The battle for "Wolverton Park"

 

The Avondale side of Te Kōtuitanga Olympic Park, briefly known as “Wolverton Park” during the 1970s bureaucratic stoush. Google street view from Wolverton street, 2023

Background

The Whau River begins with two streams flowing together: Te Waitahurangi Avondale Stream from the Waitakere Ranges foothills to the west, and the Whau Stream from the deeply water-carved country of New Windsor, and the uplands in Mt Roskill between Richardson, Dominion Extension and White Swan Roads to the east. Where the streams meet is Te Kōtuitanga, the tip of land between the waters. For nearly 150 years of the post-Treaty of Waitangi era though, the approximate triangle between the Avondale and Whau streams and what is today Wolverton Street was mainly a wilderness of gorse, brush, wattle and not much else. Much of this, in the late 20th century, was dubbed Wolverton Park in the 1970s. 

At least until around 1856 when the Great North Road through Avondale had been laid out, and likely the first Whau Bridge built alongside the present version, there was no formed crossing over either the Avondale or Whau streams. But on a map drawn up c.1850, a rather broad “Whau Bridge” was drawn, along with a curving line of road that would have linked the approximate line of Wolverton Street where it ended at the Whau Stream, with the approximate area of Clark Street. This idea may have between the reason behind the drafting of North Taylor Street and North Dilworth (later Ulster) Street through the area. Unlike the main part of Taylor Street and Ulster Road today – the parts of those roads north-west of Wolverton would remain unformed. 

The Whau Townships North and South were surveyed in the 1850s, Whau Township North included Wolverton Park. Sales in both areas were less than successful for the Auckland Provincial Council, Whau North least of either. Lot 3 of that township (northern most part of the park) was set aside as a “Provincial reserve”. Below it, Lot 4 was a school reserve, as well as a triangle between the future “Ulster Road” and Wolverton Street, Lot 41, and Lot 9. Lots 5, 10 and 43 were set aside as religious reserves. Lots 5 and 10 however had a different fate. 

Lot 42 was conveyed by Crown Grant to Bishop Augustus Selwyn in 1860, possibly with the idea of providing land for a church for the intended streamside village, but no one really knows for sure. In 1868, Selwyn placed it in trust with Sir William Martin, William Henry Kenny and George Patrick Pierce. All three men were long dead before the turn of the 20th century, but when the Anglican Diocese sought a title in 1940, their names remained, through to 1958. Beside Lot 42, Bishop Selwyn was also granted Lot 43 by Crown Grant in 1867. His name remained on the title through to 1955. 

The school reserves Lots 4, 9 and 41 formally were conveyed to the Provincial Superintendent in 1861. These would remain so until 1878 when they were transferred to the Auckland School Commissioners, and then in 1910 back to the Crown as endowment land for primary school purposes, administered by the Lands Board. 

The land history of the Avondale side of today’s “Olympic Park” is a complex one. Here, I’ve used a 1910 map to overlay the streets (Dilworth and Taylor above Wolverton only unformed paper roads), the site of the Auckland City Council depot (now the ambulance station and esplanade), the Anglican Diocesan land (church symbol), and the Crown land as at 1958.

The old Whau Township North was resurveyed in 1884, as the Crown tried again to attract interest from settlers. They were more successful this time, and the Land Board contemplated a new name for it. For a short while “Gordon” was considered, after General Charles George Gordon who had been killed earlier that year at Khartoum in the Sudan. But as there was already a Gordon Settlement elsewhere, the Land Board chose “Wolseley,” after another prominent general, Sir Garnet Wolseley, who had attempted to relieve Gordon. The road leading to the township was thus dubbed Wolseley Road (and another leading up the hill on the other side of Blockhouse Bay Road was named Garnet Road). In 1929, Bancroft Street was suggested by Auckland City Council as a new name for Wolseley Road, but three years later “Wolverton” was chosen. Dilworth Street (both north and south of Wolverton Street) was changed to Ulster Road in 1932 as well. 

The Auckland City Council works depot 

In 1872 Lots 1 and 2 of the Whau North Township, to the east of “Taylor Street,” were placed in the name of the Provincial Superintendent under the Public Reserves Act 1854, for educational purposes. This meant that funds from leasing the land were to be used to support the province’s schools. A few years after the Provincial Council ended, Henry James Bell and George Hemus of the Riversdale Tannery syndicate leased the two sections in 1883 for an unknown period, but not for long as the firm faded out from 1885. The wattles that were spread throughout the area and surrounds probably originated from the plantings undertaken by the firm while it was in operation. Bell & Gemmell had a lease for the land immediately on the other side of the Whau Stream (Allotment 101, 6 acres) from John Buchanan from 1879. This lease was transferred to Bell & Hemus in 1881, then to the Riversdale Manufacturing Company Ltd in 1882. The company bought Buchanan’s freehold in 1883, but it was subdivided, interests were sold, and the last shareholder sold up in 1893. 

The land on the Wolverton Park side of the Whau Stream may have been used by the Avondale Borough Council as a rubbish tip during the 1920s, as there is a description of their tip being in Taylor Street, and affecting the Whau Stream, but this ceased in 1926 when the New Lynn Town Board complained. However, tipping at the site continued under the Auckland City Council. The “educational purposes” reservation on the site was revoked under the Lands Disposal Act 1942, and Lots 1 and 2 were vested in trust to the Auckland City Council, now set apart for “municipal purposes.” This was expanded by both the later closure of the unformed section of Taylor Street (Council had buildings on the paper road by 1961, obtaining clear title as a Local Purpose Reserve in 1981), and the purchase of part of the Anglican Diocese land on the other side of the road in 1965 for a hydatids testing strip. A 1980 aerial shows Council depot buildings already on site, including the closed part of Taylor Street. 

In 1991 local residents campaigned for part of the Council works depot site to be turned into a reserve. This became the “Wolverton Esplanade” strip – but it still showed signs of being a tipping site: “small amounts of glass and metal are sticking out of the ground, with rubble and metal exposed on side slopes.” The Council proposed covering that over with 300mm of topsoil and clay. In 1993 the Auckland City Council land was divided into part leased for 30 years to St Johns Ambulance, and the Wolverton Esplanade along the foreshore.

The old Council depot, repurposed as an ambulance station. St John's have always called this "New Lynn" even though it clearly is on the Avondale side of the border. Probably they got confused with being west of the Whau Stream, when really New Lynn starts west of the Avondale Stream. All part of the confused site history here. Google street view, 2023.

The New Lynn Domain 

Now directly administering the education reserves since the 1910 Act, the Commissioner of Crown Lands put those in the Wolverton Park area up for 21 year renewable leases in 1912. At least one part, Lot 5 at the northern-most point, was leased by 1917, but the lease was surrendered when the Crown land is in the process of being vested in the New Lynn Town Board. 

New Lynn Town Board had started to make moves to have the Crown’s reserve land between the unformed part of Dilworth Street and the Avondale Stream vested in them as a recreation reserve and domain from 1916. They succeed in 1921 when the 4¼ acres was vested with the Town Board and became part of their New Lynn Domain on the other side (later known as Olympic Park). Then, for much of the next 45 years, the New Lynn Town Board and later Borough mainly forgot about the small Avondale part of their administrative area. 

From SO 20070 (1918) LINZ records

Rupert Frederick Double of 26 Taylor Street leased the Avondale side of the New Lynn Domain from them for grazing in 1936. In return for a “peppercorn lease” Double offered to “fence, clear and grass” the area “for purpose of grazing cows.” He applied for a renewal of the lease in 1941, and asked for it to be extended to three years. In response, he was told he needed to comply with the terms of the lease, and completely clear the land of gorse, before a renewal could be considered. Double replied that through illness he’d had to dispose of stock, so was not able to carry out the terms of the lease. He advised he would be removing the fence. 

The New Lynn Borough then advertised tenders for grazing there in 1942. Oddly, they didn’t seem to realise that they had control over all the land west of the domain’s part of Ulster Road up to the point, instead thinking that the former education reserves bookended their part. So, when they advertised the lease, they only referred to the middle portion. 

The lessee was required to remove all noxious weeds and undergrowth in the first year, and only then might an extended three year lease be considered. The Borough retained the right at any time to enter the ground to plant trees. There is no information on the Borough’s file about any other leaseholders for the land than Double. 

Prelude to the battle – the Lands Department’s subdivision idea 

Things seem to have started to change for the Avondale side of the New Lynn Domain in 1958 when complaints were made about land that wasn’t actually part of it. There was a quarter-acre triangle of Crown Land that remained after roads, the domain ground and the Diocesan-owned land had been surveyed and disposed which had a 12 foot high gorse fire hazard problem. Auckland City Council found that this was an issue, and so served notice on the Department of Lands to fix the problem. This was sorted at that point by the Field Officer arranging with Crum Brick and Tile for the bulldozer they had working across the road to come over and sort out the gorse. The company quoted £12 to crush the gorse, and another £3 to heap it up and burn it. They went ahead and did the job. 

The germ of an idea at the time from Lands Department perhaps to permanently sort the problem by subdividing and selling that quarter-acre was shot down by the City Council who said the subdivision should be for all the surrounding vacant land as well, even that owned by the Diocese. 

So, in 1959, the gorse started to grow back. This time though, as the Diocese were spraying their own gorse, they were paid £10 to spray the Crown’s gorse as well. 

Come 1960, the Lands Department took up the idea of dealing with things once and for all. They prepared a subdivision plan proposal which included a part of the Diocesan land, as well as the adjoining Avondale part of the New Lynn Domain. The New Lynn Borough Council were approached to see if they were agreeable about releasing this back to the Crown for housing. Which they were, as they really didn’t know what to do with the Avondale side (they really had not spent any money on improvements there), and wanted to get the sale proceeds instead to improve their own part of the Domain. The plan included closing the unformed part of Ulster Road, forming a new cul-de-sac off Wolverton Street, and dividing the site into 20 sections. Lot 19, at the tip, was to be vested in Auckland City Council as a reserve and made part of a permanent metal dump site, along with the closed Taylor Street and a strip of the Diocesan land, which would take care of City Council demands for compensation for the closed Ulster Road. In exchange, the unformed part of Ulster Road would be added to the subdivision. 

Wolverton Street was expected to become a secondary highway and widened 12 feet in the 1962-1967 period, so Lot 9 alongside the road was left off the subdivision plan. This also meant that if the plan was sorted and approved by the time the work on Wolverton Street was complete, it would make the actual work on the subdivision easier. There were those within the Department who backed an idea to have an industrial subdivision instead, rather than a residential one, but this went against City Council zoning, and the Council declined to change. 

By 1962, the Lands Department expected to realize £14,000 from the sale of the land, of which £3,750 would be deducted and given to New Lynn Borough as their share. Information about this figure though was not given at the time to the Borough Council. £7440 was allowed as an estimate for Ministry of Works (MOW) expenditure in laying out the new road and underground utilities. 

In 1965 Ministerial approval was formally received for revocation of domain status for the Avondale part of the domain, and for its subdivision for residential sites and ultimate disposal. So in 1966 the Avondale part of New Lynn Domain ceased to be a recreational reserve by gazette. It reverted back to the Crown. 

In that year of 1966, it looked like the Lands Department could have gone ahead with their plans. All that was required was a change for the former domain ground to residential use under Auckland City’s operative Town Plan, and Avondale would have had a brand new subdivision there at the end of Wolverton Street. 

But … Lands still couldn’t quite let go of the more lucrative idea of an industrial park. They kept asking the City Council, and the City Council kept on saying no (there was already the industrial development at the old Glenburn brickyard site on St Georges Road, so they had no interest in another in the immediate area.) 

So, by 1970, nothing had happened at the site. The MOW estimate had now risen (as at late 1969) to $16,500, covering section clearing, road formation, and installation of sanitary, stormwater and water mains. Some delay was due to MOW negotiations with Auckland City Council regarding certain works. By now, Lands Department were also considering provision of underground electricity reticulation as well, and a total of three out of the 20 residential sections in a revised subdivision were to be reserved for Auckland City Council municipal purposes – part of the now defunct Ulster Road (18), Lot 20 at the tip, and Lot 1 down near Wolverton Street. 

Almost the fullest extent of the intended subdivision — the Church of England Trust Lands (Anglican Diocesan) would be added after this 1970 plan was drawn. Archives New Zealand file, R3950418

On top of this, they needed a new Ministerial approval for the increased costs, plus the amount of money to be paid to New Lynn also needed revision. As for the New Lynn Borough’s share of the proceeds, it was proposed by Lands Department that, once everything had been completed, they would seek an application from New Lynn Borough providing details of their development proposals. This would have been a ministerial refund, not a fixed set sum. Instead, the Director General decided to set a firm figure of $7,500 which was fairly well the same amount as from 1962 (the actual increased figure at the time, taking inflation into account, would have been nearly $11,000). Financial authority was duly granted for $19,780 for the subdivision costs, and the earthworks on the site went ahead. 

But there was yet another delay. It wasn’t until late 1972 or early 1973 that Auckland City Council made the proposed rezoning public and open for submissions, and New Lynn Borough now objected. Yes, after agreeing happily to the idea of a residential subdivision on the former domain land in the 1960s, they’d had a change of mind in the 1970s. They were also listening to the concerns from their ratepayers. According to retired Police Chief-Inspector Henry Edwin Campin (1901-1985) who spoke at the Borough Council’s meeting on the subject “… until someone went mad with bulldozers there it was enjoyed by local children and residents … it had been covered with willows and wattles before it was bulldozed.” Campin was later reported as saying “We can’t just allow it to be taken. The western districts is starved of recreational land and we certainly can’t afford to lose what we have.” 

In May the same year Rev Doug Kidd of St Judes Church in Avondale wrote to the MP for New Lynn, Jonathan Hunt (the start of a number of years Hunt would be involved with the Wolverton Park issue). In 1964 the Anglican Diocese had surveyed Lots 42 and 43 for subdivision. Three lots fronting Wolverton St are leased to Constance Costello March 1965 for 21 years, and these were leased in turn to contractors Michael and Kevin Patrick Sheehan in July that year. By 1971 the lessee of the Diocesan land had however abandoned the land and failed to pay any rent for years. A new lessee had been found who was prepared to pay for the land – but only if it was zoned industrial. The Lands Department and two other Wolverton Road landowners objected. Now, Kidd asked Hunt to let him know what the Crown intended to do, in order for the Diocese to apply for a rezoning of their land. 

In July 1973, in response to New Lynn’s objection to the rezoning of the former Domain land from recreation reserve to residential, Lands considered a re-survey (again) to increase the area that would remain as a reserve alongside the Avondale Stream (originally limited to 10 feet wide, as they considered the stream would not be a recreation feature for the future residents.) The Department proposed to purchase the Diocesan land as well, and add that to their site – but while the Department was now dealing directly with the Diocesan office, Rev. Kidd kept on writing to Hunt, which sparked yet another ministerial inquiry seeking information from the Department, now to do with Rev Kidd’s suggestion of the Diocesan sites being used to provide housing for Pacific Island families. To that end, Rev Kidd also wrote to the Maori & Island Affairs Dept, claiming that “the Parochial District of Avondale” had the three sections. Which were all in the name, actually, of the General Trust Board of the Diocese of Auckland. 

By October, Rev Kidd’s approaches to the Maori & Island Affairs Department had brought the negotiations Lands Department had been engaged in with the Diocese to purchase the land and add it to the subdivision to a screeching halt. Lands Department decided to just go ahead with the original subdivision, and leave Rev Kidd and the Diocese to their own negotiations regarding Pacific Island low cost housing on their land. The Maori & Island Affairs Department were still investigating, starting their own involved processes to determine whether the Diocesan land and Kidd’s proposal would suit their needs. They eventually said no. 

In 1975, the Diocese offered to sell the Diocesan land to the Crown for $26,500. The Lands Department came to an agreement with the Maori & Pacific Island Department that several of the now 24 planned residential sections could be made available for Maori housing. The Land Settlement Board approved the purchase, which was made in May 1975. 

The battle for Wolverton Park begins 

The delays, though, were ultimately to prove fatal to the Lands Department plan for a residential subdivision at Wolverton Park. The delay in the 1960s while some in the Department refused to let go of the idea of an industrial site, and the bureaucratic jamming in the 1970s while the future of the Diocesan land was sorted out, meant that there had been time for the local community’s attitude toward the development to change, and for a new but very persistent opposition to appear. In September 1973 the Avondale-Waterview Ratepayers & Residents Association (AWRRA) was incorporated. The Society’s best-known member and Secretary, Kurt Brehmer, was to gain a local reputation for his persistence for local environmental causes for the rest of the century. 

In AWRRA’s second year of incorporation, in June 1975, Auckland City Council advised Lands that (whoops), due to an oversight, they still hadn’t changed the zoning for the former domain from recreational to residential. They now started the public consultation process again. This was AWRRA’s opportunity. In October 1975, they lodged an objection to the Auckland City Council’s proposed zoning change from Recreation 1 to Residential 2 for the former domain land. The signatories to the formal objection were AWRRA Chairman J F J Clarke, and AWRRA Secretary Kurt Brehmer. Their grounds were: (1) there was a shortage of recreationally zoned land in Avondale, (2) the location adjacent to the Whau River made the land suitable for recreation, and (3) a recreation area would complement New Lynn’s Olympic Park. Clarke also went further, writing to both a New Lynn councillor, offering to have a meeting between the Borough Council and AWRRA, and also to Matiu Rata, then Minister of Lands, expressing the deep concerns of AWRRA. AWRRA were joined by first Avondale’s Community Committee, and soon after that of Blockhouse Bay, in opposing the proposed rezoning. 

In November 1975, the Community Committee were advised by the Minister of Lands that joint discussions were taking place between the City Council, the Auckland Regional Authority, and the Lands Department “in regard to the future utilisation of the land concerned.” As a result, the reserve area beside the creek was enlarged, reducing the subdivision, but this still did not appease the protestors. 

By January 1976, with the Housing Corporation slated to be the developers of the site, the City Council had received 10 objections to the zoning amendment. In September, the Land Settlement Board lodged a cross-objection, stating that the City Council didn’t have the legal authority to maintain the reserve designation unless they were prepared to purchase the land to retain it. They reminded the City Council that the underground services already installed were done so with their municipal consent. On 2 November, the City Council compromised, allowing all the objections and cross-objections in part. The land proposed to be rezoned was reduced, but that the rezoning would still proceed. 

That year Auckland City Council obtained freehold title of the ends of the unformed Ulster Road as Allotments 81 and 84. The remaining cul-de-sac was later absorbed into the park in 2009. 

The AWRRA were not about to give up. Having known Kurt Brehmer, I can personality attest to his tenacity, let alone that of his fellow campaigners. They appealed. In September 1977, the Town and Country Planning Appeal Board heard their appeal against the City Council’s decision, and stated that they would refuse it. However, they held off from officially deciding to refuse the appeal at that stage, though, because “two local committees” had not received a reply from the City Council regarding their suggestion the City Council buying the site to set up a swimming pool complex there. In April 1978, when the City Council still declined to purchase the site, the appeal was dismissed. 

Still, AWRRA fought on. Now a “Wolverton Park Action Committee” was been formed, with Brehmer as their Secretary. They campaigned for all the land to be recreation reserve, with a swimming pool, skateboard park, adventure playground and picnic areas. In response to the appeal dismissal, the Action Committee launched two petitions, one of which to the City Council ultimately gained 3000 signatures. 

Nevertheless, on 16 June 1978, the part of the domain land still required for the subdivision was duly rezoned as residential. All this had left the Crown with an 18-section subdivision, around half of the total original area, the rest potentially to be set aside as recreation reserve. 

”After a lengthy and confused debate,” according to the NZ Herald on 30 June 1978, “the Auckland City Council last night again decided not to buy land in Wolverton Road, Avondale, for recreational use.” Councillor Jolyon Firth, a member of the Auckland Regional Authority as well, did not like the ARA getting involved, calling meetings with the Waitemata County, New Lynn Borough and Auckland City over the matter a case where the ARA, “lowered its standards and conduct to the level of a local pressure group.” The Mayor Sir Dove-Myer Robinson, “said he would strongly protest to the ARA for poking its nose into a local issue.” 

In 1981, after another grinding series of objections, appeals and dismissal of appeals, resulting in an even larger area now set aside as foreshore reserve, there was a new Crown proposal simply to transfer the remainder to Housing Corporation in return for $60,000. Housing Corporation in turn expressed interest in transferring a large part of this to a private development company for a 40-bed resthome. 

Continuing their changed public attitude, the New Lynn Borough Council in 1982 were “convinced that the development of Wolverton Park as a recreation reserve is an inevitable and necessary adjunct to its own reserve, an essential solution to the demands for recreational facilities in the surrounding area.” They entered into talks along these lines with the Auckland City Council. Yet in a case of mixed messages via a phone call to the City Council’s planning division in August that year, New Lynn’s borough engineer, Garth Freeman, was reported as saying that “he was satisfied that the land area presently available to Olympic Park is sufficient” to meet both present and future recreational needs in the locality. 

By September 1983 though, worn down after eight years of hearings and appeals and petitions, the Lands Department had had enough. They asked New Lynn Borough if they were interested in acquiring the land. By 1985, the answer came back – yes. Four years later New Lynn Borough agreed to pay the Crown $80,000 for the former New Lynn Domain land (Lot 88), the vestige triangle of land (Lot 86) and the remainder of the former Diocesan land (Lot 87), leaving only the paper cul-de-sac (sorted this century). Waitakere City Council as the territorial authority after the 1989 amalgamations finally obtained title, as a recreation reserve, in 1999. More land was gifted, for a token $1, by Auckland City to Waitakere to increase the size of the Avondale part of the now enlarged Olympic Park, and by 2007 the enlarged park was completed. 

To this day, part of the paper Taylor Street still has no title attached to it, but is part of the park, just down from the northern-most point. Someone may sort that out, if they need to, in the future. 

Otherwise – perhaps best to just leave things be. Apart from reinstating the name Te Kōtuitanga to the park.

Horse racing at Orakei

Barraud, Charles Decimus 1822-1897 :Maori hack race in full costume. C. D. Barraud del. ; G McCulloch lith. - London ; C F Kell [1877] Reference Number: B-080-031-2-2 Two young Maori men racing horses, one clad only in a shirt, the other in cap, open-fronted shirt shirt and jodhpurs. Alexander Turnbull Library.

From c.1894 to c.1908, there was once organised horse racing meetings at Orakei, behind the settlement at Okahu Bay. For Aucklanders in the 1890s to early years of last century, these country meetings would have provided both a destination for excursions out over the Waitemata Harbour to the wharf at Takaparawha Point -- and a source of entertainment, beyond just the thrill of the bet.

The settlement at Okahu Bay, 1920s. Ref. 4-4439, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries

Auckland Star 22 December 1894

Auckland Star 5 March 1898

What drew my attention to the story of the Orakei races was the following long descriptive and lively piece from the NZ Herald.

This is a true story of a day at the Orakei race meeting.

A hot sun beamed down upon the little breeze-cooled valley, at the seaward end of which the Maori settlement lay lazily fronting the still waters of the bay. At the rear of the village an open space surrounded on three sides by rising ground, which formed a natural coliseum, wore an animated appearance on Saturday last as a guileless representative of the Herald jumped a muddy creek and joined the crowd of people there assembled. The usual fraternity to be seen “on the outside” at other race meetings had foregathered – two or three hundred of them – ranging from the city man to shabby tout. In and out amongst the throng passed Maori officials, phlegmatic, gravely, and with infinite circumlocution going about their various businesses, as though serious matters were afoot, but there was no hurry. The uninitiated pressman commenced to take his bearings.

Nothing visible was there to indicate where the races were to be run from or to, where the numbers were to go up, or from whence the flag signals were to be flown. In the middle of the ground a large Maori, in a wideawake straw hat and his shirt-sleeves, was helping two wahines to supply thirsty visitors with “soft tack” and watermelon. To him the scribe appealed. The large Maori turned out to be the secretary – a most obliging person – but preoccupied. He pointed out a shed at a little distance where, between two roughly nailed-up bits of kauri, three mystic numbers had been hung. “That the first race,” he said; “three starters.”

Oh,” said his questioner, “and where do they stick up the results?”

Same place,” was the laconic reply.

THE “BOOKIES” SCORE

At that stage one of a group of men carrying large bags, which jingled when they moved, accosted the secretary. “You’d better take it while you can get it,” he said. “None of them will bet if you insist on the ‘two ten’ racket.”

Then the pressman remembered having seen an advertisement, which set forth that bookmakers desiring to bet at this meeting must pay £2 10s for a license, or “stay at home”. They had refused to be domestic, but were in no mood to let their outing cost them more than was necessary. At their spokesman’s blunt statement of the case the preoccupied one fought a silent battle with himself. Good-nature – or was it business instinct? – won the day. “All right,” he ejaculated with startling suddenness, “announce it.”

“Boys,” said the bookies’ representative, in a loud, triumphant voice, “you can bet for a pound.”

“An one shillin’,” chipped in the astute secretary.

“A guinea, boys,” corrected the bettors’ mouthpiece; “come on, pay up, and get a start.”

And they did. Within a few minutes the familiar cry of “Even money on the field” resounded in the air.

Over towards the little shed a native official walked serenely around, looking for the starters for the first race. An old fellow in a white suit acted as his “go between,” and helped to saddle the three horses when they had been found. In the shed upon which appeared the numbers the three riders donned their colours. This was a very useful shed – everybody used it – jockeys, stewards, and public. It was weighing-in room, dressing-room, and stewards’ stand in one. Out of it popped a Maori horseman. He wore a scarlet jacket, with a white stripe, and a pair of long pants. “Lend me a coat,” he cried; “I got to make up 3lb.” Someone filled the order, and he put it on, the tails of the red jacket jauntily flying in the wind from beneath it as he rode away.

Then came the preliminary canter. A comfortable-looking Maori on a sturdy pony cleared the course, which was merely an unevenly trodden track around the pa. The three candidates for a stake of four sovereigns rattled down the straight amidst the cheers of the crowd. Dogs of all sizes and descriptions, awakened from drowsy slumbers by the noise of the clattering hoofs, scuttled down the hill-sides, rushed blindly from diverse bushes, and dived madly yapping, into the clouds of dust raised by the disappearing steeds. Away on the other side of the valley the three riders pulled up. The starter on a Maori “scrubber” got them into line, and hit his hip.

“They’re off,” yelled the people on the rise, from sheltering tea-tree, and the like. The crowd on the green made a rush for the track, and several crossed and ascended to points of vantage. This, of course, gave the clerk of the course some work to do. He did it with as little exercise of muscle and tissue as possible, merely sitting statuesquely on his pony and issuing commands to “keep back there,” like a captain on the bridge. The first time past the winning post, and it was clear to most of the spectators that the chestnut mare must win. She had a lead of many yards, and the other two were, as the racing writer puts it, “under punishment”. Roars of delighted laughter rent the air as the pakehas saw the gallant mare run along the back like the wind, her opponents furlongs to the rear. At the bend her rider pulled her up to an easy amble, and at that pace passed the post, the others nowhere.

“Another round,” shouted some wit in the crowd.

“Yes, another round” – a hundred voices joined in the cry.

The jockeys on the last two horses, who had made a merry “go” of it for second place, were quite willing but as they were about to whip their mounts into renewed efforts, the judge climbed down off his hencoop, and remarked finally, “All over.”

So the crowd was baulked.

Maori group (at a country horse racing meeting?), [ca 1901] Reference Number: 1/1-001882-G Maori group (at a country horse racing meeting?), circa 1901. Photograph taken by the Auckland studio of Hemus and Hanna, probably in the Auckland region.Alexander Turnbull Library.

HORSE OR PONY?

The horse is a sagacious animal. Someone has uttered the same remark before, but that does not make it any the less true. An instance of the sagacity of a horse who was entered for a pony race will now be given. The story of this pony race deserves to go down in posterity in the form of profuse illustrations and accompanying text, a la “Darktown Races” series. It was the third race of the day. The pressman had received priceless information as to the two former events from a small boy with a black body, a red tie, and a white nature. He learnt from him in consultation prior to the pony race that the best “horse” in it was a certain bay mare. “But,” said the knowing youth, “if she wins she’ll be measured after the race.”

Now, the unsophisticated scribe hadn’t the remotest idea why it would not be good for the bay mare to be measured, but he winked slyly at his young friend to cover up any sign of ignorance he may have displayed. The mystery was explained afterwards. To commence with, there was what the pressman would have described as a bad start. The starter had scarcely smacked his hip before the bay mare rose up on her hind legs, with her mouth open. When she did get away she was well in the rear. Curiously enough she forgot to shut her mouth again during the race, and this induced some unkind people to say nasty things about the jockey. That measuring business was blamed for it too. Anyway, the brown gelding won. He was having his photograph taken, with the proud owner “up” when there came a swirl of the crowd towards the stewards’ dressing-weighing shed, and a heated Maori on the grey gelding, which had run second, urged his nag towards the shed door with a cry of “protest” on his lips.

Someone stuck a tattered and faded flag up over the lintel of the door. “What’s the blue flag for?” asked a spectator on the outskirts of the now jocularly excited crowd.

“Blue,” scoffed the man nearest to him. “It’s green. There’s a protest.”

A Maori of proportions which a Frenchman would describe as “embonpoint”, leisurely thrust his huge bulk through the mass of pakeha spectators who were storming the shed in their desire to hear the fun. “where are the stewards?” he said. From several points of the compass coatless Maoris, figuring in the required capacity on the programme, edged their way into the shed of many uses.

“Run it again, no race,” yelled the mob deliriously.

Out on the green, stamping a profusion of penny-royal beneath his feet, and thereby filling the adjacent air with the pungent smell of peppermint, a Maori backer of the bay mare waxed wrath. “Wha’ for?” he gesticulated.

“No race, I tell you. I go for the police. The mouth came like that – wide open.” And he proceeded to give an imitation with his hands of the open mouth of a horse.

Whilst the stewards were in the shed deliberating over the protest, a pakeha official (self-constituted, unless the race-card lied) was measuring the grey that had come in second. A length of timber, with a rough cross piece nailed on at a pony’s lawful height, was requisitioned. The grey passed comfortably beneath it, amidst cheers from the onlookers.

Then the winner was wanted. He had disappeared. Not a whinny betrayed his hiding place. Fast sped the moments, but he could not be found. The scribe was beginning to wonder if it could be possible, as was hinted in some quarters, that the owner did not want the brown measured. Of a sudden an exultant yell arose. “Here he is!” and someone dived into a clump of willows, and dragged forth the missing quadruped. Was it a horse or a pony? The all-important question took a lot of settling. Eventually the man with the stick declared that it failed by three or four inches to pass under the crossbar. The news was broken to the stewards, who were about to decide that the protest must be upheld, when the owner of the horse that had been declared not to be a pony appealed to the secretary, nearly coming to blows with an angry member of the crowd whose money was on the grey. The secretary, assuming supreme powers, and over-riding those of the stewards, seized the measuring stick. The people surged round him, and the brown gelding sent them scattering with uplifted hoofs. He seemed to dread that measuring-stick. He would not stand still. Ultimately the sagacious animal espied a ditch. He promptly stood in the bottom of it – stood there like a lamb. The timber measure was placed on the ground. It rested on the bank of the ditch, as the gelding has designed that it should. The crossbar showed inches above his back. “He’s pony all right,” decided the secretary, flinging the stick down, and the gelding was seen to furtively wink at his owner as the latter led him away. In the shout that went up were mingled execrations. One man said something reflecting on the secretary. But the secretary – he who had so firmly carried out his work, and with such supreme contempt for all other authority – said nothing. It was not his fault if the brown gelding did stand in a ditch. It merely proved that a horse’s sagacity is equal even to making out that he is a pony.

THE DISAPPEARING JOCKEY

The running of the Orakei Cup of 9 sovs was another feature of the meeting that was not without interest. Hard-hearted people declared that it was a “schlenter”, whatever that may mean. They said that the horse that was leading most of the way was not meant to win, and that the horse in second position for the greater part of the distance was. As it turned out, a Maori horse, which, cruel report had it, was blocked all the way, got home first, and there was great glee amongst the natives in consequence.

Just before the three horses entered the straight the jockey of the leader, who was running strongly, disappeared. When he limped painfully into the open space where the crowd was, a little later, with sand in his hair and a woebegone expression, he was heartily jeered.

“Booh,” remarked a Maori in his ear, with infinite scorn, “you jump off the horse. Wha’ for?”

The poor jockey, with a “not understood” expression, wildly resented the aspersion, but the spectators showed a similar spirit to that of the Maori accuser, though they were good-natured enough about it. The fact that the rider “left” his saddle in a nice, soft, sandy place was beyond doubt true, but how the poor young man must have suffered to hear someone say that he had rubbed the sand into his head and gone voluntarily lame!

The element of happy-go-lucky haphazard ruled everything. Maori riders cheerfully went “another round” when the spectators urged them to do so. The clerk of the course most agreeably furnished reliable tips to all inquiring investors, and so did all the other inhabitants of the village. Wahines strolled around in gaudy greens and resplendent yellows; mongrels chased the racers round the course; children romped, and everybody was in a laughing mood.

The difference between the Orakei races and musical farce-comedy is that in one case there is no music.

NZ Herald, 20.1.1908

Programme advertising a Maori horse racing meeting in Karioi, Waikato, 1 January 1870 Reference Number: 1/1-000855-F Programme advertising a Maori horse racing in Karioi (Whaingaroa/Raglan region) January 1, 1870.Alexander Turnbull Library.

The end of 1908. though, seems to have been the end of this part of Auckland's horse racing history.

A MAORI RACE MEETING 

LUDICROUS INCIDENTS AT ORAKEI. 

[From Our Correspondent.] 

AUCKLAND, December 26. 

For some time past there had been portentous signs of trouble for the Maori Christmas Day races at Orakei. Mysterious and contrary advertisements had assured bewildered race goers that the race meeting would and would not take place. Intending patrons were definitely told that an eighteen-penny fare would admit them to the course and in the next advertisement they were informed that if they set foot on the course on Christmas Day they would be prosecuted as trespassers. An interesting account of the sequel is given in the Herald report of the races.

When the racegoers went to catch the ferry steamer to Orakei they were confronted by a remarkable notice, which conveyed the information that the course had been ploughed up, by whom it was not stated. Notwithstanding this depressing manifesto large numbers went out anticipating some fun. They were not altogether disappointed. The course had been ploughed up right enough. The situation was earnestly discussed by many Maori but nobody seemed to be able to indicate the perpetrator of the fell deed but the Maoris who had gathered together for horse racing were not going to be stopped by a trifle like the want of a course. Some ingenious brown individual pointed out that the stretch of beach would do as a makeshift, and the joyful news that races were to be held was spread abroad and the first race was started.

There were horses of sorts from the twelve hand pony to the seventeen hand horse that would have looked more at home in a spring cart. There were also a few good ones in the motley lot. They went up under the cliff to start, about twenty-five of them, but they were thinned out. Three bolted off and had a race of their own. Several dashed into the sea, two darted across a field and were seen no more. Then a vicious little pony scratched at least three for all engagements with hind hoofs, in making room for himself. One horse started to browse so greedily that his rider could not get his head up and was left at the post. They started, or some of them did. The field swept along in gallant style, some in the water and some out of it. A desperate finish ensued. As the ti-tree winning-post was neared, the tumultuous mob cheered madly, the struggle was terrific, but blood told. A dashing little animal, pakeha rider up, finishing gamely under punishment, just got his nose in front of the hope of the Maoris, a long raking bay beast ridden by a barefooted Maori boy.

"No race"' It was the voice of a Maori judge who sat still and impassive in all the excitement, sheltered from the rain by a huge umbrella. There was a furious outburst of wrath from the pakeha rider.

“No race be damned! This is a bit tough. Why, I won the race fair enough."

“They didn't all start," said the judge.

“Well, the starter gave to the word to go and we came away. Why, some of them are messing about there, I ain’t to blame for that, am I?” The judge declined to argue the question further. He called up the starter, who had paced along with the field, probably to see that they raced fair, and in a dignified tone demanded an explanation. The starter gave a loquacious account of affairs that apparently satisfied the judge, and he ordered the race to be run again. He also showed his supreme authority by limiting the number of the field.

“Six of them no more," was his brief mandate to the starter.

There were more races, including an event which was dignified with the title of the Orakei Cup, but one Maori horse race is very like another, and the pakeha spectators who had gone out from curiosity began to drift back to the wharf for the ferry boat.

Christchurch Star 28.12.1908

Around 1914, the sewer line was installed along the shore of Okahu Bay. Native Land Court judgements and government legislation began the breakup of the Maori-owned lands at Orakei, and the days of the "anything goes" races were gone forever.

If the one-time Maori race meetings were still being held at Orakei it might be worth while keeping some of the horses who raced at Ellerslie in training.

NZ Truth 15.6.1918 

Detail from NZ Map 7013, 1920s, from Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries

A George Hemus compendium

I've received emails this morning from Meg Smith, great great-granddaughter of George Hemus, who has featured or been included in a number of past Timespanner posts. Here's the list:

Bell & Gemmell Tannery update (George Hemus was involved with the Riversdale Manufacturing Company as a shareholder and Auckland bootmaker).

The George Hemus Scandal, 1884.

A further update on George Hemus.

Even more on George Hemus (includes headstone image from America).

The list of Riversdale Manufacturing Company shareholders.

Here's Meg's email:

"According to family lore...

George and Frances had 8 children (4 did not survive childhood).
The eight children were named Ernest Howard Hemus (1874-1951 Topeka, KS),
Janet Mary Hemus (1870 - ? died as a baby),
Frances Hemus (1871-? married Arthur Blake and had 1 child Frank Butterworth),
George Harwood Hemus (1873 - died 1944 Colorado Springs, CO, married to Blanch Herman), Leonard Gray Hemus (1877 died the same year),
Percy Turner Hemus (3/7/1878 - 12/22/1943),
Harold Hemus (1878-1879),
Ethel Maude Hemus (1880-1881).

While in New Zealand, Frances Harwood Keane Hemus was abandoned by her husband who left for America. She told people in New Zealand he was setting things up and she was to follow with the children. She tracked him down in San Francisco where her husband gave her some money and put her and their four surviving children on a train to Kansas. Her son Ernest became the bread winner at the age of 9 when he started working for the Santa Fe railroad to support Frances and his siblings. He was a very bright man who worked for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad throughout his life. He married Lucy Riggs and had two daughters Marjorie Riggs Hemus (later Marjorie Hemus Crane) Feb 2, 1902 - Aug 25, 2000 and Bernice "Babe" Hemus. Marjorie was my grandmother and a wonderful strong woman. She married Alfred Harry Crane and had two daughters Marjorie and Judith Ann Crane. Marjorie had two sons with Donald Schnacke (Gregory and Timothy). Judith had two daughters with Robert Harold Elliott, Jr.; Kathryn Crane Elliott and Margaret Harwood Elliott Smith.

George's son Percy Turner Hemus had success as a singer and actor. He cut the first gold record for RCA and was an actor on the radio for the show "Tom Mix" as the character The Wrangler in the 1930s.

George's son George Harwood Hemus settled in Colorado Springs, CO and taught in the State School for the Blind. In 1937 he and his sister Frances Butterworth visited Auckland.

I don't know what happened to George after he abandoned Frances. Needless to say we don't think highly of him ;0)

Hope that helps.

Meg Smith"

My thanks to everyone who has emailed me on the subject of George Hemus. I now know much more about him than when I first started out, and all your contributions has meant that the information provided can now help others. Cheers!

Riversdale Manufacturing Company shareholder's list August 1883

Further to the Riversdale Manufacturing Company posts ...

Here is the list of shareholders in the Riversdale Manufacturing Company (who owned the Bell & Gemmell tannery beside the upper Whau River between today's Olympic Park and the Great North Road bridge:

Henry James Bell, tanner,1000 shares
George Hemus, bootmaker, 1000 shares
W S Hampson, tanner, Auckland, 10 shares
Joseph Potter, Auckland, merchant, 1125 shares
John Batger, Auckland, accountant, 1125 shares
James McCosh Clark, warehouseman, 1000 shares
Edward Ernest Harker, clerk, 1000 shares
John Potter Hooton, Auckland, 250 shares
John Buchanan, merchant, 1000 shares
Henry Charles Choyce, draper, 50 shares
John Twileigh Hunt, draper. Otahuhu, 20 shares
Harvey Potter, Auckland accountant, 100 shares
Helen Watson Webster, Pukekohe, 100 shares
William Hootan, Auckland accountant, 250 shares
Peter Matzen, wool stapler, Auckland, 100 shares
John Slyfield, Auckland salesman, 20 shares
John Roberton, Auckland, gentleman, 300 shares
James Wiseman, saddler, 50 shares
Robert Somerville, Avondale, clergyman, 200 shares
Matthias Whitehead, Thames bootmaker, 25 shares
Thomas Thompson, Auckland grocer, 200 shares
John Buchanan, insurance agent, Auckland, 100 shares
Walter Binsted, Auckland butcher, 50 shares
Frederick Davies, Auckland bootmaker, 40 shares
Thomas Russell, London, gentleman, 1000 shares

(Source: Archives NZ file, "Riversdale Manufacturing Company Ltd, 1881-1884, BADZ 5181/36/227188/24)

Even more on George Hemus

The above photo of the headstone for George Hemus and his second wife Margaret comes from David Hemus, a great-grandnephew of George Hemus, temperance worker here in Auckland in the late 1860s to early 1880s. Previous posts on George Hemus are here and here. David sent the image and information on George Hemus this morning, and has very kindly given me permission to publish both here. Thanks very much, David, for your info!

Hi,

My name is David Hemus and I live in San Diego, California. I recently came across your web site with the story of George Hemus. George was my great grand-uncle (I had to look that up), more simply, my great grandfather was Benjamin, George’s brother. I was asked by Fran Kell of Waikanae (who has done extensive research on the Hemus family) to see if I could find out more about George and his life after leaving New Zealand.

By way of background, my great grandfather Benjamin, left Birmingham before the rest of the family emigrated to NZ (aboard the Ironsides). He ended up in the US in Michigan as a farmer, married in 1871 and had several children.

George never settled in San Francisco; he went to Los Angeles. I’m sure not coincidentally my great grandfather packed up his family and went to Los Angeles in 1885. They settled within a few miles of each other in LA. George’s then wife Frances and their four children went on to Topeka, Kansas. George married Margaret Hampson on December 29, 1885 in Vernon California (just outside downtown Los Angeles) They worked at spreading the word but I haven’t been able to find a particular church where they preached. He became a naturalized American citizen in 1888. George died March 8, 1917 and was buried at Rosedale Cemetery just outside downtown LA. Margaret died October 24, 1925 and is buried alongside her husband. I’ve included a picture of their headstone (very impressive, approx 5’ high).

George’s four children were all quite successful. His oldest was his daughter Frances. She married and was widowed early. She remarried and ended up settling back in Los Angeles. In later years her mother also returned to LA and lived with her daughter and son in law. Her only child is Frank Butterworth who I believe was a Methodist Bishop in Hawaii (carrying on the family tradition) . George’s son George Harwood Hemus settled in Colorado Springs, Colorado and spent his entire career teaching at the Deaf and Blind School there. He also was an artist and illustrator. Their third child, Ernest became a lawyer and worked for the AT&SF Railroad. Their youngest son was Percy. He was an accomplished baritone and gave several concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York. He made many records and went into the theatre. When radio came along he stayed very busy, appearing in smaller parts in many programs. His biggest role in radio was on the Tom Mix Show, he played Tom’s sidekick “The Old Wrangler”.

This gives you a thumbnail of George’s life in the US. I have some questions that perhaps someone will be able to answer: Why Topeka, Kansas? Why did Frances settle with her kids in Topeka? You have to guess that she had some relatives there, but I’m not sure who that might be. I’m not totally convinced that George and Frances were ever officially divorced. His remarriage seemed awfully quick (it was official, I have a copy of the marriage certificate). And how were George and Margaret supporting themselves? As time went on they moved to a nice area of Los Angeles and stayed there till the end.

If you have any questions or clarifications please feel free to email me at mdhemus@cox.net

David Hemus

Percy Hemus, born in Auckland in 1878, appears to have a stub entry on the Internet Movie Database. There's an article from 1913 describing one of his recitals from the New York Times archive. A list of some of his recordings, and a photo, is on the Victor Discography site.


Further to this, here is something from the Weekly News of 6 January 1883 which I found recently -- a presentation made to George Hemus by his fellow temperance workers in Auckland when he was about to embark for England (apparently not in the best of health at the time).

PRESENTATION TO MR. G. HEMUS

At the meeting of the Band of Hope Union on Monday, in the Choral Hall, an address and a gold watch and chain (value £40) were presented to Mr. Hemus “upon the eve” of his departure for England, and in recognition of his valuable services in the temperance cause. The Rev. Alex. Reid occupied the chair, having on his right Mr. T. Spurgeon, having on his left Mr. J. Brame. There was a large assemblage present.

Mr. Brame, in making the presentation, said that a committee, composed of the whole of the temperance representatives of Auckland had been hastily called together for the purpose of enabling the friends to express their sense the services of Mr. Hemus. The draft of an address was prepared, and a token of remembrance was purchased for the occasion. He (Mr. Brame) felt it a privilege to be proud that he was deputed to represent the United Temperance Societies of Auckland in bearing testimony to the great value of the services rendered by the esteemed and honoured president of the Band of Hope Union. Those services were recognised not only in every part of the provincial district, but throughout the colony, and even beyond the colonies. He would take leave to read the address without further comment.

“To Mr. George Hemus: Dear Sir – The realization of the fact of your departure from Auckland and its consequences to our work as temperance reformers did not dawn upon us in time to arrange for anything like a public expression of the esteem in which you are held by all sections of the community, but a few of your co-workers and friends could not allow you to depart from our midst, even for a short time, without some slight acknowledgement of appreciation of your valuable service. No words of tongue or pen can adequately express our gratitude to you for the manner in which you have fulfilled your duties as a public and private citizen, and especially as a worker and brother in religious and temperance organizations of almost every description in this city. Indeed, sir, all who have the honour of acquaintance with you and your labours, fully endorse the sentiment expressed in one of the letters of regret at your departure, that you are “a workman needing not to be ashamed, and a brother beloved.” There is not in Auckland, a truly Christian movement that has not benefited by your labours, while the Sunday schools and Band of Hope have had your special attention. Your punctuality and faithful fulfillment of all engagements has been the theme of much praise on every hand, while the example thus set has been necessarily beneficial in very many ways. Knowing that you will not judge the depth of our gratitude, nor the extent of our appreciation of our worth by the value of any present that might be made, we do most respectfully request your acceptance of the accompanying small token of remembrance from temperance friends in Auckland. Earnestly trusting that your future may be as profitable to the cause of temperance as the past (that your tour may be one of pleasure, combined with success in the work you have undertaken), and sincerely hoping to see you soon amongst us again in renewed health, and with an extended knowledge of successful work in our various movements. We are, dear Sir, on behalf of your temperance friends in Auckland.”

Mr. Brame next presented Mr. Hemus with the gold watch and chain, amidst loud applause. The watch bore the inscription on the inner case, “Presented to Mr. George Hemus by the Friends of Temperance in Auckland, 1883.”

Mr. Hemus, in reply, said: “I was at a camp meeting the other day, when a man stood up in our “testimony meeting”, and looking about him said, “I think some other man must have got into this suit of clothes.” (Laughter). I am something like that man. I cannot think I understand this matter quite. If you are talking about “simple George Hemus”, I am afraid I have got into a fog. I do not know that there was anything in my work which needed any remark about me more than was due to my fellow-labourers. Although you have given me an address and a watch, I think that in weighing me you have made some mistake. You have put me into the wrong scale. In measuring me you have given me too much tape by half. But I do thank God it has been my privilege to have worked for temperance in Auckland for the last eighteen years. Yet I have done only what a humble worker could do. Looking back on the eighteen years I have worked here I feel there is much left undone that should not have been left undone. So far as my labours are concerned I fear that you have been looking at them through a magnifying glass; you have estimated my efforts at too high a price. We have had three great aids to the temperance cause. (1) The children, and where the children are, the parents will be, (2) the recognised voice of our labours by the general public, (3) prayer, for I believe our great success has been an answer to prayer. And if there is anything personal in this matter, and you want to know who has worked hardest and deserved best, you must not point to George Hemus, but to Brother McDermott, our secretary. (Cheers). If you had given this watch to him instead of me, it would have been in the right place. (Cheers.) I now say, God Bless the Temperance Cause.” (Cheers.)

The proceedings concluded with the Doxology and the Benediction, pronounced by the chairman.

By the way, as at 17 August 1883, George Hemus held 1000 shares in the Riversdale Manufacturing Company started up by John Buchanan at the Whau. I'll post up the list of shareholders and their shares a little later.

An update on the George Hemus saga

My thanks, again, to Margaret Edgcumbe who has ferreted out some more information on George Hemus. I quote from her email to me today:

1. George [note - Hemus] must have married Margaret Hampson, possibly in 1886. In the 1910 Census for California they were recorded, incorrectly (but it has been corrected), as "George and Margerit Hennes", "evangilists", born in England and with English parents, living in Los Angeles County, though regarding the "world" as their workplace, and having emigrated in 1883 and 1885 respectively. Married for 24 years. I think that their ages are incorrect (65), or rounded up, but that seems to have been the case more often than not with the American censuses.

2.The Hemuses are recorded on the voting rolls for Los Angeles County in 1916 and an address is given. Unfortunately, I gave the info to Janet and didn't keep a copy. [note - Janet is Janet Crawford, who has recently delivered a paper on Margaret Hampson.] Can't find out anything more about them, probably because of the frequent misspellings and maybe they were in the 'world' when they died.

3. George must have been dead by 1924 because that is when Brett in White Wings said that only two Hemus sons were still alive.

3. Solomon was a bootmaker in Birmingham before coming to NZ with Mary Ann and the 6 boys. He seems to have eluded every British census. Maybe it was against his religion.

4. Charles (b 1849?) was the photographer, and he married Gertrude Evangeline (Eva) Edger - a theosophist like her sisters. Henry/Harry, acording to Brett, was a civil servant or something. Have forgotten. Don't know anything about Alfred, Joseph and James Walter.

5. Frances must not have returned to NZ, and it is her children who feature in the American records as living in Colorado Springs, El Paso, Colorado. Bernard Keane, the brickmaker [note - known to have lived at the Whau], must have been born in Scotland according to the 1900 census for Colorado, and his wife was Irish born.

The George Hemus scandal -- 1884

My friend Margaret Edgcumbe has helped me once again with some side information on a personality associated with Avondale’s past: George Hemus. She has pointed out to me that Mr. Hemus, bootmaker from Upper Queen Street, was not only an evangelical lecture of some note, but he was involved in a scandal which involved international travel, another woman, divorce and rumours aplenty. After which, he appears to have vanished without trace. I have done some further digging in Papers Past, at Margaret’s suggestion.

The Hemus family from Birmingham, England, led by father Soloman (a Gospel Temperance preacher in the 1870s), may have arrived in Auckland in August 1864 on the Ironside. Charles and Henry Hemus were noted as bootmakers by August 1867, while George married Frances Harwood Keane in September the following year. By October 1873, he was establishing himself in a three storey boot factory, warehouse and offices, designed by the architect Herapath, and standing just up from where the Town Hall is today on Queen Street. In 1880, he was Auckland City councillor for one year, defeating (for the Good Templars) John Grey (the publicans’ favourite).

He was also superintendent of the United Free Methodist Sunday School in Pitt Street, and an “indefatigable” evangelistic preacher, known for spreading the word to the rest of the Auckland Province, and in one instance at least even to a Maori audience through an interpreter. He had associations with John Buchanan of Avondale, at least with regard to business and the establishment of the Bell & Gemmell tannery – but he was also connected with the Good Templars Excelsior Lodge at the Whau.

And then, Mrs. Margaret Hampson arrived in Auckland. Hemus was apparently inspired, “fired by her influence and example” according to one report. Mrs. Hampson seems to have been every bit as indefatigable as Hemus, preaching on both sides of the Tasman. Prior to August 1884, Hemus decided to sell his business (despite protests from Mrs. Hemus), and shift himself and his family to America. There, however, he appears to have abandoned his family. Mrs. Hemus sued for divorce on the grounds of neglect, was awarded £200 damages and maintenance from Hemus for his four children, and set up in a boarding house in San Francisco. Rumours back in New Zealand were flying, many sure that Hemus did not contest the divorce, in fact welcoming it, because he intended marrying Mrs. Hampson.

Nothing more, at this stage, is known of George Hemus, his wife Frances, or whether he did indeed marry the inspiring Mrs. Hampson.

1 December: An update here.

Bell & Gemmell tannery update

An Update from here.

Last night, on a late-at-night trawl through my records on the Parish of Titirangi, I came across an entry for a lease in June 1879 concerning the 77 acre Allotment 86 (today, this is the site of Kelvinside, Arran, Stedman and Alanbrooke Streets off St Georges Road) between John Buchanan the owner and "Bell & Other" (DI A2.267, source of lower image, LINZ)

Today, a bit of nosing around led me to find Allotment 101 of the Parish of Titirangi, next to Allotment 86, but fronting onto today's Wolverton Street (image at top, from NA8/67, LINZ records). This belonged to John Buchanan as well, and in October 1879 he leased the 6 acres there to Henry James Bell and Robert Gemmell. While I doubt I'll ever find out for certain exactly what happened to the lease over Allotment 86 (except that it was probably called in by 1884 when Buchanan was selling his land, and definitely by 1889 when he went bankrupt), the one for Allotment 101 is documented on a certificate of title.

Bell & Gemmell transferred their lease to Bell and George Hemus in September 1881. Hemus was an Auckland bootmaker -- a close association with a tannery for business. In turn, Bell & Hemus' lease was transferred in October 1882 to the "Riversdale Manufacturing Company Limited." I strongly suspect John Buchanan was a leading light behind this company. In November 1883, he transferred his freehold title over Allotment 101 to that company. Back up at Allotment 86, with his sale only semi-successful and entering bankruptcy, the official assignee transferred the title from that property also to the Riversdale Manufacturing Company in 1889, but it was assigned back to Buchanan in 1891.

For Allotment 101, the official assignee also transferred it to the Company in 1889. I suspect (a lot of suspicions, I know, but I hope to nut this all out eventually), that the Company comprised the following: Jonathan Elkin of Auckland, gentleman; Charles Colville Fleming from Onehunga, merchant; Margaret Russell Smellie Buchanan, John's wife; and John Macky Alexander, an Auckland solicitor. While Buchanan himself went bankrupt, the Company didn't. It conveyed land at Allotment 86 as late as 1903, though its file in Archives New Zealand only appears to cover from 1881-1884.

Henry James Bell purchased 3 acres of Allotment 101 outright by 1893 (the half closest to the railway, just across the Whau Creek tributary from the site of the Maori carving in my profile photo, by the way), but sold it to a Mangere farmer in 1895, who then sold it to Mrs. Gertrude Stone (see below).

Margaret Buchanan transferred her interest in the Company to Herman Brown and John McKail Geddes in 1893 (the Buchanans had moved to Paeroa in 1891), and by 1898 Allotment 101 had been joined to the lower part of Allotment 86 (between the railway line and Wolverton Street/St Georges Road). From then it was owned by a widow named Gertrude Eliza Stone; Ernest Arthur Stone, an Avondale farmer (from 1906); Ralph Montgomery, a Waikino Hotelkeeper (from 1908); Joseph Ruddock Simpson of Avondale (from 1909); and many more.

By the 1950s, the land was owned by a family named Taylor, who sold part to Universal Builders Limited in 1961. By 1962, Amsterdam Place had been dedicated and formed, and the subdivisions fronting the new cul-de-sac came into existence.

A brief history of … the Excelsior Chambers

In the Avondale of 1922, the only shops of note at the main intersection of Great North and what is now Rosebank Road were McKenzies General Store (where the Fearon Building now stands), the two-storey wooden shop serving as a fishmongers and confectionery shop operated by the Shaws, and Stewart’s Garage. The main centre for retail here was the old Five-Roads intersection, where the roundabout is now. The Great North Road was still uneven metal, an impediment to travelers from the city towards West Auckland through Avondale. This was the year of the start of the short-lived Avondale Borough, where the main landmarks of note along Mainstreet Avondale were the Page’s Building built in 1903, and the Avondale Hotel from the late1880s.

It appears, going from references in the Borough Council minutes, that one George Hosking, of a land agents firm Hosking & Hosking, owned the land at the south-east corner of the intersection of Great North Road and Browne Street (now Rosebank Road). Hosking built the retail shops at 54 and 56 Rosebank Road, and subdivided the corner section in 1926. By the late 1920s, his business had been taken over by W J Tait (who had the Unity Buildings constructed in 1932). The land was paddocks and blacksmiths’ outbuildings (the last blacksmith there being George Downing before 1915), and was still largely open in 1924 when Charles Collier set up his ironmongery store just up the incline from where the shops were later built in c.1925-26.

The NZ Herald reported in January 1926 on the planned construction of “two large blocks of shops” at the Great North-Rosebank intersection – one of these was most likely the Excelsior Chambers. The construction was obviously taking advantage of the newly concreted Great North Road

The original building was from numbers 1880 to 1886 Great North Road, with five businesses according to the directory of the time: Cecil Western, draper, at No. 1880 (he remained there until the mid 1930s); Harwood Clifford Hemus, chemist, at No. 1882 (there until 1932); a solicitor John V. Mansill and confectioner Miss Margaret H. Maddren at No. 1884 (neither there beyond a year); and Charles Collier at No. 1886 (he left by the time if the Depression, but opened up his own block of shops across the road, the Collier Buildings.

Around 1929, no. 1890 was added onto the original building, and no. 1892 added around 1937-1939.

Well-known shop owners in the Excelsior Chambers over the years have been the Martin family (Mrs. A Martin started there as a pork butcher in 1932, then Rebecca Martin opened up a furniture dealership in 1933); Charles Funnell from 1956 who bought the business from the Martins. He in turn was there to at least the late 1980s; and Sam Lowe, the fruiterer there from 1937 to the 1970s.

Seventy years of keeping Avondale one step ahead in style

It was around 1933 that Philip Toucich opened his bootmakers shop in the Excelsior Chambers, at no. 1886. The business was one of Avondale’s longest lasting in the footwear trade, passing to F. Zoricich by 1940, then to Vince Zoricich a decade later, and finally settling as the Central Shoe Store in the 1960s. I recall the shop when my mother and I would go on the annual hunt for shoes for school – the high step from the footpath was a climb for a youngster, and the shop was lined floor to ceiling with boxes of shoes in the narrow little area, with displays of shoes and shoe boxes in the front window. These days (2003), it is part of Pacific Gear. There never seemed to be a lot of room there to take time, try on shoes until you found the one that suited you best.

From around 1962, Allen Shaw Shoes opened at 1892, and is still a place for buying quality shoes in Avondale, since being renamed Avondale Shoe Store in the 1970s, and since 1997 being under the management of Hamant. Hamant, originally from Fiji, had a shoe shop there for 12 years before coming to live in New Zealand and taking over Avondale Shoe Store. His father was also in the footwear trade, so he has quite a vast experience in behind him when it comes to helping his customers find just the right shoe for them. “When a customer walks in, “Hamant says, “he won’t get out without buying shoes.”

I remember the store from my childhood as Shaws Shoes. It was my first experience with being able to sit on comfortable chairs, to try on various types of shoe until the right size and style was reached, checking for width across the broad part of the foot, and space for the toes. “Charlie Blacks”, shoe horns and a shop seemingly filled with an infinite variety of footwear are parts of my memory of the shop we now know as Avondale Shoe Store.

For over 70 years, the Excelsior Chambers has been the base for shoe stores excelling in keeping the feet of Avondale, young and old, both men and women, well protected from all seasons, and for a reasonable price.