Miss Newey's cottage

Back in May 2010, in a post about a stroll through part of Henderson, I referred to Miss Newey's cottage. Newey's reserve is at the corner of Edmonton and Great North Roads. Almost in the picture above, taken from one of the interpretive signs there. 

I mentioned in the post that I wasn't sure how the cottage, given with the land to Henderson Borough Council in 1987, came to end up at Western Springs. 

 Western Leader 28 September 1987

Now, I do. But it's too late for the cottage. 

Eileen Newey, described in 1987 as one of Henderson's oldest residents when she died, left the Henderson Borough Council her land at the corner of Edmonton and Great North Road as a reserve, establishing Newey's Corner. Edges of the property were used to widen the intersection, with Miss Newey's approval. The Council advised the Western Leader at the time that the house "will be made available free for removal to an approved community group." The mayor of Henderson at the time, Assid Corban, described Miss Newey as a school teacher of many years, who took great interest in the Henderson community. "She taught me at school, and many generations of Henderson people, she went beyond the bounds of  a normal school teacher in the area."

What perplexed me was how the cottage ended up at Western Springs, on land which was once part of that for William Edgcumbe's Northern Hotel (the "Old Stone Jug") on Great North Road.

This is the cottage as it was earlier this year, in from of the Auckland Horticultural Society's building on Great North Road. From what I understand, Assid Corban had connections with the Society back in 1987, and offered the cottage to them for use as a caretaker's residence -- the caretaker needed to look after the Horticultural Centre on the site which is used by community groups and other organisations for hire, once the clubhouse for Chamberlain Park Golfcourse.

By 2009, however, the cottage wasn't used as much, and the Auckland City Council advised the Society that the cottage was too close to the Meola Stream banks, and could cause major erosion problems. Earlier this year, a committee member in the Society had some ideas to reopen the cottage as a kind of arts centre. I had a look inside then. For its age, from around the late 1920s onwards, it was in very good nick.

Then, in late October, as I arrived for a meeting of the Pt Chevalier Historical Society, I found this. Bare remnants of the foundations. The storage container was linked, I believe, to a crew selling fireworks from the site later on in November.

What I later found out, thanks to some kind folk within Auckland Council and Trevor Pollard of West Auckland Historical Society, was that the cottage was removed on 23 September and carted west, to a yard on Hobsonville Road. There, it will either be sold (if it hasn't been already) or -- broken up for demolition bits and pieces.

I know it is just a cottage, and there are a lot of them around, but -- with a bit more thought, it might have ended up back at Henderson, somewhere like Tui Glen. Perhaps even set up as a bit of a historical display on the history of education in the area and in West Auckland. Something for children to help them learn about our history.

But, just like some old cottage on an anonymous and ordinary bit of land -- it's now gone.

Auckland Council can't be blamed for this. Passing any kind of file notation from Henderson Borough Council to Waitakere City Council then on to Auckland Council would be expecting too much. And Henderson Borough Council may not have even made note of the heritage values of the building anyway, values diminished to next to nothing once they allowed its removal from the district and its community associations. The Horticultural Society, faced with demands to move the cottage, obviously saw only the one solution, and that was to sell for removal. No fault lies there, they were acting in their own interests. The company which removed the cottage are, of course, just doing business. No fault lies there, either.

It's just a pity that no one mentioned, before it was removed, what was going to happen, perhaps looked into its story (published online prior to removal via the Point Chevalier Times last year), asked the local historical society about it ... just a shame.

Update 3 February 2012: Remembering Miss Newey.