Matamata 2: A Walk in the Drive

Friday morning, I decided to cut loose, and have a morning's trek along Matamata's existing Heritage Trail, the Centennial Drive. The route I took was in reverse order to the way it is supposed to be walked or driven along, but -- I am nothing if not inclined to the contrary when the urge hits.



The start of the walk was at All Saints Anglican Church on Broadway (which used to be known as Tower Road in former days). The first church was built in 1908, replaced in 1962 by the present building.

Holy Angels Catholic Church began in 1909, enlarged in 1924 and 1951, and then was remodelled from 1981-1983. In one of the gardens (below) is a plaque commemorating the 1840 visit by Bishop Pompallier to the district.

A cairn of rocks composed of Kiwitahi Andesite form a memorial to John McCaw who was manager of the Josiah Clifton Firth estate. The rocks apparently came from a farm owned by a McCaw descendant and are said to be 5 million years old. The cairn marks the entrance to the John McCaw Native Block (below) and the Fernery.

Below is a rose garden and sundial in honour of the local Rose Society's silver jubilee in 1974.

The Heritage Trail in Matamata is well sign-posted and includes interpretive signage which I thought was first-class. The Tainui Street entrance rock is 13 tons of Ongatiti Ignimbrite or Hinuera Stobe (1 million years old) brought in from Taotaoroa in 1961, and unveiled in 1964. The fountain, below, was installed in the pool in 1985 to mark the 50th jubilee of the Matamata Borough Council (sadly, now a defunct local authority since amalgamations in 1989.)

This is just half of the heritage trail (and there's more to even this half than what I've covered in this post). More later.

A rescue rush to the river

From the Hawera & Normanby Star, 8 September 1885.

Great consternation was caused in Waitara this morning by seeing our energetic police officer, Constable Day, hurrying with great speed towards the river, getting into one of the boats in less than half-a-minute, and pulling into the middle of the river, where, for nearly three-quarters of an hour, he was busily engaged with a 20-foot pole, evidently trying to pick up the body or bodies of some unfortunates.

Quite a crowd was gathered on the banks of the river (consisting of one Maori woman and her little white dog), who were anxiously watching the course of events.

After diligently working until all efforts to hook anything were found to be utterly useless, the officer pulled to shore, and then we heard what fearful accident had happened. It appears that one of our citizens was met by a Maori named Rona, who told him that a black boy and white boy were drowned in the river. He immediately went for the police. But it seems that the native not being able to talk English, and our citizen not being able to understand Maori, things got mixed ; for what the Maori told the white man was that his whitebait net had fallen into the river, and that he had asked some white boys to watch and see if it was washed up !

Matamata dreaming

I have been away for four days in Matamata. The purpose of the excursion was (a) to attend a conference of historical societies belonging to the NZ Federation during two days of the time, and (b) try to relax. I relaxed over the first two days. The last two days were a bit less relaxing, but that's another story, and not for here.

I've just uploaded over 300 images taken while I was in Matamata from the trusty ol' digital. I must have been really snap happy down there. It's a cool place, lots of history if you keep your eyes open and dig a little. And, I got to meet Smeegol, after passing him by for years on the InterCity buses.

Just across one side of Broadway in Matamata, kind of next door to the Gollum, is a sign which I think has tons lots of heritage-fan interest. Thumbs up to whoever came up with the name for that restaurant and bar.

Today, while photographing some agricultural relics (for those out there who might be interested. I know I am) at the Firth Tower Museum (operated by the Matamata Historical Society), I found this old Europa petrol pump. I remember these ...

So, once I get my head back together, and catch up a bit further on emails, work and such, I'll set to and pull together some posts on Matamata history with images. Give me a while to recover, and stay off the gollum, please, he's fragile.

Finding gold in the midst of old legal wrangles: Alberton's beginnings

It is thought in reports on the building that Alberton, the 19th century Mt Albert home of Allan Kerr Taylor (Kerr, his middle name, became hyphenated and part of the family name after his died in 1890) was built in an early form in the 1860s, with the final verandahs-and-towers version you see here dating from sometime in the 1870s to early 1880s, designed by architect Matthew Henderson.

The other day I was trawling Papers Past, and came across the following article, Southern Cross, 21 March 1865:

INSOLVENCY COURT.— Monday. [Before his Honor Sir G. A. Arney.]

The sitting of the Supreme Court in its insolvency jurisdiction was resumed this morning, at ten o'clock, at which hour his Honor Sir G A Arney took his seat in Court.

RE WILLIAM STEPHENSON:
In this case the insolvent, William Stephenson, builder, Auckland, sought the extended protection of the Court, and the further hearing of which was adjourned on Friday last for the production of books and documents.

Mr. Brookfield appeared to oppose the application on behalf of the trustees of the estate, Messrs. Marshall and Craig.

Matthew Henderson, examined: I am an architect, and reside in Auckland. I had the superintendence of the contract for the building of the house for Mr. Taylor. The contract had been taken by the insolvent. (Witness produced the plans and specification of Mr. Taylor's new house.) The first plan related to an addition to the old house. There were three separate contracts. The first was for £297 for an addition to the old house; the second, £320, for carrying on the new house to a certain stage of completion; then two more proposals or plans and tenders and not contracts, that were abandoned. Here is a third plan, which was signed by Mr. Stephenson. The contract for building the new house was £463. The tender stated that the house should be ready for occupation on the 1st January, 1864. There was a premium offered for completion within the time specified, but no penalty was mentioned. The bonus was £100 if finished at the specified time, and £50 if completed within a month after the time named. Mr. Taylor took possession in July, 1864. The house is not in reality finished. The insolvent was to have been paid £75 per cent, during the carrying on of the work, and the balance when the work was finished. I gave orders to the amount of £519 13s. There was an addition to be built to the kitchen, which makes the amount advanced more than the requi(s)ite percentage. It includes £100, amount of an order for timber and shingles. I therefore paid the Insolvent £419 in respect to the contact. On February 6th I paid £100 for timber. Mr. Stephenson was to find all material.

His Honor here remarked that the accounts should have been made up before the case came into court.

Examination continued: There were several moneys advanced. There were also several extras. The insolvent had advanced to him money at different times in sums of £60, £55, £40, £54 and £8. Thirty eight orders were given for timber, shingles, &c. There was a bill rendered by the insolvent for £63 including the sum of £508 12s, the sum for the two contracts, viz. the house and additional kitchen. The extra work that I can pass would amount to about £20. Everything beyond that sum is included in the contract. The insolvent has been fully paid, and I told him I would not allow the extras. I also told him that I would not pass the contracts.

By the insolvent: The first specification was abandoned, but the verandah was mentioned in both specifications, which I can prove by witnesses if required. The reason the specifications are so much alike is that the additions contemplated to the old house were also made applicable to a new building. As the matter now stands one of the verandahs ought to come down again. I gave no order to erect it and it has been put up wrong, and would be required to be lowered. You were not working for a week or month from this specification before you had it. The specification was received before you began to build. I did bring the specification to Mount Albert, but your foreman would not receive it. I had to bring it back again. The insolvent had been working from a sketch he had received from me the day he signed the contract. The verandah was particularly mentioned in the first specification.

By Mr. Brookfield: The sketch I gave the insolvent had a verandah marked upon it, and was marked upon the original plans from which the sketch was taken.

Allan Taylor, examined: I reside at Mount Albert. The building in question was put up for me. Mr. Henderson gave orders for payment from time to time to the insolvent. They amounted to £519 14s.- that sum was paid. The items for timber I gave cash for. I gave no orders for extra work, and I ordered Mr. Stephenson not to do any extra work without an order from the architect. I saw the account produced for £638 odd in Mr. Henderson’s office. It is an account for work done. I did not see the insolvent about this account.

By the insolvent: The order I give for £100 was in payment of timber which the contractor was to get at that price. There were 10,000 or 12,000 feet of timber on the ground, which the contractor could have at 16s. per 100 feet. I did not order you to move the house after the blocks had been put down. There were no blocks put down. There was a slight alteration made by me by men altering the facing of the house. The alteration was no expense to Mr. Stephenson, and it was done at his suggestion.

Insolvent, examined by Mr. Brookfield : There is no other property beyond which is mentioned in my schedule. There are two allotments— one in Chapel-street and the other in Hobson-street —mentioned in the account-hook. I received the rents for those for Connell and Ridings. Mr. Kunst has got the lease. It was mortgaged to him for £100. The £100 was lent at 20 per cent. There was a large piece of ground with workshops between the two which remained in my possession. The annual value of those would be— the shop 10s per week; for the whole lot I paid £30 a year. When I first took the contract for Mr. Allan Taylor’s house, it was only for an addition. After I commenced it Mr. Taylor decided to have it removed. There were several extra works done — additions and alterations. There was a second contract entered into. After the building had been removed to the new site suggested, Mr. Taylor wanted the position of the house altered after the blocks were put down. The notices I received from Mr. Henderson to do no extra work came after the extra work had been done. With regard to the timber, I could never get any account from Mr. Henderson respecting it. When I delivered my bill to Mr. Henderson for work done, including extra work, he said if I would bring the plans and specifications he would settle with me. It had been so much altered and added to I believed it impossible to settle the claim of the builder until it had been measured and valued by arbitration.

By the Court : I have not received the amount, for the timber that I ought to have received. I have given Mr. Taylor credit for £38 for timber. Mr. Taylor wants £100 for timber. I have been paid only £38 on account for timber.

Allan Taylor, re-examined by the Court: I paid, in two separate sums £100 and £55 in cash. I also supplied timber and shingles to the extent of £100.

Insolvent, re-examined : I admit the supply of the timber and shingles, but not to the extent of £100. I allow £38 8s. for the timber supplied. I have the account relating to that timber somewhere amongst these papers. I produce a memorandum in the handwriting of Thomas Murphy, which purports to be a list of timber received from Mr. Taylor. I examined and measured the timber. No other timber was received from Mr. Taylor except what is here mentioned. The items are given but not cast up. I make the several items amount to 3,030 feet. There are 925 feet to be deducted, which were returned to Mr. Taylor. That was all the timber I received. There were 20,000 shingles received from Mr. Taylor.

This closed the examination, and the insolvent, in reply to the Court, said he applied for further protection.

Mr. Brookfield opposed the application on the grounds stated at the opening of the case— that a false statement of assets had been made; that the insolvent had given no assistance to the trustees to realise the estate; that the evidence of the insolvent had been denied with respect to the claim of £250 set forth by him as due by Mr. Taylor; that the insolvent had failed to carry out the covenant to pay 10s in the pound to the trustees; and since that time the insolvent was earning large sums of money and had not paid anything to the trustees. He (Mr. B) submitted from the facts detailed in evidence the insolvent was not entitled to the protection of the Court.

His Honor then commented on the nature of the evidence submitted and the insincerity of the statements put forth in the schedule by the insolvent, and submitted that the insolvent had not evinced any anxiety or desire to assist the assignees in realising the estate. He (his Honor) did not think that the insolvent had shown that he was entitled to the special favour he had sought for, and the Court felt it duty bound to refuse the application for further protection.

This account of William Stephenson's unfortunate financial situation revealed that he was the builder of a house for Mr. Taylor in Mt Albert, and that Matthew Henderson was architect. All this, however, was taking place in late 1863 to mid 1864, and Henderson still advised the court, "The house is not in reality finished." Could this mean that Matthew Henderson not only the architect for the later, final version of Alberton, but the early one as well? It looks that way, at this stage.

Topping that find off, a day or so later, again in Papers Past, I found this, also from the Southern Cross, 13 May 1873:

DISTRICT COURT. -Monday. [Before his Honor Thos, Beckham, Esq., District Judge.]

M. Henderson v. A. K. Taylor. — In this case a jury of four was empanelled. Messrs. Joy and Greenway for the plaintiff, and Mr. Hesketh for the defendant. This was an action to recover the sum of £99 3s., for work and labour done, the plaintiff being an architect. The defence was that the work was done under special contract, by which the plaintiff agreed to do it for £17 10s., which sum had been paid into Court. — After a good deal of discussion it was decided to let the question of contract or no contract go to the jury, and if they decided that there was a contract the plaintiff should be non suited, and, if not, the case should go to arbitration. — Mr. Hesketh proceeded to prove the contract, he called the plaintiff, who deposed that he acted as draftsman and foreman of works for the defendant in respect to the repairing and altering a house at Mount Albert. The work was commenced in January. There was no agreement. On the 6th April defendant wanted to know what the additions, etc , would cost. Witness could not give an estimate, but said he imagined that the cost would be from £350 to £400. It was not true that he first gave defendant an estimate of £250. On the 6th April defendant asked witness what he would charge. Witness said the usual charge of architects was 5 per cent, on the total outlay, and then offered to give the defendant plans of the alterations at that rate. Defendant did not say anything. Witness offered to prepare plans and give partial superintendence for the 5 per cent. He also told the defendant that he would charge extra for all extra labour. Witness wrote to Mr. Taylor on the 9th July, and on the next day Mr. Taylor offered him 5 per cent, on £350, which he refused as payment in full. The work ceased on 20th June. On the 13th July sent an account to the defendant for £47 18s., being 5 per cent, on what witness considered to be total outlay and extra work. In August following sent in an account for £75 12s. 6d., containing some additional charges. The outlay in his opinion was increased by about £350 from April 6th to the 1st July, making the total about £700. In the month of August witness proposed arbitration. — The defendant deposed that the plaintiff when first spoken to in January estimated the cost of the alterations and additions at £25O. In April following he estimated it at between £350 and £400, and then agreed to furnish plans, superintend the work, &c., for 5 per cent, on £350. The work altogether had not cost more than £500. The deviations from the original plans were owing to the plaintiff not being able to carry out his first design, and not to witness having changed his intentions. In his opinion the alterations could have been carried out, if the plaintiff had adhered to his original plan, for £350. —This was all the evidence. — The learned counsel on both sides having addressed the jury, his Honor briefly summed up, and the jury, after an absence of about half an hour, returned into Court, and found that there was an agreement on the 6th April to perform the work for 5 per cent, on the total cost, which, at the time, it was understood would be £350. They, therefore, by direction, returned a verdict for the plaintiff for £18 5s., the amount paid into Court by the defendant, costs to be paid by the plaintiff.

This appears to have put the additions and extensions as happening in 1873. At least some of them. Mind you, that was a lot of money being quoted in the court case. Again, Taylor used Matthew Henderson as an architect.

This isn't the first time I've found valuable detail from out of legal cases as reported in the early newspapers. A lot of new information on Daniel Pollen's brickyard on Rosebank came from his own court squabbles with suppliers and James Wright the potter. It looks like the semi-hidden mine that are the reports on Auckland's legal cases in the police court, district and supreme courts has struck some gold again.

Oh, and the photos with this post are mine, taken one fine sunny day at Alberton, today a heritage building operated by NZ Historic Places Trust.

Street Stories 12: Trust not in cause and effect with names

Back to the Auckland City Street Names database.

Back in 2007, the database was updated regarding their entry for Benfield Avenue in Mt Albert.

"Part previously Old Counsel Road finishing at number 13, it was changed to West Street in 1912 and an extension connecting it with Williams (now Wilcott) was named Frederick Street. Frederick Carrington was the surveyor for the area. Following a murder / suicide in 1927, Frederick Street and West Street were renamed as Benfield Avenue in 1928. The Benfield estate subdivision had been advertised in 1884, by J.H. Daubeny. Mount Albert Historical Society Newsletter 3, March 2007, pages 7-8."

I've already rabbited on about why I think the "Frederick Carrington" bit is a research red herring. However, the library have set up another red herring with this entry, by including the reference to the 1927 murder/suicide of the Kiddell family, written about by Mary Inomata in the cited issue of the Mt Albert Historical Society's newsletter.

Mary, in her article, said she believed that West Street was renamed Benfield Avenue as a result of the event. The reasoning given was that "the great Auckland street names change did not occur until around the mid 1930s." There are problems with this. First, West Street, originally called Counsel Terrace until folks figured out that the western Counsel Terrace would never quite link up with Judge Rogan's Counsel Terrace across Gladstone Road to the east. West Street in Mt Albert was one of a number of West Streets in the 1920s in Auckland. There's at least one in Newton, and another in the Auckland CBD, for starters. Frederick Street was also in Onehunga (still is). Originally Frederick Street and West Street never quite joined, until property owners sorted out their boundaries, and even then, Frederick was much wider than West Street.

Still, Mt Albert Borough Council, along with other local bodies in the Auckland area, were being encouraged strenuously by both Auckland City and the Post Office to neaten things up. Yes, the 1920s. While most of the chopping and changing took place around 1932, there were name changes here and there in the decade before. Case-in-point -- Avondale's Racecourse Parade, renamed c.1924 from Leslie Street, because of Mt Albert's own Leslie (even though ours was the surname of a known land owner, and no one knows who Leslie was in Mt Albert, to this day). In 1927-1928, street names came to fresh prominence, due the the amalgation of Avondale and Tamaki with Auckland City, and the repetions which came to notice.

So, saying that the change to Benfield Street was due to an extraordinary event that may have needed dusting under a carpet, in case West Street was suddenly irreparably infamous, just doesn't wash with me. There have been other far more heinous murders in Auckland, including one earlier on in Kingsland. None of the street names appear to have ever changed before because of them.

Let's put it this way: Mary, who has lived around Mt Albert a great deal of her life, is entitled to her opinion, and I support that. What I don't support is a website database which is consulted by researchers and family historians and school children doing projects and is, effectively, the equivalent of writing up facts in stone taking up someone's opinion (and Mary stated that the cause-effect of the suicide and Benfield Avenue naming was what she believed, due to what she knew at the time) and then putting up the implication that this was indeed the case.

I know I'm sounding crotchety about the database just lately, but this, folks, is how urban legends and folklore begins, and once started, it is hard and frustrating trying to tell people that their favourite fact from the past is wrong "because so-and-so wrote about it, so it has to be true." I'd be happy if the library left out the bit about the murder/suicide red herring but I doubt they will, even if pointed in the direction of my post here, unless MAHS publishes something about it themselves.

At least, in years to come, when someone comes up to me and says, "Oh, look -- Benfield Avenue. That must be the only street in Auckland where they changed the name because of a murder/suicide", I can at least say, "Look back to March 2009. I tried to tell you something different then ..."

Just an additional -- the Auckland War Memorial Museum's Streets database uses Auckland City Library's database as a source. Thankfully, they haven't copied over all the update on Benfield Avenue.

Mt Albert pig debate, 1867

Southern Cross, 18 January 1867

One of those comically-contemptible cases which frequently come before the Resident Magistrate was heard yesterday, engaging for a great part of the afternoon His Worship, counsel on each side, and a dozen witnesses.

A pig belonging to a farmer at Mount Albert had, on two occasions, rooted up some potatoes belonging to a neighbouring farmer; and on the second occasion the owner of the potatoes shot the pig. There was therefore a cross-action, one man suing for the value of his pig, the other for the damage done to his potatoes.

The case seemed to cause no small sensation at Mount Albert, for, besides the witnesses, there were a number of persons present who had come in to hear the learned counsel's pleadings. Judgment was given in favour of the owner of the pig for 14s. At the conclusion of the case about a score of persons assembled outside the Court-room to further discuss the matter, which they did with such vehemence that his Worship had to send a policeman to clear them off.

There was then an adjournment to a hotel convenient — or inconvenient to the Court — where, excited by the recollection of the eloquence of counsel, and other stimulants, the great pig case could be heard by those in the Court again being argued for a considerable time.

Street Stories 11: More on Auckland City Street Names database

Now, don't get me wrong. I think that the initiative by Auckland City Libraries to put up a database of information on Auckland City's street names is commendable, and 95% of the time very useful. But, as with all databases reliant on secondary and tertiary sources, it has errors. Here are some of the ones I've picked up for Avondale.

Cradock Street

“Formerly Craddock Hamlet around 1912”

Cradock Hamlet dates from 1903, and is the subdivision through which Cradock Street runs. Note the spelling. See the Methuen Road entry below.

Great North Road

“Previously St Georges Road part. opposite Crayford Street one way (South to North) frontage road, servicing parking area.”

St Georges Road was never Great North Road – the Great North Road angled down and westward from the Five Roads intersection (now the roundabout) from the late 1840s when it was formed. The Crown purchased the part going through J. S. Adam’s land in 1859. As to “one way” – I’m really not at all sure where the library got that from. Quite mystifying.

Methuen Road

“Also Methuen Hamlet around 1915. Off New Windsor Road, Methuen Hamlet now part Methuen Road around 1916. Previously also Methven St.”

Methuen Hamlet (1903) is the name of the subdivision, through which the original part of Methuen Road (named after the subdivision, in turn named after Lord Methuen) was named. No “Methven Street.” There has never been a Methven Street in Avondale.

It would be nice if the Library's database included mention of Methuen Road being named after Lord Methuen, but they don't. Instead, they just mention Baden-Powell for Powell Street.

Rosebank Road

“Previously Browne St (to 22/9/1932) … The top end was known as Brown Street, but was altered to make one complete street.”

No, Rosebank Road got its name from the 1880s Rosebank Estate sale by Robert Chisholm. Browne Street (upper Rosebank Road) was indeed renamed in the 1930s.

St Georges Road

“Previously Georges Road. In 1937 … named 50 years before (1887). There were previously objections to renaming this street, it clashed with others.”

I can find no record of the street being just Georges Road. Before it was St Georges Road, it was Brickyard Lane, or Riversdale Road (before the one off Rosebank Road was dedicated, this one named after Buchanan’s tannery). In the 1930s, there was talk of renaming it Taylor Street, as for some reason it was thought to be a continuation of the latter.

Wingate Street

“previously Old Windsor Road (to 8/6/1939) … Possibly named after General Wingate.”

If the street was renamed after Orde Charles Wingate in 1939, this would have been just after he’d returned from Palestine, after he had been removed from command by his superiors after doubts were raised about his work with the Jewish Haganah volunteers. I’d say it was more likely that the street was named after another English place name as was a common practice in the 1930s by Auckland City Council, Wingate in County Durham.

When I get a bit of time, I'll take a look at the Auckland War Memorial Museum's site and their street names database as well.

Herbert Smith's Supply Stores on Richmond Road, Grey Lynn

Out of the blue, Jan Tully from Melbourne sent me an email about a photograph she had come across while sorting through some family history papers. She very kindly scanned and gave me permission to post the image up here on Timespanner.

It comes from a photo-postcard, of the kind that was fairly common in the first couple of decades of the 20th century. Herbert Smith, who ran the store pictured at what was then 86 Richmond Road in Grey Lynn (the street numbering may have changed since then) wrote to Elizabeth (Hall) Tunstall, or Lizzie, who was originally from New Zealand but went to Victoria around the turn of last century. His note filled the entirety of the other site of the card, leaving no room for postage or an proper addressing! Perhaps, it was mailed in an outer envelope.

"Dear Lizzie,

Received your Healesville card many thanks. It is the prettiest bit of Australia I have seen. I had a look at those mountains -- a distant view from the main road on my Doncaster trip. No, there is nothing Maori-Eng war car line printed as far as I can find out. The only way it would be done, as I am told, is to get some reputable Maori to translate some of their warcrys for us. I received also the second "A Tale of Eternity" alright. Could you get me a time table telling when the mails leave Melb. for South Africa. I see the Bible College is in full swing at Glen Iris. You should go to the official opening on Easter Monday and give me a very full description of the place and (uncertain word). Mrs Edwards of Auckland is in Melb.

Yours very sincerely,
Herbert."

Jan has done some sleuthing, and found that the Glen Iris "College of the Bible" opened in 1910, which would make it part of the Australian Churches of Christ network. From the link:

"As far back as 1889, at the first inter-colonial conference of Churches of Christ, it was suggested that Melbourne should be a centre for training ministers for the growing work. J. K. Henshilwood, A. B. Maston and G. B. Moysey held classes under the name of the Victorian Biblical Institute. Other classes were conducted by Joseph Pittman and W. C. Morro. Eventually this work grew into the Australian College of the Bible, led by James Johnston. The classes were held in the evenings in the Lygon Street Church, and graduates became leaders or church ministers. But the need for full-time training was evident and the 1906 Federal Conference resolved that a college be established in Melbourne. The College began in Lygon Street Church, and then moved to a two-storey building in Rathdowne Street, Carlton, for a time and then moved back to Lygon Street. H. G. Harward and James Johnston were leaders, but when Johnston left, Harward continued as Principal. New premises were purchased at Glen Iris, described as a "14-roomed dwelling and stables". It was attached to 11 acres of land, and in the records of the Malvern Council of 1891 was rated on a value of two thousand pounds, which was a large sum for those days. It had been owned by a prominent Methodist and for a period is thought to have actually been owned by the Methodist Church. But in 1909 it was in the possession of R. Campbell Edwards, a member of the original Board of Management of the College of the Bible. Campbell Edwards sold it to the Board for one thousand five hundred pounds, which made it a very good buy. In 1910, the students moved into a building which must have seemed spacious after their earlier cramped quarters. The students could now live in. Smaller detached buildings were used as dormitories. However, the pressure for even more living room was irresistible and a new building with classrooms and dormitories was erected in 1912. Over the years there have been many additions and modifications but this two-storey red brick edifice is still the main college building."

If anyone has further information on this Herbert Smith of Richmond Road, or even what connections he may have had with the Australian Church of Christ, don't hesitate to let me know. Jan would be keen to find out more about this intriguing photo from out of her family's past.

Rocket Park

One of the enduring and endearing landmarks along New North Road in Auckland is the rocket in Rocket Park, close to the Mt Albert community halls complex. Constructed in 1967 by the Mt Albert Lions Club at the height of the Space Age, it reflected that age and made the surrounding kiddies' playground well-known across Auckland.

Yesterday, when I took the photograph while sheltering from a March autumn drizzle, I noticed that a sign has been placed at the bottom of the rocket, effectively saying "Danger, do not climb." The rocket is there just as a landmark now, and is no longer the cool kids' climbing frame (with two internal ladders) it once was. Even the Mt Albert Lions Club is today defunct.

I'd say there'd be an outcry if the rocket was removed, though, or the name of the playground changed.

More signal box art: Oakley Creek, at Rocket Park

Back in January, I posted about the signal box at the New North Road/ Blockhouse Bay Road corner.

Today, while hanging around Rocket Park in Mt Albert (I was waiting to hear what turned out to be two very interesting talks at a Mt Albert Historical Society event, one by Alice Wylie on the start of the Mt Albert Library, and another by Judge Mick Brown on his memories of Mt Albert), I spotted this:





I thought -- "They've put a waterfall on their signal box. It looks just like the Oakley Creek waterfall!" Then, I looked closer, and saw that not only was it indeed our waterfall, but they had helpfully put on the top of the box (where few under 5'10" could see it without tip-toes) "Te Auaunga, Oakley Creek."

Very nice -- but why put a picture of the Oakley Creek waterfall there, beside the Meola Creek? True, that spot is right beside where the creek runs. In fact, it may be over the creek, but since the latter part of last century, the creek has been channelled and piped and now flows underground in that area, beneath New North Road and beneath Rocket Park and Wairere Ave, resurfacing only once beyond Asquith Avenue or so.

This is where it flowed in the 1880s (LINZ plan, Deed 28)


The squiggly lines going across and under New North Road is the Meola Creek or Stream, named by A K Taylor, if I recall correctly, and which formed the boundary between the Parish of Titirangi and Auckland Suburbs, for the benefit of land conveyancing. See the pump mentioned? Here's where that pump would roughly be (arrowed) compared to the site of the signal box (circled):



Give or take a few metres either way, you understand.

So -- question is, why did Auckland City put a photo (very nice one, though) of a waterfall feature of the Oakley Creek which is actually around three miles away at least from Rocket Park, right next to the real site of the Meola Creek which has more to do with the history of Mt Albert than the Oakley does?

Grubb Bakery update

The information I used for the post originally written in 2002 on Grubb's Avondale bakery came from a phone conversation in 2001 with Keith Grubb. Today, I found a website which appears to have some genealogical information on the family.

David Grubb (1821-1902) came originally from Kilconquhar, Fife, in Scotland. He died 3 March 1902 in Ponsonby. His eldest daughter, among 12 children, Magdalene Webster Grubb (1865-1953), was the one Keith Grubb said married Robert Samuel Kirkpatrick, apparently around 1886 in Ponsonby. The original story said that Kirkpatrick bought Grubb's bakery around 1903. This would be after David Grubb died, but the Grubb baker in Avondale appears to have been Thomas Gourlay Grubb (1864-1912), David Grubb's second son.

David Grubb apparently arrived in Auckland around November 1865. By December 1867, his bakery in Karangahape Road was established (Southern Cross ad, 30 December 1867). By June 1882, Grubb was retiring and selling his business.

"EXTENSIVE BUSINESS PREMISES in Karangahape Road, close to Pitt-street, one of the principal outlets of the City, a position only second to Queen-street, together with the Goodwill of his large and increasing Baking and Grocery Business that he has so successfully conducted for the past 15 years. This Property has a frontage of 68 feet by a depth of 102 feet, on which are erected four Good Showy Shops, with conveniently-arranged' residences, all in first-class condition, a large portion but recently built, the whole 1 thoroughly renovated. Two are now occupied by himself as a Bakery and Grocery Establishment : the others are let to respectable tenants, There is a well-constructed Bake-house with a first-class large Oven ; Store-room for 40 or 50 tons of flour. A large roomy Stable with Loft, Store-room, men's Sleeping Apartments, &c. Gas and Water laid on, well drained in every respect. A well-arranged convenient first-class place of business, well worthy the attention of anyone who may require a good investment for capital, or a money-making business. As Mr Grubb is retiring from the BAKING and GROCERY BUSINESS, the GOODWILL of bis extensive and paying Business will be sold with the Property and every assistance given to a successor."

(Observer, 24 June 1882)

However, it seems he didn't give up the trade at that point. By June 1883, he co-managed the Newton Baths & Billiard Rooms. (Observer, 2 June 1883) A fire destroyed his block of shops in March 1889 -- where he was still operating a bakery. (Bay of Plenty Times, 18 March 1889)

In June 1889, Thomas Grubb married Rebecca McCown in Avondale. This may have been when the Grubb family association with this district began. (Observer, 1 June 1889) Thomas, his wife Rebecca, and their eldest son are buried at the George Maxwell Memorial Cemetery on Rosebank Road. Thomas died on 24 April 1912, suffering from "perforation of lung and shock of broken ribs" after a railway accident." The family home was in Walton (Walsall) Street. (source site)

David Grubb was still going strong, though, in early 1890.

"Mr Grubb, 88, Karangahape Road, has been established nearly 40 years, and has carried on a most successful trade, from which he acquired all substantial competency ; but, like many others he was over sanguine about the immediate prospects of Auckland. He speculated in building with the prevailing result. However, Mr Grubb, being a practical tradesman, and having an industrious wife and family to help him, his business goes on as merrily as ever. The bakehouse ovens and utensils are all bright and clean, and the establishment throughout is one of the best in the colony. Bread and fancy goods of the best description are the order of the day. As the wise man said (and no doubt it was a good baker he was speaking of): "This is a workman that needeth not to be ashamed."

(Observer, 18 January 1890)

Thode Brothers of Mt Albert, Avondale and West Auckland

Around 1919, the Thode Brothers (Arthur Edwin Forbes Thode and Percy Raymond Forbes Thode) ran a store at the corner of Rosebank and Great North Roads (called, by locals, “Thode’s Corner”.) Before that, they had a store at the corner of what was then Gladstone (now Carrington) and New North Roads in Mt Albert, opposite the railway station. Around 1915, the New North Road had to be realigned so that one side met up as best as possible with the other, a line was drawn through the front of their Mt Albert store. It may have been demolished soon after (it may also have been what had been Mt Albert’s only hotel, built by Samuel Stevenson in the 1880s, but unsuccessful when it came to obtaining a license.) Percy enlisted with the NZ Expeditionary Force during World War I, and served in France.

After the war, the Thodes began their move westward.

They didn’t have the Avondale store all that long, perhaps just a matter of two or three years before it became McKenzie’s Central Stores in the early 1920s, and burned down 7 June 1925.

By the way Ernie Croft, in Challenge of the Whau (1994), recalled the aftermath of the Central Stores fire:

“After the fire there were jam tins lying around, badly buckled. All of us coming home after school used to kick the tins down the road, seeing how far we could get them before they burst.”

At the time Norman McKenzie was a tenant of Charles Fearon, who owned the old wooden block at that point. McKenzie’s grocery store was the site of the fire’s start, igniting among the tinned goods apparently, then spreading to the oils and artificial manures. At that point, despite the best efforts of the local fire brigade, it was doomed. The fire was only checked just short of the offices of a land agent named George Rose.

Charles Fearon replaced the burnt-out block with the Fearon’s Buildings block which is still there to this day.

But, I digress.

By 1922, as seen by a fair-sized ad in Arthur Morrish’s News, the Thode Brothers had left the grocery business and entered the land agent business, with a main office in the city, another at Avondale and a third at New Lynn. Ultimately, Percy left the business to Arthur and headed north, becoming the owner and licensee of the Waipapakauri Hotel, then during World War II entered the service of the Marine Department as a fishery control officer, and lived at Devonport. Both of his sons served during World War II. One sad aspect is that when Percy Thode died in July 1942, he would have passed on thinking that one of his sons, Lieut. J. A. Thode, had been killed in action when the HMAS Perth was sunk four months before. In fact, Lt. Thode survived, and was a POW along with 324 others who were captured, later forced to work on the infamous Burma-Siam railway. The other son, Connel, entered the Royal Navy, serving on the corvette HMS Candytuft, and later the submarine HMS Scythian (first New Zealander to command a Royal Navy submarine) from 1944-1945. Connel Thode was awarded an OBE in 1995 for his services to yachting.

Arthur Thode remained in the real estate business, associated closely with Titirangi, where he lived, and New Lynn. He died in 1963, aged 83. Part of his property in New Lynn was gifted to the New Lynn Old Folks Association, and their recreation hall was built in 1971.

Street Stories 10: Mt Albert's Carrington Road

I spoke recently to some students at Unitec -- a really wonderful experience. One of the last questions I was asked in the session was about the origins of the name for Carrington Road. I took a breath, and advised that what I was about to say was controversial: it isn't named after the surveyor Frederic Carrington. Then, I explained why.

The Auckland City Libraries Street Names Database is littered, when it comes to any mention of Carrington Road, with the same sentence: "Frederick Carrington was the surveyor for the area." This appears to be the compiler's reason for the naming of the Auckland-Onehunga Road, and later Gladstone Road, as Carrington Road from 1938 (well, only the Auckland City part. Mt Albert steadfastly kept to Gladstone until the early 1960s.) The culprit behind this belief is John Davenport's 1990 book Streetnames of Auckland. I've already recorded an error in this book before in this Street Stories series, when it came to the Shawville estate. (Unfortunately to date, in that case, it appears that the Auckland City Libraries website database remains unadjusted, though I have informed them of the error.)

The Carrington issue is a silly one, in my opinion. For one thing, here is the man himself: Frederic Alonzo Carrington. Note the true spelling of his first name: Frederic. The Street Name Database insists that Frederick Street (now part of Benfield Avenue) may have been named for him as well -- despite the difference in spelling, and that Frederick Street was never connected with Gladstone-Carrington Road ever until made part of Benfield (formerly West Street, and originally Counsel Terrace). I'm not sure where the library got the idea that Frederick Street was associated with Mr. Carrington, even Davenport can't be blamed for that one. Frederick Street originated from a 1914 subdivision of part of Allotment 59 of the Parish of Titirangi, the land all around the street owned by Mr. T. F. Lees (I wonder if his middle name was Frederick?). The surveyor was F. V. Kelly (there's another F name ...), and the plan's reference is DP 9320, for the curious. It was always wider than West Street, and still is to this day, even though they share a new name together. This was due to West Street's origins coming from the Benfield Estate subdivision of 1884, when wide roads for motor traffic wasn't contemplated.

Mr. Carrington also had little, if any, association with Auckland. His stamping ground was the Taranaki district. He died in 1901; 13 years before Frederick Street was dedicated, and 37 years before Auckland City changed the name of their part of Gladstone Road. "Surveyor for the area?" Until someone comes up with a map of the length of the road as originally laid out, and points to his name on such a map, I will continue to be extremely doubting as to the veracity of such a claim. Around the time such maps were being drafted -- he was down in Taranaki, checking out ironsands.

So ... who could it have been named after, then?

The likeliest candidate is Robert Wynn-Carrington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire, prominent in British politics, and a member of one of Asquith's ministries (a British Prime Minister), after whom Asquith Ave, nearby, is named). Gladstone Road, Carrington Road's former name, was in honour of yet another British Prime Minister, as is nearby Baldwin Avenue. There is also a Carrington in England as a placename, one near Manchester; Auckland City had a penchant in the 1930s for changing existing streetnames to those that came from geographic areas of the Old Country (Avondale and Waterview are dotted with them).

As long as the libray's database continues to say that the surveyor was the one honoured, copying straight from Davenport's imperfect compilation of streetnames (often as much legend and folklore as it is from hard research), the distant Mr. Carrington of Taranaki is going to continue to be erroneously associated with the road from Pt. Chevalier to Mt. Albert. There's even a portrait of Frederic Carrington in pride of place at Carrington's, the restaurant in the old Mt Albert Pumphouse on the Unitec grounds. I look on that as a fine monument to a continuing and tenacious urban legend.

Auckland District Scholarship Exams - 1877 and 1879

I found the following couple of exam papers today in a file at Archives New Zealand. The file was about the original site of Mt Albert School (file reference YCBD/A688/633b), but in waste-not-want-not times, the local Education Board's clerk reused the backs of the exam papers to serve as something on which to glue smaller pieces of paper which formed a correspondence between the Board and a city land agent. Some would look just at the "front" of the pages in a file. I tend to notice stuff like this on the backs.

How well do you think you'd do?

Auckland Board of Education District Scholarship Exams

December 1877 – Geography

1. Describe the course of one of the following rivers:-
(a) The St. Lawrence, (b) The Ganges, (c) The Nile, (d) The Danube

2. What are the various causes which affect the climate of a place? Illustrate your answers by examples.

3. Describe accurately the position of: Hong Kong, Beyrout, Birkenhead, Cracow, Algiers, Allahabad, St. Louis, Varna, Cape Town and King George’s Sound.

4. What are the chief exports from (a) The North Island, (b) The Middle Island of New Zealand?

5. What are the principle Submarine Telegraphs now in operation?

6. Where are the rivers Spey, Nerbudda, and Sacramento; the islands Trinidad, Elba and Formosa; the capes La Hogue, Agulhas, and York; and Torres’ Strait, Palk’s Passage, and Fundy Bay?

7. Sketch a map of the North Island of New Zealand, showing the situations of the principal towns and as many of the natural features as you can.

Christmas 1879 – Laws of Health

1. How does the sun give us the carbon from which the fat is made that burns in our bodies; and how is it that the sun’s heat gives us the water we drink?

2. Describe all you can remember about the sense of hearing.

3. Why is it good to eat fruit and uncooked vegetables?

4. What people suffer very much from liver complaints, and why?

5. Describe all you can remember about the brain.

6. Why do people feel sleepy and faint who sit in a room where there are a great many candles or gaslights burning?

7.How would you try to bring back life to a person apparently drowned?

Mormonism comes to the colony

Song of a Mormon Elder in New Zealand.

Come all ye Gentile sinners
And listen to my song ;
It's for your good I speak to you,
I won't detain you long,
I'm an ambassador
From Zion — Brigham's State!
And if you'll kindly hearken,
It's glories I'll relate.

Utah ! Utah !
You tarry here too long !

There we've got no unemployed —
All are busy as bee-hives
Attending to their corn and kine,
Their children and their wives.
So if you'll be wise,
You'll come along wi' me,
And settle down in Joe Smith's land
In peace and liberty !

Chorus — Utah, &c.

In that glorious land of ours
Every man is his own boss ;
He's plenty vittles for his wives,
His children, and his hoss.
This tiny island state
Will soon bust up, I guess —
With taxes growing daily,
And with income getting less.

Chorus— Utah, &c.

Now I ask you in good faith —
Who would here consent to tarry,
When there he can have corn and oil
And twenty wives to marry ?
This land is only good for swells
Who pass time making rules,
By which themselves they benefit
At the expense of fools !

Chorus — Utah, &c.

Upon mature reflec-shi-on
My counsel to you all is —
Leave this land to the rabbits,
To the Tories and John Hall.
And in taking my departure,
Which won't be very long,
I'll leave to you as legacy
The chorus of this song.

Chorus— Utah, &c.

M.

(Tuapeka Times, 17 December 1879)

2009 appears to mark 130 years since Mormons (known today as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) began to become a real part of the religious fabric of New Zealand. Perhaps to their initial detriment, stories both factual and inflated had tumbled out from America about them, long before the church elders crossed the Pacific and decided to campaign for converts in the New Zealand colony. Stories particularly about the Mormon practice of polygamy. Especially about the polygamy. Reading the early reactions of mainly Protestant New Zealand to the coming of the new Church from Utah however tells us more about the late Victorian colonial mindset than it does about the early LDS church in this country.

To begin with, reports about the church’s progress here in 1879 were brief and matter-of-fact.

A Mormon emissary, we learn from the Rangitikei Advocate, has been promulgating the doctrines of the faithful in the Manawatu. It is said that he has not made many converts, but he announces his intention of returning to the district.

(Evening Post, 20 March 1879)

Mormon Elders are going to preach in Lyttleton next Sunday.

(North Otago Times, 1 May 1879)

It appears that there is a Mormon " nest" in the Cathedral City, of all places in the Colony. From recent disclosures in the Christchurch Police Court, it seems that; a number of the Latter-Day Saints hold service in a public hall. Whether the sealing process has been undergone by them or not has not transpired, but it is scarcely probable that in a community such as ours any attempt to spread Mormonism, and to have it flourish, will be in any way countenanced, or even permitted.

(Grey River Argus, 8 October 1879)

Two Mormon missionaries have arrived here (in Auckland), but are unable to get a hall to lecture in.

(Evening Post, 30 December 1879)

The Tuapeka Times reported a rumour in January 1880 that “one among our oldest Poverty Bay settlers” had applied to lease a block of land from the Government in order to set up a Mormon settlement. Meanwhile, the missionaries in Auckland had solved their meeting space problems, delivering “several discourses” at the Friendly Socities’ Hall in Cook Street. The Otago Witness advised that “Mormon converts are selling off right and left” in order to take part in an exodus to Utah that April. The paper went on to describe baptisms where converts “stripped to their nightdresses”.

By February, it was announced that there were three converts in Auckland, due to be baptised according to Mormon Church rites at Onehunga. (Evening Post, 9 February 1880)

The Auckland Evening Star publishers seemed to be quite beside themselves, watching the trickle become a flood. To them, it appeared that the coming of “Mormonism” was like a scourge, yet another social disease.

“Auckland is just now passing through a period of affliction. Judging from the form of various visitations it can only be supposed that we are being punished for our sins. We have had the Mormons amongst us for some time past, more recently the Communists, and now we are threatened with pleuro-pneumonia …

“Our business just now is with the Mormons. The elder who visited this city some months ago to proseletyse, after they had passed through the usual nine days’ ordeal of all wonders and novelties, settled down to business, and they have since been quietly spreading their doctrines and making converts. These are chiefly found in the homes of the poor, or amongst people whose mental condition renders them peculiarly liable to religious enthusia.

“Last evening was a memorable occasion in the career of the Mormon missionaries, being marked by the baptism of two converts, one a man who occupies a position in connection with the management of the harbour, and the other was a married woman with three children. The ceremony took place after the Mormon service, between 9 and 10 p.m. and the spot selected was the Graving Dock. It will be satisfactory to all concerned in this work that the dock has at last been turned to some more than ordinary purpose.

“The converts were attired in white smocks and took their ‘plunge’ under the gentle handling of Elder Lorenson, Elder Pearce pronouncing the benediction with outspread hands from the top of the coping stones above. The affair was witnessed by a select few. No serious consequences are anticipated, though one of the converts, the male, complained of the cold water, and the shock to his system, the thermometer being about 80° out in the shade – of the noon of course.”

(Star, 1 March 1880)

Elder Pearce at the time was about to be embroiled in just the kind of scandal the New Zealand public expected from the members of the church – wife stealing. The Star of 2 March described how Pearce had induced Mrs. Lacey, a fisherman’s wife, to agree to accompany him (with her three children) to Salt Lake City. She it was who had been one of the nighttime converts at the graving dock. But, the paper went on to report, the plan went awry when her husband found out, got a warrant, and had his errant wife forcibly removed from the mail steamer where she waited with her children for Elder Pearce. “The true outcome of these Mormon missions is now disclosed,” the Star tutted. “It is the seduction of respectable women from their husbands, and the corruption of our homes.”


The Otago Witness, 1 May 1880, summed the scandal up.

"What an extraordinary people is this !" wrote Voltaire when he came to England— they have seventy religions, and only one sauce !" The sauce was probably "melted butter," at that time the only condiment distinctively English. We have since added "Worcester" and perhaps another or two to our one sauce, but we have added at a much more rapid rate to our seventy religions. The soul, and not the stomach, you see, is the chief British concern! (Something wrong about logic if it conducts to such an inference as that.)

Here in New Zealand we are just importing a new religion from America. Two Mormon elders have appeared in Auckland as propagandists of the faith delivered to Joseph Smith, and, have prospered sufficiently to attract to their meeting such a theological and political celebrity as the Rev, Dr. Wallis, M.H.R., and to have started a vigorous controversy in the newspapers.

"As for the charge of a stealing a woman, we don't entice any man's wife or daughter away. We have, thank the Lord, plenty of our own [no doubt !] and we are not sent to steal woman, but to preach the true Gospel. . . But if a man is a brute to his woman, are the Saints to blame because the woman, embracing the gospel of truth, wants to go where she will be treated as a human being, having equal rights with men?" I can't suspect Elder Sorenson of having read Herodotus, or I should say he was paraphrasing the explanation which the Persians used to give of their habit of carrying off Greek girls. They didn't steal the girls, not in the least; they merely permitted them to sail away on board their ships. Out of women-stealing, says the Father of History, wars arose between Greeks and Persians — and between Mormons and Gentiles — he would add, if alive to write history now. Brother Sorenson should take warning … We might tolerate him in preaching additional marriage privileges to men. That is a different matter. Polygamy on that side might be worth considering. It is in applying the doctrine to women, and teaching them to insurrect and elope, that his troubles will begin.”

The 1889 Avondale Railway Station burglary

A nasty surprise awaited a diligent government servant in Avondale one October Monday morning in 1889, in the days before we had a resident police constable. It could be said, however, that a basic form of country “neighbourhood watch” had come in handy back then.

Less than two months after he’d taken up his position as both stationmaster and post master at the Avondale rail station, Mr. Amos Eyes came to work to find the premises had been broken into during the night. He quickly sent a telegram to the Auckland police, and two detectives were despatched to the distant rural railway station: a Detective Herbert immediately by horse-cab, followed closely by a Detective Ede.

The safe was found, unopened, 70 yards from the station building by Mr. Eyes. From what the detectives could piece together, here’s what happened.

The burglars may have broken into the workshop of blacksmith George Downing and taken two hammers and a plough coulter. Downing found these put back on the premises, but not where he’d left them (his smithy was located where Civic Video is today on Great North Road, next to Avondale Primary School). If this was the case, these must have been thoughtful crims indeed! Then, heading back up the hill in heavy rain around 1am in the morning, the burglars tried breaking in via the station’s door, but found that job was making too much noise. Finding a window pane which had only just been replaced, and so the putty was still soft, they removed the glass, turned back the hasp of the sash, and got inside.

With their tools, they made short work of the door’s lock from the inside, and hefted out the safe. It was while they were obviously trying to open the safe itself, outside the station, when they came unstuck; the noise finally roused neighbouring dogs, and the dogs’ owners turned on their lights to see what was causing the disturbance. The burglars scarpered, their footprints lost in the heavy downpour, but without the object of the escapade. It isn’t known whether or not they were finally apprehended.

The unpleasant surprise for Mr. Eyes didn’t put him off his duties at Avondale – he went on to be our combined stationmaster/post master for another 11 years.

Before Avondale’s Mosque: teachers, tanners and stationmasters

Here in Avondale, an application has been made for resource consent to replace an existing Islamic Centre with a full-fledged mosque at the top of Tait Street, close to the intersection of Rosebank and Blockhouse Bay Roads. This was once a Seventh Day Adventist church and school from the 1960s until around 2000.

I don’t object to the proposal myself. There’s already a place of worship there, and apart from traffic snarl-ups once in a while on a Friday, I don’t experience any adverse effects. Whether the proposal eventually will go ahead or not (there are a number of resource consent issues which have made it notifiable, with a hearing due from later this month) I don’t know. But, looking at the plans, I realised that I had a gap in my knowledge and information on the site’s history – especially when I looked back on the land titles, and found the names of Amy Caduceus Graham and Charles Eyes.

I’ll wind back to the beginning, when this was part of a surveyed allotment in the Parish of Titirangi, November 1845.

The Crown Grant title for Allotment 62 of the Parish of Titirangi (88½ acres) went to John Marmon in 1845. The ensuing owners were: George Frederick Russell (1846,) Samuel Norman, publican of the New Leith Inn in Onehunga (1847), Robert Willoughby Dickson (1853,) then George Codlin (1855). Codlin subdivided the allotment, and sold 21¾ acres to William Pilcher in 1857, and the following year Pilcher subdivided the allotment further, selling 10¾ acres to James Comrie. Comrie was one of the founding members of the Presbyterian church here in Avondale (see post on St Ninians history).

Comrie, on leaving for Pukekohe, sold the land in 1861 to Archibald Hitchens Spicer. Spicer in turn transferred the land, via equity of redemption, to Benjamin Gittos in 1864. Gittos proceeded to erect a tannery on the site, which came to include part of Allotment 65 (towards New North Road) and Allotment 5 ) towards Mt Albert).

In 1884, John and James Gittos sold the tannery site as the Ingleton Estate. It wasn’t until 1898 that Amos Eyes had title to Lots 8 and 9 of Block 1 of the Gittos estate (which included the old house, lived in by James Gittos and possibly by A. H. Spicer even earlier), but Eyes purchased Lots 1-3, 4 & 5 of the same block in 1884. This five years before Eyes became the fourth stationmaster and postmaster of Avondale. Much of the following information on Amos Eyes comes from his descendants’ family historical research.


Amos Eyes was born in Wolverhampton, England, c.1835. He married Sarah Ward in Stretton, County of Chester, on 30 June 1862, by which time he was already a railway inspector for goods trains, possibly for the London and Northwestern Railway Company. His eldest child, Charles (1863-1933), was born at Bushbury, one of the towns along the line, on 6 May 1863. (Charles in the 20th century was an early Waterview landowner). Amos, Sarah and young Charles arrived in Auckland for the first time on board the Golden City from London, 5 March 1864, and two children were born in Freemans Bay: Amos John Thomas (16 March 1867, died 1935 in Te Atatu) and Minnie (born and died, 1869). Then, around 1870, the family left New Zealand, only to return 23 March 1871, on board the Caduceus. As was common in those days, young Amy who was born on board during the voyage (17 January 1871, one day before the ship crossed the equator. She died in Ponsonby 1946.) was christened with “Caduceus” as her middle name.

For a time, the family lived in Epsom where, in October 1872, another child was born (and sadly died that year). On 7 June 1873, Amos Eyes wrote to the Railways Department asking for employment on the Auckland and Waikato railway. His letter is lodged with Archives New Zealand (Inwards letters, AGG-A/1/69/75/507):

Epsom Mt Eden
June 7th 1873

To The Hon Dr. Pollen

Dr Sir

I beg most respectfully to offer myself as a candidate for a Situation on the A & W Railway, as Station Master, Inspector, Guard or Signal Man.

I also beg to inform you that I am quite qualified to undertake any of the aforesaid offices, having a thorough knowledge of all Railway work as I was employed by the London & North Western Railway Comp upwards of seven years as Porter, Shunter, Pointsman, Extra Passenger, and Goods Guard, Parcels Clerk and in charge of a large junction, Bushbury.

I wrote to Messrs. Brogden & Son and they referred me to an office at Wellington called the A&WR. I have written to that office twice the last time with an enclosed stamped addressed enveloped Mar. 4th ’73 and they returned it empty copy herewith enclosed. I should feel obliged if you would be kind enough to see to it for me and if you should require any more local references I shall feel most happy to furnish you with them as I am well known by almost all the leading Gentlemen in Auckland.

I hope Sir you will pardon me thus trespassing on your valuable time and beg to remain

Your Humble and Obedient Servant

Amos Eyes

(copy)

Epsom Mt Eden
Mar 4th 1873

To the Manager of the A & W Railway
Principal Office
Wellington

Dear Sir

I beg most respectfully to repeat my application for a Station Master, Inspector, Guard or Signal Man on the Auckland & Waikato Railway as it is fast advancing and I wrote you some six months agow [sic] enclosing three Testimonials also W Cawkwell Esq. Manager of the L & N W Railway whose service I was in upwards of 7 seven years informs me he has forward to your [sic] my Character during the time I was in that Comp Service. I should feele [sic] greatly obliged if you would say whether you have received the same and if my application is accepted by so doing you will greatly oblige

Your Humble and Obedient Servant

A Eyes

Judging by the period of service, 25 years 1 month, noted beside his name on the first published list of railway employees in 1895 (AJHR), Amos Eyes began working for the department in May 1874. By January 1875 he was a ticket collector on the southern Auckland suburban line.

“Breach of the Railway Act. — John Adeane was charged with a bleach of the 10th bye-law of the Auckland and Onehunga Railway, by refusing to deliver up his ticket on demand of the porter authorised to collect the same on the 26th instant. — Mr. Thome prosecuted on behalf of the railway authorities. — Amos Eyes deposed that on Saturday the 26th inst, he was acting as ticket collector. After leaving the racecourse platform at Ellerslie, witness asked the defendant for his ticket. Defendant said he had lost his ticket, and he refused to pay the fare. - John Kernley was called by defendant, and stated that he was in the train, and heard the defendant say that if he did not find the ticket between there and Auckland, he would pay on arrival at the Auckland station. — The defendant was further charged with making use of obscene and insulting language on the 26th instant to James Stewart, a railway officer .— His Worship considered each charge proved on the evidence of the Railway Manager, ticket collector, and Constable Naughton. For refusing to give up his ticket, it being the first case of the kind brought before the Court, the defendant was ordered to pay 1s. and costs. For the second offence a fine of 40s. was imposed.”

(Southern Cross, 1 January 1875)

Amos Eyes was one of the stationmasters at Papakura south of Auckland (the station opened there in March 1875 and was for a time the last station on Auckland's suburban Southern line). He certainly owned blocks of land in the district: 2 blocks at Kirikiri, Opaheke Parish from 2 October 1879 (DI 7A.14, DI 16A.204), and another smaller block at Opaheke Parish from 20 June 1881 (DI A2.437), This is according to his will, made out on 26 September 1879, when he was stationmaster there. Three of his children were born at Papakura: Lily Antigone (1877-1950), Lois Mable (b. 1878) and Daisy Effie (b. 1882). So, he may have been at Papakura from c.1877 to at most 1889. (I made contact with the Papakura & Districts Museum today – they may have more info which I can add in an update.)

He had interests in Auckland, however, during the Papakura period – he loaned a mortgage to a Mr. Sykes for a Mt. Eden property in 1884 (DI 16A.541), and he took out a title over part of the Gittos family’s Ingleton Estate at Avondale also in 1884 (DI 19A.257). At the opening of the Avondale Post Office in August 1938, H. G. R. Mason recited a brief history of the post offices in the district and their postmasters. Amos Eyes was named as combined stationmaster / postmaster at Avondale Railway Station from 1889-1900, succeeding J. Leach (1881-1884), H. F. Howard (1884-1885), and H Bell (1885-1889). Why, if Amos Eyes was still in Papakura up to 1889, did he invest in property at Mt Eden and Avondale? According to the report of his funeral in 1901, he certainly had a residence in Papakura. While he was here, he may have stayed at the house once lived in by James Gittos, which had occupied the site of today’s Islamic Centre.

He was our stationmaster by October 1889, when the station was robbed. Little further is known about his time here in Avondale. He probably retired in 1900, perhaps from illness (he had been ill for 10 weeks before he died on 12 January 1901.) From the Weekly News, 18 January 1901:

“The funeral of the late Mr. Amos Eyes, late railway stationmaster, of Avondale, who, after 10 weeks of severe illness, died at his residence here [in Papakura], on January 12, aged 66 years, took place on January 14, and was largely attended by relatives and sympathising friends, who, by their attendance, and by many floral tributes, showed their last tribute of respect to the memory of one well known and much esteemed here. The Rev. O. R. Hewlett was the officiating minister, and he conducted an impressive service in the Anglican Church, where two suitable hymns were sung (Mr. A. G. Fallwell presiding at the organ), and at the grave. The deceased leaves a widow, two sons (one married), and four daughters (two of whom are married) to mourn their loss.”

The Avondale and Papakura properties was in Sarah Eyes’ name until she died in 1924. Her daughter Amy and son Charles inherited the estate as trustees, and in 1926 subdivided the Avondale property for sale. Tait Street was finally named by the Eyes family, after William J. Tait, the then-Mayor of Avondale Borough, and dedicated. Robert Earnest Steele and his wife Beatrice Adelaide purchased most of the present-day Islamic Centre site in 1929 – NA601/38 (the Seventh Day Adventist Church purchased part in 1937 where they built a hall – NA693/189). The church purchased the remainder, up to the corner of Tait Street and Blockhouse Bay Road, in 1955. The present buildings date from between 1960 and 1987. The old wooden house, if it still existed, was demolished.

Around 2000, the church sold the site to the New Zealand Muslim Association, and we are back to where this essay began.

(Above) The main house as at 1879 when the railway survey for the Kaipara Line was prepared.


(Above) Detail from 1884 Ingleton Estate Deed 37, showing the Tait Street/Blockhouse Bay Road corner. LINZ records.


Detail from 1926 subdivision map. House footprint outlined in red. (LINZ records)


1940 aerial of the site (outlined). This, and next two aerials, courtesy Auckland Regional Council website.


The site in 1959.


The site in 2001.

(This post updated, adding Amos Eyes' letters in 1873, 14 March 2009)