of the old Road Board, or councillor and mayor of the borough, and about four times as licensing commissioner and he was top of the poll on every occasion.

PN Robert Taylor Warnock died in 1934, aged 90 years. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Masons Avenue

Wolseley Avenue

Early Auckland benefited hugely thanks to its philanthropic citizens who endowed it with munificent bequests that contributed to the city’s rapid expansion and progress.

Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount, Baron Wolseley of Cairo and of Wolseley was born 4 June 1833, Golden Bridge, County Dublin, Ireland.

William Mason was one. An Englishman, born at Bagshot, Surrey in 1835 and he grew up in the pleasant surroundings of the famous county. As a young man he filled several positions as a gardner, among them at Appleby Castle and the famous Crystal Palace that was originally erected in Hyde Park to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. Eventually, in 1863 he joined his two brothers who had already settled in New Zealand and set up a business as nurserymen on Manukau Road.

An impressive moniker indeed and well deserved! He was the son of an army major who died when he was seven years old and his mother brought up seven children in straitened circumstances. Wolseley attended a day-school in Dublin and worked in a surveyor’s office before he entered the forces as second lieutenant in 1852, fighting with distinction in the Second Anglo-Burmese War where he was severely wounded in the thigh. Sent home to recover he transferred to the 90th Light Infantry and was soon on his way to Crimea. During the siege of Sevastopol in the Ukraine he was able to use his surveying knowledge as assistant engineer and was seriously wounded again, losing the sight in his right eye. Subsequently, at the age of 25, he became the youngest lieutenant colonel in the British army.

William first took a situation with the eminent General Taylor who, once retired from active service in India, had settled on a farm at West Tamaki. William held this position for five years before teaming up with his brothers in their business, which grew and prospered for 20 years. Eventually the brothers dissolved their association with James retaining the Parnell estate, George going to Claudelands in the Waikato, and William retaining the Ponsonby nursery, which lay from Jervois Road towards Cox’s Creek. He ran it for several years before deciding to become, of all things, a property developer. The land was cut up into plots and soon every section on the old nursery, which covered nearly 25 acres, sold rapidly at high prices for building purposes.

He also owned a block of land across the road, comprising about 13 acres between Jervois Road and Argyle Street which he had laid down entirely as a strawberry farm, creating the largest bed in close proximity to Auckland. As the city expanded, suburban property continued to rise cost wise, so he next cut up this block into allotments because the land had become too valuable for horticulture. The glasshouse and strawberries disappeared and the thoroughfare then known as Mason’s Avenue was laid down to connect Jervois Road and Argyle Street in order to divide the estate. The situation was so desirable there was a rush of buyers and very soon the whole area was completely covered with buildings and no trace remained of what was previously a city landmark.

William, one of the best known residents of Ponsonby, lived and died a bachelor, much like another philanthropist, Edward Costley. He was a man of good physique, good health and typically didn’t take precautions like all strong men who lead an outdoor life.

Consequently he caught a chill which developed into a serious chest complaint that no doubt hastened his death at the age of 70 years, 42 of which were spent in Auckland, mainly on his Ponsonby estates. He was kindly man, always charitably disposed, contributing to many good causes and in fact needing only to be asked and he would then open his wallet. While he was still alive, he gifted the last section on his Ponsonby estate to the general trust board of Auckland’s Anglican Diocese.

William died a very rich man and his relatives were not forgotten in his will but he bequeathed the bulk of his fortune to public institutions. The aggregate amount was probably more than £15,000.

The Leys Institute received £1000 which was used to build the Institute’s Gymnasium.

The Auckland Division of the Salvation Army, whose charitable work appealed strongly to William, received £500 and the same amount was left to Dr Barnado’s homes in England. The Society for the Protection of Women and Children and the SPCA each received £500 donations from the estate and being a member of the Communion of the Church of England, All Saints Church in Ponsonby received £500 towards the Permanent Building Fund. The residue of the estate, after payment of all liabilities, amounted to over £10,000 and was bequeathed to The Blind Institute in Parnell because alleviation of those afflicted had his greatest practical sympathy.

So William Mason the unpretentious gardener-turned-nurseryman-turned-property -developer amassed a fortune which on his death benefitted the city. He joins the hallowed ranks of early benefactors such as Edward Costley whose monuments still stand in parts of the city, Sir John Logan Campbell who gave us the loveliest park in Australasia, James McKelvie, Sir George Grey, Edmund MacKechnie, Sir Arthur Myers and James Dilworth who established a school to educate and maintain boys from families in straitened circumstances. Auckland is indebted to those early citizens for their generous gifts that today and tomorrow remain to benefit and give pleasure to generation after PN generation. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

Wolseley next served abroad in India during the Mutiny and in 1857 led his company in the relief of Lucknow. After being mentioned five times in dispatches during the campaign, he received his brevet majority and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.

He sailed to China in 1860 as staff officer and described his planning and deeds in his ‘Narrative of the War with China’. His credits continued to rise when he was sent to Canada to improve the colony’s defences in the likelihood of war with the United States.

During his time there he led the Red River expedition through 600 miles of wilderness in order to suppress Louis Riel, a controversial figure in Canadian history, who had proclaimed Manitoba province a republic. His success led to a higher appointment as assistant adjutant general at the War Office. Although he had resolved to remain a bachelor, Wolseley married Louisa Erskine, in September 1867. Though not rich, she was his intellectual equal and he frequently consulted her about his plans and ideas.

Wolseley now having proved himself as a very efficient commander, was employed by successive governments as chief troubleshooter for the British Empire. In 1873 he was sent to West Africa to lead an expedition against the Ashanti Kingdom and two years later he was sent to Natal to promote federation in South Africa.

When calamity struck the British forces battling the Zulus in 1879 he was given command of the colony. After restoring order in Zululand, he moved on to the Transvaal where he discouraged rebellion among the Boers. For these successes he was awarded many honours, received thanks from Parliament, and confirmation of his rank as Major General.

His popularity was at its peak and he was instantly recognised as the very model of a modern Major General when “The Pirates of Penzance” opened in London in 1880. In 1882 he was appointed adjutant-general.

Returning to the War Office, he devoted himself to army reform until interrupted by a nationalist uprising in Egypt under Arabi Pasha. In a brilliant campaign, Wolseley swiftly seized the Suez Canal and after a night march, surprised and defeated Arabi at Tall al-Kabir. Prime Minister William Gladstone rewarded him with a barony. Two years later Britain reluctantly decided to send an expedition headed by Wolseley, to rescue General Charles Gordon who was besieged at Khartoum in the Sudan. The advance party arrived two days after the city had fallen and Gordon had been killed. Though the command was unsuccessful Wolseley was again thanked by Parliament and became a viscount.

The remainder of his career was spent as an administrator and in spite of declining health he continued to push forward reform and to oversee Britain’s little colonial wars.

He was Gold Stick in Waiting (a bodyguard position in the British Royal Household on ceremonial occasions) to Queen Victoria and took part in the procession following her death in 1901.

He was then made Gold Stick in Waiting to King Edward VII and appointed to lead a special diplomatic mission to announce the King’s accession to the governments of Austria-Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, and Greece. During his visit to Constantinople, the Sultan presented him with the Order of Osmanieh set in brilliants.

Wolseley, renowned for his bravery and for transforming the British army into a modern fighting force, died 26 March 1913 at Menton on the French Riviera and was buried in PN the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral, London. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Collingwood Street

Cockburn Street

Admiral Lord Cuthbert Collingwood is a forgotten hero in naval history. He’s the man who saved the British Navy along with his close friend, Horatio Nelson at the famous Battle of Trafalgar and afterwards he continued to ensure that Britain ruled the waves in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Admiral George Cockburn, pronounced Coe-burn, was born in 1772, the second son of wealthy parents descended from minor nobility.

He is depicted as a background player in most history books despite his immense contribution to the Empire’s dominance at sea. In 1750 Cuthbert Collingwood was born in Newcastle-upon Tyne, son of a local merchant. He received an early education at the city’s free grammar school, but at the age of 11 entered the Royal Navy as a volunteer on board HMS Shannon under Captain Braithwaite, his maternal cousin. He stayed with Braithwaite for 10 years then was transferred to the Lennox before joining the HMS Preston which sailed to North America.

He continued to rise through the ranks when appointed to Lowestoffe where he met Horatio Nelson who was serving as lieutenant. Both men distinguished themselves fighting the French and Americans in the Caribbean. Their careers were entwined from then on and it was the start of lifelong friendship and despite their ambitions there was never any jealousy between them. This state of mutual admiration continued until the Battle of Trafalgar during which Nelson was killed. Collingwood replaced Nelson in a number of posts in quick succession. He played a leading part in the San Juan expedition, an abortive attempt to cross the isthmus into the Pacific which was dogged by disease with 180 of the 200 crew falling ill, including Nelson who almost died.

Collingwood took command of the expedition during the return to Jamaica.

With peace declared in the West Indies, from 1876 Collingwood was able to spend some years away from naval duties and consolidate his position in Northumberland society, marrying Sarah Blacket, the Mayor of Newcastle’s daughter in1791 who gave birth to two daughters. When back on duty he could only rarely return home but his letters reveal the deep affection he held for his wife and children. With the outbreak of the French Revolutionary wars, he was soon back in action. and was appointed command of HMS Prince, Rear Admiral George Bowyer’s flagship, then moved to HMS Barfleur to take part in the battle of the Glorious First of June off Ushant. Bowyer lost a leg during the engagement and Collingwood was forced to take command but was overlooked by not receiving the Naval Gold Medal awarded to other commanders.

Following a spell with Nelson in the Mediterranean he took command of HMS Excellent which played a significant part in the Battle of Cape St Vincent. After the victory, Nelson was appointed KCB but when Collingwood was informed he would receive a Naval Gold Medal he refused to accept it until he was also given one for the Glorious First of June.

Two years later he was advanced to the rank of Rear-Admiral and in 1804 he became Vice-Admiral. While his career took him all over Europe, North America and the West Indies his visits home were few and far between. In 1801 he met his family in Portsmouth as he couldn’t be released to travel north himself. The 400 mile journey over difficult roads took about two weeks and it was one of the limited opportunities to meet his wife over the course of his time at sea - he only spent three years on dry land.

The Battle of Trafalgar is linked with Lord Nelson but Collingwood’s involvement was huge. In 1805 the combined forces of France and Spain were annihilated by the English fleet. Nelson was mortally wounded and as he lay dying, Collingwood took control and routed the enemy. Had the Royal Navy lost the battle, Napoleon would have swept across the channel with his 115,000 troops and invaded England. After the British victory Collingwood received an annual pension, was made Baron of Caldburne and Hethpoole, and received his third Navy Gold Medal, one of only three men to be so honoured, along with Nelson and Sir Edward Berry. His next few years were occupied with diplomatic duties, but by 1810 his health had deteriorated and he received permission to return to England, which he hadn’t visited since 1803. Sadly he died shortly after leaving Port Mahon, so his body was brought home and interred in the Crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral PN near Nelson’s tomb. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

His father, Sir James Cockburn mismanaged his finances disastrously to such an extent he was declared bankrupt. By 1786 he was in such dire straits he managed to gain an appointment as secretary to the Prussian minister in London which gained him diplomatic immunity and saved him from debtor’s prison. George was destined for a life on the ocean waves, having been entered into the books of the 28-gun frigate, HMS Resource in his ninth year. At the age of 14 his first position at sea was as servant to Captain Rowley Bulteel on HMZ Termagant.

Despite his father’s misfortune he came under Admiral Hood’s patronage which resulted in an expedition to map islands in the Indian Ocean aboard the 18-gun sloop, HMS Ariel as Captain Robert Moorsom’s servant.

In spite of being under the statutory age of 20, in 1791 he passed his lieutenant’s examination and three years later was posted to the 32-gun frigate HMS Meleager and became one of Nelson’s favourites during operations in the Mediterranean. After his promotion to captain of the HMS Minerve he assisted at the blockade of Leghorn and performed gallant action in taking the Spanish frigate, Sabina. In 1809 as commander of the naval force on shore, he contributed significantly to Martinique’s surrender and signed the capitulation by which the island was handed over to the English. For his services on this occasion he received thanks from the House of Commons. Subsequently he was assured of assignments that progressively carried greater responsibility.

He was made rear-admiral in 1812 and in 1813-14 took a prominent part in the American war. A larger fleet under Sir Alexander Cochrane’s command returned from wintering in Bermuda and the two admirals proved an effective team with Cochrane administering the campaign and Cockburn handling engagement tactics. The British quickly occupied Tangier Island from where they conducted numerous raids into southern Maryland.

The island also became a sanctuary for escaped slaves who accepted Cochcrane’s offer to be “received as Free Settlers into some of His Majesty’s colonies”. Cockburn’s advance was eventually slowed down by Admiral Joshua Barney’s flotilla of small gunboats that able Chesapeake watermen moved into Patuxent’s shallow waters where the larger frigates couldn’t enter. The British soon received reinforcements enabling Cockburn to push forward and attack Washington.

With the capital in danger Barney’s flotilla was forced to disband or face capture.

Cockburn, supported by a detachment of marines, marched into Washington and set fire to many public buildings including the abandoned White House.

Naturally he incurred a great deal of hatred from Americans including the many militiamen who defended their homes and property. He was scornful of “those inhabitants who fired on the British from behind lurking places on their farms or from their houses” and consequently “would have their property treated as a place of arms and their persons as military prisoners of war”. A point of interest is that Cockburn, on his way through the area confiscated the letter ‘C’ from print shops so they couldn’t spell his name!

Early in 1815 he received the Order of the Bath and the same year he carried out Bonaparte’s deportation to St Helena. He went on to receive the Grand Cross of his order and was made lord of the admiralty in 1818. That same year he entered politics and was elected Tory Member of Parliament and appointed Junior Naval Lord in the Liverpool ministry. He managed to force the resignation of the Duke of Clarence as Lord High Admiral for acting without the Board of the Admiralty’s authority and was elevated to First Naval Lord in the Wellington Ministry.

In this capacity he sought to improve the standards of gunnery in the fleet. He also ensured that the navy had the latest steam and screw technology and emphasised the need to manage seamen without resorting to physical punishment.

While regarded by some as the worst type of reactionary, he nevertheless did much to improve the conditions of service for British sailors and was a significant figure in the Royal Navy’s history. In 1851 he was made admiral of the fleet and in 1852 inherited the PN family baronetcy from his elder brother just a year before his death.  (DEIRDRE TOHILL)

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Browning Street

Brown Street

The term crony capitalism means that success in business is the result of close associations among business people and government officials.

William Brown was born in Scotland, studied law and was admitted as a Writer to the Signet, a private society of Scottish solicitors that dates back to 1594 and is part of the College of Justice.

It certainly applies to a group of Auckland’s early entrepreneurs which include quite a number of our city’s so-called fathers. According to Logan Campbell - “The whole and entire object of everyone here is making money, the big fishes eating the little ones.” Samuel Browning was a member of this elite cabal who considered Auckland ripe for speculation and they got away with ventures that would be illegal today.

He practiced for only a short time before succumbing to the call of the lands of opportunity and in 1839, with his wife, Jessie Smith, sailed to Australia and settled in Adelaide where he spent ‘10 months of misery’ waiting to buy land in what he considered a misgoverned country. Finally, fed up, he and Jessie caught the ‘Palmyra’ to Sydney where he intended to trans-ship to New Zealand and during the voyage, happened to make friends with John Logan Campbell.

Samuel Browning was born in 1802. He was the eldest son of Mr T. Browning who for 25 years held a high position in London’s General Post Office. Samuel entered the business world at an early age as a member of a firm that were large shipowners and had financial connections world wide. He was nothing if not adventurous because in 1830 he took a journey to North America’s Rocky Mountains, which at that time was extremely dangerous and only a few white men had ventured there previously. Later, in 1840 he was a passenger on the Sea Horse, the first steamship to visit Australia. After travelling to Adelaide and New South Wales he went on to Manila then into the interior of China as far as Ning-po where he stayed for more than a year. While there he had the opportunity to observe episodes that occurred during the Chinese War period.

Browning played an active part in obtaining the 1847 repeal of the Navigation Laws which at that time imposed heavy restrictions on foreign merchant vessels trading with Great Britain. He gave important evidence before a select committee in the House of Commons being fully qualified to do so because he had been a resident in France, Holland, Germany, Portugal, the United States, the Philippine Islands, the Indian Archipelago, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macao. Finally he returned to Australia and was chosen to be the manager and inspector of the Royal Bank of Australia, and was engaged in winding up and settling the institution’s affairs.

In 1855 Browning settled permanently in New Zealand, choosing to reside in Auckland.

He immediately took an active part in promoting the leading commercial interests carrying out operations in Auckland that were vey profitable, given the absence of rules and regulations. There was widespread support for foreshore reclamation that provided land for mercantile facilities, which pleased the merchant classes who had an interest in commercial land right from the start of European settlement. The group of business men Thomas Russell brought together used whatever political influence they could muster in the pursuit of profit. Hobson was sickly for most of his term as Governor and failed to control public servants who engaged in unabashed land speculation in defiance of strict Colonial Office rules.

Along with Russell, Campbell, William Daldy, Josiah Firth, William Wilson, co-founder of the New Zealand Herald, and several others, Browning’s name appeared as director or investor in company after company which saved Auckland from being dependent on loans from Australia or London and enabled it to build on the domestic economy following the Thames gold boom. Browning’s directorships included the Bank of New Zealand, the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency, and the New Zealand Insurance Company plus he took an active part in an abundant number of commercial matters. He apparently was a man of surprising activity in his later years and frequently went to town to attend the directors’ meetings of the companies with which he was connected until a few weeks before his death. He certainly obtained the confidence and esteem of all who came in contact with him. Mr Samuel Browning died early one morning at his Epsom residence aged 87 years. Left to mourn his loss were his widow, his eldest son, Mr S.B. Browning of London, and two daughters, Lady Chute, and Mrs Jane Russell.

PN (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

They met again by chance in the Coromandel, joined forces and bought Browns Island from Ngati Tama-Te-Ra. The partnership was to last for more than 30 years.

At the first land sale in 1841 they acquired an allotment in Shortland Crescent and built Acacia Cottage which is one of the earliest surviving timber buildings in New Zealand and certainly the first in Auckland where it now stands in Cornwall Park. They erected a store in front of the house on the street frontage and the firm, Brown and Campbell, prospered as auctioneers, shipping agents, importers and traders (very profitably) with the Maori.

When Jessie needed to return to Britain for medical treatment they bought a barque, the ‘Bolina’ to transport the Browns but also as the first to test the British market with a consignment of local goods.

The firm’s affluence owed much to Brown’s business acumen, and the financial backing he secured from a Scottish well-to-do capitalist was responsible for the partners’ brilliant commercial success. As well as being a dazzling speculator he was also a politician and headed an anti-government group comprised of merchants and entrepreneurs who were at odds with the Governor. He first part owned and then became the sole proprietor of the ‘Southern Cross’, Auckland’s first stable newspaper, which vigorously attacked Governor George Grey’s administration. Brown and Grey remained bitter enemies right up till the Governor left the colony in 1853.

On a wet and windy day in May 1854 New Zealand took an important step in its history.

The first Parliament was established in Auckland and Brown was elected to the House of Representatives. He retired in September, preferring to run for Superintendent of Auckland Province which he won. Unhappily for him the council was dominated by his political adversaries who made his time in office a misery by refusing to grant him adequate supplies. In July 1855 he announced that he was retiring from his position and leaving the colony. The two business partners were now very rich and decided to install a manager to run the firm so they could return to the comfortable civilisation of the Old Country.

Unfortunately the appointed manager, J.I. Montefiore failed to run the business satisfactorily, necessitating Campbell’s return Auckland for two years in order to put things to right. The partners now realised that running the business by remote control was not feasible, yet Brown was reluctant to take his turn back in Auckland. His son was studying at Oxford University and his daughter Laura was about to marry a successful society painter, Marcus Stone.

Meanwhile, Campbell was left to resume control again in 1871, which he felt was unjust and proposed dissolving the partnership. Brown was appalled at the low valuation Campbell placed on their landed assets but contesting this back in Auckland meant giving up his leisured lifestyle which he refused to contemplate. This was the beginning of his downfall.

If Brown had invested his share of the wound-up partnership wisely he could have continued to live in comfort but he didn’t, which was strange given his former financial shrewdness. In 1894, when the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency made heavy calls on shareholders, he had to declare himself impecunious and was forced to forfeit his shares, the last of his equity that had any substance.

The once wealthiest man in Auckland, now an impoverished widower, he was obliged to sell his London house and move in with his daughter, Laura. When he died in 1898 his old friend and partner, Campbell sadly remarked, “he had not a shilling to leave behind him.” (DEIRDRE TOHILL)  PN

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Weld Street

Peel Street

Frederick Aloysius Weld was born at Chideock Manor in Dorset on 9 May 1823. His lineage was impressive to say the least.

Sir John Peel is counted as one of the most outstanding figures among early Victorian statesmen. He was born in Bury, Lancashire 5 February, 1788.

Both parents were descendants of prominent West Country Catholic families and he was raised in a closely knit community that was his touchstone throughout life. He was educated at Stonyhurst, the Jesuit college his grandfather, Thomas Weld had endowed and after nine years there, his family sent him to the University of Fribourg in Switzerland where he studied philosophy, chemistry, languages and law.

Subsequently he spent time travelling round Europe, but finally, uncertain about his future, he decided to join his cousins, Charles Clifford and William Vavasour who had leased 30,000 acres in the Wairarapa from local Maori. He set sail for New Zealand, arriving in Wellington 22 April 1844.

During his first seven years in the new colony he became interested in pastoral development. In partnership with Clifford, he established two sheep stations, one in the Wairarapa and another in Marlborough. On Weld’s advice Clifford founded Stoneyhurst in North Canterbury and the partnership lasted until the 1880s. Weld always owned no more than a quarter of the assets and while he enjoyed establishing the stations he found running them tedious. In his words “colonizing, exciting enough in its early struggles becomes very milk and waterish. The tone too of the colony alters, there are new faces and mercenary ideas, different from those of the adventurers of the early days”.

In 1851 he left for a long awaited journey back home where he admitted to being ‘crazed with joy’ in the company of his family whom he had missed so much. Nevertheless he had experienced a much wider circle in New Zealand than the secluded surroundings of Chideock Manor which gave him self-assurance and maturity. He wrote his pamphlet ‘Hints to intending sheep-farmers in New Zealand’ during this first trip, which ran to four editions, and is invaluable for its insight into colonial sheep farming.

There were two more trips back home, and in 1858 he married Filumena (Mena) Mary Anne Lisle Phillipps in the private chapel of her family home in Leicester. The marriage was very happy. Mena bore him 13 children and after his death she entered Sant Scholastica Priory, which the Welds had financed, and died there in 1903.

Weld and Clifford were determined there would be no discrimination against Catholics in New Zealand and the fact that Weld eventually became premier, if only briefly, demonstrated how the colony differed from Britain, which had only just allowed Catholics to sit in Parliament. Both cousins were active in the Wellington Settlers’ Constitutional Association and when the Parliament of New Zealand was created Weld stood unopposed for the Wairau constituency, but his political career proved to be erratic. In 1860 he was Minister of Native Affairs in the Stafford Ministry and in 1864 Premier.

His father was a wealthy cotton manufacturer and member of parliament for Tamworth and Robert was trained from early childhood to become a politician. He certainly demonstrated a prodigious intellect and was the first scholar ever to win an Oxford double first. His father rewarded this academic success by buying him a parliamentary seat in County Tipperary so he entered the House of Commons in April 1809 at the age of 21.

Unfortunately, able youths such as Robert took it for granted their qualifications entitled them to positions of command in the real world of which they had no understanding.

Peel’s absorption in the classics and consequent ignorance of history hardly equipped him for his early role in reforming England’s credit system. The economy was in a parlous state, the country battered by the Napoleonic Wars and strained by the horrors of industrialism. The banks tried to issue gold coins but were rejected by the people who preferred the paper currency they were familiar with.

In May 1819 a committee was appointed under Peel’s chairmanship which recommended the note-issue should only be used when covered by gold pounds. As a result, prices were driven drastically down but Peel’s defence of the gold standard suggests he was an inflexible doctrinaire and even thought poverty among the masses was permanently inevitable and even desirable.

After only a year in parliament, Peel gained the post of under-secretary of war and the colonies under Lord Liverpool and helped direct military operations against the French.

When Liverpool became prime minister in 1812 Peel was appointed chief secretary for Ireland between 1812 and 1818, during which time he established his reputation for administrative competence. He attempted to bring an end to corruption in Irish government and the practice of giving preference to Protestants over Catholics. In this he was not successful and eventually became one of the leading opponents to Catholic emancipation, which gave lie to his reputation for consistency.

After retiring from his post in Ireland, he rejoined Liverpool’s government and became home secretary. Over the next five years he was responsible for reforming the legal system, which involved repealing over 250 old statutes.

Later, concerned about the problems of law and order he decided to re-organise the police force. The situation in London was particularly ludicrous because it was divided up into countless parishes each with its own central authority.

The police were unable to arrest anyone in another district and there were instances of them helplessly watching from their “frontier”, as a burglar entered a house on the other side of the road. As a result of Peel’s efforts the new metropolitan police force was formed and became known as “Peelers” or “Bobbies.”

At the height of the New Zealand Wars he championed the ‘self reliance’ policy under which the colony assumed responsibility for its own internal defence. This was controversial and generated much hostility from Governor Grey. The capital was moved to Wellington, which upset Aucklanders, and Maori were angry about the confiscation of more than 400,000 hectares of land in the Waikato. When it came to raising additional revenue by stamp duties, his ministry was only saved from actual defeat by the speaker’s casting vote and Weld immediately resigned, pleading ill-health.

Peel’s political career spanned 40 years during which he was a tireless reformer, but there have always been questions about his peerless reputation. A few years after he had been invited to form a Conservative administration he attempted to overcome the religious conflict in Ireland by setting up the Devon Commission to inquire into the “state of law and practice in respect to the occupation of land in Ireland.” His attempts were stymied by the 1845 potato plight which deprived the populace of their staple food.

Weld has been described as gentle, delicate in health, fond of literature, music and painting. Unlikely attributes for pioneering but even though he found support within the colonial Catholic network, his own adaptability, enterprise and application contributed substantially to the colony’s development.

Peel was informed that three million people would require cheap imported corn. He yielded to this advice, believing it might be the only way to prevent widespread starvation.

The Corn Laws were repealed in 1846 in spite of Disraeli’s strident opposition, but the policy split the Conservative party and Peel was forced to resign. After the act was passed, cheap corn poured in from America, agricultural workers drifted into towns and landowners, one after the other, gave up the struggle against eviction.

As well as pastoral success, he explored much of the country in both islands, being the first to ascend the Awatere Valley and to discover the overland passes from Malborough to Canterbury. After 23 years, he left New Zealand and in 1869 was appointed Governor of West Australia then subsequently Governor of Tasmania then Singapore and the Straits where he was created K.C.M.G. and later received the Grand Cross from Queen Victoria.

He was also a Knight of the Roman order of Pius IX. He finally retired to Chideock Manor where he died peacefully in 1891 after a brilliant and honourable career, never deviating from his upbringing’s religious and cultural values. (DEIRDRE TOHILL)  PN

Peel continued to attend the House of Commons to give support to Lord John Russell and his administration. For the rest of his career he dedicated himself to championing free-trade principles and the maintenance of Russell’s Whig ministry as the only safeguard against a protectionist government. On 28 June, 1850 while riding up Constitution Hill in London he was thrown from his horse and badly hurt. Four days PN later he died from his injuries. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

STREET NAMES: THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN

Chamberlain Street

Elgin Street

Joseph Chamberlain was a British Statesman who has been called a socialist, republican, extreme radical, Gladstonian, protectionist, food taxer and fire eating jingoist!

This street commemorates either the seventh or eighth Earl of Elgin but according to records it was once called Plunket Street and the name change is a bit mystifying when both earls were responsible for some very questionable activities.

He had a gift of inspiring and antagonising his contemporaries in equal measure. He was born in 1836 in London, the son of Joseph senior who had a wholesale boot and shoe business that had been in the family for 120 years. His two years at University College School were marked by considerable academic achievements but his singleminded determination to take the lead in anything going on did not endear him to his school fellows.

The Chamberlain family were fervent Unitarians, which is why Joseph’s father, despite his son’s honours, refused to send him to Oxford or Cambridge, both of which did not give credence to Nonconformists. In later years when visiting renowned theologian, Benjamin Jowett, an influential tutor at Oxford, he exclaimed, “Ah how I wish I could have had training in this place.”

John Sutton Nettlefold who had married Joseph’s paternal aunt, manufactured wood screw in Birmingham by the old method. When he bought the patent for a new wood screw, Joseph’s father decided to invest capital in the venture and sent his son to represent the Chamberlain family.

In 1854, young Joseph, aged only 18, boarded the train to Birmingham where industry thrived, its factories vibrating energy and their furnaces belching forth flames.

Nettlefold’s company prospered within a few years of Joseph’s arrival, much of the success due to his management of the sales side. There were markets everywhere and by the time he retired in 1874 the business was exporting screws to countries in every part of the globe. His notebooks demonstrate the salesman was as clear minded, forceful, competent and masterful as was the politician.

In 1874, at age 38 he retired with a substantial fortune. He had become involved in civic affairs and been elected Mayor of Birmingham a year earlier. His work in educational reform, slum clearance, improved housing and municipalisation of public utilities gained him national prominence and the “gas-and-water Socialist” became one of the most successful men in England. In 1876 he was elected to Parliament where his radical speeches, delivered with the utmost confidence, frightened the Conservatives, but his middle-class industrial constituency in Birmingham adored him and gained big Liberal votes in the Midlands. He became Gladstone’s lieutenant in the House of Commons and was a leader of the Radicals with his calls for land and housing reform plus higher taxes on the rich.

During the 1880s, Irish demands for land reform caused a deep rift in the Liberal Party.

Chamberlain was in favour and opposed the use of force in quashing Irish agitation, but as an imperialist he resigned from cabinet when Gladstone committed to Home Rule for Ireland. This action helped bring down the Liberal Government and Chamberlain joined other dissidents, became leader of the Liberal Unionists and formed an alliance with the Conservative Party. He was given the post of Colonial Secretary, consequently making him primarily responsible for British policy during the Boer War. He began to abandon his radicalism and turned to imperialistic rhetoric that was popular with the jingoist population.

After the Boer War, world opinion regarded Great Britain as a bully, bringing home to Chamberlain that it was militarily vulnerable and diplomatically isolated in Europe. He resigned office so he could advocate tariff reform and transform the British Empire into a united trading block. Preferential treatment would be given to colonial imports and the home market given protection from cheap foreign goods. In typically bombastic fashion he set out to convert his party to the scheme. This split the Conservative Party and the current Prime Minister, Arthur Balfour refused to commit himself to protectionism because it was a political bombshell. Chamberlain resigned from his cabinet post and conducted a private campaign exhorting his listeners to “think imperially”.

In the general elections of 1906 the Liberal Party that supported free trade had a landslide victory. Despite the turn of events, Chamberlain was re-elected in Birmingham by an overwhelming majority. It was his final victory because in July the same year he suffered a stroke that left him paralysed for the rest of his life. It’s fitting we have a street named after this redoubtable man because New Zealand once imported his PN wood screws! (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl is notorious for committing “the greatest art theft in history”, by stripping the Parthenon of its marbles when Greece was under Turkish dominance. His son, James Bruce was responsible for looting treasures from the Yuan Ming Yuan imperial gardens when he was High Commissioner to China. To his credit, he wasn’t happy about carrying out the duty laid on him to bomb Canton, forcing the Far East to trade in opium. In a letter to his wife he wrote, “I never felt so ashamed of myself in my life.”

Thomas Bruce was a career diplomat who, when he married the richest heiress in Scotland, Mary Nisbet, decided to restore his family seat Broomhall. Thomas Harrison, the architect he engaged, insisted the “classical style” was the most befitting for an aristocrat’s residence.

When the Earl was offered a posting to Constantinople, Harrison saw this as an opportunity for Elgin to supply him with detailed drawings of ancient Greek architecture and sculpture which would assist him in designing a Classical Greek building and make Elgin the envy of fashionable society. His client was far from averse to this proposal and engaged his secretary, William Hamilton to organise craftsmen to measure and make plaster casts of the Parthenon antiquities.

Unfortunately when Hamilton and his team arrived in Athens, the Acropolis was a squalid mess the Turks used as an ammunition store. They received no co-operation from the commander of the garrison but then the day was saved by someone who had a passion for antiquities. Doctor Philip Hunt, Chaplain to the Constantinople British Embassy urged Elgin to use his influence as ambassador and get permission from a higher authority to dismantle the Parthenon frieze.

A firman (royal decree) was granted for its removal which occupied 300 workmen for over a year at personal cost to Elgin of around £70,000. He claimed his motive was preservation yet the marbles were very damaged when they had to be cut into smaller pieces during their removal.

Eventually hundreds of them were boxed in 200 chests, waiting to be shipped to Scotland for the adornment of Broomhall. One shipment on board the British brig Mentor was caught in a storm and sank, but was salvaged, once again at the Earl’s expense. It took the divers two years to bring them to the surface. He was beset by other misfortunes during his time in Constantinople.

The climate didn’t suit him and he contracted a severe skin infection that caused his nose to fall off, which his young wife found very off putting. She also had to dip into her own funds to help ship the marbles to England and became aware her husband was an appalling spendthrift and heavily in debt.

On his way home through France, war broke out and he was taken prisoner by Napolean and held in detention for several months while Lady Elgin had to continue the journey without her husband. By the time he returned to Britain, his wife had left him for his best friend, Robert Fergusson who had given her much needed support. He began divorce proceedings, assuming he would receive lavish compensation from Mary’s inheritance but her family had made ironclad wills that safeguarded her money.

The divorce trial was the most salacious in London’s history. Without her fortune Elgin was forced to sell the marbles to the British Museum for only £35,000 which was dispersed among his creditors so he didn’t receive a single penny from the sale. For the rest of his life he lived in Paris to escape his creditors, dying there in abject poverty in 1841.

His pillage of the Parthenon remains deeply controversial even to this day. The Greek government has requested they be repatriated, a debate that has attracted extensive media attention. Well, it appears that what Britain has she holds. When Cameron was asked if he would respond to India’s call for the return of the Koh-i-Noor diamond he said he didn’t believe in “returnism’ and the same applied to the Elgin Marbles.

(DEIRDRE TOHILL)  PN

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LOCAL HISTORY

17 Collingwood Street Terry Sutcliffe is a fervent collector and restorer of timepieces but his interest in items from yesteryears extends much further, and when he bought the house on the corner of Collingwood and Heke Streets he had a feeling it would be full of pleasant surprises.

He surmised correctly that it probably had heritage value so he embarked on researching its history. To begin with he discovered that Heke Street was once named Clyde Street and the three lots on its northern end were part of a sizeable suburban residential development that was subdivided under an 1859 Crown Grant.

The parcels of land changed hands several times before they were purchased in 1874 by a French polisher, Edward Drinkwater and he, or one of the former owners, erected a brick building on one of the lots, probably where Terry’s house now stands. He obtained a list of all the ownership transfers in the Deeds Register Office pertaining to Auckland and bought the house from the latest owner, Doctor Ruth Helen Butterworth who received a gong for services to tertiary education and had owned it since 1978. He learned from Ruth that number 17 had once been a hub of the Labour Party and the young Helen Clark cycled to many of the meetings held there.

Once Terry and his wife gained possession of the house they embarked on a refurbishment that eventuated into a major restoration project which was costly and time consuming. However, they were determined to bring the house back to its original state no matter what. The downstairs bathroom was falling apart but they managed to rescue some tiles that depicted major causes that were a reflection of what was happening during Ruth’s time, such as the Dawn Raids, Bastion Point, the All Black game against South Africa, the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior and others.

These were probably done by studio potter, Warren Tippet whose work was a departure from the traditional anglo-oriental stoneware that dominated pottery until new aesthetics started to emerge.

Warren’s colourful work was radically different and reflected a Pacific setting, as well as Asian and Mediterranean ceramic influences. They

are a work of art and Terry has set them on a framed panel that will be set on a wall in the house.

When the house was being prepared for a paint job, Terry noticed high up under the eaves on the Heke Street corner a small piece of metal that bore the original name, Clyde Street, but would have been painted over after the name change. Another intriguing sheet of metal was exposed after the old fibrous board lining in the basement was removed. It proved to be Muntz metal, which is an alloy of zinc and copper used for cladding wooden ships to protect them from an underwater worm, Teredo navalis, that attacks floating and submerged wood, the damage undetectable till the whole structure collapses.

Terry’s assumption is that whoever built the house went down to the Freemans Bay shipyards to obtain seven sheets in order to fireproof the wall behind the coal range. After a thorough cleansing and polishing the Muntz trademark became visible and the metal regained its original gleaming patina. These will also be displayed in the house along with the tiles.

Leading down into the basement there is a huge stained-glass sash window that extends from the floor to the ceiling allowing access to a balcony. It’s a very important architectural feature not commonly seen in New Zealand houses. They are sometimes called box or Yorkshire windows, where they were once widely used. Other features such as the original gas and rewired old light fittings have been retained so everything is original.

The Suttcliffe’s project was to take the lovely old villa built of heart kauri back to its original state and they hope it will last another hundred years and maybe beyond. Terry loves old houses because their history speaks to him. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LOCAL LANDMARK HISTORY BUILDINGS

St Kevins Arcade Years before St Kevins Arcade came into existence there was an area on the corner of Karangahape Road and Pitt Street owned by a bookmaker, Thomas Henry Keven.

The reason it came to be called St Kevens is unknown because such a saint isn't recorded anywhere. Thomas Henry Keven only lived there for a short time before leasing the premises he’d built to the Board of Governors of the Church of England Grammar School. John Kinder, the new headmaster lived there for a while and made several charming sketches from the verandah. The school was moved to Parnell and shortly after the house burned down and Keven had it rebuilt to its original plan.

Charles Davis, a notable Maori scholar purchased the house and land from Thomas Keven in 1865 for 1500 pounds. Charles died in 1875 and in 1882 Lawrence Nathan bought the house from his estate. Another house was built by David Nathan in 1848 that was altered and enlarged over the years becoming a typical late Victorian mansion with many levels. The stables were situated in Poynton Lane behind the the Pitt Street Methodist Church and the fine terraced garden extended right down to the Myers Park valley. Eventually the family decided to sell St Kevens as the rates became heavy and it was surrounded by commercial buildings. Moreover it was a difficult house to manage. The sale took place in 1918, the Nathan family moved to their country house in Manurewa and St Kevens was demolished to make way for a shopping arcade. Before departing, the family donated a strip of land to the city with the intention of creating a thoroughfare down to Myers Park where the arcade now stands.

The arcade was built in 1924, and designed by William Arthur Cumming with Thomas Mahoney and sons. Cumming was no slouch when it came to leaving his mark on Auckland’s landscape with buildings such as Takapuna and Mt Albert Grammar Schools

plus many commercial buildings. He was the School of Architecture’s first director and in 1905 an inaugural member of the Architectural Institute and its president. The new arcade was named after the Irish Saint Kevin, though the family had hoped the original spelling would be retained. The economy was thriving and Karangahape Road was then Auckland’s premier shopping destination and often compared to London’s Oxford Street, which was a bit of an exaggeration. St Kevins Arcade was extended in 1926, and back then home to the best of Auckland’s tailors and dressmakers, tea rooms and photography studios. However, its years of glory eventually petered out towards the end of the 60s.

Establishments such as the Alleluya Cafe, which opened in 1994; music venues, the Wine Cellar and the Whammy Bar; and multiple secondhand stores had made the space almost a second home for many who did not feel they were marginalised when they hung out there. Recently the beloved arcade was bought by a consortium, one of which is a former Shortland Street actor and pop musician, Paul Reid who has fond memories of the historic arcade. University student and past Alleluya frequenter, Ben Curran fears the road is on its way to becoming another Parnell or Ponsonby and may lose its organic feel. "Gentrification is all well and good, but K'Road is one of the last places where you have an evolving community, it's a place where things happen.”

(DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

Pitt Street Church This church building was entered as a Category 2 listing by the Historic Places Trust in June 2005.

It occupies a sloping site on a ridge the eastern side of Pitt Street descending southwest to northeast. The building lies within Auckland City Council's Karangahape Road precinct and there are a number of heritage buildings in its immediate vicinity.

The church is a large building, uniting nonconformist chapel design with Gothic Revival style. It encompasses an original structure of five bays, a rear addition of three bays and a smaller front vestibule. The original structure's walls are of red brick with white stone dressings concealed under plaster and paint that are underpinned by basalt walls. This part of the building has a basement storey, originally used as a classroom.

Two buttresses run the full height off the Pitt Street facade and are surmounted by ornamental masonry towers.

Another four buttresses are set diagonally at the corners of the original building and on the main facade, which has a large traversed window plus carved stone images including two heads believed to represent John and Charles Wesley who were founders of the Methodist faith. The basement room beneath the interior's large room is used by the Korean Methodist community while the main body of the church has a large gallery, original pews and a barrel-vaulted timber ceiling supported by stone corbels carved with depictions of New Zealand foliage. On the walls there are memorial plaques of a number of early missionaries, memorial windows and other tablets of historical value.

A two-storied rear addition of similar style was constructed down the slope and contained a number of rooms for Sunday School and committee use.

The sculptural figures and details were by Anton Teutenberg, the first European sculptor to come to New Zealand. He was born in Germany and was encouraged by Gustavus von Tempsky to leave Europe for the South Pacific. He arrived in Auckland on the Rob Roy in 1866. Soon after his arrival Teutenberg received a commission to carve heads for the Supreme Court. Among other buildings in Auckland for which he received commissions was the Pitt Street Wesleyan Church, originally opened in 1866, for which

he executed about 20 woodcarvings. He was a talented carver, stonemason and jeweller but the greater proportion of Teutenberg's surviving work is as a medallist. He died in 1993 aged 90. Information about his work is covered in an article by J.B. Duncan, first published in Volume 2 of The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand.

The very impressive Pitt Street Church building was designed by Philip Herapath who was born in the village of Pilton, Barn Staple, Devon in 1823 and arrived in Auckland in 1857. He soon became a Fellow of the Institute of Architects and designed several public buildings notably the Auckland Hospital, the new west wing of the Avondale Asylum, the early Auckland Museum on Princess Street plus many other structures of historical importance. He took a active role in the temperance cause and at one time was a member of the licensing committee. He was also a prominent member of the Baptist denomination which worshipped at the Wellesley Street Church where he held the office of secretary. Later he threw in his lot with the new Free Union Church and eventually was elected the second president of the Auckland Institute of Architects. He passed quietly away in the early hours of the morning on 29 June at his residence, Pilton View on Karangahape Road, aged 70. The next morning his remains were interred in the Purewa Cemetery. At his request no mourning was to be worn. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LOCAL HISTORY

Foresters Hall The Historic Places Trust has identified Renall Street in Ponsonby as an area of historical significance.

The houses were built in the 1870s, 1880s and some in the early 1900s. Most were rented by labourers, many of whom worked at the wharf just down the hill, which was before reclamation took place and where Victoria Park was created. One building towers above its more lowly neighbours (not so lowly price-wise nowadays). Foresters Hall is a two storied concrete building with a symmetrical facade, recessed central doorway, pilasters, a projecting cornice with brackets, a parapet with pilasters and triangular detail. It served as a community hall where our first Labour Prime Minister, Michael Savage, held many meetings. The property was purchased by the International Order of Odd Fellows for £135 in 1907. This society has its roots in the old English craft guilds. It was set up to provide workers and their families with financial and other assistance at a time when there was no government welfare. The first New Zealand Lodge was formed in Dunedin in 1862. There followed a big growth of lodges throughout New Zealand. At the height of its membership, there were over 100 New Zealand lodges. Membership declined after the introduction of the welfare state in the 1930s.

Other fraternities have used the hall over the years, such as the Freemasons, the Druids, the Foresters and the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes whose notice is still on the doorway. The RAOB came into existence in 1822 at the Harp Tavern which was opposite the Drury Lane Theatre. Actors, stage hands and theatre technicians formed a club there and the name was derived from a popular song, ‘We’ll chase the Buffalo’ and members were known as the ‘buffs’. The first meeting was called Phoenix Lodge No.1. As members toured the country with various shows, lodges opened in other towns. The RAOB quickly spread to other countries as well and has been in existence in New Zealand for over 120 years.

Some of them operating under the Grand Surrey Banner which is a sort of breakaway after the Grand Primo Lodge was established.

When the Newmarket Railway Lodge was demolished in 1955 Foresters Hall took over its social meetings, hence the black-lettered sign, Railway Lodge No156 that is clearly visible on the upper side of the building.

Benevolent societies certainly flourished in earlier times. The Foresters traces its origins to a British Friendly Society, an organisation that cared for the sick.The two banded together for mutual aid and protection in 14th Century England near the ancient royal forests which belonged to the monarchy. In 1834 the Royal Foresters formed a friendly society, its members recognising that their fellow men who fell into want ‘as they walked through the forests of life’, needed assistance when a breadwinner fell ill, unable to work and received no wages. Illness and death left families financially distressed and more often than not, destitute. Members realised that by paying a few pence a week into a common fund they would be able to offer sick pay and funeral grants when necessary. The friendly society expanded into Canada due to a prominent doctor and community leader of Mohawk descent, Oronhyatekha (Burning Sky). He died in 1907 after transforming the Foresters into one of North America’s leading fraternal benefit societies.

These early fraternal societies shared certain characteristics. In New Zealand they were overwhelmingly pakeha, claimed to be non political and free of religious prejudice, often associated with food and alcohol consumption and tended to have a degree of secret ritual.

Membership was exclusively male and declined dramatically due to a younger generation being somewhat bemused by the rituals. They were gradually replaced by service clubs such as Lions and Rotary, etc. By the end of the 20th Century most fraternities had been wound up except for the Freemasons. Nowadays the service clubs do fairly PN similar charitable work. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

Holmdene,195 Ponsonby Road Holmdene was first built as a gentleman’s residence in the Italianate style for shipping magnate Alexander McGregor.

Of Scottish descent, he was born at Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia in 1828. As a young man he worked in the coastal trade around Nova Scotia and New England.He married Charlotte Matheson in Massachusetts in 1857. A year later the couple along with his kinsman, Roderick McGregor sailed as passengers on the ‘Prince Edward’ to New Zealand. They reached Auckland in 1859 where McGregor began his long involvement with Auckland’s coastal trade. On their arrival, Roderick immediately decamped to Whangarei Heads and established a boatbuilding yard where McGregor’s first acquisition, a 36-ton schooner ‘Kiwi’ was built.

McGregor then began trading from Auckland to Russell, Whangaroa, Manganui and occasionally around North Cape to the west coast ports. Next he invested, in quick succession, in four more ships, the ‘Fairy’, the ‘Ivanhoe’ and the ‘Rob Roy’. At that time Auckland’s population was widely scattered with few suitable roads and travel by sea was the main means of transport and communication. Small river and coastal ships provided the only important links to the city’s surrounding settlements and, being dependent on weather conditions, were not the most reliable form of transport. Attempting to operate a regular service on Northern New Zealand’s exposed coastline was impracticable and by the beginning of the 1870s, McGregor became convinced that the service should convert to steamships as the obvious solution.

three years under McGregor’s guidance as managing director the Northern Company prospered, commissioning larger steel vessels such as the ‘Clansman’ and the ‘Gairloch’.

He certainly gave a significant nod to his Scottish heritage. As the depression of the 1880s hit hard at shipping companies’ freights and incomes, McGregor proposed a reduction in both wages and overtime pay in order to hold down costs. In response the Federated Seaman’s Union, with financial aid from kindred unions, launched its own company, the Jubilee Steamship Company. The Northern Company’s financial situation deteriorated further and McGregor was dismissed for mismanagement by his fellow directors in June 1888.

Of course steamers required more capital than a small-time trader could command, so he put together a syndicate of businessmen who saw sense and profit in his proposal. The syndicate’s new vessel was the ‘Rowena’ with McGregor holding 26 of the 64 shares and from this small beginning the Northern Steamship Company was born. Under McGregor's command, the ‘Rowena’ traded from Auckland to the northern ports. Over the next eight years, six further steamers were built named 'Argyle', 'Iona', 'Staffa', 'Fingal' and 'Katikati' and trade was extended south to Tauranga and Opotiki on the east coast, and Onehunga south to Raglan, Kawhia and Waitara on the west coast. McGregor gave up work as ships master when closer supervision from the shore was needed.

Nothing daunted, within six weeks at the age of 60 he was back in business with his son, William who was a qualified marine engineer, and some other partners. He purchased the steamer ‘Rose Casey’ but this time his trading was from Auckland to Waiwera and Omaha. His success was immediate and his company flourished over the next 10 years, which demonstrated that accusations of mismanagement levelled at him were unfounded. By the end of the century, he had largely retired from active involvement in the company. He died at his home, Holmdene, in January 1901. He was survived by his two sons and two daughters, his wife Charlotte having died four years earlier. Despite the unpleasant dismissal from the company, he established his contribution to coastal steam communication, which endured till ships gave way to trains and motor vehicles.

In 1881 the syndicate was reorganised as the Northern Steamship Company Ltd and took delivery of a new flagship the ‘MacGregor’, a 256-ton steamer. For the first

His mansion eventually became a boarding house in the 1980s and apparently was popular with transvestites. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

STREET ART ON CHORUS CABINETS There are Banksies in our midst! They are applying street art to Chorus cabinets all over the place.

One Banksie in particular has caught our attention. Glasgow-born Janet Williamson who lives on Richmond Road spied a graffiti-covered cabinet near where she lives and thought that she must do something to cover the scribble.

She decided to paint an image of her tartan, including a sporran, on the cabinet, then called Chorus to discuss her idea, sent a photograph of what she had done and found them very helpful, even offering to supply the paint and assuring her they would spray graffiti guard on her completed works. She had found the task pleasant and easy to accomplish so, given the support from Chorus, decided to paint something on the next one that would make people smile. She found an image of an elephant on an old tea caddy she had in her kitchen, which tickled her fancy and decided to turn a cabinet into an elephant. It has given rise to many favourable comments. Recently, a woman shot out of the front door of a nearby house and exclaimed to Janet how much she liked the image.

Janet attended the Glasgow School of Art for four years, which was housed in a beautiful Charles Rennie Mackintosh building, one of the city’s main architectural highlights. She next went to university in Canada to study theatre design but after 17 years there she and her family decamped to New Zealand, finding the Canadian winters just too cold. She also had relations here, which is always a draw. They settled first in Wellington where she earned a living doing theatre sets but now she and her husband reside in Grey Lynn. Janet still paints constantly and has had several exhibitions on the North Shore at the Lakehouse Art Centre and Northart Gallery but will continue to seek out Chorus cabinets that need enhancing. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LOCAL HISTORY

Former Auckland Timber Company building After the reclamation of the foreshore in Freemans Bay, Auckland’s economy expanded, and demand for commercial and industrial land increased, particularly along the waterfront.

The Auckland Harbour Board had commissioned the project and in 1877 it offered many of the allotments for lease as 66-year holdings.

Freemans Bay was already the centre for timber production and supported other industrial activities such as boatbuilding, flour milling and brick making. A major occupant of the new land was the Auckland Timber Company, or ATC, which formed an impressive new saw milling and manufacturing complex on 104 Fanshawe Street.

It was described by the American consul in an official report as consisting of “splendid buildings surpassing anything of the kind in the Southern Hemisphere.”

Timber construction was vital for Auckland’s economy during colonial times when the city relied on the exploitation of local resources, particularly kauri which grew only in northern New Zealand. Used especially for houses and ship building, it was distributed extensively throughout the country as well as to overseas markets in Australia and the United States. At this time, the Auckland waterfront was one of the major centres for kauri processing in the colony. The ATC was the leading member of a select group of highly mechanised enterprises, which replaced smaller scale operations that had characterised earlier years.

The ATC’s founder and managing director was George Holdship, an astute businessman with a strong awareness of the technical advantages in timber processing. He had initially trained as a carpenter before setting up his own timber firm in the 1860s, which had a sash and door making factory in Newton.

In 1877 he transformed his private business into the heavily capitalised Auckland Timber Company. When the reclamation was commissioned, Holdship just happened to be on the city council and a member of the Auckland Harbour Board. The ATC building was mostly built by 1881 and a year later its internal fittings were in place. It’s possible the architect, Henry Wade was involved as he was a significant shareholder in the ACT and designed other structures on the waterfront.

The building was of simple Free Classical design with four bays fronting Fanshawe Street and large windows at ground level and

rows of arched sashed windows were on all the other floors. It incorporated a bridge across Fanshawe Street to the main sawmill.

The structure was multi-purpose, containing offices, showrooms, a glazing factory and storage. Upon completion it was described as “one of the handsomest blocks of buildings in Freemans Bay”. The design and use of the complex reflected Holdship’s promotion of mechanisation and the close integration of activities associated with timber products such as glass making. The inclusion of showrooms was also linked to his advertising the value of timber products, kauri in particular. In 1873 and 1880 he exhibited at the Melbourne and Vienna exhibitions.

In 1894, the complex was one of the sights shown to King Tawhiao when he visited Auckland as part of the healing process for wrongs committed in the 1860s by colonial authorities in its takeover of Maori land in the Waikato and elsewhere. While passing the showrooms, someone dropped a bouquet of flowers into Tawhiao’s carriage from the newly constructed bridge.

Eventually the golden times came to an end when the kauri trade was affected by a downturn in Auckland’s economy. Holder did a deal with David Blair, a leading timber merchant from Melbourne, which still enjoyed a building boom. A syndicate was formed there which purchased many mills and forests in northern New Zealand.

Holder was appointed managing director of the new organisation’s New Zealand operation. Holder was relieved of his duties when the Melbourne market collapsed and in 1890 he left for Britain where he sold his shares in the business.

Now named the Kauri Timber Company, the building is historically significant in that it demonstrates the importance of the kauri timber industry to the New Zealand economy through the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LOCAL HISTORY

Trentham Trentham is located in St Mary’s Bay above Shelley Beach. The locality was originally a traditional place of Maori settlement and fishing.

The wider area belonged to Ngati Whatua and the iwi’s offer to transfer land to the British Crown to found Auckland was accepted in 1840.

Freemans Bay and Ponsonby were the first suburbs established west of the new colonial capital. Part of the allotment was purchased by a J. C. Brooke in 1853 and he marketed sites for superior-type dwellings with views of the Waitemata Harbour. After some changes of ownership, a timber house was constructed sometime between 1886 and 1882. Once the Auckland economy started to revive after the 1880s depression, the property was subdivided into two and the southern and eastern portion was sold to Josiah Webster. The existing house had evidently been demolished.

Josiah’s parents arrived from England in 1858 then moved to Thames 10 years later where Josiah trained as a tinsmith. After he married Jane Smith he joined his father-in-law who was in the fruit and vegetable trade, eventually owning a business in lower Queen Street close to the railway station and Queens Wharf. He evidently equipped his shop with one of the first soda fountains in the city.

Good fortune obviously smiled upon him because Trentham’s construction commenced in 1906 and was completed before 1908.

The large two-storied timber villa was designed by Auckland architect, Arthur Lewitt Ferneyhough who was born in Nottingham and arrived here in 1890. He served his articles under Edward Bartley and went into practice on his own in 1899, specialising in residential designs, the best known being Trentham on 11 Shelley Beach Road.

The design was ideal for the corner site and showed Queen Anne Revival influences with its symmetrical facades linked by a semicircular bay plus a prominent Moorish domed turret. Lavish ornamentation included fretwork, shingling and spindles on double-height bays and verandahs. Josiah was a Freemason and became the First Grand Principal, the highest position in Royal Arch Masonry of New Zealand, and Masonic-inspired motifs were incorporated in the glasswork.

The cresting on the cast iron roof inspired a satirist to comment that Webster’s house might serve as an alternative residence for the Governor General. The interior’s 11 rooms were just as ornate with pressed metal ceilings and a sweeping timber staircase leading up to a roof-top viewing platform. A cast iron boundary fence with grand pillars indicated a wish for privacy yet enabled peeking from the passing parade.

In 1914 Webster took out a mortgage on the house in order to finance his construction of the Grand Theatre on the site of his fruit shop. Two years later it was offered for sale ahead of a Supreme Court hearing to do with the theatre construction contract. Webster managed to retain ownership of both properties but Trentham was briefly let out as a maternity home and then converted into four flats in 1921.

During the Great Depression part of the upstairs was occupied by his son’s family and Mrs Webster entertained touring celebrities such as Anna Pavlova and Sybil Thorndike at the house. In 1954 the family sold Trentham. The ground floor was converted into two flats by enclosing parts of the north-facing verandah and the south-facing porch was enclosed in 1969.

Trentham has aesthetic significance as a notable landmark of interesting exterior appearance. Its interior is equally significant because of the glasswork with its Masonic motifs, the timber staircase and well-preserved, pressed metal ceilings. The place has architectural significance as a notable example of a two-storied gentleman’s villa. It is historically significant in that it demonstrates how after the First World War many grand houses in the Ponsonby area were divided up into flats or converted into boarding houses or used as private hospitals. Many such examples abound in our part of the city when back in those days it lost its status as a desirable place to live. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LOCAL HISTORY

Grey Lynn Library Grey Lynn Library turned 90 on 13 December 2014. This milestone was celebrated with a lively programme of entertainment and activities the whole family.

The building has an Historic Places Trust category 2 listing, but what makes it special is that William Gummer the notable architect who designed the building, still has a strong family connection to the library after so many decades. His granddaughter, Claire Gummer is a staff member and his grandniece, Anne Gummer is a member along with her children, Olive and Francis. Apparently a community group had lobbied for a free library since 1912 and finally they were successful.

design of Castle Drogo, the last of Lutyen’s romantic country houses had a profound influence on the young architect. During his travels back to New Zealand via the United States he worked briefly for D H Burnham and Company in Chicago then once back home entered a partnership with Hoggard and Prouse and became a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architects in 1914. He was recognised as the partnership’s principal designer till he decided to move on in 1921.

Naturally there was disagreement among councillors as to where it should be sited. The Public Services Committee and the Library Committee recommended a property near the old Chinese market gardens, but some contended that it was too far from the centre of population. The Mayor stepped into the fray opining that the site was very desirable plus a member of the Library Committee claimed Mr T W Leys had endorsed the proposed site. Perhaps the clincher was the site’s proximity to the end of the 2D tram section. Whatever, the suburb now had a reading room, a lending department, a lecture hall and a committee room. Community library manager, Aola Robertson says the opening was held on a Saturday afternoon so the hard-working “industrial public” of Grey Lynn could attend. The neo-Georgian building was opened in 1924 by the then mayor, Sir James Gunson. It continues as a public library and community hall to this day. The exterior is is painted in heritage colours and inside is home to a series of murals painted by Murray Grimsdale.

Two years later, Gummer went into partnership with Charles Reginald Ford. Between the two World Wars they they dominated the Auckland scene and were regarded as the best architectural firm of the the first half of the 20th Century. Their 40 years of practice spanned New Zealand’s transition from colonial dependence to full nationhood.

Gummer’s time in Chicago was invaluable as it exposed him to the latest structural ideas for commercial developments. The 1935 Dingwall Building was a test case, leading to the development of multi-storey construction in this country. As a Beaux Arts architect, Gummer was capable of working in a number of styles which led to local what local historian, Bruce Petry has described as “moderate modernism”.

Architect William Henry Gummer was born in Auckland 7 December 1884. After attending Mt Eden School he was articled to Auckland architect, W A Holman. Eight years later, he travelled to England and studied at the Royal Academy of Arts where Beaux -Arts classicism was the predominant subject, then in 1910 he became an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architecture.

Working for Edwin Lutyens in 1911, whom he assisted with the

Eighteen of the company’s buildings have been registered as significant historic places by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.

In 2006 an exhibition of their work was held at the University of Auckland’s Gus Fisher Gallery and in 2007 the firm was described as ‘the best architectural practice of all time in New Zealand’. They had complementary skills and personalities which was the secret of their success. Ford concentrated primarily on managing the practice and dealing with clients while Gummer was responsible for all of the firm’s iconic buildings and Ford was influential in, the establishment of earthquake safety standards in New Zealand after the 1931 Hawkes Bay earthquake. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LOCAL HISTORY

Naval and Family Hotel This city hotel is steeped in local history. It is sited on what was once a track used by pre-European food gathering parties travelling between the Waitemata and Manukau Harbours.

The Karangahape Road ridge was part of 3000 acres sold by local Maori to the government in 1841 and formed the southern edge of the city in the 19th Century.

K’ Road, as it’s affectionately called, has been recognised for its heritage character by the Auckland City Council in its district plan provisions. The hotel occupies a corner site at the crossroads between K’ Road and Pitt Street, fronting directly onto the pavements of both streets. Archaeological deposits from the first hotel on the site that was burnt down may survive under parts of the present building.

The 3000m site was part of a Crown grant acquired by Thomas Russell who subdivided it and sold two adjoining lots to innkeeper Patrick Darby. He constructed a two storied building of simple Georgian design with a shingled hip roof, a central archway facing Pitt Street, and a return balcony on the upper storey offering views over the city and harbour. Darby licensed it to George Pearson as the Naval Hotel but received opposition from local residents, church groups and other organisations who were against granting liquor licenses, which was a common cause in our early colonial times because of the high level of intoxication among certain sectors of society.

The prohibition contingent’s efforts were in vain because the license was granted and Pearson’s purchase of the property was well positioned to cater for travellers on the Great North Road. The Naval Hotel was the first of its kind on K’ Road but by 1866, several other such licensed establishments were located along the thoroughfare. In 1967, Pearson defaulted on his mortgage and a Denis Markham bought the hotel.

He capitalised on the increasing demand for retail sites by subdividing the property in 1882. The hotel by this time was called the Naval and Family and in turn was sold to a Coromandel innkeeper, Patrick Brodie who had a 10 decade association with the establishment.

In 1894, the crammed together Pitt Street shops caught fire and much of the hotel was destroyed. Estimated damage was £1200 because there wasn’t enough water to extinguish the flames. Blueprints for a new building were drawn up by prolific architect, Arthur Wilson who had studied architecture at London University and undertook various large and important projects in many parts of England. He long had a hankering to visit the colonies, and came to New Zealand where he decided to settle in Auckland and practise his profession.

Wilson’s overall design was Italianate, highly decorative and visually impressive, following the trend hotel owners followed to display their premises as enhancing the streetscape at a time when alcohol prohibition had fervent public backing. The Naval and Family featured imposing facades on both street frontages; the corner entrance to the public bar was on K’ Road and a formal entrance on Pitt Street.

Patrick Brodie died in 1885 and land occupied by the hotel and two shops facing Pitt Street was subdivided leaving the southern part of the holding as the hotel site. The Naval and Family was leased to the Ehrenfried brothers. Brodie’s son, also named Patrick, subleased the hotel back from Campbell and Ehrenfried for 11 years. In 1924, the freehold property was transferred to the younger Brodie and his siblings, one of whom was Matthew, the Roman Catholic Church’s first New Zealand born bishop. Two years later, the hotel was transferred to Brodie Properties.

The Naval and Family Hotel is architecturally significant as an example of a late-Victorian corner hotel. Its strong visual qualities derive from its ornate exterior and corner location forming a local landmark. The Naval and Family Hotel has historical significance as a licensed premises in continuous use for over a century. It has historical value for its long association with the Brodie family who were prominent members of Auckland’s Roman Catholic community.

(DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LOCAL HISTORY

The Mercury Theatre The Mercury Theatre, a very important part of Auckland’s history, has a lively past.

It was designed by architect Edward Bartley who was born in Jersey, 1839 and learned building trade techniques from his father who was both an architect and a builder. He immigrated to New Zealand while still in his teens and settled in Devonport. Initially he worked in the building trade but eventually practised as an architect, designing many notable structures such as churches that still stand and particularly the marvellous synagogue on Princes Street. The theatre was commissioned by Benjamin Fuller whose company was focussed on public entertainment in Auckland, providing excursion tours by boat and coach. In 1910 it expanded by constructing King’s Theatre on what was then called Upper Pitt Street at a cost of £7777. Subsequently it went through several name changes The Prince Edward, The Playhouse and finally the Mercury Theatre in 1968.

Benjamin’s brief to Bartley was to build an up-to-date and safe, luxurious theatre. The auditorium and stage were to be lit with electricity rather than gas which was hazardous, and asbestos drop curtains were to be installed in case of fire. The interior fitout consisted of concrete staircases and ceilings made of pressed tin panels. The Edwardian Baroque theatre was intended to be a live drama venue but was designed with facilities to screen ‘Electric Moving Pictures’ as well, so it was the first purpose-built cinema in Auckland and survives to this day because of this flexibility. It is also a rare example in New Zealand of the transition between theatre and cinema. For this purpose the design dispensed with boxes in favour of a linking stair between the stalls and circle. Despite these modifications it remains a significant example of Edwardian theatre design.

The theatre is three stories in height. Applied decorations are confined to the exterior facade with the sides and rear of plain brick with regularly spaced rectangular windows. The main elevation has a verandah supported by heavy consoles and ties fixed to plaster

lion-head mountings. The auditorium although altered over the years, retains some important features. The horseshoe shaped circle has an ornately decorated plaster balcony. Triple arches each side of the stage are ornamented with egg and dart beading and decorated busts once sat within the arches. The remainder of the walls have been soundproofed and the vestibule has been converted into a theatrette but the auditorium’s beamed ceiling still remains. The Worthington Bar, part of a later addition has a black and white tiled floor with a Star of David pattern.

In 1926 a new entrance was created on Karangahape Road and the Dome Room was added at the end of the arcade where black and white tiled floors are still in place. A marble staircase with a steel balustrade leads to this addition, so named because of its elliptical glass leadlight. By 1968 this area had become the Norman Ng building and the entrance was no longer available so the initial France Street entrance was reopened. At this time the cinema was converted to live theatre and became the Mercury Theatre Company’s home.

The auditorium was reduced in size, some of the rear stalls were partitioned off to create a larger lobby. The rear part of the circle was separated from the auditorium thus creating a space for smaller productions.

At least 12 productions were played annually after this period ranging from children’s pantomimes to serious tragedy-dramas including those by Shakespeare and Chekhov. Notable actors who performed at the theatre include, George Henare, Michael Hurst, Ian Mune to name just a few. Raymond Hawthorne joined the theatre in 1971 and became its artistic director from 1985 till 1992. Though well patronised, running costs forced its closure that year. the Auckland City Council renamed France Street as Mercury Lane to honour this memory. The Equippers Church who now own the building have made it available for theatrical performances and shows.

(DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LOCAL HISTORY

Carlile House The derelict building still standing (just!) at 84 Richmond Road is a sad sight indeed even though it has a Category 1 listing on the Historic Places register.

The once imposing building was erected with funds from Edward Costley’s large bequest that stipulated his fortune should be used to benefit charitable institutions in Auckland. The Costley Training Institution Act of 1885 allowed for the founding of a new facility to cater for children of “ages fit to be apprentice” who had suffered destitution or parental neglect. The large Richmond Road site was selected for the new institution and Auckland architect, Robert Jones Roberts was commissioned to design the building, probably because he was a preacher in the Congregational Church of which several trustees, including Captain William Daldy also belonged.

The building is of a Classical-Italianate style much favoured for nonconformist places of worship and civic or public edifices. Elaborate detailing included stone quoins, arched window openings, pediments and corbelled eaves, generally associated with early commercial premises and the grand villas owned by wealthy professionals and merchants. Costley’s desire to give orphans and destitute children advantages which could not be provided from public funds resulted in an increasing number of similar structures highlighting Auckland’s transition from a colonial frontier settlement to an established urban centre. The contract was awarded to builder Thomas Colebrook who put in the lowest tender, saving the trustees an estimated £500 and employed a number of artisans in need of work.

The residential institution was completed in 1886 and stood behind a low brick wall with decorative cast iron railings similar to those fronting homes of the well to do.The two storyed building’s H-shaped plan let in light and fresh air in sharp contrast to a number of government and catholic industrial schools of bleak design or in buildings originally erected for other uses. The symmetrical facade ended in slightly projecting wings enclosing a central portico. The kitchen and storerooms were set in the rear wing on the ground floor as well as a sitting room with a library recess and manager’s quarters. Stairways were at either end of a hall that ran along the

front of the building on both floors. Upstairs were six bedrooms and an infirmary.

In 1886, Mrs Rebecca Hodge left the Costley Institute £672 to be invested for the benefit of girls who were boarded out with reputable families but the Costley trustees mainly focussed on boys of good character and most likely to be of credit to the Institution. Order, discipline and habit formation were an essential part of the programme. The boys assisted with housework and gardening, attended church and corporal punishment was strictly controlled. Carpentry skills were taught, and in 1891 a large workshop was erected in brick, housing a wood turning lathe and a blacksmith forge. A gymnasium was constructed at the rear of the property and gymnastic displays were staged for visitors and dignitaries at community events.

Times change and after the Costley Institute closed at the end of 1908 the place served for two decades as the Richmond Road Children’s Home, an Anglican institution. When the Child Welfare Act of 1927 introduced more stringent controls, the home was closed and the property offered unsuccessfully for sale. Following the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake, the building briefly housed Hukarere Maori Girls’ School. From 1935 to 1969 it was the headquarters and training school of the Church Army, an Anglican evangelical outreach mission undertaking social work in slums. During this time it was renamed Carlile House after its founder, William Carlile. After the Church Army moved out it became a remand home for boys.

Carlile House was purchased by the Tongan Community Development Company and a modern church built to commemorate Queen Salote.

The main building became run down and vandalised as lack of funds prevented its reuse. Deterioration worsened due to broken windows and the state of the roof. Its dilapidation and uncertain future is a matter of ongoing public concern. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

19 Collingwood Street Three lots near Collingwood and Heke Streets were part of a large suburban residential subdivision under an 1859 Crown land grant.

After they changed hands several times, a French polisher, Edward Drinkwater, purchased all three in 1874. Several years passed before Drinkwater erected a timber house at 19 Collingwood Street that was financed by a £250 mortgage taken out in 1879. Construction was completed by the beginning of 1880 and Drinkwater at that time owned the most expensive house in the street, in fact it was rated at being twice the value of adjoining buildings. He also rebuilt an older brick building in timber that was probably on number 17 Collingwood Street which was rented out. This development coincided with Auckland’s recovery from the colony’s economic crisis and a spate of house building on fringe suburbs such as Freemans Bay and Ponsonby.

The house is an example of a mid-colonial era, single bay villa which is a design that was common among artisans and an aspiring middle class. The residences were easily constructed from plenty of available timber and mass-produced joinery. They generally followed plans in timber company catalogues that bore some resemblance to the more elaborate designs in ‘Cottages for Settlers’ in Brett’s Colonists’ Guide published in 1883.

The manufactured bay window on the Collingwood Street house was a popular feature lending elegance to otherwise plain residences. The arrival of steam-powered wood -working machines in the colony ensured that mantelpieces, doors, sashes, mouldings and Gothic tracery were cheaper than handmade.

Viewed from the street, the Drinkwater house appeared to be single storied but the sloping site allowed for additional rooms on a lower ground floor. Although the house followed the trend for a prominent picturesque gable with Gothic-style timber fretwork and a hipped roof, the lower story negated the need for an attic. The two broad, red-brick chimneys with cream-coloured bricks on the corners demonstrated an emerging fashion for ornamental chimney design. This mixture of styles was common from the 1860s until the end of the century. Internally the house had three or maybe four bedrooms and a front parlour on the upper story. The fireplaces were arranged back to back in the two front rooms and the pattern was repeated on the ground floor. A simple staircase

led to the less formal lower floor which was the heart of family life and domestic activity.

A large living room overlooked the back garden behind which was a large wash-house with a storage area for wood and coal. The front room on the north side accommodated the kitchen and an internal workshop.

Drinkwater appears not to have operated his business from Collingwood Street but probably preferred to work for furniture makers till 1909 when Drinkwater and Sons ran a French polishing business at 87 Albert Street. The family continued to reside in the house for more than two decades during which time ornamental tree specimens including camellia and magnolia were planted near the back verandah. The house was mortgage free by the end of 1884. In 1903 Drinkwater sold it to a Roman Catholic Priest, James Francis Patterson, who continued to live in his Takapuna house and rented out the Freemans Bay dwelling. After his death, Patterson’s housekeeper inherited the property and sold it shortly after to a fireman’s wife for £1000. The sale advertisement described it as a “six-roomed, 2-storey at back, all large rooms, and exceptionally large back balcony, fireplaces in practically every room, gas throughout, range, etc, wash -house copper and tubs under one roof”.

The house at 19 Collingwood Street has architectural value as an example of a characteristic single-bay villa that preceded the more ornate double-bay villas that became popular later. It has social value as a residence belonging to a financially successful artisan. Historically, it reflects the timber industry’s mass production importance that contributed to the uniformity of local urban streetscapes.

(DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

Jonny 4Higher - mural artist extraordinaire Jonny 4Higher explored many options before settling on his present career, but eventually decided his passion for imagery was his true calling.

He’s had no formal art training but believes his life experiences have given him a wider training which has stood him in good stead. His chosen oeuvre has kept him very busy for 16 years and he is inundated with commission work in a wide variety of fields. The morning we spoke he was on his way to a meeting with Megazone Rag Tag in Grey Lynn who wanted a quote for a mural, then he was flying to Sydney the same afternoon to work on yet another commission. Needless to say this work is lucrative but there are expenses to cover. Spray paints are a major item, then there are travel and accommodation costs when his work takes him abroad. He and his wife, Josie who is a make-up artist, have a small daughter and whenever possible his family travels with him.

He has a website www.graffitimurals.co.nz that has a virtual gallery displaying his work that covers a wide variety of styles and disciplines from trompe l’oeil to children’s cartoon classics. The word graffiti has had negative connotations but Jonny says that Banksy’s work is the greatest thing that has happened not only to the street art movement, but to contemporary art in general.

Tagging is light years away from street art and Jonny congratulates the council for their unremitting work on removing this form of defacement on urban spaces. He contributed to the Williamson Avenue line-up of murals. His mural headed the display and was a depiction of how he envisioned the view from the ridge running down to the shore would have looked like before European settlement. In my opinion it was the best in the show and certainly gave one food for thought.

So what prompts Jonny’s enthusiasm for street art? He loves working outdoors and can’t operate in a studio environment which the mere thought of brings on a feeling of claustrophobia. He loves the larger surfaces that murals offer. Mind you, they are a young man’s game because to paint them necessitates a degree of physical agility.

Jonny declares that when he can no longer climb ladders he’ll just resort to painting big canvases. He’s already taking precautions against accidents that could afflict his right hand by strapping his wrist and so forcing him to practice painting with his left hand.

Are there further commissions in the pipeline? So many it’s mind boggling. Play centres, schools, museums, gyms, and countless other groups are lining up for his work.

This work has taken him as far as Hong Kong, Italy, France, Switzerland, England, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, Hawaii, Miami and California. Not bad for a local lad domiciled in Grey Lynn. He’s originally from Christchurch but loves this part of the world and can’t imagine living anywhere else. His only complaint - the area could do with more street art. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

Gloucester Court Flats - Franklin Road

40 Wood Street

Built in 1935 on Franklin Road, Ponsonby, the complex is significant as an early example of Functionalist-influenced apartments.

Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright were notable advocates of Functionalism in the Twentieth Century. This new architectural style emerged in many Western countries after The First World War and was based on the ‘rational’ use of modern materials. Technical progress in the use of iron and glass made this possible.

The pioneers of the movement held a firm belief that in creating a better architecture, a better world would ultimately follow.[The Gloucester Court Flats followed a trend for apartments that were speculatively built for private ownership, which lasted from around the First World War until the 1940s. This coincided with a demand for inner city living by an expanding urban population which occurred after the Great Depression. Ponsonby’s working class was badly affected during those bad times.

The flats are also significant as a visually notable design by the 20th Century architect Horace Massey. Born in 1895 he had come to the attention early on the pages of ‘Progress’ after winning design competitions both here and in Britain where he went after the war to continue training. When he returned to New Zealand he was full of progressive ideas about architecture, but the 1920s were a difficult period in which to introduce them so he had to make do with publishing his concepts in essay form while establishing himself as a fashionable designer of Arts and Crafts style homes. Although he was 42 years old when the economic revival arrived and even though surrounded by the best and brightest of the recent crop of graduates, he went on to design some of the more innovative buildings of the late 1930s. He was commissioned to design The Gloucester Court Flats by Annie and Thomas Buxton who were prominent members of the Catholic community in Auckland and who had owned the site since 1905. Annie was a foundation member of the Women’s Catholic League, while Thomas was president of the Auckland Trotting Club at the time that the flats were erected. They also owned several popular hotels.

Massey and his architectural partner, George Tole, had a close relationship with the Catholic community and as a result received a large number of commissions, the most noteworthy being St Michael’s Church in Remuera which was awarded a Gold Medal by the New Zealand Institute of Architects in 1933. In the period that he designed the Gloucester Court Flats, Massey had his own practice and designed many important buildings including the impressive apartment complex, Cintra flats which was the first Modernist building in Auckland to receive another NZIA Gold Medal a year later. All three buildings appear to have been designed in 1935. Consequently Massey gained a reputation as as a progressive architect who was influential in introducing the Modern Movement’s ideals to Auckland.

Gloucester Court Flats is not as radical in design as Cintra, but as with Cintra it could be described as ‘practical for modern living’. Both were designed as straightforward architectural solutions to inner city apartment living that demanded concise interior planning at which Massey excelled. Massey was influenced by progressive American house design and believed in ‘the labour-saving house’ in which a bright, easily worked kitchen full of labour-saving devices would be pride of any housewife. He was convinced the hub of a household should be a feature rather than hidden away. In 1950 he was awarded an NZIA Bronze Medal for the design of his own home.

The Gloucester Court Flats has had few recorded alterations and the external facade remains the same as when it was initially designed. The building retains its aesthetic importance , making a significant contribution to the historic neighbourhood of Ponsonby Road and Franklin Road. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

Charles Blomfield, artist and decorator, lived in 40 Wood Street, a house that was built by his brother from a single large kauri tree and now has an Auckland City Council historic places registration B. Charles was born in London, January 1848. When his father died in 1857 his mother, Elizabeth, managed for five years but finally decided to emigrate to New Zealand with the Albertland settlement association. Her second son, Samuel, agreed to bring his own family as well, and they arrived February 9, 1863 in Auckland where they decided to settle and pursue urban trades rather than proceeding to Northland to become farmers. Samuel worked in the building industry and Charles found employment with a house painter who taught him paint mixing, wood graining and other decorative skills, which he specialised in later.

When the 1867 depression hit Auckland, Samuel took his family to Thames where he soon was building houses for the hundreds who joined the gold rush. Charles and two friends were among them but they, like many others, were unsuccessful. Instead, Blomfield found inspiration in the native bush and began painting the scenery. He had no previous training but his natural talent soon mastered the medium. From those days forward he painted wherever he went, working in oils and painting his subjects directly rather than in a studio from sketches. On his return to Auckland, he fell in love with Ellen Wild whom he met at the Baptist Chapel in Wellesley Street. They married in 1874 and in 1879 bought a section in Wood Street for £169.

As well as an exhibiting easel painter, Blomfield also worked as a sign writer and interior decorator. For this trade he had studios in shops, usually on Karangahape Road, one of which he shared with his daughter who made a living painting floral images. She also exhibited at the Auckland Society of Arts. This decorative branch of his work did not prevent him from travelling often and widely throughout the central North Island during the 1870s and 80s where he produced many landscape paintings of the New Zealand countryside.

He viewed the famous pink and white terraces several times and thankfully painted them before they were destroyed by the Mt Tarawera eruption. Maori objected to people finding their way to the terraces and demanded payment for any photos or sketches else they would be destroyed, but Blomfield managed to paint some images without being caught.

Some years later he returned to the area and in 1884 arranged to pay a lump sum to stay as long as he pleased. He camped and painted for six weeks recording many different aspects of the terraces. His sketches and paintings are among the main records of what was once classed as The Eighth Wonder of the World. Blomfield was heartbroken when they were destroyed in 1886 and decided to record the devastation. He painted several scenes of the destruction and realising his images of the terraces were a valuable record, refused to sell them and made many scale copies for sale instead which soon trebled in value. For the rest of his life he relied on them to supplement his income.

Blomfield continued to travel throughout New Zealand painting images of mountains, rivers, lakes and cloud effects. He used all sorts of transport such as stage coach, packet steamer, train and rowing boats. He stayed with friends, in boarding houses and sometimes rented cottages. He walked great distances and carried all his camping and painting gear and basic foodstuffs but also caught fish, eels, rabbits and hares to supplement his meals. His detailed landscapes won him glowing reviews for a time but by 1889 his popularity waned and his work was criticised as being aimed at the tourist market. He was unable to come to terms with this shift and remained staunchly conservative and hostile to ‘modern art’. In later years he ceased painting; embittered, his style was now viewed as passé.

Charles Blomfield died at his residence in Wood Street in 1926.

(DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

The Waiwera Hotel THE FORMER FREEMAN’S BAY HOTEL building was in continuous use as a public house since it was a wooden Georgian-style building on Freeman’s Bay foreshore erected in 1859 by a saw miller and timber merchant, James McLeod.

When land was being reclaimed, it was purchased by Irish-born Michael Dervan in 1877 then destroyed by fire in the mid 1880s, whereupon Dervan commissioned Edward Mahoney and Sons to design new premises which opened in 1886 at a cost of £3000.

It seems odd that no street has been named after Mahoney considering his legacy of so many fine buildings that enhance Auckland’s city landscape.

In contrast to the earlier hotel, the new one was built of brick in an Italianate style with ornately detailed facades on two streets of the corner site. The ground floor accommodated the public bar, plus rooms for private occasions, commercial meetings, playing billiards, dining, and the kitchen. Further sitting rooms, bedrooms and a bathroom were situated on the first and second floors. It’s construction was towards the end of a hotel building boom in central Auckland and subject to the more stringent requirements introduced under the Liquor Licensing Act. These in turn came about because of the Temperance movement’s vociferous lobbying. A positive result was that hotels became more than just drinking establishments but centres of everyday life where public dinners, meetings, wedding festivities and even inquests were held.

According to an Auckland Evening Star report the 16 July 1886, the new Freeman’s Hotel was “Auspiciously opened last night, free house being kept from 5 till 7pm. Every window of the handsome hotel’s three storeys was ablaze with light and the liquor so generously and gratuitously dispensed, the hostelry received an appropriate christening and the health of the popular host and hostess was toasted heartily. Many carried home the bounteous cheers in jugs, while the throng of visitors was so great that at last the side entrance had to be closed.” One wonders how members of the temperance movement reacted to such unlicensed revelry!

When Dervan died in 1898 his widow, Winifred, became the owner of the hotel and continued to live on the premises with her family. Great Northern Breweries leased the enterprise in the early 1900s in order to ensure security of beer supply in a competitive market but was taken over again by Dervan’s two sons, William and Eugene, during World War One. Dervan’s two grandsons, Phillip and Dervan Goldwater, were later licensees for 14 years. Following the Municipal Destructor complex’s expansion a three story, three bay extension was designed again by Edward Mahoney and Sons on the Drake Street frontage that matched the original facade, doubling the hotel’s size. The ground floor now had a dining room, kitchen, scullery and serving room with the upper floors providing further guest accommodation.

The former Freeman’s Hotel is historically significant in that it reflects the importance such establishments had as places of relaxation and recreation in 19th and early 20th Century urban society. It has major links with a notable working class community in Freeman’s Bay that had associations with a local industrial industry and the impact of the Great Depression. It also has close connections with large New Zealand brewery companies which demonstrate changing patterns of hotel ownership in the late 19th Century. In spite of its reputation as one of the suburbs notorious pubs in the 1930s, a youth group, later known as Boystown, then subsequently Youthtown, was founded in the basement during the Great Depression and operated there for 14 years before relocating.

The Dervan family’s time with the hotel ended in 1965 and since then it has had a succession of owners, the latest named the Waiwera Hotel. It remains part of an important part of the historical landscape in Freeman’s Bay, lying immediately next to three early 20th Century lamp stands on the corner of Vernon and Drake Streets relocated on this site in 1968 and it qualifies as a Category ll historic place.

PN (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

YOUNG SONGWRITER WINS AN AWARD Mercy Williams parents tell her she had a propensity for words at a very young age and as she grew older reading became her favourite pastime.

She also likes to strum on her guitar composing music and putting words to the tune at the same time so it becomes an exploration of what she wants to get across. Her favourite theme is about taking control of one’s self, facing life’s struggles and not letting anyone else shape you. When the 15 year old found out about the Play it Strange competition she decided to give it a go. She entered it last year with a song called ‘The Calling’ but it was not part of the CD section.The Play it Strange is a trust that was set up in 2004 by Michael Chunn who was a member of Split Enz and who also formed Citizen Band with his brother Geoff. He still heads the trust which teaches songwriting to school children and is supported by the Lion Foundation.

When Mercy entered Western Springs College she undertook some singing training receiving encouragement and support from her music teacher, Margaret Robertson who must have seen potential in her pupil. Mercy’s mother works at AUT and her father at UNITEC so the importance of study has been instilled in Mercy and her older brother who plays the violin and viola. Their parents decided they should learn Maori as soon as they started school so they are bi-lingual and when Mercy sang live at the Museum as part of the second world war celebrations the song was in both languages.

To enter the competition Mercy had to record her song ‘Embrace the Day’ at home and send it into the judges. When the glad tidings of her win arrived she was almost overwhelmed with excitement and ran to Margaret in the music room crying “look at this”. Her reward was a $500 Rock Shop voucher and a free recording session at a studio of her choice, which will be Roundhead Studios in Newton. At the award ceremony which was held mid November above the Rockshop in K’Road Mercy performed her song to a live audience. It will also be included on the annual Play It Strange CD. It must be mentioned that Western Springs College has a rich history of musical talent which includes Lorde’s producer Joel Little, the Hip Hop group Nesian Mystik and Che Fu, a founding member of Supergroove.

So where does Mercy find her groundswell of inspiration? She says it’s mostly from reading young adult novels such as works by John Green and listening to New Zealand singer songwriters she loves such as Marlon Williams, Jamie McDell and, of course, Lorde. Swimming is another favourite pastime because it slows everything down and clears her mind. She has two more years at school and will study maths, English, Te Reo, history, classics and music. Kapa Haka has been part of her schooling which has a lot of song-based learning. It’s been valuable to Mercy because it requires big sounds and forces individuals to extend their voices into those big ranges. There’s no microphone so Mercy through Kapa Haka has discovered other qualities in her voice and is working on those. She now has that big sound but is also concentrating on the falsetto sound and low range tones that are not part of Kapa Haka.

Mercy says her music is written as a journey - a journey that is is bound to take her to PN great heights. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

The Birdcage THE FORMER ROB ROY HOTEL, RENAMED THE BIRDCAGE IN 1981 WAS DESIGNED BY prolific architect Edward Mahoney whose work remains evident in many commercial, residential, school and church buildings still standing in Auckland which contribute substantially to Auckland’s architectural heritage. Freemans Bay was originally used by Maori for fishing and trading but after the founding of colonial Auckland in 1840 it was purchased from the crown in 1853 and the Rob Roy Hotel was located on the foreshore until the bay’s reclamation started to take place in the 1870s. During those early days Freemans Bay was well known as a place of recreational drinking and Maori referred to it as Waipiro (stinking water or spirits) Bay. Once the reclamation was done, Samuel Jagger, a well-known brewer, purchased a vacant site on the corner of Franklin Road and Patteson Street (renamed Victoria Street). The Rob Roy, now located on the corner of the newly formed Drake and Centre Streets had been operating since the early 1860s, but in June 1885 the Licensing Committee would not renew its license so Samuel Jagger undertook the construction of a new hotel utilising the earlier name. The temperance movement had gained power when the Licensing Act of 1881 was passed, implementing stringent hygiene, comfort and accommodation requirements in public houses. Such upgrading was designed to minimise alcohol consumption’s worst excesses. Contrary to the temperance movement’s expectations the new law led to a hotel construction boom, with older licensees upgrading their establishments.

Edward Mahoney designed a highly ornamented facade for the Rob Roy Hotel in the Victorian Italinate style which was commonly used in 19th Century British public houses and emulated here on corner pubs. They provided elaborate separate spaces within the buildings to cater for technical requirements and groups of differing social status. The Rob Roy’s facade was divided into bays with expressed pilasters and pediments that capped the central bays. Each level was defined with a string course and the parapet incorporated sections to open circular balustrades above the windows. It was visually impressive with decorative plasterwork and two plastered brick chimneys.

When the new Rob Roy was completed in 1886 it had 25 rooms. A kitchen, pantry, scullery, coal cellar, storeroom and three servants’ bedrooms were on the basement floor. The kitchen had every convenience such as a lift up to the dining room plus hot and cold water taps. The bar was on the ground floor facing a 24 by 20 foot furnished room and a large dining room fronted Drake Street which had three adjoining sitting rooms with electric bells connecting them to the bar. A staircase led up to the top floor which contained nine bedrooms, a bathroom, WC and linen closet. There was also a 20 x 16 sitting room with an oriel window that afforded a view over the harbour. In spite of all this splendour, the Temperance candidates for the licence committee election made it clear they would not grant the Rob Roy a licence. The election attracted wide public attention, was won by the Temperance movement’s opponents and immediately the licence was transferred from the old hotel to the new one.

The Rob Roy has historical significance for many reasons: The land-use changes in Auckland; the foreshore reclamations; it demonstrates the importance of public houses as centres for recreation and relaxation; the impact of the Temperance movement; its association with brewing companies and Mayor John Banks who co-owned the building with Tony White in the 1980s, renaming it ‘The Birdcage’; its importance to a notable industrial working class community in Freemans Bay; the impacts of the Great Depression; the 1913 Waterfront Strike when 64 hotels were closed since they were deemed places where radicals met to discuss labour relations. On 11 November 1913, one thousand strikers marched past the closed Rob Roy on their way to a rally in Victoria Park.

The hotel was purchased by the Crown under the Public Works Act and its temporary relocation in 2010 reflected Auckland’s ongoing motorway development.

PN (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

A TRAGEDY ON BROWN STREET Ponsonby local personality, 71-year-old Valerie Gibson died on Friday 2 October late at night when her house was engulfed by flames.

Her next door neighbour, Maggie Thompson, was woken by her dog and immediately dialled 111, but the blaze was so intense she realised Valerie could not have survived.

The fire was reaching her own house so she ran into the garden and tried spraying both dwellings till the firefighters arrived and eventually controlled the furnace. Now nearby residents and many others in the wider community are mourning the loss of a very special person.

Valerie was born in Hamilton and when she turned five, attended Diocesan School for Girls where her mischievous nature bucked against the trend, even encouraging a boyfriend to ride his motorbike through the school grounds. At age 21, London called where she flatted with Judith Durham of The Seekers and rubbed shoulders with the Kray brothers. She was actually employed for a time by the notorious criminals as a cashier in one of their nightclubs. Sydney was her next destination before returning like a homing pigeon to New Zealand where she bought her house in Ponsonby.

Valerie, a well-known Japanese Chin breeder, won many awards on the dog show circuit.

Her camper van was a well-known sight at these events with her many darlings taking up observance of the proceedings from the windows. After she retired from showing, they remained her constant companions and she was often observed by neighbours having to round them up when they escaped into the street.

The camper van was swapped for a large station wagon which she often parked in the disabled area at New World supermarket with all nine of her pets taking up pride of place in the rear. Needless to say they attracted a lot of amused interest and requests from people wanting to buy one, but Valerie refused to part with any, explaining they were her dearest companions and rather than sleeping alone she shared her bed with all nine of her Chins.

Her enchanting little dogs deserved this special treatment because the Japanese Chin is a true aristocrat hailing from Asia, being prized as a companion for more than a thousand years. He was a popular member of Chinese and Japanese imperial courts, and his distinctive look was developed in Japan where ownership was restricted to those of royal and noble blood.

They are elegant, dainty, mild-mannered and playful. Mercifully Valerie and her dogs must have been deeply asleep when the fire broke out and smoke inhalation would have rendered them unconscious before they perished. Aspen, the sole survivor has been adopted by close friends.

After news of the disaster was broadcast, messages of condolence flooded in from all parts of New Zealand and Australia. A service was held for Valerie at Grange Manor in Mt Eden on Wednesday 7 October with all donations given to the SPCA. PN (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

The Cavalier Tavern - The Suffolk Arms This historic tavern is one of the few remaining wooden pubs in Auckland. Records don’t reveal when it was actually built, but in 1865 a James Chapman was granted a licence for the Suffolk Arms Hotel. According to researchers, the actual building was probably erected between 1864 and 1868, so it has been a popular local for some 140 years and is still plying its trade successfully - even though Ponsonby is now inundated with trendy bars.

Getting to the hotel in those early days was a bit of a mission. Access was up or down a muddy track running beside a grass verge and when it rained water flowed down from the Dedwood Ridge both behind and in front of the pub, hence the naming of Cascade and Spring Streets.

The Suffolk Arms also served as a meeting place for community groups, particularly the Dedwood Highway Board whose members had to organise and lobby the government to finance the building of new roads. Locals could not afford the sixpenny fare to travel on the horse drawn trams that had to reconnoitre through the mud on College Hill. Instead, those hardy souls had to struggle on foot up the steep incline to attend the many ratepayer meetings held at the hotel, which were often “very rowdy”.

A letter in an 1871 edition of the Cross makes for hilarious reading. The writer evidently had strong objection to another correspondent who dared to opine that the board should be doing something about unformed roads in the the Dedwood Highway district.

“Does that self-conceited individual wish the Board to throw a lot of metal on unformed roads. I have a strong suspicion that he would like a good metalled road to his own door paid for by other persons. Let ‘Ratepayer’ pay his rates and not expect rates paid by other people spent for his benefit”. Finally, in 1878 the track was tarsealed so that more people could attend the meetings and College Hill was the first footpath in Ponsonby to be asphalted, but it was many years before the road was sealed.

Interestingly, a building originally used for storing war material became redundant after the war and Messrs T.T. Masefield and Field persuaded the government to allow for its removal to Jervois Road near the site which would eventually be occupied by the Gluepot.

The entrepreneurs intended it to serve as a centre of culture and community groups in the area. At a public meeting in 1875, very few share options were taken up so with minimal capital, the company had mountainous debts and liabilities. There weren’t many applications for its use and meanwhile the Suffolk Arms continued to be popular for social groups and sporting fans. The Dedwood Highway Board continued to post announcements there about rate levies that were up for public inspection.

Not much has been altered at the Cavalier over the years, apart from the name change.

The stables and cobblestone wood-fired kitchen are still in place, although they are used as storage nowadays.

Early pubs generally had a corner entrance lit by a gas lamp so imbibers could easily locate their favourite watering hole.

The Cavalier has a replica lamp still in place on the corner of Cascade Street. The historical décor has been retained in all its glory with gilt-framed paintings of British royalty, military and sporting events decorating the walls, most installed around the time the pub was built.

More recently added accoutrements are totally appropriate, such as the large sandstone sculpture of a cavalier sitting above the bar which in its turn, is fashioned from wood recovered from a demolished church in Bristol. Another cavalier image is inlaid on an intricately carved kauri fireplace, adding to the olde world ambience.

Understandably, The Cavalier has had many owners during its long history, among them John Campbell in 1897. It is protected by the Auckland City Council for its heritage value.

(DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

17 Hepburn Street

Auckland Girls’ Grammar

This large Italianate residence was built for a Henry Elliot in 1890 but the large house is notable because it was subsequently lived in by William Crush Daldy.

He whom the historic steam engine tugboat is named after and a street in Freemans Bay. Built in 1935 for the Auckland Harbour Board the tug is fired by two coal burning boilers, making her one of the strongest still afloat today. When one of the pre-assembled main sections of the Auckland Harbour Bridge was in danger of being lost or damaged in a major storm, the manoeuvring boats failed to keep control of the the construction barge that was floating the structure into place. The William C. Daldy came to the rescue and kept up the pull until the wind subsided.

Captain Daldy was born in 1816 at Rainham, Essex where his father was a coal merchant.

He began seafaring life at the age of 16 in one of his father’s colliers but upon the latter’s death he struck out on his own and sailed for Van Dieman’s Land as Captain of the ‘Sharnrock’ that traded between British ports and various others around the world.

The first Custom House in Auckland opened the day Captain Daldy brought his schooner into the port, 1 July, 1841, and for three years the vessel traded between Auckland and Sydney. In 1847 he purchased land in the neighbourhood and for a couple of years traded as a timber merchant. He then established a wholesale shipping house company, ‘Coombes and Daldy’.

Captain Daldy had always taken an interest in public affairs and in 1858 was elected as Auckland’s representative, becoming a Minister of the Crown in the same year. He was a hearty supporter of provincialism and and later was appointed Provincial Secretary when he carried through a Bill for Auckland’s first provincial loan of half a million. While on a business visit to England in 1865 he acted as agent for the Auckland Provincial Government and in that capacity sent about one thousand emigrants to New Zealand, all of whom paid the greater part of their passage money. In doing so, he certainly proved himself a a capable and efficient salesman for his adopted country. He also purchased the first railway engine plus material for the province in the Home Markets.

When the Auckland Harbour was formed he was chosen as its first chairman, a position he held for seven years. He was responsible for the acquisition of some five thousand acres of sea bed, a major portion of which has since been reclaimed, providing the board with a huge asset. In the original document endowing the board with rights to the Auckland Harbour, he cunningly inserted the words ‘and its bed’. He sat on the Auckland Council for a few months but in that short period he was instrumental in negotiating the Western Springs water supply for the city. The frequency of fires prompted he and other prominent citizens determined to take preventative measures, and to that end formed one of the finest fire brigades in the colony. Daldy was appointed its captain.

He married Frances Pulham in 1841 who died in 1877. A few years later he married Amey Hammerton, a woman of radical views for the times who campaigned for women’s rights and social justice. Perturbed by the heavy losses fires caused during those early years he was a founding member of the New Zealand Insurance Company and was appointed one its first directors. His activities as a citizen were so many they make for a long list. He was a man deeply concerned with the community’s welfare and never sought public recognition, but gave wholehearted support to any movement which made for progress. His life and times would make a riveting biography but I believe such a book has yet to be written. William Crush Daldy died at 17 Hepburn Street on 5 October 1903. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

AUCKLAND GIRLS’ GRAMMAR HAS HAD A CHEQUERED HISTORY. WAY BACK IN 1850 SIR George Grey made a series of land grants to establish and maintain a grammar school in Auckland that was to be ‘for the education of all New Zealanders’. The Trust Board had to wait a good number of years before income from the land was able to support a school. Eventually, in 1868 by an Auckland Provincial Government Act, the promised school was founded and opened in immigration barracks on Howe Street by the Duke of Edinburgh with only 68 boys on the roll. By 1871, the pupil attendance had grown so the school moved across to the Albert Barracks in Princess Street and the following year it was named Auckland College and Grammar School. After being moved into three more unsuitable locations nearby, a new permanent building for a school in Symonds Street was opened by Sir George Grey.

Meanwhile, in 1877, an Auckland Girls’ High School had opened in Upper Queen Street premises rented from Wesley College trustees. Miss Sophia Stodhart who had campaigned for years for an Auckland Ladies College was appointed Headmistress.

She resigned only 15 months later after a critical inspector’s report stated “a strong male hand could improve the situation”! During the 1880s Depression and Parliament’s withdrawal of the annual grant to the school, out of economic necessity the girls were admitted to the Auckland College and Grammar School. Girls’ education wasn’t a priority among early British settlers.

In today’s terms the integrated school would hardly be described as co-educational, but rather co-existential. Although being located on the same site, it was operated as two separate schools and much effort was spent keeping the boys and girls apart. The girls had their own quarters, a separate entrance and a 14-foot wall divided the playground.

This rather odd merger is regarded as the foundation of Auckland Girls’ Grammar but many years passed before it moved to a home of its own. In 1906, because of the increasing role, it was decided to create a separate girls’ grammar school. Architects Goldsbro’ and Wade who had designed the Victoria Arcade, the Northern Steamship Company building on Quay Street and the Ponsonby Fire Station on St Marys Bay Road were commissioned to design the new school.

The firm came up with a three-storey brick building at the top of Howe Street that had ‘bright spacious classrooms’ and an impressive 20-foot tower. This original main block has a Category 2 Historic Places listing. It has been described as Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian but certainly has Arts and Crafts elements with banded brickwork as in other Goldsbro’ and Wade buildings. The former Beresford Street Primary School was amalgamated with Napier Street Primary to give the grammar school ample playing fields and additional buildings. The Beresford Street school, designed by Education Board Architect, John Farrell, is a decorative timbered villa with gabled wings and is also protected with a B council listing.

The foundation stone was laid by the Minister of Education, George Fowlds on 12 December, 1907 who officially opened the school 8 April 1909 and one of the pupils who attended the school when it was based in Symonds Street, namely Anne Watt Whitelaw was appointed Headmistress. She had excelled academically back then and left New Zealand in 1893 having gained a scholarship to further her education at Girton College, Cambridge. She then taught at Wycombe Abbey near London where girls followed the full academic and sporting curriculum which included carpentry and gardening. One of her many famous pupils was Ellen Mellville, whose struggle for pioneer women is commemorated in the hall named after her in central Auckland. Auckland Girls’ Grammar can rightly claim to have always had a tradition of social responsiveness and progression and reflects the multi-culturism we enjoy today. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

Auckland Girls’ Grammar A Block

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

ASB Bank

Queens Hall

The Auckland Savings Bank building on Jervois Road near the Three Lamps corner has an 11 Heritage listing with the Historic Places Trust.

Opened March 2, 1928 and costing £8500 this was New Zealand’s first savings bank. It is significant in that it was the first city branch building constructed during a period of expansion during the 1920s and 1930s. The building was designed by English-trained architect Daniel Boys Patterson who emigrated to New Zealand in 1910 when he was 30 years old. He joined the list of English architects that had already influenced early 20th Century urban design in Auckland. This small neo -classical building is one of the many the Auckland Savings Bank commissioned Patterson to design. Similar landmark buildings he is responsible for are still standing in Auckland’s other centres and in provincial towns throughout the Auckland province. He was still designing banks for the ASB right up until his death in the 1960s.

Thanks to the Jervois Road bank’s long occupation of the premises little has been altered over the years and remains a good example of a typical suburban bank of those early times. Access to the ground floor was, and still is, through solid double doors to the ground floor with its high 4.5 metre stud. The dignified, classical style was seen as suitable in order to inspire confidence in the bank’s soundness and security. The interior with solid oak panelling and fixtures, and the manager’s residential accommodation on the upper level emphasised that clients’ confidentiality would be sacrosanct. The impressive facade has been well maintained to this present day. The building’s classical style was the preferred option for bank design from Victorian times until the Second World War. Today it comprises two levels of character offices with many of them with the original 1920 features intact. These include the high-stud space on the ground floor, kauri wooden flooring, oak panelling and large leadlight windows. The bank manager’s residential accommodation on the first floor has been converted into character offices incorporating a kitchen with the usual amenities and a rear deck that has sweeping views of Auckland Harbour and the Westhaven Marina. A dignified outcome for a lovely little building. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

The imposing brick and cement building on Paget Street has an intriguing history and is still an object of curiosity to passers by.

The street was originally part of a large block extending to Ponsonby Road that was divided into lots, one of which auctioned off to a Mr Knapp in 1886.

The street itself is named after the redoubtable Earl of Uxbridge, whose family name was Paget. Alexander and Bessie Thorne married in 1880 and moved to Paget Street as well.

Alexander was born in Auckland in 1848, and must qualify as one of New Zealand’s New Zealand’s earliest European citizens. The Thornes were both active members of the Methodist Church and Mrs Thorne was a foundation member of the Women’s and Christian Temperance Union’s local branch.

Sometimes in the early 1900s Bessie and Alexander were the registered owners of two wooden buildings on Paget Street. Bessie decided to have a hall built adjacent to her property where the family lived. The apocryphal story is that she had an ambition to provide a recital hall for her two daughters’ musical talents. She engaged Alexander Wiseman, the son of James Wiseman who came to New Zealand with his brother, Alexander from Tasmania, to set up a saddlery business like their father had back at home. The younger Alexander trained as an architect and had designed the Ferry Building, one of Auckland’s significant landmarks. He designed an impressive brick building for Bessie with a cement stucco front that had a hall, gallery, dressing rooms and all the up-to-date amenities.The building was constructed in1906 and a description of the opening was published in the New Zealand Herald in August that same year.

The article describes the Queens Hall as a welcome addition to Auckland’s public halls and it was intended to serve as a meeting place for various social purposes, which gives lie to the story that it was solely for her family’s use. The hall provided enough chairs to seat 170 people and the gallery had a handsome serpentine front and polished rail, which was reached by a broad flight of stairs leading from the street. The stage and gallery combined to accommodate an additional 120 people. Ante rooms behind the stage were designed as dressing rooms and above them was a photographic studio.

The large basement was turned into a well-equipped kitchen.

The Mayor, Sir Arthur Myers, in declaring the hall open said that a small charge for the hall’s use would only be sufficient to cover expenses because Mrs Thorne’s chief object was to provide a suitable place for “musical, literary and social evenings of an elevating character and for religious work.” Phew, a worthy goal indeed! He wound up his address by declaring that Mrs Thorne’s efforts would result in great benefit to the locality. Applause followed and on the motion of the chairman a vote of thanks was tendered to the Mayor. The Misses Thorne then had the opportunity to contribute a duet to a short musical programme and all present enjoyed an afternoon tea dispensed by a ladies’ committee.

Interior alterations were carried out in 1922, which were overseen by Bessie whose husband had died the year before. Mrs Thorne died in 1944 and the property was transferred to her daughter who, two years later, sold it to a young businessman, Alick Wilson, who had established an upholstery business with Lionel Nicholson in 1938. They ran a highly successful enterprise from the Queens Hall for three decades. When they eventually retired the building was sold to the well known restaurateur of the 70s, Tony White who converted the building into a four bedroom dwelling with a British pub-style bar in a corner of the living room. Aucklanders Gwen and Don Bowman were the next purchasers and the brilliant acoustics attracted the next owner, pianist Barry Margan who installed his Steinway piano.

Margan sold Queens Hall to its current owner who prefers to remain anonymous. She fell PN in love with the building and sees herself “growing old in it”. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LOCAL HISTORY

Allendale House The ornate Italianate villa on 50 Ponsonby Road was built in the 1890s for a prosperous saddler, George Allen.

It’s now rated 1 for heritage protection by the Historic Places Trust and B by Auckland City Council. With its distinctive turret it afforded the owner a splendid view of Western Park and Freemans Bay right across to the harbour. The elaborate wrought iron work on the verandahs and fences make for a prominent landmark on Ponsonby’s streetscape and the two storied mansion is one of the area’s most admired buildings.

When Captain Hobson negotiated with Maori to purchase 3000 acres on the isthmus in order to establish a capital, Auckland came into existence. The land was divided into sections one of which formed Grey Lynn, Ponsonby and Herne Bay. These were then cut up into allotments and one of them was bought by a surveyor, John Kelly.

The land covered 15.58 hectares but within six weeks he sold it for the same price to John Montefore, a founder of the Auckland Savings Bank, who also bought six neighbouring allotments. All this land was sold to Messrs James Williamson and Thomas Crummer which they farmed for over 40 years as the Surrey Hills Farm Estate. Eventually they sold out to the Auckland Agricultural Co which then subdivided it into residential lots.

In 1890 a solicitor bought three of these lots for £1280 and two of them form the present property of 809sq.m which was bought by George Allen on 10 February 1891 for £463/2/6. He built the present house as a townhouse in the same year and called it Allendale.

Prominent architect, Mr Mahoney designed the corner bay villa which was typical of many Victorian houses built on street corner sections, with two bay windows facing the two respective streets.

Its construction combined plastered brick with wooden floors and a slate roof. The turret was a common feature of corner bay villas and in the present house it includes an observation room. The

ornate wrought iron work on the verandahs and fence was a typical feature of Victorian houses and looked very much as it does today.

The wooden building at the back was built about the same time. It consisted of stables downstairs and a hay loft upstairs. The loft was accessed from the stables by a ladder and a trapdoor through which fodder was tossed down to the horses. It’s probable the four trees on the property were planted about that time and are now listed for preservation with the Auckland City Council.

Although Mr Allen owned the house for 10 years, but after living there for the first year, let it out to a number of tenants including a Miss M. Long who ran it as a boarding house. After moving to Sydney he sold it to a fancygoods importer who then sold it eight months later to a Mr Hendy for only £250 who leased the building to various tenants over succeeding years, among them Dr Leslie Drury who lived and practised in the house, eventually buying it after Mrs Hendy died.

Allendale House has weathered many lives over its long years. In turn it has been used as a private residence, boarding house, doctor’s rooms, private hospital, a hostel for Maori girls, a refuge for alcoholic men and a top-class restaurant.

The ASB Community Trusts bought Allendale House in 1989, which links back to an original connection, the ASB’s original founding member, Mr Montefore. The numerous indignities inflicted on the house throughout the years had to be rectified. Salmon Reed Architects were brought on board to upgrade the historic building as well as commissioning a seismic survey, while ensuring many of the heritage details were preserved. This involved raising ceilings that had been lowered, reinstatement of original spaces, selecting an appropriate colour scheme, to say nothing of replacing the roof, spouting and strengthening the chimneys. The outcome is a gift to Ponsonby’s streetscape for which the trust, now named Foundation North, should be applauded. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

LOCAL NEWS FRANKLIN ROAD UPGRADE Auckland Transport convened a meeting on Monday 9 March in the Dorothy Winstone Theatre at Auckland Girls Grammar which was attended by a large number of Freemans Bay residents.

The purpose of the gathering is to give an update on what is planned for Franklin Road.

Greg Edmonds, the Chief Operations Manager outlined what progress had been made.

He emphasised how important it is to improve the pavements, protect the trees and provide safety for vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists as well as retaining as much street parking as possible. He reported that since the meetings with residents in April and November, Auckland Transport has analysed the feedback received and met with Vector who has made a commitment to underground the street lights.

This is a complete turn around from the power company’s initial reaction to the proposal and is a very positive outcome.

AT has considered whether a roundabout would work at the Wellington - England Streets intersection. During consultation with residents there was concern raised about the danger it posed to both pedestrian and vehicle safety. At this early stage it seems a possibility and would certainly slow traffic, provide safer egress from both streets and make the pedestrian crossing more visible.

This is certainly a better option than traffic signals that at a distance would be obscured by trees and only visible when vehicles are too close to the intersection. Another favourable result from consultation was, pending approval, granting residential parking permits in Freemans Bay which will control the level of commuter parking that is so irksome for people who live there. So far, so good, but a planned cycleway on Franklin Road received a very negative response from the audience.

AT has consulted with our local board and both are supporting the proposed cycleway that will be part of a network across the city. Not a single person I spoke to before the meeting was in favour. There was quite a list of objections; paint on a road doesn’t make for safe cycling infrastructure, cyclists would need to give way at four intersections, the downward gradient encourages a high speed buildup, there’s a high chance of being clipped by a car reversing out of a driveway, visibility is low particularly in wet weather and leaf fall adds to the danger of an accident, properties with high fences don’t have clear sight lines when reversing out of a driveway, the implementation of a cycleway is bound to result in accidents, even fatalities.

A conversation with Ross Thorby, longtime resident on the road, revealed that it is not included in the Draft Auckland Cycle Network nor as a cycle highway connector or feeder in spite of Greenways documents mentioning it is. He opines that the road is not a logical connection to the waterfront but that College Hill is wider and more suitable, having less trees blocking sight lines and fewer residential traffic backing out of driveways.

So, policy determiners, in this case people power might triumph as it did on Great North Road when an ancient pohutukawa stand was saved from destruction.

PN (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

GREY LYNN RESIDENTS VOICE THEIR CONCERNS The Grey Lynn and Arch Hill residents’ associations, plus the Waitemata Local Board, held a community meeting at the Grey Lynn Library Hall on 11 March at 5.45pm.

Its purpose was to answer questions from residents and collect views on the Auckland Council’s 10-year budget. Members of the local board gave an overview of projects and proposals for the western part of the Waitemata, particularly the completion of the Weona Coastal Walkway, restoration of Western Springs native bush and funding of local events such as the Grey Lynn Park Festival. Shale Chambers gave a Power Point presentation to illustrate the council’s decision-making on the long-term plan which generated plenty of comment from the floor.

On transport, the general opinion was that a 1.5 cent fuel tax is insufficient and the council is not being bold enough in pushing for a levy on petrol usage. A need to finish finish the City Rail Link and so reduce congestion on roads was emphasised and maybe a congestion tax should be another option to consider. As far as business was concerned a man who owns a cartage company stated the rates should not be reduced as owners make a profit off their properties, unlike householders. There was general consensus that the Grey Lynn centre needed an upgrade.

Some I spoke to before the meeting commenced objected to Auckland Transport’s proposed changes to bus stops in the Grey Lynn shopping centre. This would remove 12 car parking spaces which is of great concern to local retailers and an inconvenience to shoppers. The liquor creep on residential sites, for instance on the corner of Peel Street and Richmond Road, was of great concern to the whole community.

There was agreement that Grey Lynn Park is functioning well but needs to be made wheelchair accessible. The space above the dog walking track would lend itself perfectly to a BMX trail as there is a need to encourage young people to cycle. Everyone supported the removal of at risk trees in the Western Park pine stand, particularly those close to properties. Also the Home Street playground should be upgraded within the next three years.

The local board was urged to advocate for funding from the long-term plan towards the 254 Ponsonby Road project and to stop ‘ugly’ developments that are poorly designed.

(Of course that might prove a contentious move as one person’s aesthetic might be another’s poison!)

The reduction of library hours was a big no, no and there was concern expressed about the implications of the fruit fly eradication programme on biodiversity, for example the bee population. So far the Franklin Road upgrade has been funded to the tune of eight to nine million dollars, the walking and cycling programme gets $70 million but residents parking permits remain unfunded as yet.

The board’s advocacy areas include the mitigation of a flooding risk downstream from Western Park, completion of the Auckland Cycling Network, to secure funding for a regional greenways network, and the development of 254 Ponsonby Road into a public space.

Back in 2012, the Waitemata Local Board allocated funds to develop the Weona Walkway along Westmere’s coastal reserve land, as part of a programme to create a pathway from Meola Reef to the Hobson Bay walkway via Parnell. Unfortunately the reserve land was neglected over many years by previous councils and neighbouring properties encroached on the land, making it no longer possible to walk around the coast except at low tide. The 1.4km walkway will eventually be a mix of aggregate surface and boardwalk, but questions were asked at the meeting about the water quality beside the walkway and the need for its improvement.

This will be a staged project to be completed over the next eight years during which time similar such problems will be addressed. All in all it was a constructive meeting and will provide valuable feedback for the board to analyse and act on where possible.

PN (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) 

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

Ponsonby Fire Station The lovely little building at 15 St Marys Road is one of the oldest fire stations in New Zealand and its historical and architectural significance is recognised by the Auckland City Council with a Category B listing.

There’s speculation as to who was the designer; records indicate it was probably Goldsbro’ & Wade but John Stacpoole in his book, ‘Victorian Auckland’ suggests it was Scottish architect, Robert Watt who designed the Leys Institute and Gymnasium nearby. The two buildings are very different style-wise and since Goldsbro’ was partner in the first architectural firm with a strong Arts and Crafts influence one would suppose he is the most likely contender.

The building certainly has many features of Arts and Crafts architecture which allows the function of the building and its activities to determine the outer shape and the construction, leaving out excessive ornamental features.

The buildings also tend to have graceful curved arches rather than pointed examples and many were designed on a modest scale. There was also a contrast in values between classical architecture and Arts and Crafts. Classical architecture was seen as being built by wage earners, whereas Arts and Crafts relied on a partnership between designer and craftsman in which the latter was highly respected alongside the artist and architect.

George Golsbro’s father was a doctor who emigrated to New Zealand in 1860 and served as a surgeon during the Maori wars. George was born in 1870 and studied architecture under R Mackay Fripp who arrived here in 1881 from Bristol and opened an architectural practice, later becoming the secretary of the Auckland Society of Arts where he introduced architecture classes and competitions. He left for Canada in 1888 and Goldsbro’ moved to Australia to work under Shulman & Poweres, Howard Joseland and Theo Kennis, all of whom had pursued successful and influential careers there. With valuable experience under his belt, he returned to Auckland and formed a partnership with Henry Wade.

The firm designed the main building of Auckland Girls Grammar School, and we assume, the yellow brick Fire Station at St Marys Bay that was constructed in 1902. The station was well equipped with all the early firefighting essentials. There were hose reels mounted on two cartwheels that firefighters could pull along manually as well as canvas hoses on a horse-manned two wheeled cart.

These ‘horsed reels’ were in use until 1909 when the Fire Board took over Central and Ponsonby Stations from the City Council. New appliances were ordered for Central and an Ariel-Simplex hose tender which could carry a crew of eight was moved to the Ponsonby Station. Its stables were no longer required and they were converted into accommodation for the foreman. According to the superintendent of the Auckland Fire Board, a Mr CA Woolley proclaimed, “It is requisite that a foreman of the station is married. It is cheaper for the Fire Board to have him live at the station”.

Goldsbro’ was architect to the Anglican Diocese and designed churches and parish halls in Papatoetoe, Howick, and Manurewa plus many houses in Remuera and Mt Eden, some of which have been demolished, including the Goldie house on St Georges Bay Road. It’s very fortunate that the Ponsonby Fire Station has survived, even though it was sold in 1923 when the staff and fire engine were transferred to a new station on the corner of Ponsonby Road and Lincoln Street, which was eventually replaced with a new building.

The fire station had a string of new lives, first as a somewhat notorious nightclub, then later a funeral parlour, a tea business, a newspaper publishing company, a toy factory and finally a succession of fine dining restaurants. These have always been evening establishments but presently the building is undergoing a refurbishment and will be transformed into a daytime cafe named ‘Mary’s’, opening from 7am to 4pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 4pm weekends. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)  PN

WOMEN FOR EQUALITY Fern Mercier and Linley Scott are planning to write a book about the part their group, Women for Equality, played in the early 70s and 80s.

A recent publication about Freemans Bay in former times makes no mention of their efforts in trying to effect social change. Rather than having their contribution written out of history, they feel motivated to have it archived so it won’t be lost in the mists of time. With this project in mind, they decided to have a reunion on 31 January this year in the very same house, 8 Winn Road where about 10 founding members of ‘Women for Equality’ lived communally from 1971 to 1985. The purpose of this celebration was to stimulate memories and recall anecdotes. Fern had written a Linley Scott has her arm round chapter in a book entitled ‘Changing our Fern Mercier Lives’ which was about the early days of women’s liberation, and she found the best way to recall memories was to brainstorm with others who were also involved in the movement.

Nearly a hundred people from all over the country attended the reunion and many recollections of those early days were recounted. The original group comprised of men, women and children who had been living in a communal house in Williamson Ave when 8 Wiinn Road came up for sale. It was one of the first farmhouses in the area and Fern says that according to an urban legend, Goldie once lived there. The group could not get a loan from a bank in those days but luckily the owner decided to leave money in it for the co-operative, which purchased the property for only $14,000. Freemans Bay was a poor suburb back then and the house was not the only one there with no water and an outside toilet. The house was a complete mess but the four couples, along with their children, set to and made it habitable.

They had all sorts of aims and ideals and the whole point of living together was to put those concepts into practice. In fact, there were a number of communes flourishing in this part of town back then; two in Picton Street and, almost next door, another at 12 Winn Road that was set up by a feminist group which was the first to establish women’s refuges. On one occasion a woman in number 12 got so mad with her partner she threw all his clothes outside onto the pavement. He gathered them up and shouted, “I’m going to Waiheke,” and trekked off down Anglesea Street. A few minutes later she calmed down and decided to give him a lift to the ferry. When she drew up alongside him she wound down her window and called out, “I’ll run you down.” He took the words literally and scarpered off as fast as he could!

They had a roster of duties, a printing press and used to go out into factories to distribute leaflets about equal pay, abortion and childcare. They were very focussed on their political work and their most significant achievement was consciousness raising, particularly among working class women and some other political groups as well. They also did a lot of work on how to conduct meetings. But it wasn’t all toil and no play. They had get-togethers with like minded socialists, went on picnics and had lunches for out of town visitors. Share holders came and went over the 15 years but the original ideology remained intact.

Nevertheless the good times came to an inevitable end. Interest rates in the 70s were exorbitant and they had never tried to reduce the mortgage on the house. People who replaced shareholders just paid a minimal rent so the group had quite a debt to service. Also while one loves one’s friends, one doesn’t necessarily love their partners, so everyone eventually returned to a ‘nuclear family’ setup. One of the positives of the reunion was listening to the younger generation talk of how happy they were living communally and the freedom and fun they enjoyed. Fern and Linley observed how those grown children practice the same ideology and have passed them down to their own children. Linley describes how those memories are like a book full of adventure and wonderful characters that she and Fern can dip into for the rest of their lives. Most significantly, attendees at the reunion all agreed their time at Winn Road produced PN wonderful adults. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

Photography: Geoff Beynon www.digipro.co.nz

DEIRDRE TOHILL: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

Hopetoun Alpha in 2008, the building was the setting for Ponsonby’s Top 10 Entrepreneurs Awards Dinner

Hopetoun Alpha Built in1875 this Greek Doric building was designed for the Beresford Street Congregational Independents by Philip Herapath.

Many examples of his buildings are still standing such as the Pitt Street Methodist Church. He had emigrated from England, arriving in Auckland, May 1857 and worked as an architect, a civil engineer, a surveyor and painter, (as in artist). It’s been said he was on occasion, a painting companion of JC Richmond and John Gully.

decline in attendance and became financially compromised. The nearby Presbyterian church in Union Street burnt down in 1965 and the two congregations, finding their differences were no longer irreconcilable, combined and the Beresford Street Church was renamed St James.

The congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches where each congregation independently runs its own affairs. The first one in New Zealand was established in Auckland in 1851 and the movement here grew so rapidly that by 1870 the Independents required a building in the upper part of the city. They initially wanted a masonry building but cost constraints led them to choose a radical new material, namely poured concrete.

With the motorway construction in the 60s, the inner city population dropped dramatically and St James, along with several other churches, had to cope with an ageing building and a much reduced membership. It was over a hundred years old and in urgent need of repair. Earthquake strengthening expense was beyond the limited congregation’s resources and eventually it was decided to relocate and put the building up for sale.

Josiah Clifton Firth was a prominent member of the congregation and noted for constructing two concrete castles - one in Mount Eden called Clifton House and another in Matamata where he had considerable land holdings and was nicknamed ‘the Duke of Matamata’. He recommended the use of concrete and Hopetoun Alpha was probably the first poured-concrete church in New Zealand.

The building had no heritage protection at the time so it was lucky an Auckland businessman and philanthropist, Ashton Wylie purchased it with preservation in mind.

Otherwise it was bound to have fallen to the developers’ hammer. He proceeded to renovate the unique and stunning architectural gem to an exceptionally high standard and named it Hopetoun Alpha.

Captain William Daldy became involved in the project and made major financial contributions towards its construction. Being an austere Protestant denomination, the building, unlike many churches, had no additional decorative details. The windows were of plain frosted glass and the interior had very little ornamentation. There was no fixed altar, the pulpit and lectern taking precedence, a manifestation that God’s word was more important than ritual.

Ashton Wylie had a wide range of other interests, some of which unfortunately were unable to be fully developed before his untimely death in late 1999.

The church opening was described in the Southern Cross 19 March 1876. Three hundred people attended the ceremony led by Sir George Grey and the pastor, Rev J W Davies. Noted for its excellent acoustics, it seated 850 people. A church hall was also constructed next door and a residence in further off Hopetoun Street provided accommodation for the minister.

At his death Hopetoun Alpha was bestowed to the trust. The name Hopetoun comes from adjacent Hopetoun Street that was named after the Earl of Hopetoun who was the first Governor General of Australia in 1902.

The 1902 second volume of the New Zealand Cyclopedia describes the church as “one of the prettiest places of worship in the colony”. By the 1950s it experienced a slow

In his will, he directed that a Charitable Trust be formed “for the principal purpose of assisting people to become more perfectly loving by bringing the creative quality of love and relating positive activities and qualities into their relationships and their experience”.

Literally translated it means ‘Town of Hope’. Alpha is the Greek word for beginning and combines well Hopetoun and the trust’s objectives which are new beginnings with hope and positivity. (DEIRDRE TOHILL)  PN

DEIRDRE TOHILL: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

Former Newton Police Station As with all early British colonies, there arrived the time when instigating law and order became paramount.

When the Province of Auckland was established in 1853, the Auckland Provincial Police Force was set up at the same time and some years later amalgamated with the New Zealand Armed Constabulary. In 1892 the Auckland Police District was divided into six sub-districts: Auckland, Coromandel, Bay of Islands, Tauranga, Thames and Waikato, and in 1896, third-class Sergeant William Walker was put in charge of a small station in a building somewhere on the Great North Road. Already there were reports of severely overcrowded stations and only one policeman per 850 people in the entire borough, in spite of it being the colony’s “largest, most turbulent and most populous district”.

To cope with the burgeoning city, Auckland’s mayor, McCosh Clark proposed an amalgamation of Newton, Arch Hill, Mt Eden, parts of Eden Terrace and Newmarket.

Newton was renamed Grey Lynn which comprised of 960 acres with a population of over 7000. This first decade of the new century became a formative period for the Ponsonby area. In 1906 the new Newton Police Station was constructed near the junction of Ponsonby and Karangahape roads. It was designed by John Campbell, a draughtsman who arrived in Dunedin from Glasgow in 1882 and was appointed to a temporary position in the Public Buildings Department. When it merged with the Public Works Department, Campbell’s title became ‘architect’ and he remained in charge of government buildings in New Zealand till he retired in 1922. He standardised an Edwardian baroque style for municipal buildings throughout the country and those remaining are so ostentatious they command attention. The Leys Institute and the former Ponsonby Post Office are examples of his work.

The Newton Station was designed as one of the ‘boundary’ stations of the enlarged Auckland city. It was two storeyed with six cells and barracks to accommodate 19 policemen. At the time the nearest stations were probably one at Mt Eden, the location of which is unknown, and the Ponsonby station and residence that was built on Jervois Road in the 1880s. This was demolished at the end of 1970 to make way for a car park. There were plenty of lawless incidents keeping the Newton police busy, but one in particular stands out, so much so that it received huge coverage in the Auckland Star.

A young lad, Arthur Shannon, alerted the Newton Police to a suicide victim at Arch Hill.

Constable Clark proceeded to the scene of the tragedy, but “it subsequently transpired that as usual in these affairs, love might be considered as the cause of the crime”. The article goes on to describe in detail how Edward Fuller approached a young girl, Emily Keeling who was on her way to Bible Class and after importuning her unsuccessfully, shot her before fleeing to Stanley Street where he took his own life.

In 1969, the Newton Police Station became available for lease and on 1 January a special parade marked the closing of the station. On 31 January the Ministry of Works officially handed the station back to the Auckland Council who had been gifted it by the government. Over the next several years the building was leased to a mixture of manufacturing/clothing and security companies. In 1976, planning consent was given for the building to be used as a cultural centre on the grounds that its proposed use was deemed ‘in the public interest’. It was leased to the Outreach Trust whose programme aimed to “stimulate wide participation in all the visual, practical and performing arts”. Now renamed Studio One Toi Tu this Ponsonby Road landmark has been revamped in order to PN allow the building be used more widely by the community. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS Anyone can do anything if they try hard enough. Michael Russell left school at a very young age without any qualifications and no formal training.

His first role was as a customer services representative for a small New Zealand business, where he quickly moved up the ranks to the sales department, and then into business development. From there he moved on to a company then called Fisher and Paykel Business Centre, now named Connect. With some changes afoot in the company he and a colleague decided in good old Kiwi fashion to have a go at developing their own enterprise. At the tender age of 22, along with a third budding entrepreneur, the three founded Origin, initially working out of a garage in West Auckland. Their venture was the first of its kind in this country, providing fixed management IT to mid-market businesses. Effectively clients outsource their IT department to Origin so that if problems arise they need to do is call Michael’s company of experts to fix it for them.

Instead of offering a reactive IT service, meaning that when problems arise an expert is called in on a once-off basis, Origin’s monthly fixed fee means clients can call on them whenever they need. This means that it is in Origin’s best interests to ensure their clients don’t need to ring the helpdesk, and Michael has put a lot of investment into systems and processes that keep his clients’ IT running at optimal levels. Origin also provides advisory and consulting services around IT and technology, aimed at providing business decision makers with all the IT business knowledge they need to stay ahead of their competition. Bayleys, Les Mills International, Jucy, JBWere and Better Drinks (Charlie’s) are among Origin’s 130 contracted clients. When end users in these companies are going about their daily tasks they need to be confident their IT is always online and available, and Origin is constantly on hand to help manage their internal computer systems and IT needs.

Michael Russell is now the sole owner of Origin, having bought out his partners some time ago. He’s the head honcho and spends most of his time in a leadership role focusing on growing his staff. His early skills were around sales and people which he enjoyed, and still does. He’s proud of the fact that Origin has a fantastic culture that many want to come in and be part of. He says he’s learned a thing or two along the way and is still learning! The company enjoys steady growth and is now in its 14th year of business, employing 100 people. All the work Michael has put in over the years is really starting to pay off.

When asked about the ever present danger hackers pose, Michael assures me he has all the necessary tools in place to prevent his clients from being exposed to those miscreants.

Cloud computing is a comparatively new kid on the block that has become mainstream.

Businesses are now facing the question of not ‘if’ but ‘when’ and ‘how’ they take parts, or all, of their company to the cloud. Origin has been providing cloud services since 2005, and has built up great knowledge around answering these questions.

For the past eight years the company was based on the North Shore, but in November 2014 they made the move to College Hill to be more central to key clients, and as Michael lives in Grey Lynn this also worked well for him. It would be hard to find a more pleasing workspace than Level 3, 43 College Hill. Michael has applied his own aesthetic to the interior, which is quite stunning with flashes of Origin’s bright red and gold, against the Origin grey, and leafy vistas of tall trees bang slap against the exterior that filter light through the many windows. There’s even a pool table in the cafeteria and beanbags and a play station in a separate play room for light relief during downtime.

Michael has lived in Grey Lynn for many years and has four children who attend Westmere School. He enjoys being part of the community and loves the vibrancy and character of the suburb. Now that he has moved his business from the depths of the North Shore life PN couldn’t be sweeter. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

DEIRDRE TOHILL: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

George Courts

The Ponsonby Mosque

Back in 1886 two brothers, George and Frederick, set up a drapery shop in Auckland.

The Vermont Street mosque was built in 1980, and at the time was the only one of its kind in the country.

Three years later their brother John joined them by which time the business had expanded to a second store. Frederick retired soon after John’s arrival but the firm continued to trade as Court Brothers in K’Road and Queen Street. later in 1902 they had three outlets so the partnership was amicably dissolved, George remaining in K’Road and John taking over the two Queen Street shops. Over succeeding years, George took over several adjacent shops, expanding his range of merchandise to include shoes, corsets, hats, cosmetics and toys. The time came to construct a new building that would be a department store rather than just a drapery shop. His real estate now covered a site near the Pitt Street intersection that was in a commanding position and dominated the Auckland skyline.

Islam first came to New Zealand in the 1870s with the arrival of Muslim Chinese gold diggers who prospected in the Dunstan gold fields of Otago, and later waves of Muslim immigrants came here from India, Eastern Europe, Fiji and various war torn countries. In 1951 the refugee boat, SS Goya, sailed to New Zealand with over 60 Muslim men from Eastern Europe, including Mazhar Krasniqi who later served twice as President of the New Zealand Muslim Association.

The new building was designed by Clinton Savage who drew inspiration from Otto Wagner of Vienna. Wagner was the chief architect for much of Vienna’s rebuilding and is generally acknowledged as the founder and leader of the modern movement in European architecture. He insisted on breaking with tradition by focussing on function, and used the newest materials such as reinforced concrete and aluminium. Clinton was also influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright and the new building’s design had similarities to Selfridges in Oxford Street. Reinforced concrete was used in its construction and at night the electric lighting was visible across the whole city. Huge metal framed windows let in sunlight and in the centre of the building a grand cast iron staircase imported from Britain was so wide several people could walk it abreast to the six upper levels.

The huge emporium had three and a half acres of floor space and accommodated 350 staff, 200 of them women whom female customers were happier dealing with when it came to purchasing lingerie, home sewing requirements, dresses and hats. The five spacious oak panelled lifts, large enough to accommodate prams, were operated by uniformed attendants who would announce what products were sold on each floor.

Those were the days of ‘afternoon teas’ and at George Courts they were served on the top floor in a spacious room overlooking the children’s playground and the roof garden with its breathtaking views of the city and the Waitemata Harbour.

By 1928 the adjacent Radio Broadcasting Company located its towers on the George Court roof and the store capitalised on radio’s popularity by sponsoring many events that could be broadcast from its premises. These included dance music, lectures and competitions. The children’s playground hosted a Wizard of Oz party to coincide with the release of the MGM film. The George Courts Christmas Parade and Christmas Grotto in the store plus all the other happenings it sponsored, provided the best free entertainment on offer in town. As a result of its role in broadcasting, during the Second World War, Central Air Raid Command fitted out a reinforced room in the basement as a shelter.

In its heyday it was certainly the equal of stores in larger cities overseas and more than rivalled its Queen Street counterparts such as Milne & Choyce, Smith & Caughey’s, and John Court’s. It even gave the Farmers a run for its money with a country order department in the basement that dealt with 1800 mail order clients every year. Each dispatch to distant parts included an illustrated catalogue. When Friday night shopping was restricted to K’Road, George Courts’ patronage simply boomed. After all it was the only store in town that stocked uniforms for every school throughout the city!

Clinton Savage’s design with its cubic forms and clean functional lines was a true exemplar of Wagner’s vision.

Clinton later became sidetracked from designing on his own account when he was appointed Auckland Director of the State Advances Corporation, and more’s the pity, only supervised large buildings for the Ministry of Works.

(DEIRDRE TOHILL)  PN

These early Gujarati and European immigrants began to organise themselves and gather in their private houses to observe religious celebrations. They then worked together to buy an ordinary house and convert it into an Islamic Centre in 1959, the first in the country. They formed a New Zealand Muslim Association and invited Maulana Said Musa Patel from the Gujarat, a state in the western part of India known locally as ‘Jewel of the West’, to be New Zealand’s first Imam, which is a leader of a Muslim community. In 1967 the house was sold and another bought; in 1972 this too was sold and another acquired at 17 Vermont Street. As their numbers grew, the need for a large, fixed place of worship and education became pressing, so in 1979 the house on the site was removed and construction work began for New Zealand’s first real mosque.

Because the function of a mosque is as a place of congregational prayer, certain architectural features figure in mosques all over the world. They must have a large prayer hall, which in many cases is adjoined by an open courtyard with a fountain for ablutions done before prayer. An essential element called a mihrab is a niche in the wall that indicates the direction of Mecca and the wall in which the mihrab is set is called the quibla wall. One of a mosque’s most visible features is the minaret, which may vary in height and style but remains a visual reminder of Islam’s presence. Most mosques also have one or more domes that don’t have a ritual requirement but are a symbolic representation of the vault of heaven.

The Ponsonby Mosque was completed by 1980 and incorporates all the characteristics of a traditional mosque. These buildings are universally beautiful and the Vermont Street example is no exception. It has historical significance as being the first mosque in New Zealand and today serves the spiritual requirements of the largest Islam community in New Zealand. (DEIRDRE TOHILL)  PN

Acclaimed playwright, Victor Rodger, was born and grew up in Christchurch but he has transplanted himself to Ponsonby.

He admits to a feeling of weirdness when he visits his ‘munted’ home town, realising the city will never be the same again, but on the other hand excited at what it could become. He likens its present state to a film set where it’s normal to be surrounded by dust and rubble. Victor is no stranger to film sets. He’s been a writer and storyliner for ‘Shortland Street’ since 2000. For his theatre work he draws on his own life experience of being illegitimate, gay, of part Samoan heritage, brought up in a born-again Christian Palagi family, and not meeting his father till he was an adolescent. This diversity has provided Victor with a rich minefield that has brought him significant rewards.

When his first play ‘Sons’ was performed at Downstage Theatre in Wellington it won four Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards as well as ‘Most Outstanding New Writer’ and ‘Most Outstanding New NZ Play’. The ‘Bruce Mason Playwriting Award’ followed and after studying at the Maurits Binger Foundation in Amsterdam he was awarded the 2006 Fullbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writers’ Residency at the Centre for Pacific Studies in Hawaii. His background was journalism before he moved into writing for theatre and TV, managing to be successful in three very different media, but confesses his true love is theatre because to witness audience reaction is very immediate. They are either with the play or not!

His playwriting has always been well supported and he’s found all of his directors totally simpatico. Particularly Roy Ward who he’s worked with three times and always, his own vision has been exceeded by what Roy has come up with. As a writer, Victor says you can’t ask for anything better.

Roy is directing Victor’s latest play ‘At the Wake’ which plays at the Herald Theatre until Saturday 6 December, at 8pm, so Ponsonby News readers still have a late opportunity to view it. Celebrated thespian, Lisa Harrow plays the leading role magnificently in this ribald black comedy along with Robbie Magasiva and Taofia Pelesasa. It’s the fourth play Victor has done with Taofia who is hot property now, having acted in the Australian Prison drama ‘Wentworth’ which is successful worldwide. The show has already played in Palmerston North and Victor was unsure how provincial New Zealand would react but it did surprisingly well there in spite of all the profanity and blasphemy.

Victor hasn’t been in a relationship for some years and as a single gay man admires writer friends who are struggling with family commitments and financial responsibilities.

He says he needs a clear run when he writes, rather than a broken focus. The optimum time for his oeuvre is 3 or 4am when he looks down Ponsonby Road from his fourth floor apartment and everything is still. “It’s a really nice quiet time to write”.  PN (DEIRDRE TOHILL)

Last month behemoths moved into Franklin Road to dig up sections of the downhill lefthand footpath and plonk unsightly patches of tarmac on the surface as necessary maintenance work in preparation for the Christmas lighting extravaganza that occurs each year.

Auckland Transport distributed leaflets warning residents of the upcoming disruption to traffic flows and apologised for any inconvenience caused. It’s the least the AT could do considering the effort householders go to in providing a display that whole families from far and wide throng the street to gaze at in wonder during the whole of December.

A complete upgrade of the pavement is long overdue rather than an ugly patchwork job applied to the most well known street in Auckland.

Given the heritage value of Franklin Road as well as its safety hazards for pedestrians, plans are at last afoot to improve the situation. AT admits it’s a much used connection between Ponsonby and the CBD so why has it taken so long to rectify the shortcomings?

Another pamphlet was recently delivered to residents alerting them to a major upgrade planned for the road and they were invited to attend meetings on 5 November 3 to 7pm, and 8 November 12 to 3pm at the Freemans Bay Community Centre where they could have their say about the significant changes AT proposes.

AT is considering two options. Option 1’s key features are a shared use footpath cycleway on the uphill side of the road and a marked on-road cycle lane on the downhill side. This would mean there would be no refuge area for pedestrians crossing the road.

Option 2 suggests a wider downhill lane and a narrower painted median on the uphill side. A third option considered reducing on-street parking to prevent vehicles damaging tree root balls. At an earlier meeting held at the beginning of October, installing barriers around the trees was mooted but this option will not be progressed further because it would cause too much disruption and overall be prohibitively expensive.

So, AT’s wish list is to improve the pavement surfaces with a 25 year design life; protect tree root zones by redefining the berm area; retain as much parking as possible; work with utility providers to integrate the work programme; improve street lighting. All this involves narrowing the road so the kerb line is on the other side of the trees. A new pavement above the existing one would reduce the impact on tree roots. The upgrade works will incorporate Watercare Services in order to minimise disruption and deliver an integrated works programme. AT are working with Vector, but at the present stage, under-grounding power lines is not incorporated in the planning.

How long all this will take must be foremost in residents’ minds. At present AT is assessing the options and once one is confirmed it will have to progress through design and consent approvals before construction can commence. It’s more than likely the project could take at least four years to complete. AT encourages residents to get involved and provide feedback. They can do this by attending the meetings and speaking to the project representatives or they can complete a feedback form either online at www.at.govt.nz/project-roadworks/franklin-road or on hardback. Let’s hope PN the downhill pavement is given priority! (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

Franklin Road’s Christmas lights display

photography: Michael McClintock

AT THE WAKE

LOCAL NEWS FRANKLIN ROAD UPGRADE

DEIRDRE TOHILL: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

St Columba Centre The Marist Brothers opened their first school in Auckland on Pitt Street in 1885, however the site was unsuitable, being at the junction of three busy streets near the heart of the city.

When Denis Gilmore MacDonnell died in 1908, Bishop Cleary purchased two acres of land on Vermont Street from his estate. The site was perfect for The Marist Brothers’ school because of purer air, a picturesque outlook and its proximity to the Sacred Heart Church on O’Neill Street. Two long, one-storey brick buildings were erected, comprising a residence for the brothers and classrooms for the boys - in 1917 further land was purchased for girls’ classrooms. The school was named St Columba’s and was opened in 1913 by Bishop Cleary, which was timely because the original Pitt Street school had grown too small. The number of students was about 220 with classes ranging from Standard 1 to 6 under the tutelage of six brothers and the Sisters of Mercy.

Before the First World War ended, an influenza epidemic scourged New Zealand, Auckland suffering the most heavily. Between October and December one thousand Aucklanders died of the disease. The regular hospitals couldn’t cope with the continuous stream of admissions and desperate appeals were made for volunteer helpers. Bishop Cleary immediately offered the two Vermont Street schools as temporary hospitals, fully equipped by Auckland Catholics. The Health Department gladly accepted the Bishop’s offer because the buildings were able to accommodate 250 patients. Boarders from the convent schools were sent home, freeing the skilled Sisters to nurse the sick.

The hospital gave shelter and healing to scores of patients. In fact it came to light later that the Bishop had offered every school in the diocese for the same purpose.

He himself was indefatigable, transporting the sick in his own car, assisting at their bedsides, taking a turn in the kitchen and reverently attending the dead. By November, when the epidemic was clearly on the wane, the Vermont Street hospital had admitted 254 patients, 85 of whom died. The Sisters of Mercy worked calmly and cheerfully as long as there were sick to care for and they were lauded by the secular press as an example to other women in a desperate request for volunteers. The Sisters weren’t concerned with public recognition, just continuing their work as long as they were needed then quietly returning to their convents to resume normal life.

By the 1920s the school expanded to such an extent that Standards 1 and 2 had to be dropped and by 1925 St Columba’s was one of the largest schools in Auckland, boasting a role of 328 boys. Due to further expansion, Standard 3 was dropped in 1934, leaving just Standard 4, Forms 1 and 11. In the school’s archives there is an account by a past pupil describing his part in a working bee during the Second World War, digging air raid shelters in the grounds. All pupils had to turn out for air raid drills with cotton wool to stuff in their ears, a large cork to bite on and a cardboard name-tag on a string around the neck. They took the drill seriously because a Japanese scout plane had been reported off the coast and a submarine detected in Sydney Harbour.

Also in the archives, a Standard 5 boy, William Bagley, describes the new school as “two separate brick buildings, one for the boys and the other for the girls. The hall is very large and the boys’ classrooms off the hall are each 25 feet square. Every room has a fireplace and there are hat and cloak pegs in profusion.” By 1995 it was ‘all over Rover’ when Lockwood Smith signed a notice for the New Zealand Gazette cancelling and annulling the integration agreement for Vermont Street school. He conveyed appreciation to the Catholic Education Office for valuable contributions made by the school, and its education of children over many years. The building was restored in 2000 and opened

by Bishop Patrick Dunn as a high quality meeting centre. (DEIRDRE TOHILL)  PN ST COLUMBA CENTRE, 40 Vermont Street T: 09 376 1195 www.saintcolumba.org.nz

MARILYN SAINTY REFLECTS ON PAST PONSONBY Marilyn is a fashion legend in her own time, much of which has been spent in Ponsonby. Born in Hamilton, and after a short stint in Sydney, she made the move to Auckland more than 35 years ago, manufacturing clothes from a villa in St Marys Bay Road.

At that time she was supplying Chez Bleu, later renamed London Affair, a boutique in Queen Street and eventually formed a partnership with one of the owners.

The Council put a stop to her live-and-work situation so the partners opened a workroom in Blake Street. The Queen Street premises were taken over by the New Zealand Insurance Company, which owned the building, so they opened a retail shop in front of the workroom.

Marilyn remembers the area being full of young people back then, busy doing up houses.

She considers them the lucky generation who bought in here when the real estate was affordable. The greengrocers, butchers, fish shops along Ponsonby Road serviced families but there were also quirky enterprises such as Peter Roger’s Real Time and lots of secondhand dealers. There was certainly an element of danger at night because the streets were empty and even 25 years ago it wasn’t advisable to allow children and teenagers to walk down them unaccompanied. The restaurant culture had yet to arrive.

Nevertheless Ponsonby was culturally rich and diverse and it was not uncommon to sit in one’s own backyard and listen to neighbours singing and playing music. When Marilyn’s daughter attended Ponsonby Primary it was a very multi-ethnic school.

Marilyn became very angry when John Banks was elected as Mayor and declared himself our leader. She became even more angered when Banks took on the Darth Vader, Bill Birch, as his adviser who immediately recommended selling social housing and other community services. Rather than writing letters to the paper, she paid for a billboard that was shaped like a Christmas tree.

It read ‘I love trees, the zoo, airports, libraries, art galleries, pensioner housing, community concerts, freshly mown grass verges, chemical free weed control. Banks is not my leader. Wake up Auckland.’ Her comment on this: “I wanted Aucklanders to to stand up and say no, we don’t want this. If one sits there and does nothing you feel utterly powerless”. She also wonders why we allowed our city to be taken over by irresponsible development.

According to Marilyn there are plenty of such examples in Ponsonby and she deplores the destruction of some old buildings that have been replaced by structures of no architectural value. She remembers being shocked when the row of lovely old shops that bordered Western Park were pulled down, but admits the park had to be opened to the street and at least the beautiful sculptures now in place are a nod to what was there before. She also admits to being pleased when Expresso Love opened about 35 years ago and launched the coffee culture.

Finally there was a place to meet friends and have breakfast. In her opinion Ponsonby has progressed, in some instances for the better. She really enjoys going to Burger Burger for a delicious lunch and believes that gentrification has brought some benefits.

PN It was bound to happen anyway! (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

LOCAL NEWS WHEN PONSONBY WAS THE BADLANDS Colin the cop takes a fond look over his shoulder at the young man whose beat covered several streets in the area and the good times he enjoyed in the badlands with his lifelong friend, Maurice, who remembers Ponsonby as being a great place for parties that would last from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon.

If the grog ran out the shindig was catered to by sly grog outlets that might be a house or the boot of a car parked conveniently on Franklin Road. One individual would have what was called a Tarpaulin Muster that money was thrown into, and he’d promise to come back with the order in an hour. Sometimes he did, and sometimes he didn’t!

There were also dances in the Maori Centre that Maori Wardens would police. The local constabulary worked with them and if anyone tried to take liquor inside they would confiscate it to drink back at the station. Nothing was wasted back in those days!

The police station on the same site as the present one was once a two bedroom cottage where Sergeant Charlie Matthews lived with his sister. Colin remembers them as lovely people and Charlie as the most popular sergeant in Auckland. He was so popular that if anyone hassled him as he walked through a pub the other patrons would intervene. The Gluepot was a danger spot and Charlie would guide young constables through the premises.

After a couple of months under his tutelage they would gain acceptance. Colin admits that the rundown houses in Weld Street were full of crooks and one incident in particular made headline news. An incensed man took off a secondhand dealer’s head with a spade on the corner of Richmond Road because of a deal gone sour. This caused a shudder to run through the eastern suburbs’ leafy enclaves. Who’d want to live in Ponsonby?

In those days the sergeants were all more than six feet tall and weighed about 17 or 18 stone. One day as Colin accompanied a sergeant named Moose, they spied a street fight being waged. Moose observed, “first they’ll see us, then they’ll see me and then they’ll stop”. He was right because the fight lasted only two or three minutes after he was sighted. Even though they were big, imposing men, Colin claims they were gentle giants.

Nevertheless if anybody assaulted a policeman they were taken back to the watch house and given, in Colin’s words “a bloody good hiding”. Moose also controlled Freemans Bay, and the Suffolk Hotel, now the Cavalier, was owned by an ex-policeman. After closing time at six o’clock the landlord would invite locals in as private guests. Moose regularly warned the publican when he was planning an inspection so the ‘guests’ then hid behind the bar.

Moose, after pronouncing all was okay, would call out as he left, “Goodnight boys”.

The six o’clock swill was in full force back then and drinkers would be seven deep at the bar to order their last beer. A good barman would run his hose along a lineup of glasses and ring them up on the till at the same time. Colin did once have an encounter with an irate man outside the Rob Roy after closing time, who advanced towards him

with a broken beer bottle. Suddenly seven foot Ivan Govorko, an ex Russian guard who worked on the waterfront, appeared out of nowhere, grabbed the would-be attacker, and dumped him on the ground, saving Colin from a tricky situation.

At one time Maurice worked as a short order cook in the Trade Winds on Great North Road near the Ponsonby Road junction. It was owned by two Americans who had served in the Pacific and stayed on in Auckland after the war. The partners fell out and couldn’t work together so they divided the days in half. At the end of the third night the staff filed out of the restaurant carrying boxes of equipment to be stored elsewhere. Next day another set of equipment was brought in by the other partner. They each printed their own menus that were basically the same except the prices were different, which was embarrassing for the waiters when diners complained. One scary customer who came in to meet up with other Americans always sat at the bar with a folded newspaper in front of him which secreted an American army Colt pistol. A very different scene from the eateries that abound along Ponsonby Road today!

‘When lovely woman stoops to folly, the evening can be awfully jolly’. And a jolly time Colin and his fellow constables always had when there was a party at Flora Mackenzie’s house of ill repute. Flora’s background was impressive. Her father was a Knight of the Realm and Chairman of the Harbour Board. She was a talented seamstress and milliner and opened a dress shop, Ninettes in Vulcan Lane, which was highly successful. She sold it around 1958 and her father, realising she would probably never marry, bought her a villa in Ring Terrace that she initially ran as a boarding house. When Flora found two of her female tenants plying the oldest trade in the world it didn’t bother her at all and that’s how the most famous bordello in Auckland was established. On one occasion when she was brought to court and fined a thousand pounds she used one pound notes to make an elegant hat, presented it to officialdom and said “unpick that”. By the time Flora died in 1982 she had become a cherished civic figure and her funeral was well-attended despite her occupational side-line.

Ponsonby remained a vibrant and ethnically diverse community for many years till gentrification took over, which was inevitable given its close proximity to the city.

Remnants of the badlands days can still be found in pockets of the precinct but by and large it’s now indistinguishable from counterparts in other affluent suburbs.

(DEIRDRE TOHILL)  PN

Image reproduced with kind permission of Random House New Zealand: Urban Village: The Story Of Ponsonby, Freemans Bay and St Marys Bay by Jenny Carlyon and Diana Morrow.

photography: Arno Gasteiger

Published by Random House NZ, 2008.

RRP $50.

DEIRDRE TOHILL: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

DEIRDRE TOHILL: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

Leys Institute

Auckland Municipal Destructor

OF ALL THE LANDMARK BUILDINGS in Ponsonby and its environs, the Leys Institute is unique in that it still benefits every man, woman and child in the community as the Leys family intended it should.

There’s something scary about the word ‘destructor’.

It suggests something to do with extermination, ruination, harm and desolation, but these words do not apply to the huge chimney that stands proudly above Victoria Park Market.

William Leys was born in Nottinghamshire, the son of William and Hannah Leys who became involved in the Albertland scheme to found a nonconformist settlement in New Zealand. Subsequently they arrived with their three sons at Auckland in 1863 aboard the ‘Tyburnia’. However, they decided to settle in Auckland instead of accompanying the other settlers to Port Albert. William attended Newton Central School before being apprenticed to a local bookbinder. By the time he was 20 he had his own business and became very active in local affairs. On many occasions he expressed deep distress at the plight of young boys who had left school and played on the streets, mostly hanging around the then notorious Gluepot Tavern. He determined there had to be another way to further their education and provide opportunities to lead a productive life.

It certainly imparts dignity to the retail area below and is an important landmark on our city’s landscape. In the 1850s the land between Union Street and College Hill was occupied by squatters who built huts out of tin, canvas and other materials.

These were removed in 1865 and the site was cleared for one of 10 blockhouses designed to protect Auckland from attack by Waikato tribes following the emergence of the Kingitanga movement. When the Crown granted the city to the now-named Auckland Council in 1875, the blockhouse was demolished and the foreshore reclaimed, forming a site for the Municipal Destructor and Depot.

When William died, he left a sum which he knew was insufficient to realise his dream of establishing a Mechanic’s Institute but he hoped it would ‘light the torch’ that others might carry forward. Enter his younger brother, Thomson W. Leys. who had been apprenticed as a compositor on the Daily Southern Cross. He went on to become a successful journalist and in 1872 was appointed sub-editor of the Evening Star (later the Auckland Star) and eventually was promoted to editor, a position he held for 45 years. When Henry Brett obtained full ownership of the Evening Star he made Leys a partner, whose enterprising leadership expanded the newspaper in size, and by 1900 it had the largest circulation of any paper in New Zealand. A man of wide interests, he was involved in many civic and community affairs, and like his older brother had a particular interest in education.

According to his brother’s wishes, Thomson set up a fund to supplement William’s legacy.

Local residents contributed, but it was Thomson who donated half the required money on condition that the Auckland City Council provided the site. The council accepted the offer and the institute was opened in March 1905 by the mayor. A year later a gymnasium was erected. In addition Thomson donated his personal library of 4,400 books which was a greater number than when the city library had opened in 1880. Up until the 1950s the Leys Institute was rated the fifth largest in New Zealand after the four main centres, and for many years the stock was augmented by the Auckland Star’s hundreds of review books. Thomson also set up a trust fund in memory of his wife, which eventually paid for the Hilary Leys Memorial Wing.

The reading room had seating for 60 readers and the magazine and newspaper room for 22. The small lecture hall, known as the Chess Room, had seating and sets for 50 players and the large lecture room held 132. While the Institute’s main function was as a library it also provided a base for various organisations. While Ponsonby’s clubs and societies were given free space for meetings, under William’s deed of trust no religious or political gatherings were allowed. This ruling applied up until 1964.

The Leys Institute is an important example of turn of the century Edwardian baroque architecture, one of the few examples in Auckland. At the time the numerous buildings that fulfilled a civic function had no set architectural style. This is exemplified when comparing the Leys Institute with the nearby former post office. Several public libraries in Auckland were designed at a different time and style which serve as a record of changing philosophies in architectural design. The Jervois Road intersection forms an historic corner with the institute, the post office and the public toilet collectively forming a good streetscape facade.

Historically, the Leys Institute plays a significant role in Auckland’s history. Its construction indicated recognition of the city’s boundaries and the establishment of Ponsonby. It also stands as a monument to the Victorian ideals of education and self-improvement for the community and the philanthropic urge of the Victorian middle class. The Leys family involvement didn’t cease with Thomson. His son, Sir Cecil Leys succeeded him as president of the institute and after the last surviving beneficiary of Leys will died in 1965, the estate became part of the Auckland public library system. (DEIRDRE TOHILL)  PN

In the late 1800s rubbish was collected by the Auckland Sanitary Company that ran horse drawn carts depositing it on wastegrounds around the city including reclaimed land in Freemans Bay. Public health became a main problem but wasn’t addressed successfully until the council experienced strong leadership under Sir Arthur Myers and carried out a number of landmark achievements which included the construction of the destructor and power generator building and Grafton Bridge. The rat population had exploded and there were concerns about a possible outbreak of typhoid and bubonic plague. The council selected the Freemans Bay site for the destructor which was very unpopular with residents as evidenced by the number of petitions and letters protesting the decision.

Despite this opposition the council went ahead and accepted a Sydney firm’s tender to build a ‘Meldrum Four Grate Simplex Destructor’ designed by the Meldrum Brothers of England. A Mr Featherstone undertook the construction under a Mr Forsyth’s supervision and the 38 metre high chimney was to become a prominent Auckland landmark and a visible sign of progress. Arthur Myers was hauled up inside the chimney in a bosun’s chair to lay the last brick and J. B. Meldrum, who attended the opening ceremony, commented that the destructor was the most up to date in the world.

Initially the complex comprised the destructor building, its chimney, a clinker and screening plant, a weighbridge and its office. The rubbish carts first stopped at the weighbridge to record the load’s weight then proceeded to Drake Street where they accessed the building by a ramp and tipped the waste into two large hoppers where it was raked and sorted by workers. The residue from the ovens consisted of clean ashes and tin ware which was drawn off and used for constructing footpaths. A brick wall was built around the complex and after a year the destructor was burning 20 tons of rubbish daily. Public impatience for an electricity supply motivated the council to construct a power generator building to operate in combination with the destructor.

In 1915, when horse transport was at its height, stables were added to the complex as well as two depot buildings, one for council administration offices and the other for garaging the refuse wagons and for storage. They comprised of two single storied brick buildings running almost the length of Patteson Street, now named Victoria Street.

1921 saw a resurgence of bubonic plague fears and the destructor started working at full capacity. Rubbish was collected by 12 two-horse wagons and two single teams that operated from 7am to 5pm. Thirteen employees worked one week on and one off.

Councillors admitted their health was a concern because the task was “not of the most pleasing character”. Not the first time the industrial working force was endangered, and still is to this very day.

Eventually the destructor deteriorated in spite of day-to-day maintenance and in 1960 the city engineer reported that it was at the end of its economic life and parts of it were on the point of collapse. It finally closed down in 1972 and the council sought to demolish all the buildings on the site, whereupon the Freemans Bay community formed a committee headed by Bruce Hucker which fought for its conservation. Fortunately they succeeded and the whole complex was sold to a private company for $1,025,000 and continues to operate as a market. The destructor chimney is an integral part of Auckland’s early history and PN a tribute to our early forefathers’ energy and innovation. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

SISTER ANZAC WHEN GEOFF ALLEN ASKED AMANDA REES TO DIRECT HIS PLAY, ‘SISTER ANZAC’ SHE was delighted because it’s a moving story about nurses who served on hospital ships during World War One.

A TRIBUTE TO IVAN MERCEP

On their return when war ended, they received no acknowledgment from the government even though many of them were shellshocked and had been through horrendous experiences. They dealt with terrible wounds and their mental state was constantly challenged. It was very common for them to work a 50 hour stretch with maybe only a two hour catnap. On one occasion 10 New Zealand nurses were mistakenly put on a ship that was mean’t to transport them to hospitals. The vessel was torpedoed and they all drowned. The play tells the story of those who were stationed at ANZAC Cove on the hospital ship Maheno and the women portrayed are fictionalised so ‘SISTER ANZAC is not a documentary.

Ponsonby News pays homage to outstanding Auckland architect, Ivan Mercep, a long time resident of Herne Bay who passed away 18 April this year.

‘SISTER ANZAC’ has already played at the Torpedo Bay Navy Museum in Devonport but its presentation at the Maritime Museum is really special because it will be a promenade performance with the audience following the actors from room to room. The Museum has amazing spaces such as the pioneer room that rocks as though it’s on water, then they’ll all move to another area, and yet another so the audience is limited to 20 a night. The museum has bent over backwards to accommodate the play even though it could have been performed in the gallery. Nonetheless, Amanda became excited at the possibility of a promenade and when she presented the idea to the actors, they loved it. Her sister, Donough Rees who plays the Matron, had done promenades since she was very young and was not at all daunted by the prospect. This was reassuring to the younger actors who could call on her experience. Most of the spaces are close together so it won’t be a long progression but more like a small tour group in a gallery.

Donough describes the nurse’s uniforms as incredibly hot with long skirts, two petticoats, long sleeves with only the face uncovered. The garments would have been difficult to move round in even though the nurses were constantly on the run. It was so hot in the cabins, many slept on deck before the wounded started to arrive, then they had to cope with negotiating below deck in restrictive clothing. They were incredibly stoic and displayed extraordinary courage and endurance. Much of their nursing also involved keeping morale high. They had to tap into their own resources to keep the wounded men happy by singing to them, writing letters for them, reading to them if they were blinded because they were aware many of the men would be away from home for a long time.

And there was always laughter in order to keep up their own spirits when they were in that high state of exhaustion and anxiety.

The story hasn’t been told before and Amanda wouldn’t be surprised if someone picked it up for maybe a TV production. She would like to put it on again in 2015 but that would be funding dependent so this performance could be a last hurrah. Geoff’s wide research is based on stories that are a drama on their own but he’s taken five nurses’ stories and put them into one character. For Donough, her part has taken her into a different world and it has been an eye-opener to the stuff of humanity displayed by a group of women whose duties were outside normal life and discharged unstintingly under extreme danger. Amanda’s feelings are similar to Donough’s and she is grateful to the Navy for their assistance and support that has been consistent throughout preparation and rehearsals. She feels privileged to be in the position to retell a really passionate story.

For her, playing it in the Maritime Museum is special because it replicates the intimate space the nurses shared with the wounded soldiers.

Sister ANZAC plays at the Maritime Museum from 6 - 10 August at 7.30pm This unique and intimate experience is limited to 20 audience members for each performance so PN early booking is advised. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

He was born in Taumarunui in 1930 to Croatian parents who ran the prosperous local fish shop, but during the World War 2 years the family moved to Auckland and settled in New Lynn. His father took over a fish shop and restaurant at the foot of Queen Street.

The move enabled Ivan to attend Sacred Heart College on Richmond Road in 1946 and later to study architecture at Auckland University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1954. Overseas travel followed and he gained experience with an established architect in London then in 1960 returned to New Zealand and settled in Herne Bay with his wife, Halina whom he met and married in Montreal, Canada. At about that time Stephen Jelicich set up a group of architects and planners, the Architects Planning Group, which sought to influence planning issues that affected Auckland. Ivan joined and assisted in setting up exhibitions, organising meetings, and rallying public interest through the media.

Meanwhile Stephen, who had been running a small practice on Symonds Street, considered expanding. He was approached by Graham Smith, one of the Planning Group, about joining forces. Graham had already talked to Ivan and the upshot was an informal meeting that included John Austin and architect-planner, Rod Davies. When discussions were finalised, the company JAZMaD Group Ltd was formed. The firm took off successfully from the start with university and hotel work and a range of commercial projects. In 1989 it was restructured with retirements and the introduction of new partners with a name change to JAZMAX, now one of the country’s largest and most successful architectural practices.

Ivan was the team leader behind JAZMAX’s design of the national museum, Te Papa, but a great deal of his work can be found in Auckland’s inner city. He designed Samoa House in Karangahape Road, the Recreation Centre and Faculty of Arts complex at Auckland University, and the University’s marvellous Waipapa marae and Fale Pasifica. In fact he worked a great deal with Maori and Pacific communities and was one of the first pakeha architects to design a marae complex, the Hoani Waititi facility that opened in West Auckland in 1980. In 1997 Ivan was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to architecture, and in 2008 he received a gold medal from the New Zealand Institute of Architects, in recognition of his 50 years service as an architect.

Ivan’s son Simon says his father was a passionate architect, dedicated to his craft, and to mentoring younger architects. He continued working practically full time until he fell ill at the age of 83. His last project was the new iwi headquarters for Tuhoe in the Bay of Plenty, the country’s first so called ‘living building’. Simon goes on to say that his father was also committed to his local community. He joined the community based Ponsonby Plan in the 1980s, a group intent on preserving Ponsonby’s cultural and architectural heritage. He later served on the Auckland Urban Design Panel.

Ivan’s funeral service was held at the All Saints Church in Three Lamps. Stephen Jelicich, the only one of the original group left standing, gave a moving eulogy. It was a fitting location as the church community hall was a frequent meeting place for the Ponsonby Plan group. The church was a poignant setting because it was designed by Professor PN Richard Toy who had lectured Ivan at the University of Auckland. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

DEIRDRE ROELANTS: LOCAL HISTORY

Former Auckland Gas Company offices and workshops Ngati Paoa has been described by early settlers as “a powerful and wealthy tribe” and “the finest race seen in New Zealand.”

It once occupied strategic land holdings in much of the upper North Island, including the land purchased under much pressure in 1840 in order to create a colonial capital at Auckland. The former Maori settlement, previously used for fishing and trading was called Freemans Bay and developed into an industrial working class suburb, the workforce engaged in brick making, saw milling and timber milling.

The land which would eventually be occupied by the Gas Company offices was a waterfront site and part of a Crown Grant to Alexander Thomson. The holding had several owners before being purchased by the Auckland Gas Company in 1881.

The pioneer company was founded in 1862 when gas first became an important utility in New Zealand for shop window displays, street lighting and lamps on the outside of businesses such as public houses. Notable politician and businessman, Sir Frederick Whitaker, was its chairman for most of its first 30 years. The business was one of New Zealand’s first joint-stock companies, with shares taken up by a broad range of investors, including prominent members of Auckland’s business community. Such companies during the period mostly provided services which needed significant capital due to large scale operations or the need for expensive plant beyond the financial resources of individual entrepreneurs.

The looming depression probably delayed construction on Beaumont Street because an 1885 illustration depicts only open paddocks on the site. Nevertheless, in spite of difficult economic times the demand for gas increased significantly in the 1890s partly because gas was popular for cooking as well as for heating instead of electricity.

Consequently, in 1897 the Gas Company started to replace the former Nelson Street works with a larger plant on Beaumont Street. At the time it was apparently the fourth largest gas producer in Australasia.

Unlike Nelson Street, the land was not on a lease that was under local councils’ control so the company had financial security. A tender for excavations was issued to remove a sizeable incline at the site which would also help reclaim a large part of Freemans Bay waters which the Auckland Council agreed should be converted into a public park. In 1894, the contractor, Daniel Fallon, oversaw the

removal of material that was then loaded into tip-wagons and taken by rail to the reclamation. In the same year plans were drawn up for the layout of the new complex.

Chenery Suggate, the company’s engineer, may have designed the building. Before arriving in New Zealand he had experience in manufacturing and managing gas plants at Sheffield and Plymouth. It’s been suggested Edward Mahoney and Sons, a prolific architectural practice that was prominent in New Zealand, was also involved in the building’s construction and later designed extensions to the Beaumont Street Offices in 1910. Externally the building was influenced by 19th century Italianate style and incorporated palazzo elements used to provide light and many storeys. The main elevation incorporates four bays on either side of a central main entrance and the use of the logo ‘AG Co Ltd’ on the central front door’s glasswork indicated the building’s identity. The upper storey was reached from a large staircase in the main lobby and from a smaller set of stairs inside the general store.

The business expanded, with gas production doubling between 1901 and 1910 and internally the building had space for office work on the ground floor and a counter for serving customers in the southeast corner. There were also facilities for a clerk, fitter and telephones along the western wall. The northern part housed a general store and a lobby off the main entrance provided access to a pay office, strong room and a lavatory. Extensions between 1910 and 1912 housed workshops, a cart dock, a pattern store and shops for joiners, smiths and fitters.

But the golden days were threatened by the formation of the Auckland Electric Power Board in 1921. The first Labour Government used electricity in all state houses and by 1997 the Auckland Gas Company ceased to exist. Much of its land was redeveloped for residential housing when the offices and workshops were demolished. The remainder of the structure was conserved in 2001-3 and has since been used for retail activity and forms the main surviving remnant of PN the former Auckland Gas Company. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

DEIRDRE TOHILL: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

The higher thought temple This small brick temple on the corner of Union Street and Warimu Place is very rare and possibly the only example of a Higher Thought church in New Zealand.

Barista Selena and new French chef, Guillaume Fiol with Delphine de Rouvroy

A DREAM COME TRUE The number five has a special significance for Delphine and Guillaume de Rouvroy.

Eighteen months ago, the owners of L’Escabeau French Kitchen on Richmond Road moved to New Zealand with their five daughters, Charline (22), Margot (21), Toscane (18), Colombe (16) and Olympe (14).

Their little French café offers something to please the five senses. L’Escabeau means ‘stepladder’ in French and it’s an apt symbol for the de Rouvroy family, says Toscane.

-“L’escabeau is about going up, aiming for something you want to reach and achieving a goal,” explains Toscane. “The five steps on the ladder also correspond to the five daughters, and the strength and warmth of the wood it’s made from is like the close bond we all have.”

The family also shares a sense of adventure and a flexible outlook that’s seen them live all around the world.

“Our parents love travelling and have shared this passion with us,” says Toscane.

“They’ve always been adventurous, but ensure that we’re safe and happy wherever we are.”

The de Rouvroys lived in France before moving to French-speaking Reunion Island. After two years in Japan, they returned to Europe for a year in Corsica and another two in France. It was in 2009, during their time in Tokyo, that they visited New Zealand for a two-week campervan tour and fell in love with the country.

“We’ve always loved islands, mountains and beaches, sport, barbecues... and running barefoot. New Zealand was the perfect spot!”

For over a decade Delphine and Guillaume had dreamed of starting their own hospitality business, and thought Auckland would be the ideal place. But making it happen involved two years of planning and paperwork, carried out from 18,500km away in France.

Delphine and Guillaume even returned to Auckland during winter to ensure the climate suited them. They loved it even more, says Toscane.

“When they spoke about New Zealand, they just couldn’t hold still. They were so excited!

Moving here was such a perfect opportunity for them - and for us. My two younger sisters were looking forward to an English-based school system,” says Toscane.

Charline is now in Canada and Margot in France, both pursuing university studies.

Delphine and Guillaume run L’Escabeau, with help from Toscane, and Delphine’s goal of one day selling her chocolate fondants, cakes and quiche in a little shop is now a reality.

As if their almond croissants, croque-monsieurs and mouth-watering salted-butter caramel crêpes weren’t already enough, the couple are making constant improvements at L’Escabeau. They’ve added French specialties such as boeuf bourguignon and coq au vin to the menu with free delivery within Herne Bay, Ponsonby and Grey Lynn.

L’Escabeau celebrated its first birthday in June, and with Bastille Day this month, visitors can enjoy even more delicious French and Kiwi fare, as well as games and prizes. From PN September 1, L’Escabeau will be open seven days a week. (DEIRDRE COLEMAN)  To find out more visit www.lescabeau.co.nz

It reflects the development of alternative religious philosophies that became prominent here after European colonisation, and has value as a place of study and spiritual healing continued by the building’s current owners. The Craig Brothers built the temple in1928 to Henry Robinson’s design - they had all been involved in the construction of the Theosophical Society Hall in Queen Street. They were also adherents of a spiritualist movement, Builders of the Adytum, which believes in the power of conscious thought’s ability to solve day-to-day problems.

The Higher Thought Temple was given to the Builders of the Adytum in the 1970s and has a category 11 Historic Places Trust rating. As well as historical significance, it has considerable aesthetic value for its simple, dignified design, and intact interior that incorporates a timbered vestibule, decorative glasswork and a light, spacious hall. It also has a George Croft organ. Croft came from England to New Zealand as an infant but returned there to learn his craft. When he came back he established a substantial business, George Croft & Son and built or rebuilt a large number of instruments in both islands.

The Adytum (the inner sanctuary of an ancient Greek temple) is related to the Qabalah which is an ancient Jewish interpretation of the Bible, and believers often wear a red string bracelet to ward off the Evil Eye. Qabalahists believe tarot cards are keys to the Tree of Life as do the Higher Thought Temple adherents who meet several times a month for healing sessions and meditation. As a point of interest, both Madonna and Britney Spears are Qabalah followers. (DEIRDRE TOHILL)  PN

THE SIREN CALL OF BARGAIN SHOPPING A bargain, like beauty, is really in the eye of the beholder.

Some may think a $500 garment is a good deal because it’s been reduced from $1,800 while for others it would be totally beyond their wallet’s reach. Value for money is what bargain shopping is all about. Auckland is a city full of rich and varied shopping and when cost is an important consideration there’s a veritable mine of bargain opportunities to explore. Factory outlets, pop up shops, clearance stores are so hot now it’s a full time job keeping up with what’s out there. Add to this hospice shops, recycled clothing, secondhand furniture and produce markets. The fact is, a two tier market exists today, shoppers who prefer convenience whatever the cost and bargain hunters who will go the extra mile to save money.

Fortunately Ponsonbyites can access some excellent bargains, with several outlets within reasonable distance and a good number in our area. The French Country Collection is a family owned business that’s been importing French styled homewares for 26 years and its outlet store on 8 Pollen Street has been there for 17 years. It’s great for finding collectables, one-off samples, cookware, ceramics, glassware and a big range of furniture all at knockdown prices. They have recently opened a second outlet on 33 Triton Drive in Albany, selling similar merchandise.

Consignment stores are Le denier cri in the United States and Brigit Timpson has brought the concept to Grey Lynn. Covet Consignment on 168 Richmond Road opened in September and has gathered old and new fashion items, vintage ornaments and homewares all under one roof. Brigit still has an interest in her former store in California so is able to bring different and interesting stock to mix with the clothes, art and ceramics she sells on behalf of.

So there are two outstanding examples of where people in our area can find bargains that are practically at their doorstep. (DEIRDRE TOHILL)  PN

DEIRDRE TOHILL: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

Richmond Road school

> RICHMOND ROAD SCHOOL IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE HISTORIC PLACES REGISTER BUT nevertheless it’s a building that deserves recognition for the way its evolution from a small chapel in Brown Street to what it is today reflects the district’s changing character over more than a hundred years. What’s more, the school has the distinction of having Auckland’s first woman head teacher when Miss Emma M Fletcher took on the role back in 1884.

In the previous decade less than 60% of New Zealand’s children attended school but Auckland’s population doubled during the 1880s and school rolls increased. Miss Emma had assistance from two young trainee teachers and the Education Board supplied the new “Brown Street School” with furniture, blinds, tanks and closets as acknowledgement it was relieving the general overcrowding of Ponsonby schools.

When the school buildings expanded round the corner on to Richmond Road it was named after Mr James Richmond, who when he arrived here in the 1860s from London, found the houses ‘rather cockney’ in appearance and the settlers to have boorish ‘Yankee’ manners. He also described Auckland as filthy, dirty and squalid. His initial negativity must have changed because this gentleman colonist found plenty of opportunity in New Zealand and in spite of having only modest abilities, played quite a major part in the country’s politics becoming colonial secretary in Frederick Weld’s administration.

By the late 1880s prosperity started to wane and Ponsonby became a dormitory suburb for the working class where many families existed on deplorably low wages and lived in poor conditions. Houses were built close together, not because there was a lack of space but as an attempt to have the secure neighbourly contact they had enjoyed in the old country. Cattle wandered in the streets and children played outside on land that one day would become major highways.

Richmond Road petered out into a muddy track leading to a tidal creek and Surrey Hills was open grassland devoid of habitation. Despite the depression, people remained confident the economy would improve, a view that was indicated by progressive legislation such as franchise reform, women’s emancipation and the free secular and compulsory education chartered in 1877.

The mid 1890s saw an upsurge in export prices and a vigorous building programme at Richmond Road School commenced. In 1903 a manual training centre was erected on the Douglas Street side of the school. For over 60 years girls and boys, throughout the district, attended classes there in cooking and carpentry. A committee oversaw other schools in the area and among its members, the renowned William Leys, established recreational facilities for Ponsonby’s youngsters.

By the time the school celebrated its 25th anniversary it had several high-roofed barn -like rooms with platform galleries where tiers of children were packed in ascending academic order. Autocracy reigned supreme so even though the roll numbers were large, and there was a serious lack of space, there were no administrative problems.

By 1919 the school roll numbered 782, which was 153 more than the permissible 12 square feet per pupil. After the First World War’s devastating effect on families who had lost their sons, residents began campaigning for action to improve Ponsonby’s grossly overcrowded schools. A meeting was held at All Saints School to uplift the “scandalous, unsanitary conditions” in the three schools covered by the committee.

Finally in 1926 the board responded to parental concern with a proposal to build a two-storied, 11-classroom building which was soundly rejected by the authorities.

The scheme was repeatedly deferred and the children’s home across the road was used to relieve the school’s congestion. Finally, in 1929 the Honourable Harry Atmore, Minister of Education promised “It will be the first school in New Zealand to be rebuilt.”

Things started to happen when in 1930 a large Morton Bay fig tree in the centre of the playground was removed to create more space, light and air for children who spent hours being schooled in cramped unsanitary conditions and in 1934 the Honourable Michael Savage and the then Minister of Education, Peter Fraser opened the main part of the current school.

The school flourished from then on, so much so that in the 1960s it gained international recognition for its innovative developments in literary education, and those teaching methods have since become standard practice in New Zealand schools.

PN (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

MOTHER’S DAY This celebration honouring motherhood has been observed since time immemorial. The ancient Greeks and Romans held festivals in honour of the mother goddesses, Rhea and Cybele, and ‘Mothering Sunday’ was once a major christian tradition in Britain and parts of Europe.

This ritual fell on the fourth Sunday in Lent when the faithful would attend a special service in their parish church. Over time it become more secular when children would just present their mothers with flowers or other tokens of appreciation. The custom’s popularity eventually faded till Anna Jarvis resurrected it when her mother, who had been active in women’s groups, died in 1905.

With financial backing from John Wanamaker, who owned a Philadelphia department store, she held a memorial service at a Methodist Church in West Virginia in May 1908.

As for Wanamaker, he sure knew he was onto a good thing because that same day thousands attended a Mother’s Day event at one of his retail stores.

Anna, meantime, arguing that American holidays were based on male achievement, started a campaign urging a special day honouring motherhood be added to the national calendar. Within five years every state was observing the day and in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson made it a national holiday.

Anna’s original intention of just establishing a way of honouring the sacrifices mothers make for their children, became disgusted with how the day had become commercialised.

She spent the last years of her life trying to abolish the holiday she had brought about in the first place, and actively lobbied the government to have it removed from the American calendar. No such luck!

New Zealanders are prone to adopting American traditions that inevitably mean buying something. Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween Day were not observed by earlier generations but times have changed. I asked some of my friends what they liked or disliked about Mother’s Day. One lucky mother I spoke to told me that when her children were little they insisted on bringing her tea in bed, which she never enjoyed and dreaded cleaning up the mess they made in the kitchen.

Another liked the practice, but when her children asked their father what he was planning for the day his reply was “Nothing. She’s not my mother.” Another friend’s parents thought it a dreadful, commercially inspired American invention and this attitude prevailed with her own kids.

However, thanks to rampant commercialism it has now acquired almost Holy Day status and to her shame she has succumbed and rather loves her grandchildren making her cards and their parents giving her flowers. Oh, oh, maybe a Grandmother’s Day is in the offing!

Things backfired for one friend who had also instilled an abhorrence of the tradition in her family. Some years ago she bought a bookshop towards the end of April and hadn’t quite got the hang of using the till. Her first Saturday of trading was a nightmare when suddenly she was coping with a queue of customers stretching out onto the footpath.

Every single one of them was buying a Mother’s Day gift. She suddenly felt an unwarranted sense of grievance because the next morning there would be no tokens of love from her own (suddenly) uncaring kids!

At least these customs that have been visited upon us are secular and though many wouldn’t agree, deserve as much attention as our over commercialised Christian festivals that are less and less relevant given our country’s population has become increasingly diverse. Rudyard Kipling has the last word on the matter - “God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.” (DEIRDRE TOHILL)  PN

LOCAL NEWS RAUKATAURI MUSIC THERAPY CENTRE ‘Music is the medicine of the mind’. There’s no doubt music is a healing influence and music therapists are widely acknowledged for their work with the emotionally and mentally disadvantaged.

The Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre in Grey Lynn opened in 2004 so it is now 10 years old, and in the course of the decade has achieved some significant milestones.

From a small beginning with only one therapist, the centre now has nine therapists, three therapy rooms, an audio-visual room, facilities for staff and clients and an extensive instrument collection, which at last stocktake numbered 512. As well as running programmes in schools and early childhood centres, Raukatauri does outreach work with adults in the community.

The centre’s latest initiative is an expansion into the wider community with a satellite service in Titirangi. This came about because a child who regularly attended sessions in Grey Lynn stopped once he started school. The logistics of travelling became too difficult so the executive director, Carol White, asked his mother, “What if we came to you?” The proposal was met with enthusiasm because other parents in the area were faced with a similar quandary. After several months of planning, the West Auckland service was established last August in the Titirangi Community House where five children are able to walk there after school each week. Carol and her team are delighted to have found a way to make music therapy accessible to these children. This year they hope to expand the satellite services further to Whangaparaoa and South Auckland. Should any readers know of children who might be interested in accessing music therapy in these areas, please call the centre on 09 360 0889.

Over the years children who have attended the sessions are now adolescents or even adults so the centre has an ever expanding client base. Last year alone the team delivered 4000 music therapy sessions. The centre is now well established and definitely in for the long haul, but to run all the outreach and satellite programmes requires a budget of $750,000 each year. Without any statutory funding this money has to be secured through charity fundraising events. Fortunately the very, very good board of

trustees has members who are adept at organising such occasions and much of Carol’s time is taken up with making applications to various charitable trusts.

The centre is launching its own fundraising initiative next month. They are looking for local businesses organisations, and retailers to take a specially designed donation box and display it on their counters. They don’t hold a regular street collection appeal or similar and hope the public will find this an easy way to support the centre.

In the words of Winston Churchill, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” (DEIRDRE TOHILL)  PN

TRISTAN MARLER - MASTER CARVER Tristan Marler was brought up in Point Chevalier, but his mother’s family is from Mitimiti where her iwi, Te Rarawa, arrived in the Tinana canoe and spread throughout the northern Hokianga and eastward towards the Maungataniwha Range.

Goldie painted his great, great, great grandfather, Atama Paparangi who was the paramount chief and fought against Hone Heke in 1845. Tristan isn’t fluent in Maori but his mother’s story telling acquainted him with the myths and legends of her people.

Of course in Atama’s time many New Zealanders were bi-lingual, which was a necessity for trade and commerce but that changed eventually and respect for the native language deteriorated so much so that Maori children were punished at school for speaking in their own tongue! No wonder general usage died out. As a child he spent many holidays at Mitimiti and he still returns there at least once a year.

Tristan’s interest in his cultural heritage began during his teenage years when he started to learn the art of carving in his final year at Western Springs College. As part of his art practice he carved motifs on taonga puoro, which is a generic term for Maori musical instruments. He had enrolled and been accepted at Elam but decided instead to do a three year diploma course in Maori carving at Te Wananga Whakairo Rakau in Rotorua.

He was one of four in his class who graduated before he returned to Auckland.

One of the highlights of the course was working on a model meeting house for the New Zealand pavilion at the 2012 Frankfurt International Book Fair where Aotearoa was the Guest Country of Honour. The pavilion won the 2012 New Zealand Interior Design

Supreme Award as well as the Installation Category Award. It also gained third place in the 2013 Adam and Eve German installation design awards.

Tristan is now based in Auckland and has joined the Fuzzy Vibes collective on Karangahape Road where he hopes to exhibit his works in the future. Meanwhile he is currently working in collaboration with other carvers on part of a storehouse facade for the inaugural New Zealand exhibition at the 2014 Venice Architectural Biennale which runs from 7 June to 23 November.

Even though the figure will consist of several panels it will appear to be seamless, demonstrating a masterly specialised skill, and Tristan is looking forward to attending this major event. He travelled to Europe with his family when he was about 15 and admits he didn’t imbibe much back then, but believes he will gain a lot more from this upcoming experience.

Tristan has also started studying for a Bachelor of Visual Arts at AUT because devoting all his time to carving would be too limiting and he’s keen to develop his skills as a painter and printmaker. Eventually he intends to help carve at Matihetihe Marae in Mitimiti and pass his knowledge on to others. “It’s important to make sure that the art survives and flourishes.” (DEIRDRE TOHILL)  PN

DEIRDRE TOHILL: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

Bishop Pompallier’s house

> THE BISHOP’S HOUSE WAS ERECTED IN 1851 ON A HEADLAND PREVIOUSLY KNOWN as Waiatarau to the east, and Kotakerehaea to the west, later to be named Freemans Bay and St Mary’s Bay. After Auckland was established as a colonial settlement in 1840, 42 acres of the land was obtained as a Crown Grant by William Graham, then soon after sold at a loss to John Brigham. As Auckland expanded, land values in the area increased significantly and prominent local body politician, James O’Neill purchased the land for £800. It’s believed he erected a dwelling on the estate known as Clanaboy. Shortly after, Bishop Pompallier began negotiations for its purchase as headquarters for the Catholic faith in the Auckland Diocese. He paid £1100 for the building and a further 19 acres in the area between Three Lamps and the shoreline.

In 1854 the O’Neill’s house, now named St Annes, was described as a ‘neat dwelling with outhouses, fine fruit trees and well fenced land’. Pompallier lent it temporarily to the Sisters of Mercy as a school for girls of Maori and mixed-race parentage. The nuns arrived in Auckland in 1850 and only three years later were fluent in the native language.

When they were relocated to another part of the complex, a small order called The Sisters of the Holy Family took their place, among them Sister Marie Joseph Aubert, the first person in New Zealand to be recommended for canonisation by the Catholic Church, and two of the first Maori nuns, Sister Peata and Sister Ateraita.

By 1863 buildings known as the Nazareth Institute were underway and the construction included major improvements to the Bishop’s house, which incorporated a hipped roof and two gabled side wings. Pompallier then sold off 20 acres of the broader property leaving an enclave of four acres bounded by Green Street, St Marys Road and St Francis de Sales Street. By 1866 the central portion had been remodelled to contain a front verandah. A side verandah and a dormer window were also added, during which period it was Pompallier’s main residence. Following his departure from New Zealand the Sisters of the Holy Family ceased to exist and his household effects and furniture were sold at the residence. This was an indication that the Auckland Catholic Diocese had financial problems.

Soon after, the Diocese sold the current site and wider property to John Bennett, a businessman who lived there with his family until he went bankrupt. Subsequently it was occupied by John E. L. Bucholz, a major wine importer and the German Consul.

In 1871 the land that included the current site was again offered for sale. The house was described as containing 12 rooms including a drawing room, dining room, bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, pantry and storeroom. There were also outbuildings, a coachhouse and stables. Pompallier’s successor, Bishop Thomas Croke, re-purchased the residence and once again it became the Bishop’s House or palace, with the addition of a further side verandah.

In 1893 the building was relocated to its present site when Bishop Luck prepared for the construction of a new Bishop’s House, and it was apparently rented out to tenants.

Modifications carried out during the move included the removal of the side verandahs, restored again only six years later when the building was used to house the Auckland Catholic Diocesan Archives. It’s currently used as religious offices and remains part of the Mount St Mary complex. The building has historical significance for its association with the founder of the Catholic Church in New Zealand. It is also socially significant for its education of Maori girls in our country’s early colonial times and the role of religious women in that education.

Bishop Pompallier’s House has both aesthetic and architectural value. Notable visual features include the unusual form of the building with flanking gables on either side of a front verandah, which has distinctive posts with cruciform detailing. Internally it has ornate fireplaces, board and batten ceilings and ceiling roses. Other buildings erected by the Catholic Church employed similar elements, which contrast with the design of most residential structures in the mid to late 19th century. It qualifies as a Category 1 historic place for its connections with numerous individuals and organisations linked with the establishment and development of the Catholic Church in New Zealand.

PN (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

PONSONBY’S CREATIVE PRECINCT Last year the Waitemata Local Board requested a review to determine how a Ponsonby Road landmark, namely Artstation, could be run more effectively.

The council’s arts and culture unit manages and runs the centre on the board’s behalf.

There was certainly a meeting of minds because the upshot is, that in December last year, Artstation underwent a major refurbishment.

No structural work was done as the building is now on the Historic Places register, but the revamp has transformed the interior. On the ground floor musty old carpets were lifted to expose beautiful floor boards, upstairs lino received a high polishing treatment, and every wall surface throughout was painted a deep alabaster white. The work was done during the summer break and Noelene Buckland was responsible for holding the whole process together, making sure it was finished on time and within budget.

A stupendous achievement!

While there’s been no structural change there’s certainly a very different layout. Former offices on the ground floor have been converted into four inter-connecting galleries.

These can be hired individually or collectively. Exhibitors are expected to be self supporting but technical advice is available from staff members.

Guidelines are also provided on installation and de-installation with further details about these included in the Artstation information pack. Along the corridor a large room is on offer for seminars, meetings, talks, workshops and product launches with kitchen facilities just across the hallway. In fact many spaces in Artstation are available for general hire by the public. They are suitable for corporate functions, community and business meetings, celebrations and parties. Enquiries about room hire can be made by contacting artstation@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz or simply calling 376-3221.

The former gallery upstairs has been turned into a studio space that can accommodate 15 people at one time and may be used for a variety of creative activities. Another large studio on the same floor is devoted to quieter disciplines - maybe painting, designing or making clothes. A separate villa adjacent to the carpark has been setup as a ‘dirty’ workshop. Artstation is one of the few studio hire facilities that offer access to such a facility which is suitable for ceramicists, sculptors, object makers, fused glass artists, printmakers, jewellery designers and so on. There’s also the possibility of creating a garden in the central outside area.

And of course one must make mention of the historic cell block because after all, Artstation was once a building that accommodated guests at both His and Her Majestys’ pleasure. At one stage it was apparently quite overcrowded. What a different aspect it presents today! The brick walls of each cell, including the single padded one, are now painted gleaming alabaster white and are set up as individual furnished studios.

All these changes to the Artstation building and the programmes, events and activities offered are aimed at improving community participation and a wider engagement in arts and culture. Nga Rangatahi Toa Creative Arts Initiative creative Director Sarah Longbottom has said, “It always amazes me how many people from my community haven’t even set foot in the building so it’s great that the council is aware of that and is now doing something about it.”

Artstation’s new phase is certainly very exciting. It is now a true creative precinct, the first of its kind in Auckland and will offer tuition in music, digital media, performance, and writing to complement its long history of fostering the visual arts. Another positive is that all this innovation will help it operate within budget.

Artstation is now seeking proposals for classes, courses, and workshops that promote daily engagement with arts, culture and connectivity in the community. Tutors are all ages and from all backgrounds and their subjects are just as diverse. Most importantly, what they do share is enthusiasm and a friendly and fun approach to learning.

Should anyone out there have an idea for a course, class or workshop just go to www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/artstation to find out how to access an application PN form. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

STASH JEWELS

LOCAL NEWS A FEMINIST RUGBY FAN

Gabrielle Jelicich’s passion for jewellery making dates back to when she took metal working classes at school.

Grey Lynn resident, Dr Jennifer Curtin is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Auckland.

Her father, Steve Jelicich was one of the group who founded JAZMAD, now renamed JAZMAX and when he retired from active participation in the firm the family did a rural stint, moving to a lovely mansion in Waiuku complete with a tennis court, fields and bushland.

Gabrielle was only 11 at the time and the metal work teacher inspired her so much that she went on to attend night classes in jewellery manufacture and took on an apprenticeship in the craft. Before finishing, she joined a nascent protest against a Japanese firm that wanted to mine an ancient rainforest stand in east Australia. On the first night only 27 took part, then within a short time more than 300 joined the crusade. Gabrielle went to Sydney with a group of people to campaign for the cause and picked up a jewellery job there to further her apprenticeship.

Eventually she decamped to Europe, travelled around for a couple of years and finally wound up in Florence with the bag of tools she had brought all the way from home.

Gabrielle soon found work with a jewellery manufacturing company in its creative department, and she and the owner had two children together.

After some years they separated but continued working together for a decade. During this time Gabrielle also ran courses at the Isituto Lorenzo di Medici. Her students came from all over Europe because the programme added credits to whatever degree they were taking, whether it was economics, medicine, or science.

One evening, after leading a single life for three years, she had a chance meeting with her future husband, Ilan Graetz when a friend brought him to a dinner party she was hosting. He is a naval architect and shore manager of America’s Cup challenger, Luna Rossa. Gabrielle loved living in Florence and would have been happy to stay there till the end of her days but Ilan was offered work in New Zealand, which necessitated a return home after being domiciled in Italy for 15 years.

This happened 11 years ago and the family lived on Waiheke for the first six, then eventually bought a house in Grey Lynn where Gabrielle has a home workshop, though her designing takes place in the Waiheke studio, where they spend as much time as possible.

Gabrielle has a range of streetware necklaces, rings, bracelets and earrings made of silver, bronze, enamel and gold plate that she advertises on her website. Some have reworked antique stones, 40s glass, and cameos that are very quirky with rarity appeal. Her specialty is designing one-off fine pieces for clients that are made from more valuable materials such as platinum, rose gold, diamonds and other precious gems. She works one-on-one with clients to get a sense of their style and does a few sketches to ensure everyone is happy with the design, so it’s a collaboration with an element of Gabrielle’s creativity included. This is what she really enjoys and plenty of work comes her way by word of mouth.

Gabrielle’s artistic endeavours aren’t confined to jewellery design. She is a gifted painter and sculptor as well. A major achievement was the design of 61 large-scale sculptures and products for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Shangai-Pudong China that took two and a half years to complete.

To place an order for her products or to have her design an engagement ring or any other special object email her on gabrielle@stashjewells.com. (DEIRDRE TOHILL)

Her current policy research lies in the areas of parental leave, domestic violence as well as analysing women’s political leadership in four Westminster countries including New Zealand. She is well aware that feminist literature has long described rugby as a violent patriarchal game that is oppressive to women in many ways. Dr Jennifer differs in that she is passionate about rugby and has been since she was a young girl.

Back in those early days she recalls getting up in the middle of the night to watch matches along with her father and brothers.

Her grandmother and aunts would be doing the same and they would all spend Saturday mornings watching her brothers play for Te Rapa against whatever team was drawn. Her grandfather was treasurer for the Waikato Rugby Union for a while and she’d watch him counting up the weekend grounds takings at the end of the day. There were quite a few clubs round Hamilton then and they were a big deal in the way they brought communities together. Naturally, when the Mooloos won, the whole family would dress up and be off to watch the parade. Criticism came later during the 1981 Springbok tour when rugby suddenly became politicised.

Jennifer departed New Zealand for a while and didn’t think too much about rugby till she went to Australia to do do her PhD and started following rugby league. This was before rugby union teams started to play in Canberra but when this happened she returned to her first enthusiasm. Jennifer realises many think the two countries’ cultures are very similar but she didn’t experience that and missed New Zealand too much. During this time the association with rugby helped her identify with all those things that are quintessentially New Zealand.

Back in July 2011 Jennifer took part in Auckland University’s winter lecture series that sidestepped the usual fare and were devoted to rugby. She explored women’s place in the game and her research revealed their long history of involvement in the sport. She interviewed women in their 60s and 70s who remembered that watching rugby was a social event and the clubs were embedded in the community. There were so many interviews with women who had supported clubs all their lives, trucked their kids to play in matches, and parents of girls who’ve played. During the lectures, when she came out as a rugby fan there was general astonishment but she believes there are many women out there who are also fans. These lectures inspired her to start writing a book on the subject but progress is slow because of her work commitments. Nevertheless she’s determined it will emerge one day!

Jennifer urges people to follow women’s rugby because the New Zealand Black Ferns National Squad is the best in the world. “They’ve won the last four world cups and are fantastic to watch. If you ask women why they play rugby, it’s the physicality, not the violence - a clean tackle or a good scrum, running 50 metres and diving for a corner. It’s about being able to exert their physical capacity to the fullest extent. For them, netball is too constraining.” Jennifer’s sons play for Ponsonby though her oldest is turning more to swimming. “Both were born in Australia but we knew we had to get back home before they became Wallaby fans”. The club is holding a 140 year celebration in May and needless to say, the Curtins will be going to all general club membership games and events.

There’s still an entrenched belief that rugby is a man’s domain. In Eden Park’s old days an annual fee entitled one to a free ticket in the stadium and an option to buy the adjacent seat. “Even though I used to watch rugby with my dad and would ask him every year to take me, it was always one of my brothers who went because he saw rugby as a game for boys and men.”

So to any woman fan out there in conversation with an unconstructed male who finds it difficult having a conversation about the technicalities of his so-called game with the PN opposite sex, just remind him - girls can do anything. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

DEIRDRE TOHILL: LANDMARK BUILDINGS >

The Unitarian Church

Of all the Unitarian churches that were started in New Zealand, the Auckland church is the only one to have survived.

It was registered under the Historic Places Act in 1993 because of its importance as the first Unitarian church to be built in the country and continues to have a congregation that throughout its history has included prominent scholars, writers and politicians. Among their number have been John Lee, Frank Sargeson, and New Zealand’s first Rhodes Scholar, Fred Sinclaire. The central character in Maurice Gee’s novel “Plumb” was modelled on his grandfather, the Reverend J. Chapel who preached there during the 1930s. The church is also notable for being the first in Auckland to have a woman minister, Wilna Constable.

Architecturally it has significance as being a fine example of the Decorated Martineau gothic style which is specific to Unitarian churches. James Martineau was an outstanding theologian and philosopher of the 19th century and his influence on Unitarianism was extensive. Martineau, while not intellectually a follower of the Oxford Movement, was also affected by the Romanticism of the times and desired the same beauty in places of worship that he saw as more conducive to a Christian devotional atmosphere. He supported the development of Unitarian architecture away from simplicity in favour of a more detailed Gothicism. This was in stark contrast to the airy octagonal chapels built by the dissenting Unitarian, Joseph Priestley.

The Auckland church was designed by Thomas Henry White, an architect who had studied in Birmingham and Paris. Some time after arriving in Auckland he began practising in the Waikato and was a pioneer in concrete construction. The FirthTower in Matamata is an example of his work. He was also a member of the Unitarian congregation in Auckland and chairman of the church committee in 1901. His design for the church was based on one he had built in South Africa and was constructed in timber with a steeply pitched roof. The vertical emphasis is repeated in three lancet windows on the upper facade, which is expanded down to a verandah featuring wide flanking arches and a central portion now boarded in.

The interior is lined with tongue and groove panelling, demonstrating the Unitarians’ preference for local materials and quality craftsmanship. There’s a nod to the Arts and Crafts style as well. The vestibule is lit by two 45-pane windows and on the left is a library.

To the right a small room accommodates a stairway leading to the choir loft. Lancet arch frames give access to the very spacious nave which has been designed to suggest a meeting hall rather than a church and emphasises its function as a social forum. The nave also incorporates the chancel which is flanked by an organ built in two sections.

The organ is an intact example of George Croft’s work. He came from England to New Zealand when an infant but returned there to learn his craft. When he came back he established a substantial business, George Croft & Son and built or rebuilt a large number of instruments in both islands. The Unitarian Church organ was the first example in New Zealand of tubular prismatic action in a divided instrument and was the largest in Auckland at the time, drawing large crowds to the many recitals held there. A master carver, J. H. Edwards fashioned the pulpit that features Gothic tracery surrounded by floral and plant motifs distinguishing it from the rest of the church, and along with the organ is central to the historical value of the building.

The two foundation stones were laid at a ceremony on 17 August 1901 attended by 200 to 300 people. The opening and dedication of the building took place four months later on Wednesday 4 December. “The Rev. W. Jellie presided and in the course of his address he thought if it had been desirable to give the church a name he would favour its being called the ‘Church of the Holy Spirit’, dwelling on the fact that happiness and freedom were watchwords of the Unitarian faith. The congregation joined whole -heartedly in the singing of the hymns; a collection was taken up for the building fund; and the party adjourned to the Foresters’ Hall where a sumptuous repast was provided.

A social and public meeting was held in the evening attended by various dignitaries where instrumental items were played at intervals during their short addresses.”

PN (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

THE FREEMANS BAY RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION Residents of historic suburbs close to the CBD have plenty of concerns generated by the Unitary Plan.

Lynne Butler is one of them.

She has lived in Freemans Bay for 10 years and decided to invite some friends and neighbours for dinner to sound out the idea of trying to form a Freemans Bay Residents Association. They were all Lynne Butler, Freemans in agreement, so she contacted Pippa Coon who was Bay Residents Association positive there should be one, and put Lynne in touch with some people who were active in the community. Thus encouraged, she opened her house for an informal meeting with some locals just to see if there was enough interest to pursue the scheme. There was plenty of very favourable feedback so she contacted the recently formed Grey Lynn Association which was very helpful, sharing all their rules and talking Lynne and a fellow resident through the setting up process.

The initial group distributed a flyer announcing a public meeting was to be held on December 3 at the Freemans Bay Community Centre, outlining a proposal to establish a Freemans Bay Residents Association. The response was very gratifying with 97 people attending and 20 apologies recorded. With this level of support they decided to to go ahead and called for interest in forming a committee. An open discussion followed about concerns at what was happening in the area. Protecting the heritage aspect and maintaining it was paramount. Other worries were the state of Franklin Road footpaths, the intermittent undergrounding of lights, parking, and in particular the proposed Spring Street development plan.

The next meeting was held February 4 to specifically investigate the zoning changes in the draft Unitary Plan and the proposed re-development of Spring Street pensioner housing.

109 people attended and the association became full-fledged with a committee and working groups. Lynne Butler, a very capable project director working in the healthcare sector was appointed the chair. The treasurer, Andy Smith spends his time in the not for profit sector as a volunteer. Margaret Jowsey, who has lived in the wider area since 1990 has taken on the role of secretary. Pre Super City she served on the Western Bays Community Board. Other members include Amy Galway, a young single mother of two boys who owns a PR company, Event Horizon (NZ) Ltd; Grey Seagar, a barrister has lived in Freemans Bay for 21 years, during which time he has witnessed significant changes in the area and thinks the community should have more say in its future; Megan Joyce is Deputy Principal at Auckland Girls’ Grammar and believes Freemans Bay residents need a concerted voice to influence decisions affecting their daily lives.

The attendees were particularly concerned that pensioners in the Spring Street complex would be displaced in spite of having been granted lifetime tenure. Apart from the sheer inhumanity of such an action, there is danger that under the proposal of a joint venture between government and a private developer, the latter is expected to acquire the site for only book value to develop an upmarket housing compound. So, is this to be the end of Freemans Bay diversity, turning it into a ghetto for the economically advantaged? The Unitary Plan zoning allows apartment buildings on the site to be more than 19 metres high in a heritage precinct, which will have a negative impact on surrounding dwellings.

If it goes ahead the result will be very different from the innovative urban development that arose from the 1960s slum clearance. Changes to parking requirements are another pressing concern. Houses in Freemans Bay are designated Residential 1 and heritage rules make it difficult to create off-street parking, which means a large number of vehicles are left on the road. The high level of commuter parking is disrupting in that it leaves no spaces for visitors, which is a problem for the disabled or residents who need healthcare support at home. It seems unfair that property owners who pay high rates are subsiding commuters but get no priority parking near where they live.

The newly formed association is a much needed watch dog and is intent on developing a close relationship with council and other government bodies to have a say in what is planned for this area. Anyone needing help in making submissions to the local board can contact Lynne by phoning 021 459 663 or emailing her on lynneb1@xtra.co.nz To become a member go to www.freemansbay.org.nz and fill in the application template. Readers be aware that numbers are a catalyst that can effect change.

(DEIRDRE TOHILL)  PN

LOCAL NEWS ROAST FOR A WRITER Miles Hughes is among the number of successful writers who have taken to the craft as a second career. Mary Wesley and Paul Torday are two that spring to mind.

Mary Wesley amazed the literary world by having her first novel published when she was 70 and Paul Torday gave up a successful business in the oil and gas industry at the age of 57 to write full time. Sadly, he was too ill to attend the film premiere of his first book, “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” and died in December last year.

Miles worked as a professional engineer at home and abroad then began writing novels part-time in 1998. Eventually he retired from engineering in order to specialise in writing non-fiction, and novels for both adults and young adults. In 2009 he graduated with a Master of Creative Writing from AUT and last year was joint winner of the Spit.It.Out Event for the most impact for the spoken word at the 2013 Auckland Fringe Festival. He also was on the short list for the 2011 Graeme Lay Short Story Competition with his composition, “Farewell” and for the 2013 National Flash Fiction Day Awards with his story, “Buried at Sea”. Six of his titles are available as e-Books from the Auckland library system.

Recently Miles was suddenly struck with an illness that took hold aggressively. His friends and colleagues from Spit.It.Out, Inside Out, NZSA, and One2One Café had limited opportunities to enjoy his company so they decided to get together to show him how much they care for him. On Sunday 9 February they put on a “Roast For The Writer” at One2One Café. Anita Arlov from Inside Out was the MC for the event which included poetry readings, music performances and a humourous skit by MeeMee Phipps which parodies Miles’ Templar trilogy. In all, 16 people contributed, the last being singer song writer Caitlin Smith who is one of the country’s best known performers.

The place was packed to the gills with well wishers, Miles, tall and elegant, and his beautiful wife Bronwen in fine form, greeting people as they arrived, not giving off a hint of melancholy. A stylish pair indeed and obviously very much loved. They were accompanied by their children and grandchildren, the tiny tots obviously very attached to poppa. There was a low key launch of Miles’ last work at One2One on the following Wednesday evening, which they didn’t attend. “Richmond Road” is set in Ponsonby a hundred years ago. The narrator is a tough old man who is at loss trying to cope with a tragedy. His much loved young grandson has tried to commit suicide and is lying in a coma. Hospital staff suggested he talk to the boy which sometimes brings people back to consciousness, so he decides to relate his life story to him.

The book is very well researched and paints a vivid picture of life in early Auckland. In fact Ponsonby and its environs becomes the other main character as the old man describes familiar streets and places that would be unrecognisable now. For instance Richmond Road once petered out into a walking track leading to a muddy tidal creek. Queens Wharf used to be a hive of a very different daily activity with a fleet of mullet boats and fishing scows preparing to go out with the tide. This is a very engaging book, beautifully written and well paced making it a real page turner. The biographical form also appeals and will find resonance with anyone whose family has been through hard times.

The Kindle edition is $5.63 including free international wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet. The paperback edition will soon be available at Dear Reader in West Lynn.

PN Congratulations, Miles. Rest assured, your book is a winner! (DEIRDRE TOHILL)  FROM THE EDITOR: Miles Hughes sadly passed away in Mercy Hospice 20 February 2014.

Above family and friends of Miles Hughes gather; Miles & Bronwen Hughes; Knights Templar MeeMee Phipps and friends parody Miles Templar trilogy.

DEIRDRE TOHILL: LANDMARK BUILDINGS >

St Mary’s Old Convent Chapel

The Sisters of Mercy was an apostolic order founded in Dublin in 1839 dedicated to caring for children, the sick and the poor, as well as providing refuge for exploited servant girls.

Bishop Jean Baptiste Pompallier recruited a number of Sisters to serve in Auckland’s newly created Roman Catholic Diocese. From 1850 they first occupied a small convent on the present St Patrick’s Cathedral site in Wyndham Street and were soon running schools, orphanages and later, hospitals. In 1853 Bishop Pompallier purchased a 45 acre property in Ponsonby as headquarters for the Auckland Diocese. New Street was formed in 1859 and 18 acres on the eastern side of the boundary were formally handed over to the Sisters.

By this time the St Patrick’s Convent had become overcrowded so in 1861 the foundation stone for a large convent building was laid, one of the earliest purpose-built structures of its kind in New Zealand. St Mary’s was constructed on an elevated site overlooking Freemans Bay and accommodated 60 Sisters. St Mary’s College was added three years later and at the same time work commenced on a chapel, the first to be erected by the Sisters of Mercy in New Zealand. The building’s architect, Edward Mahoney, had designed the convent block and was responsible for the chapel’s construction work.

Like the Sisters, Edward came from Ireland and when young, was apprenticed to his uncle John Mahony, an architect and builder in County Cork which had attracted a number of prominent Gothic Revivalists. Disillusioned by the dearth of opportunities for Catholic architects, and the hardship caused by the famine and plague, he emigrated with his wife and two children, first to Australia then a year later to Auckland where he set up in business as a builder and timber merchant. To avoid confusion with a solicitor named Edmund Mahony, he changed the spelling of his own name to Mahoney.

By 1861 he was a practicing architect and designed the St Mary’s Convent chapel in a pared back gothic style. In 1880 he was a founding member of the Auckland Institute of Architects and its president in 1883 prospering to such an extent he was able to build a large house in Harbour Street, staffed with servants, and a coachman to look after his horses and carriage.

The chapel’s interior layout was designed for convent attendance rather than parish services, with two rows of stalls facing across the nave and is notable for its simplicity and airy spaciousness. It’s valued as one of the two earliest surviving ecclesiastical buildings Mahoney designed, the other being The Church of St John the Baptist in Parnell. The timber chapel is cruciform shaped with a central spire and incorporates pointed arches, lancet windows, ornamental timber buttresses, and has a steeply pitched roof. A simple rose window is centrally placed in the gable end of the building. Painted Stations of the Cross hang on the walls behind the stalls and the altar is located well forward, leaving space for two sacristies, one for the Sisters of Mercy and and the other as a robing room for priests.

Following its official opening 5 August 1866, the chapel was the centre of convent life. It held formal religious ceremonies, liturgical worship and private devotions. Bishop Pompallier offered Mass there twice a week, heard Confessions and preached at conferences. It also served as a parish church for Ponsonby from 1870 until 1886, with baptisms and marriages taking place till 1887. Mother Cecilia Maher, superior general of the order for 22 years, died 25 November 1878 and was laid to rest in a small cemetery behind the convent. Another sister, Mother Mary Bernard Dickson who nursed in the Crimean War with Florence Nightingale is also buried in the same cemetery.

The building is associated with sacred music and teachers such as Dame Sister Mary Leo. It has high social and spiritual significance as the Sisters of Mercy’s place of worship, and reflects important aspects of New Zealand history, particularly the development of the Roman Catholic Church and the establishment of women’s religious orders in a settler society. As an extremely well-preserved building of the 1860s it provides information PN about colonial craftsmanship. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

YOU SCREAM, I SCREAM, WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM The Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme or YES is a programme that has been delivered through schools for 30 years.

It’s aimed at producing leaders in industry, or entrepreneurship that has proved highly successful. Thousands of senior secondary students participate each year with the help of their teachers and local business mentors. They form a company, create a product or service to market and sell which gains them NCEA credits. It’s also a valuable opportunity to learn about the real business world and gives YES companies the option to enter regional and national competitions, which result in the announcement of the Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Company of the Year National Award.

When four budding entrepreneurs from St Mary’s College in Ponsonby decided to enter the scheme their first thought was to aim for a corporate partnership with a food manufacturer in order to help raise funds for the Child Cancer Foundation. Their immediate thought was that ice cream has universal appeal for children.

With health in mind they also wanted an organic food product so Kezia Lynch, Hope Gibson, Maddy Price and Bella Kofoed decided to approach OOB because they enjoy their ice cream and it appealed to them as a New Zealand company with a positive image.

OOB founder, Shannon Auton was more than receptive to the girl’s approach. “This is a group of motivated teenagers wanting the opportunity to learn, and there’s a synergy with our business, so we were really motivated to help.”

The next hurdle was to come up with a good recipe. They asked around among their peers to find out what flavour appealed the most, and orange chocolate chip was a clear winner. During the production process they learned about the science of ice -cream manufacturing with OOB’s Operation Manager, Murray Taylor. They were in on a bench trial at the factory to fine-tune the recipe with flakes of luxurious organic Belgian dark chocolate and decided to add a carefully calculated amount of carrot juice to create an enticing orangey colour. The girls also helped design the label and worked alongside Shannon to sell their ice cream into supermarkets and other stockists.

When the product was finally ready for distribution they made a presentation to Foodstuffs. The girls found this challenge a bit scary because all the work they’d done was riding on its success. And it worked, big time! Their retro-nostalgic ice cream is now available at New World, PAK’nSAVE, Nosh, Farro Fresh, and Four Square outlets.

Fifty cents from the sale of each 850ml pot and 30 cents from each 320 pottle will be donated to the Child Cancer Foundation.

Right at the beginning of their undertaking, they had to make another daunting presentation to the YES programme’s version of the “Dragon’s Den”, which highlights the art of pitching a business idea to investors. They had only five minutes to outline their plan to a panel of corporate bosses who didn’t think their idea would go far because they hadn’t yet secured an ice cream company. This had them really worried, then a couple of days later they received the good news from OOB, their fears were allayed and they set about proving they had a viable business.

Having a good idea is all very well but making it come to fruition is no walk in the park.

Running their company was virtually a full time job while still having to achieve good grades at school. They are all doing business studies so it’s fortunate there’s a cross over to their school work as well. The project may not qualify for the National Awards as these are based on profit, which the girls aren’t able to gauge at this stage given theirs was launched only two months ago. This is of no great concern because their main focus was to raise money for the Child Cancer Foundation and produce a food product that would appeal to children in hospital.

Well, as always, proof is in the pudding. They held a “Sundae Station” event in the Foundation’s Family Room recently where their ice cream was on offer, which the children loved. Hope, Bella, Kezia and Maddy were on scooping duty and had a great time watching the children have fun constructing some crazy sundaes. An award enough in PN itself! www.oob.co.nz (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

LOCAL NEWS RISING LIKE A PHOENIX FROM THE ASHES The Commercial Hotel was constructed in 1841, destroyed by fire in 1858 and replaced with a brick structure which in turn was destroyed by fire in the late 1920s before being rebuilt in 1925.

Dominion Breweries gave the art deco hotel an extensive makeover in 1959 with 1950s interior features and renamed it Hotel DeBrett. The hotel was given another makeover in 1984 by new owners and was a popular gathering place throughout the 80s.

The Historic Places Trust has recommended the reinforced concrete building be recommended for a Category 11 registration as a place of historical and cultural heritage significance because of its 140 history of trading on the site. Throughout its long existence, the hotel has adapted to changing drinking habits and social customs.

Sadly, some years later, the hotel fell into a decline and eventually ended up as a backpackers’ lodge.

Enter St Mary’s Bay residents, Michelle Deery and John Courtney who have restored the iconic landmark to its former glory. Michelle was an art teacher who did the mandatory OE, studied interior design in London where she met John whose career was investment banking. They eventually returned to New Zealand in 2002 and began building a commercial property portfolio. By this time DeBretts had deteriorated further and the backpackers were no longer staying there. The building, which Michelle and John had always admired as a potential boutique hotel kept coming up for sale. It was promoted to them as a potential office development which didn’t appeal. Their modus operandi is buying and renovating, not developing.

In the end they decided it would be really cool to have a small boutique hotel in the middle of Auckland’s CBD.

Michelle Deery and John Courtney of Debretts Hotel

They took the plunge, bought the building and then started on the onerous task of planning, gaining resource consent and overcoming all the other hurdles that go with refurbishing an historic building. Michelle had never designed a hotel before and was a bit daunted at the prospect, so to get her head around it she just thought of it as a house with 25 bedrooms. Well it certainly was an inspired approach because Michelle’s dedication to the task has pulled off an outstanding result. art deco bones are still there and very evident in the stainless steel lift with its mirrored interior. The amazing striped carpet Michelle designed in shades of burgundy, black, blue and yellow runs through the halls, up the staircase and into the bedrooms. It’s been woven in India with 100 percent New Zealand wool and laid over cork, so one’s feet literally sink into its downy softness.

Upstairs the wooden floors in the restaurant, bar and guests’ drawing room are strewn with patchwork rugs imported from Turkey. Every bedroom is individually designed and enhanced with custom made retro style furniture, and New Zealand art. During daytime the dining area is flooded with light from a glass roofed atrium but when night falls, Judy Darragh’s hand spun copper chandeliers cast a soft glow on the rough brick walls while lighted candles on the tables create a different mood. Michelle’s says they are not fine dining but want to be accessible and approachable.

Throughout the hotel they endeavour to celebrate New Zealand produce so the wine list is 100 percent New Zealand and they try to keep the food on the menu as local as possible. DeBretts Kitchen has the distinction of being the only hotel in Metro’s Top 50 restaurants of the year awards 2013. The magazine also describes it as “a hidden gem in this city, but it shouldn’t be”.

From the time Michelle and John bought the building in March 2007, it was two years before they opened in February 2009. It was actually finished in October but then months passed before they were granted a license to open, which was terribly frustrating. They spent the time usefully however, putting on great fun dinner parties for friends who all stayed for sleepovers. This was an opportunity to iron out any problems they may have overlooked. For instance, the tilers had left grout in one of the shower plug holes resulting in a flood they wouldn’t have known about before taking bookings. With its home away from home ambience Michelle has established a tradition that looks set to continue well into PN the future. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

LOCAL NEWS BAKING IS EASY ONCE YOU KNOW HOW!

How Alexa Johnston metamorphosed from being an art curator at Auckland Art Gallery for 19 years to writing cookbooks.

To discover how and why it’s necessary to go back to 2002 when she curated the “Sir Edmund Hillary: Everest and Beyond” exhibition for the Auckland Museum. This was to celebrate both the 50th anniversary of the famous climb and the Museum’s 150th and 50th. After going through hundreds of slides she put together a really good show that went to Washington DC and toured New Zealand. There wasn’t enough time to produce a catalogue so she had to make do with an information sheet, but when asked if there was a book coming out she thought well maybe we should put the exhibition between two covers.

Sir Ed loved the exhibition so Alexa approached him to ask what he thought of it being part of an illustrated biography. He approved of the idea and gave her the go-ahead.

This was an enormous honour to receive from New Zealand’s most famous man and how awful it would be to get it wrong, but she didn’t. This beautiful book, published

by Penguin, has a profuse number of photographs, letters, cards, diary pages and ephemera from his personal archive. Sir Ed was very happy with the finished product and it was a finalist in the Montana Book Awards. After an extraordinary year Alexa thought well okay, it’s back to curatorial work then Geoff Walker, editor of Penguin at the time, asked if she’d ever thought of doing a cookbook. She had baked him a very special cake for his 60th birthday which prompted his inquiry.

At first Alexa wondered who on earth would buy a cookbook by her as she was only known for her work in the art world and as Sir Ed’s biographer. She loves cooking, which had always been her hobby throughout her professional career so she mulled over the idea and finally decided she’d like to do a book on traditional baking. She’d been a baker from when she was only seven years old, using recipes from her mother’s little old community cookbooks sourced from the Country Women’s Institute, the League of Mothers, church groups and so on. With economy in mind her mother’s stipulation was “Cook what you like as long as you use only one egg”.

Alexa’s choice of title for her new book was “Ladies a Plate” because it epitomises the ethos of sharing food which in turn strengthens family bonds, forges friendships

TO MOW OR NOT TO MOW Thanks to a group of Ooooby volunteers, the patch of earth outside Barbara Grace’s house on Richmond Road is not a boring splotch of grass, but a glorious cornucopia of flowering plants and herbs.

Barbara was more than happy to allow for this transformation because in England, where she hails from, neatly kept berms on wide streets are synonymous with stultifying conformity. In her opinion even shaggy grass is preferable to a shaved bit of lawn edged by a strip of weed-killed bare soil. By contrast, her berm is a haven for bees and butterflies and passers-by sometimes take the liberty of snipping a small bunch of thyme or pick up a few seeds for their own planting.

Barbara does not find the task of maintaining her kerbside garden at all onerous and hopes other households will follow suit, as long as they are mindful of sight lines, ensuring buses and cars are visible. Corridors of similar plantings would certainly enhance the suburban landscape. Mind you, not all berms are suitable, particularly under tree canopies, but in that case why not introduce native ground covers that flourish under heavy shade? New Zealand ground covers grow all over the place in our bush lands and several attractive species are available in garden centres.

Here’s another thought. If grass is a must, again, why not use our natives? Purei is a flat-leaved green sedge with attractive black seed heads found throughout New Zealand forest and scrub areas. Low growing ferns are another solution for shaded areas. Maidenhair is a beautiful fern that likes shelter and spreads easily by creeping rhizomes. The hen and chicken fern is another good choice and and one of our most popular natives. The list is endless and they are all the perfect low maintenance option.

Meanwhile, Barbara is preparing for spring planting. Cosmos will flower among the marigolds, borage, sage and parsley. The swan plant will attract those lovely monarch butterflies, and all in all her efforts will continue to enhance Grey Lynn’s streetscape.

(DEIRDRE TOHILL)  PN

and helps build caring communities. Many of us still recall the time when each week our mothers filled cake tins with homemade biscuits, slices, fruit loaves and cakes. They also baked for suppers and afternoon teas at local events and when someone in the neighbourhood had a baby or suffered a bereavement it was normal to pop in with some home cooked food. Her idea was to reproduce recipes from those old community books but they were very short on instructions because it was assumed everyone knew how to bake. Alexa wanted to write a book so that someone who had never baked could follow a recipe and still get a good result.

She rewrote and tested all the recipes in her home kitchen and because books need pictures these days she decided not to employ a photographer, who would be underfoot, and simply photograph the baking herself. As a curator she knew what she wanted her recipes to look like. Well in spite of her initial misgivings the book took off and won several awards including the Publishers’ Association of NZ award for Best Illustrated Book of the year. Not bad for an amateur photographer! It was followed by A Second Helping in 2009, and What’s For Pudding in 2011 A hardback collectors’ edition of Ladies a Plate was published in 2012. In her latest book, Ladies, a Plate: Jams & Preserves she celebrates the time-honoured branch of cookery, making a case for bringing it back to the centre of kitchen activities.

Alexa hasn’t quite given up her curatorial activities and is one of three others who are curating the biannual Sculpture in the Gardens display at the Auckland Botanical gardens in Manukau. Several of our local artists are featured and the not to be missed exhibition runs till Sunday 16 February. (DEIRDRE TOHILL)  PN

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DEIRDRE TOHILL: LANDMARK BUILDINGS

DEIRDRE TOHILL: LOCAL NEWS

St John’s Church

The Ghosts of Nick’s Head

The mixture of religious buildings along Ponsonby and Jervois Roads, and in St Marys Bay all play a part in designating the area as one of Auckland’s most valued heritage precincts.

In 1876 the Wesleyans took steps to provide a place of worship in Ponsonby at the same time as the Presbyterians. Both went on to build large timber churches in the gothic revival style for the suburb’s burgeoning population. This came about as a result of speculative house-building on the city fringe during the 1870s economic boom. St John’s Church was constructed to serve members of the Methodist faith who were among our first European settlers and on its completion was also celebrated by the wider Protestant community. The structure’s foundation stone was laid on 2 November 1881.

Costing £2,240, the building was constructed by James Heron, one of the church’s foundation trustees. Architect, Edward Bartley who had worked as a designer-builder in Auckland since 1854 was engaged for the project. A wise choice as he had designed many buildings that are now designated Category 1 by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, as is St John’s Church. Edward hailed from St Helier, New Jersey, was home educated and at the age of 13 worked in the building trade with his father. When he turned 15 he left Jersey and travelled with his older brother, Robert, to New Zealand. He first worked as a builder’s labourer then contractor and gradually shifting from building and cabinetmaking into architecture.

Apart from churches at Pitt Street, Grafton and Parnell there were hardly any Wesleyan places of worship in Auckland that had architectural pretensions before the event of St John’s. Most Methodist “chapels” so named were small and of humble design. In contrast St John’s was unmistakably a church. By the time the foundation stone was laid many Wesleyans who had settled here in earlier decades had become people of substance and nationally the Methodist denomination grew in strength during the 1880s.

There was a large attendance at the foundation stone ceremony. The site was gaily decorated with flags, and a carpeted platform was erected close to the site for those taking an active part in the ceremony. A choir was in attendance rendering the hymn “Hear the voice and prayer.”

Reverend Dewsbury delivered words from a parchment placed in the cavity. “Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.” Mrs Dewsbury was then presented with a finely crafted mallet of puriri wood with which she laid the stone. A bottle containing documents, and coins was placed in the cavity before the stone was lowered into place. Children who had been collecting subscriptions for the building fund were requested to come forward and deposit the amounts gathered on the stone. The proceedings were brought to a close with the National Anthem. Afterwards a tea meeting was held in the Ponsonby hall for the large gathering, so large that two relays had to be served, but there was ample provision for everyone.

The Wesleyan denomination grew in strength during the 1880s at which time an estimated one in ten New Zealanders was Methodist. During this period St John’s Church was the centre of its members’ religious, cultural and social lives. It even had a cricket team prior to the First World War. Like other churches it suffered a substantial decrease in attendance after the Second World War and by 1953 the exterior needed extensive repairs. The 1960s saw the inflow of Pacific Island people to Ponsonby and St John’s main ministry changed.

The church became the headquarters of an Auckland District Samoan Fellowship and Reverend Siauala Amituana’i was appointed minister. An extension to the church was erected to accommodate a Methodist Samoan Community and in 1983 St John’s became the first Samoan Methodist parish in New Zealand.

St John’s Church has high importance for its visual aspect which contributes to Ponsonby Road’s streetscape and is aesthetically significant for its ornate interior. Technically it’s valuable as a fine example of a timber ecclesiastical building in the gothic revival style and culturally it has provided for the social and spiritual needs of a continually changing PN community. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

“When the night was dark and scary, and the moon was full, and creatures were a flying and the wind went Whooooooooo” didn’t stop Joe and Eddie trying to find out why the ghost of a boy haunted the old house their parents had rented for the school holidays.

Move over, zombies, ghosts are far more mysterious and exciting. Sue Copsey has written a cracker ghost story for children aged eight to twelve years old. Two years ago it was accepted by a newly formed publishing company that eventually failed but it’s still available in most bookshops, including Whitcoulls, and as an eBook on Amazon for $2.99. You can also buy it from Fishpond.co.nz for $18.94 including delivery. Goodreads has given it excellent rating and reviews.

Sue was born in Rugby, England. Her business studies degree gained her a position in the press office at London Zoo. It was a dream job, meeting luminaries such as David Attenborough and getting to know all the keepers. Some years later she and her husband took time off to travel around the world. They stayed two months here with her uncle who lived on a lifestyle block and taught at Palmerston North Boys High. When they returned home she worked for Dorning Kindersley who were publishing illustrated books for children that sold widely all over the world. They also published a book she wrote, ‘Children Just Like Me’ that was an award winning international bestseller.

When it was time to have a family Sue and her husband were doing a massive commute to London every day. He was working long hours in advertising, and she didn’t relish the prospect of being stuck at home with a baby, unable to go out much in the cold English weather. They decided to try living in New Zealand for a while and 18 years later they are still here in Ponsonby with leaving not on the agenda. Their first child was born nine months after they arrived and their daughter four years later. Susan found part time work with Pearsons School Books as a freelance editor and because of her experience at Dorlings she eventually had a say in the design of their publications as well.

Around the time her first novel came out, Pearson NZ asked her to write for them as well. Ethnic diversity is very big in today’s schools so she travelled throughout New Zealand interviewing and photographing children from different backgrounds for a nonfiction title ‘Our Children Aotearoa’ which won an award, Storylines Notable Non-Fiction.

Unfortunately Pearson NZ closed in August this year because the global bosses are focussing on the emerging Asian market and putting all their publications online.

Sue has just written a sequel to ‘The Ghosts of Nick’s Head’ which she finished recently on the stroke of midnight. ‘The Ghosts of Tarawera’ is set in the Central North Island amid all the seismic activity and isn’t as spooky as the first, but more of an adventure story. After visiting a few schools with other authors she has kept in touch with some of the children who enjoyed her novel and intends to send the sequel to them for feedback before she sends it off to a publisher.

Susan is aware that nowadays many writers are going down the self publishing route but it can be a tricky path to navigate with pitfalls aplenty. They may have mastered the craft but they also have to learn all the intricacies that are involved in actually getting bookstores to accept their works. A successful self publisher hires editors, designers, publicists, in fact becomes a tiny one person publishing company. It’s a steep learning curve that not every author wants, or is able to climb. Sue is such a one who believes she’s better off sticking to her knitting, or rather writing! Scholastic haven’t taken unsolicited manuscripts for a long time but recently announced they will look at those by writers who have already been published, which Sue has, so she may send her latest endeavour to them and hopefully ‘The Ghosts of Tarawera’ will soon take pride of place PN on bookshelves alongside its forerunner. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

LOCAL NEWS A TRULY REMARKABLE LIFE Jenny Wheeler has had a stellar career in journalism.

She completed a BA at Auckland University, a diploma at the Secondary Teachers College then taught third formers at Wellington East Girls High School before joining the New Zealand Herald as a general news reporter for four years.

She then moved to New Zealand Woman’s Weekly as staff writer for six years before becoming editor of the Auckland Star. She was the second woman to hold such a position on a metropolitan newspaper. But this meteoric progression doesn’t stop there. She was founding editor of the Sunday Star newspaper and New Zealand House & Garden magazine, and the first woman editor of The Listener.

PLAY ‘MISTY’ FOR ME! My cat doesn’t obey me so I decided to get a more subservient animal, a little dog that would be my best friend.

I found exactly what I wanted on TradeMe, a tiny little dog that looked like a white Hairy Maclary. She needed to be rescued from a lonely life shut up all day long in an apartment.

Her Chinese owner had called her Angel and assured me she was well trained.

Trained? I don’t think so! She sure turned out to be no ‘Angel’. I immediately made a name change to Misty. Maybe there was a language barrier so I tried teaching her commands in English with conspicuous lack of success. Now I had two disobedient pets and Jotham, the cat became a saboteur of any discipline I tried to put in place. He took command of the large cat flap I had installed for Misty and if he’s around he whacks her whenever she tries to use it. Misty is oblivious to his disdain and never gives up trying to play with him.

He refuses to be cajoled into any interaction.

Tim and Jenny Wheeler

Jenny believes timing was a lucky factor in all these career moves. She got taken on by the Herald because she wrote a story about why she left teaching when that profession was in a state of unwelcome change. Later, newspapers were in a disruptive state with top journalists not applying for poorly paid jobs and there seemed to be a chance for women to come through when the industry was in a state of flux. During her newspaper period, at one stage Jenny had five different managers in 18 months. By the time she became editor of the Listener she was working in a very insecure corporate environment. The guy that hired her was transferred to Australia before she even arrived, the deputy who had applied for the job left in a huff so none of the people who had employed her were there anymore, which was difficult to say the least.

After 10 years at the top of the industry she became disillusioned by the politics in those organisations. Also, journalism isn’t well-paid and she was conscious of not having a retirement fund. She and Tim Bickerstaff were partners in a romantic sense and he often suggested they start up a business. They were both at the same point in their lives when she happened to be reading a book on direct marketing. It was a “road to Damascus” moment. Tim had been selling on radio long before other talkback hosts and Jenny as an editor was used to focussing on stories that made people want to buy newspapers.

We could do this, they decided and looked at the baby boomer market which they understood. Jenny had written many health stories for the Woman’s Weekly and Tim had a fix on men’s health problems. They co-incidentally heard of an apiarist in Nelson who was making a honey product containing bee venom. This sparked Tim’s interest because once hearing that bee venom relieved joint pain he had been crazy enough to catch some bees in a jar, remove them with tweezers and let them sting his knees. They approached the man in Nelson who was on the verge of bankruptcy and persuaded him to let them market his product, Nectar Ease under the brand name, Honeybalm. They were hugely successful and with only one staffer turned over a million dollars in their first year. Tim did not enjoy robust health and suffered occasional erectile dysfunction which he didn’t mind talking about at all. By coincidence again, Jenny met a guy at a trade workshop who told her about a herbal product that was just as good as Viagra. They gained the rights to market Herbalignite and then added a women’s libido product which helps with menopausal problems, a prostrate health product which is very effective and a natural gel lubricant for sexual function. Jenny started thinking of an expansion plan but Tim wasn’t in favour. However, he did consent to taking on a young man, Sam Kamani, who would focus on web development.

Tim died in 2009 and Sam was appointed director of the newly formed company, Intenza NZ Ltd. Talk about from the tiny acorn grows the mighty oak! Now in commercial premises on Anzac Avenue they have seven staff, one of whom speaks Mandarin, nine websites and Jenny writes blogs, and is on Facebook and Twitter.

She says her years in journalism were wonderful but when she stepped away from it she stood in a carpark one day, and shouted with glee. It was an epiphany a moment of PN certainty that she had made the absolutely right decision. (DEIRDRE TOHILL) 

Another problem arose. Who would have thought a small Bichon/Jack Russell cross might be a canine dynamo? Why isn’t she content in a small fenced garden? She’s already amused herself destroying my vegetable patch, gaily flinging baby beetroot and carrots into the air and having a go at the herbs and greens as well. Her frustrated energy knows no bounds. My former sedentary peace is no more. She forces me to walk with vigour twice a day and it has to be in an unleashed dog area because she almost garrottes herself if I try to stroll her sedately on a lead.

In spite of all this disruption, I think I really love her. She lifts my spirits and makes me laugh and when I take her to a park other people laugh at her too, she looks so mad as she runs around like a streak of white lightning.

Dear little Misty, I think you love me too when you snuggle onto my lap at day’s end, all your misdemeanors forgiven. (DEIRDRE ROELANTS)