J & A Wiseman, saddler and harness maker

I took this shot (sorry for the odd angle and the flash, folks) in Centennial Street at the Auckland War Memorial Museum last Easter Sunday. I'm thoroughly glad the museum is open on Easter Sunday, by the way -- a welcome diversion from the weekend.

Anyway ...

The following comes from the museum's 1966 guide to Centennial Street (the street display itself originally donated by Milne & Choyce to mark their own centenary):

"The firm of Wisemans was founded in 1861 by two brothers, James and Alexander Wiseman, who came to New Zealand from Tasmania, where they had been in the saddlery business with their father.

"They started a wholesale saddlery business in Dunedin, but soon moved to Auckland where, under the name of J & A Wiseman, they opened their first shop next to the site later occupied by His Majesty's Arcade. At that time, a creek flowed down Queen Street, and entrance to the shop was by footbridge.

"By the end of the century, the premises consisted of a large three-storied building, mainly occupied with the wholesale trade. In 1921, the premises were moved across the road next to the site which they now occupy.

"On the death of Mr James Wiseman in 1898, the business was taken over by Mr John Wiseman. In 1924, Mr Frank Wiseman formed the company of Frank Wiseman Ltd to operate the retail side as a completely separate business.
"Shortly after the business opened in Auckland in 1861, Mr. James Wiseman cast a white horse in plaster and mounted it over the shop front, where it remained for nearly 50 years. It is claimed that the last hitching post in Auckland was outside the shop."

Alexander, the son of James Wiseman, became an architect and designed one of Auckland's enduring landmarks: the Ferry Building (1912).

Devonport's "Bear Gardens"

(Plaque on part of the "Bear Garden" wall -- sadly, what is known doesn't agree with the plaque.) As I was writing The Zoo War this year, a couple of people I know mentioned Devonport's Bear Gardens in relation to early menageries in New Zealand. I had never heard of these before (but then again, I'm finding out stuff that's new to me almost every day, which is one of the reason why I love local history), so decided to do some digging. I was disappointed somewhat that the Devonport Museum was closed at the time, so I was unable to access any of their collections -- but what I found out via other sources led me to believe that the reason why I hadn't heard of this before was because it never truly existed as either a pleasure garden of the late-Victorian style, nor was it a menagerie of any size. Certainly, I found no documentation as to the bears. You'll find the info on the "Bear Gardens" here, from page 8.

(Another part of the original concrete and scoria wall -- rapidly built, and now only partially standing. Bits of green bottle glass jut from the very top, a possible 20th century addition)

Mrs. Menzies

Another lost photo I've picked up in my travels. The back simply says "Mrs. Menzies". She reminds me a bit of a younger version of my grandma (who was born back in 1892, so may have been contemporary with Mrs Menzies.) I have no idea whether this was taken in Grandma's home country (England) or here -- but I like the image.

Railway Rummy's Club

Another find (this one, though, I purchased from Bookmarks in Hurstmere Road, Takapuna.) A friend of mine who's an ardent rail fan has been helping with the identification and determining the time period this would have been taken. It's a New Zealand scene (the train in the picture behind them says "NZR") and the engine may be a "U" class (possibly a "Ud" as was used by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway, taken over by the Government in 1908). The guesses are still out there, though.

Edwardian Aston family

This is another of my market finds -- the Aston family. That's all the identification on the back of the photo says. Edwardian, quite proper, and keeping a straight face for the camera -- I do wish I knew more.

House and horses photo

Those who know me, know that I have a weird quirk in addition to my other weird quirks which breaks out from time to time when I visit markets -- I see old anonymous, often subject unknown photos and buy them. At times, when I see ones that can be identified and are of real historic merit, I give them to Special Collections for their archives in the Auckland City Library. That way, I know they're in safe keeping, and others can see them. I found, one time, an image which appeared to show a scene from the Gallipoli campaign, World War I. That went straight to Special Collections, same day I bought it.

Anyway -- there are others which I have no idea where they cane from, but they are very cool images. Such as the one above. Three horses in motion on a field, a spectacular house beyond, and a big hill. I'd love to know where this might have been, but I doubt I'll ever find out.

Waikaraka Cemetery Veterans' Memorial 1915

Now and then, the Onehunga Fencible and Historical Society have guided walks through Waikaraka Cemetery in Onehunga. I can thoroughly recommend them to anyone with an interest in the social history behind the mute monuments.

At the eastern side of the cemetery, at what was once the edge of the area (behind was all reclaimed from the harbour during the 1920s-1930s) is an unusual memorial to war veterans -- those who, as at 1915, had served in the British Empire's 19th century wars and had died at the Auckland Veterans' Home.




There's a plaque for each man so remembered -- and the design, including the sentry statues at either end, caught my eye.

Behind, in the reclaimed section, are the veterans graves of those from 20th century wars.

Update 13 November 2012: Just spotted an advertisement for stonemasons for the memorial, placed by architects Wade & Wade, Auckland Star 8 November 1913, p. 12.

Early traffic control in Auckland: 1919-1924

More from Equal to the Task by Alan Woolston.

In 1919, it was illegal under Auckland City Council bylaw not to sound the horn of a motor-car when approaching intersections or junctions. The NZ Automobile Association criticised the bylaw: “If every car passing every intersection was required to sound a horn it would result in a proper babble of noise.”

By 1922, the seven-man traffic department’s duties were:

Issue licenses and vehicle registrations
Inspect licensed vehicles
Supervise all Traffic Licensing and test all Driver’s Certificate applicants
Conduct Point Duty at intersections in the absence of the Police
Inspect all amusement parlours
Collect Heavy Traffic fees
Supervise omnibus services
Supervise traffic entering and leaving the city’s racecourses
Conduct general traffic control

In the same year, the first “mechanical traffic control apparatus” was installed at two city intersections: Queen/Wellesley Streets and Karangahape Road/Symonds Street. These were described thus:
“Four short arms placed at right angles and facing the four approaches to an intersection are fixed to the top of a standard which may be attached to a tramway pole or fitted into a socket into the ground. The arms are painted red and each has the word “go” painted distinctly in white on one side and [“stop”] on the reverse. It is worked manually by the Constable on duty.”

The white lines painted on central city footpaths to ensure that pedestrians “kept left” (I remember these still there in the early 1970s) dated from 1922 as well.

In 1924, the Chief Traffic Inspector returned from Australia with a new idea for the city’s intersections: painting a white line across each “leg” of an intersection, and requiring vehicles to stop behind this line until signaled to go by a pointsman.

In the same year, regulations came into effect under the Motor Vehicle Act which made it illegal to be intoxicated while in charge of a motor vehicle – but proof of said intoxication was based “on an officer’s subjective observation of a driver.” The same act brought in national registration for motor vehicles, replacing local authority registration.

Early traffic control in Auckland: 1894-1916

One of my favourite books is Alan Woolston's Equal To The Task, a history of the City of Auckland Traffic Department from 1894-1989. In chronological format, it recounts the development of Auckland City's traffic department from a single "Inspector of Vehicles" to the point where it was absorbed with the Ministry of Transport. The following comes from the first part of the book.

The first traffic officer in the City of Auckland was Thomas Turner, appointed as “Inspector of Vehicles” in 1894 by the City Council. He worked from out of the Sanitary Inspector’s office initially, sharing duties with the Assistant Sanitary Inspector. Traffic and sanitary inspections were therefore shared duties in the early years.

By 1900, in a Council bureaucracy that was very small and served a growing population, traffic inspectors were expected to undertake the following duties as part of their job description:

Act as Sanitary Inspectors
Supervise the night soil contract
Inspect food shops
Supervise the rubbish contract
Report to the Council on the cleanliness of streets
Inspect lodging houses and issue licenses
Supervise the building regulations
Other minor duties.

Some reorganisation pruned a few duties away from the list – but that of rat-catcher was later added.

“Throughout the city motor vehicle accidents began to increase (1911), especially at night. After several spectacular rear end crashes, motorists began to hang lamps on the rear of their vehicles, but there was no prescribed type of light and many hung a simple white lantern over the tailgate. To avoid confusion with other city lights, on 19 January, [J.B.] Lindsay recommended the Council amend Bylaw 11 to require all rear lights on vehicles (motor or horse-drawn) to be red.”

“Pedestrians and motor vehicle drivers continued to be in conflict with each other. On 17 March (1911) a young woman crossing Queen Street to catch a tram was knocked down and run over by a passing motorist. She was not seriously injured, but the motorist was charged with, ‘Having driven a motor car on Queen Street at a speed likely to be dangerous to the public.’ In a show of excessive zeal the prosecution called 16 witnesses who variously assessed the vehicle’s speed between 8 and 12 mph.”

Also by 1911, much of the Traffic Inspector’s workload involved checking and regulating trams. In 1916, the Council moved to enforce a 9 mph speed limit when it prosecuted an Auckland Electric Tramways motorman for exceeding 9mph. The Tramways Company countered by stating that trams had only two speeds – 12 mph and 19 mph. The magistrate that time ruled in the Company’s favour and felt that the bylaw was unreasonable. The following year Council won another case, when the evidence showed the tram in question had been traveling at 20 mph.

Ladies’ fashion was another subject of an early traffic bylaw. The fashion of the day dictated that ladies wore large decorative hats with long hat pins. The sharp projecting end of said pins was cause for concern for those sharing tram transport with the ladies in their finery, so Council developed a special Bylaw, requiring that all hat pins were to be covered with a cork. The Traffic Inspectors were obliged to board the trams and check that this was complied with and that all sharp points were corked.

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.

The Motor Car Changes Avondale: Part 2

Updated  28 November 2021.

Image: Turn-of-the-century Bowser pump from America.

 Fine enough to have the new motor car. But you need a place to have it serviced, to renew the oil, to fill it with fuel. These places are the service stations, which began appearing as specialised business in Avondale just after World War I.

 In 1919, one Harry Waygood returned to New Zealand after serving in the Royal Australian airforce as a flight engineer during World War I, and built himself a motor garage on Windsor Road, Avondale (Wingate Street). Waygood’s Garage was among the first to start selling petrol (in the early days, coming in three colours – blue, green and clear – depending on the petrol ratings). Imported petrol came to the retailer in 4 gallon cans until 1926.

Waygood family photo.

His garage was open on Saturday mornings, and Harry Waygood quickly earned the reputation of being very good with his hands, using the expertise he’d learned during the Great War, along with possessing a “ticket” to handle steam engines. His father had been a teacher at the New Lynn School.

His son Ron Waygood told me how his father had the Western agency in the 1930s for the Morris 8 type of motor car from Dominion motors in the City, and also taught people how to drive – so they could buy his cars.

Harry Waygood met his future wife, Elsie Binsted (whose father was a butcher in Avondale) while he was choirmaster, and she the organist at St Jude’s Church, Avondale. He continued to operate his garage until World War II, when petrol rationing meant keeping his garage open became uneconomical. He went on to work in Parnell until he retired. 

Up until 1926, petrol came in 4 gallon tins, packed in wooden crates, and served to the public either from garages like Waygood’s (which has a specially built safe in the building wall to protect the petrol from ignition) or from the local grocery store right along with the wheat and the chaff for the dwindling horse population. 

In 1926 saw the appearance of kerbside fuel pumps at service garages. C A Trigg applied for a permit “to erect a Kerbside Benzine Pump” at his garage on Great North Road (granted) [Avondale Borough Council minutes, 3/2/26]. The site of these pumps can still be seen today, in front of the Avondale Spiders, where vehicles would drive across what is now footpath to park up against the “bowsers”, and then drive off. 

Later that month, British Imperial Oil Co (in 1927 to become the Shell Company of New Zealand Ltd) asked for the Borough regulations in relation to kerbside pumps. The Chief Inspector of Explosives of the Department of Labour wrote saying his department were in favour of tank installation for petrol storage. 

Suddenly, all over the city the matter of petrol pump regulations became an issue, Newmarket Borough calling for “uniformity “. By August George Stuart had a pump at his garage also (Great North Road. H M Waygood applied for his kerbside pump in July (granted). 

1926 saw the appearance of the GOC Station at the five-roads intersection (present day roundabout). This was to become the Bowzer Benzine Station by 1928 (Bowzer was the tradename of the American-designed pump, and the slang of the time: “kerbside bowsers”), and by 1929 the Central Service Station, run by Albert Graven. [Wise’s Directories]

According to Mr Ernie Croft, son of a builder also named Ernie Croft who worked with Charles T Pooley, Albert Graven’s original name was Albert Grubnitz. Ernie was close: Graven's birth name was actually Albert Heinrich Knowles von Graevenitz, his father German-born, his mother English.  Ernest Croft senior helped build the service station, which was situated on land formerly owned by Charlie Pooley. Graven leased the property from Pooley through to the mid 1940s, then from a new owner until his own death in 1967.  Avondale lore has it that Graven won the Irish Sweepstake, which helped set him up in business. In those days, the Sweepstake was worth around £20,000 to £30,000. But, this does not appear to have been the case, Graven's business longevity more down to investment wheeling and dealing. Essentially, another form of gambling entirely.

By the mid 1960s, Graven had left the business, and it had become a Mobil service station from 1969. In 1989 it was replaced by the completion of the new bigger Mobil service station across the road (by St Ninians). The site is now a restaurant, after having been a collectibles shop.

Stewart’s garage was in Great North Road between Racecourse Parade and Rosebank Road. On 18 August 1927 – “Fire, which broke out at about 11.30 last evening, destroyed Stuart’s service garage, Great North road, Avondale, together with eight of the nine cars which were stored in it. Residents in the locality were awakened by the sound of an explosion, probably caused by the bursting of a tin of benzine. “The building was of galvanised iron with wooden frame-work and when the local volunteer brigade under Superintendent Watson arrived, it was enveloped in flames. Stuart’s garage is the largest in the district, and is situated a few yards past the Avondale Post Office. It is understood it was closed up for the night early in the evening, and the cause of the outbreak is a mystery.” [NZ Herald, 19/8/27]

After serving time with Northern Steamship Company, Scotsman Jim Crawford came to Avondale and opened Crawford’s Garage on Great North Road. This later became Morrison & Crawfords, then under Atlantic brand, and finally replaced by Mobil station by Battersby’s when Mobil Oil bought out Atlantic. Crawford went on to be a president of the ABA, master of the Titirangi Masonic Lodge, and founding member of the Avondale Cricket Club, among other honours. He died in September 1966. [Western Leader, 27/9/66] According to his widow, Mrs Vera Crawford, he also held the Queens Coronation Medal.

Jim Crawford came into the business at the instigation of Jack Fearon (of Fearon Bros.) who owned all the land which is now occupied from the corner of the Fearon Block to Battersby’s carpark. Mr Fearon introduced Mr Crawford to a Mr Morrison (hence the firm’s name), and the partnership was arranged. Unfortunately, Mr Morrison left the partnership after around 6 months, and as it was the Depression at the time, Jim Crawford felt he couldn’t afford the charges for changing the name solely to his own. By the time the Depression was over, the locals had become used to the name, and so he left it as it was.

After Mr Crawford died in 1966, Mrs Crawford managed the business for another ten years. The service station was altered to allow vehicles to drive onto a forecourt beside the pumps, and the site of the original station is now Battersby’s Funeral Services car park. “Owned and operated by the family of the late Jim Crawford (as Morrison and Crawford Ltd), from its beginnings as a multi-brand outlet in 1930 the station has, despite the effects of economic recessions, roading changes and rising fuel prices, maintained steady upward growth which reflects the vision and confidence of successive managements. “Leaving an indelible imprint upon its history is Mrs Vera Crawford who took over the running of the business in 1957 when her husband was forced to retire through ill health. Whilst we now see women taking an increasing part in the management of New Zealand service stations, she surely was a pioneer in this area. And why did she take on this challenge? ‘Because people told me that (as a woman) I couldn’t do it,’ says Mrs Crawford.” [Mobil Happenings, in-house magazine, 1982, from the Crawford Collection, courtesy of Mrs V. Crawford] 

In 1976 Morrison & Crawford became Curtis & Miller “In 1976, after forty-six years, the Crawford family retired from the operation of the service station, leaving it in what have certainly proved to be the capable hands of Pat Curtis and Paul Miller. Sharing managerial, mechanical and merchandising skills, this partnership has built on the rock-solid foundations that Mrs Crawford had established. The keystone of the business continues to be ‘service second to none’, and Curtis and Miller Ltd have certainly demonstrated that you don’t frighten customers away by ensuring that their motoring needs are well satisfied. “Looking at the service station today, a flourishing, modern business, well equipped for the eighties and beyond, it is possible to surmise that Mr Crawford would be well pleased by the successive achievements of firstly Mrs Vera Crawford and latterly, Pat Curtis and Paul Miller.” [Mobil Happenings, in-house magazine, 1982, from the Crawford Collection, courtesy of Mrs V. Crawford]

  (Above photos from the late Mrs Vera Crawford.)

The Motor Car Changes Avondale: Part 1

From the earliest days of European settlement of the Whau District, the horse was the primary mode of transport if you didn't want to use your own feet and walk. Deliveries came by horse and cart, the buses were pulled by horses taking you into the City, horse and rider made their way along the rutted roads and tracks toward parties, gatherings, and church services. Blacksmiths and horse-feed sellers reigned supreme, and stables were just as much landmarks as the local pub.

In the 20th century, all this changed.

In 1903, the first motor cars appeared in Auckland. It was another decade before they started taking over from the horse as the main form of transport for both commercial and private use, but from 1915 the trend was growing.

Where in 1912, the Station Store and Bluck's Buildings had been built to take advantage of foot traffic from the Railway Station just across the road -- by the end of World War I, the pattern had changed. With the coming of the motor car, Great North Road became the new centre of Avondale.

By 1919 Avondale businessman Ernest Goodman was up with the play as far as the motor car was concerned.
“Avondale to the Beaches by Motor – E Goodman wishes to notify the public of Avondale that he is prepared to convey parties to Blockhouse Bay, Point Chevalier etc. by motor at times to suit customers. Fares as per arrangement. A trip will run daily from Avondale to Mt Albert at 10.0 a.m. Fare 6d, leaving Thode’s corner.” [Advertisement, The News, 29/3/19]

From then on, Mr Goodman’s taxis became part of the Avondale landscape.

The motor car was starting to change the way Avondale people did business by this time. There was the Avondale Motor Delivery Service.
“Notice is hereby given that a quick Motor Delivery Service between Avondale and Auckland will be started from about April 7th, when necessary trips will be made twice daily. Passenger traffic to bays, picnics etc. will also be catered for, accommodation being provided for 15 passengers. Norman Thomas, Great North Rd, Avondale.” [Advertisement, The News, 29/3/19]

Mr Goodman was not the only one in town with the idea of ferrying people in the new-fangled innovation. A Mr McCarthy of Station Road (now Blockhouse Bay Road, near Walsall St) initially had a fish selling business (he owned his own boat) but then branched out into the funeral conveyancing business, and as a charabanc driver.

“During the 1920s a number of commercial garages were established in the district…. Stewart’s, Trigg’s, In St Jude’s Street was Bamford’s Avondale Service Station. A 1926 Automobile Association guide stated that: ‘This garage is situated below the railway crossing on the hill above Avondale on the road to Mt Albert. Watch out for trains.’” [Challenge of the Whau, p. 74]

One of the early garages belonged to J Blomley.
“J Blomley – Motor & General Engineer – Bring your cars, motor cycles, or other mechanical work to the above, where you will receive every attention, good workmanship and prompt delivery at rock bottom prices. All work guaranteed. Workshop & garages, adjoining Wm. Pendlebury’s, Draper, Great North Road, Avondale.” [Advertisement, The News, 28/8/15]

Wherever the motor car went, you needed the people to fix them.
“Machinery owners and users of motor cars have often felt the want of a local engineering establishment when necessity has arisen for repairs. It is therefore pleasing to record that Messrs. P J Cooper & Sons will in a few days open those premises adjoining the new Masonic Hall, Rosebank road, Avondale (just below Messrs. Thode Bros’ store) as a general engineering shop. We have every confidence in soliciting work for the new firm as we know Mr Cooper has had an extended experience in all branches of engineering, including motors, mill machinery, suction gas plants and steam, gas and oil engines. Repairs to agricultural and milking machinery will also be a speciality with the new firm.” [The News, 28/8/19]

This was at 79 Rosebank Road. Unfortunately, the optimism in the above piece didn’t keep the business going beyond the middle of the 1920s, with the rise of Triggs Garage and Stuarts, both on the main road

The site between the intersection and the Masonic Hall would be vacant until Forsyth’s Coal Yard in the 1930s.

Rough rutted roads were hard enough going for the horse and cart. For the motor car they used up precious benzine and petrol. Mrs Shaw, telling me of her memories of the days of the rough road through the centre of Avondale, said that the early cars had headlights on "stalks" which bobbed up and down as the cars negotiated the rough track from Avondale down the hill to the Whau Creek bridge -- which was, itself, then only a one-lane bridge.

In 1925, came the next big change for Avondale's transport history.

“There was a great deal of development during 1925. At a meeting in Auckland on February 28th, it was approved by all the town boards involved, that they would build a concrete road over the often impassable clay road from Oakley Creek at Point Chevalier, all the way to the end of the Henderson Township. Each Town Board's ratepayers bore the cost for their own section of the new highway.” [Henderson’s Mill, Anthony Flude, 1977]

“Work on the construction of the first section of the concrete highway at Oakley Creek to Lincoln Road, Henderson, is to be commenced on Monday, when the paving gangs will start operations in the Avondale district. The point of commencement will be at Blake St Avondale, and the paving will be pushed on as far as the Whau Creek bridge, after which the section from Blake St to Oakley Creek will be undertaken.

Form of construction will be a complete departure from anything yet done in New Zealand. The flanges of the roadway would be arched, the edges being thicker than the centre of the roadway, thus giving more strength at the point where the greatest weight of traffic is supported. The system is based on recent tests carried out in Illinois.”

Work began March 2, 1925. New Lynn section started approx. June 1, Glen Eden September 1, Henderson, December 1. [NZ Herald, 28/2/25]

“The excavation of the bed for the concrete highway from Avondale to Henderson commenced at the beginning of the month, and a start to be made on laying the concrete in about 10 days. A new concrete-mixer is to be employed on the job. [NZ Herald, 20/3/25]

By the end of 1925, motor cars could travel smoothly from Henderson through to Pt Chevalier, and Auckland's suburbs, such as Avondale, began to grow in earnest.

Clement Partridge of the Wai-Whau-Whau

Here’s a name which keeps cropping up from time to time in early land documents relating to Avondale: Clement Partridge. He was the original Crown Grantee (1845) for Allotment 5 on Rosebank, the farm later split between Robert Chisholm (purchased 1858) and Enoch Althorpe. He turns up as the owner of Allotment 65, the future “Stoneleigh” and Methuen Hamlet, from 1852 until he sold the property to Josiah Buttress. On the Jury list for 1857, he’s a farmer at “Wai-Whau-Whau”. Now, given the mid-Victorian habit to be vague as anything when it came to descriptions and placenames (after all, they knew what they were talking about, so the future historian’s needs wasn’t an issue), this may have been in reference to his Manukau/Blockhouse Bay Road farm. Or, he may have had land somewhere near the “Wai-Whau-Whau Creek” somewhere along the Great North Road in West Auckland. (Update 24 May 2009: As it happens, according to Vivian Burgess from West Auckland Historical Society, Wai-Whau-Whau is part of Swanson. Partridge definitely had land up there, although he didn't have close associations with the area.)

By 1860, at any rate, he was in Sale Street, Freemans Bay, still a farmer but about to have his career in colonial Auckland take a more interesting turn from simply being a farmer/land speculator.

James Busby has been well documented in many works, best known as a British Resident appointed in 1832, landing in 1833, quarreling with Lieutenant T. McDonnell, R.N. over the sale of spirits (McDonnell was an additional appointed Resident) and being replaced by Lt. Governor William Hobson in 1839. His story did not end there, however. For the next 30 years, he disputed land claims with the Crown, claiming 10,000 acres at the Bay of Islands (he received title to just over a fifth of that amount), and 90,000 acres at Whangarei and Ngunguru. He carried his grievances into a political career with the Auckland Provincial Council from 1853-1863, denounced Governor George Grey as a person who “did not know the truth,” and made it his crusade to defend the rights of other land claimants.

In 1861, he became editor of the Aucklander, and used that as a means of putting his protest across to the reading public. He employed Clement Partridge as sub-editor, in charge of advertisements – but this may not have been a wise move. Two court cases are on record where Partridge handled advertising accounts rather badly. One, with auctioneer Stannus Jones in 1863, for unpaid advertising, arose because Partridge failed to stop the advertisements after Jones’ staff made all attempts to tell him to. 1863 was when Busby left the editorship of the Aucklander, perhaps understandably so, and it reverted to being a weekly.

Busby was still connected with the Aucklander in 1866, however, as Partridge sought to get advertising money from James Copland of the Waitemata Hotel (Copland had for a brief time also been a publican at the Whau Hotel previously). This time, it was down to what we would call these days “false invoicing” – Partridge charging Copland for advertisements he never ordered. Once again, Partridge lost the case. By now, Partridge was in financial trouble. Perhaps he’d personally invested in the Aucklander? Whatever he did, he put his 8-roomed house on Wellington Street up for sale in July 1866 (no takers), was taken to court in September for the dishonouring of a promissory note he endorsed, and had his house sold from under him by order of the registrar of the Supreme Court in September 1867. Despite all this, and in the middle of his own financial woes, he still backed Busby to the hilt, organizing petitions to support Busby’s land claims. He was declared bankrupt in October 1867, and died on 30 April 1869 aged 62, after what was described as a long and painful illness, and buried on 2 May.

As for Busby, he was awarded hefty compensation in June 1868 (Partridge must have felt satisfied during his last illness to hear that), but still had to fight the Auckland Provincial Superintendent over the payout until he finally received most of it in 1870 -- £23,000, after forking out £14,000 in legal costs.

Journeying to England the following year for an eye operation, Busby caught a chill and died there on 15 July.

Clement Partridge’s brief obituary in the Southern Cross of 3 May 1869 reads:

“Mr. Clement Partridge, who died on Friday last, was interred yesterday. The deceased was a very old settler, and was well known to the public from his former connection with the press; and also the author of two works which have been published in Auckland, one of which, a theological essay [Essays on Theology and Metaphysics, printed by W. Atkin] was written during his last illness, and has only recently been issued.”

Update: 7 February 2009 -- another link on James Busby, this time from the Australian Dictionary of Biography, providing much of the backstory from across the Tasman.

Terminus Part 3: Mattson's Flat

Update from here.

Terminus Part 3

Terminus: the lives of those at the mouth of Oakley Creek

Something that has been in the works since around 2001, when I realised that instead of passively collecting information about Avondale and Waterview's history, I could actively research same -- is Terminus. The momentum for Terminus really kicked in when the Avondale-Waterview Historical Society was formed, and I was able to share my views and ideas with others, see what they thought, and adapt the theories when new facts came to light. From this came other projects, like spin-offs: my collection of history of the Auckland Asylum (multiple folders spanning the period from 1850s to 1990s. I am not sure what will be done with that store of knowledge just yet); the Dr Aickin story; and Wairaka's Waters.

I've decided to publish the text of Terminus via Scribd, just to get it out there. Links to the first two parts follow, and I'll have the last two parts sorted shortly for uploading.

Terminus Part 1

Terminus Part 2

Update here.

Story of Victoria Hall, Rosebank

Above, a gathering of the Victoria Hall community at "Meliora", the Jackson home in Avondale Road.

I've just uploaded to Scribd the Story of Victoria Hall in Rosebank. This was founded by Quakers Thomas and Elizabeth Jackson, but was right from the beginning a community-based, cross-denominational place of worship. Now known as the Rosebank Peninsula Church and part of the Avondale Union Parish of Presbyterians and Methodists.

Story of Victoria Hall

Get your own at Scribd or explore others: History

Footprints of Manukau

Looking up information for my Papatoetoe photos post, I found the Footprints of Manukau, a collection of old photos of the Manukau area. Worth a look at the way things were in a formerly rural part of Auckland.

Papatoetoe scenery

Last year, I went with a friend to Papatoetoe to the South Auckland Rock Club show at the Papatoetoe Town Hall. This year (today) we went back, but this time I decided to take the camera.

Top is a mosaic near the local Citizens Advice Bureau office -- strong graphics and a cool heritage balance (train, Town Hall, and a toi toi for Papatoetoe.

Middle, the old Papatoetoe Railway Station, now serving a new purpose, thanks to the Papatoetoe Railway Station Preservation Trust.


Bottom, the Town Hall itself, now a hall for hire by Manukau City Council. In the days before the 1989 local authority amalgamations, this was a focus for public meetings, like this one for the Red Cross in 1962.

The Whau Canal proposal, early 1883

(From Weekly News, 17 February 1883)

Of late the project of cutting the Whau Canal, and thus giving water communication between the Manukau and the Waitemata harbours has come into prominence through the correspondence columns of the Press. Could ready access between the two harbours be thus given to the coastal, intercolonial, and foreign shipping, it would be a matter of the highest importance. The tramway of canal reserve, as marked on the plan of the Whau district for many years past, starts from the western side of Green or Fisherman’s Bay on the Manukau Shore, where there is five fathoms of water, skirts the foot of the Titirangi ranges, and thence down the Whau valley, passing to the eastward of Whau North township, and thence to the head of the Whau Creek. Capt. Drury, of H.M.S. Pandora, twenty-five years ago, estimated the cost of the work at a million sterling. That involved a cutting of a third of a mile through the hill, where the Manukau blockhouse is situate, and which rises over 800 feet above the sea level. This is the only serious engineering difficulty on the route; but this line necessitates following the course of the Whau creek (the detour of which lengthens the line by two miles), or cutting a fresh channel across the bends.

Settlers in the Whau district who are thoroughly conversant with the proposed canal line have recently pointed out that there existed another route, which might prove cheaper, and has at least the merit of being much shorter and direct, the distance from deep water on the Manukau side, at Green Bay, to deep water on the Waitemata side, at a point opposite Kauri Point, being only four miles. In the new line also it is proposed to cut the hill on which the Manukau block-house stands, and which seems to be composed of soft sandstone, but instead of skirting the Titirangi range, to go straight down the Whau valley, passing eastward of the Whau North township, and through the Rosebank estate to the sea, where a channel would have to be dredged out for a mile from the present foreshore, when the deep water channel which passes Kauri Point would be reached. On the Manukau side the excavations would enable Green Bay to be reclaimed very easily, giving to the Whau South township a considerable area of flat land conveniently situated to the deep water frontage; and on the Waitemata side similar reclamations could be made of several hundred acres of the shallow reaches on either side of the proposed dredged out channel. We understand that the Whau (Avondale) Highway Board are so impressed with the future importance of the Waitemata foreshore of their district that they are desirous of having it conveyed to them as an endowment.

It is stated that no difficulty would arise in getting the necessary concession of land from the owners of the various properties through which the proposed new canal line would go, as the work, when executed, would increase the value of property adjacent. Some people are of opinion that the scheme is premature, but at least there can be no harm in discussing it from every point of view. What was the dream of yesterday is not infrequently in this go-ahead age the fact of to-day and history to-morrow. When the Panama Canal has been completed, and its effect upon New Zealand and Australian commerce fully ascertained, no doubt the leading engineers will look round to see in what other direction the route between England and Australasia can be shortened, and then the saving to vessels of the 500 miles caused by the detour round the North Cape will become a matter for serious consideration.

There is one matter to which the attention of the Government has been directed, and it is one which it will have to face sooner or later – the opening up of the Whau (Avondale) Manukau-road connecting the former township with the Government township laid out at South Whau. There are two works on the route laid out which are quite beyond the limited means of the District Highway Board – a bridge over the gully at the south-east corner of Mr. John Buchanan’s property, and the other a bridge over Stoney Creek. The cost of these works is estimated at £400, and it is stated by resident settlers well qualified to pronounce an opinion on the subject, the Government would be duly recouped the expenditure by the increased value given to the sections in the South Whau township, and to Government land adjacent. These works done, the Board feels itself able to undertake the duty of forming the rest of the road, and making it available for wheeled traffic. Owing to the gully being unbridged, a detour of about a mile and a half has to be made with vehicles, which could and ought to be avoided, as the surveyed line is a straight and direct one.

Several attempts have been made to get the Government to take the matter in hand, on the very lowest ground, that of self-interest, but the stereotyped reply, “That there are no funds available for the purpose,” has hitherto prevented any practical steps being taken. Were these South Whau township lands, 574 acres in area, and those of North Whau township, 72 acres in extent, in private hands, the matter would not require five minutes consideration, as the landowner would be well aware that these proposed improvements, while of necessity benefiting the district, would at the same time double the value of his property. The South Whau township is admirably situated, in having deep water frontage to the Manukau harbour, the importance of which will be appreciated more and more as our commerce with the South increases, and the importance of saving a tide becomes a matter of consideration with the interprovincial steamers. Already the Highway District Board, seeing the possibilities of the future, have applied to the Government to set aside a portion of the township as a pleasure and recreation reserve, and the Government have recognised the propriety of such a request. In the days to come it will assuredly be a centre of population from its excellent geographical position, and it is well to take time by the forelock.

At present South Whau looks, as many of our now thriving townships have done, an expanse of fern. The blockhouse, a relic of the Waikato war of 1863, stands in ruins on the crest of the hill (with its loop-holed embrasures and half filled trenches), dominating the country for miles round, and at the time of our visit the other day, only the haunt of nomadic gumdiggers, who prowl over the adjacent Crown lands for gum. Nothing of a warlike character now remains to remind one of the dark days of civil war, but the bottles (empty) of “Three Dagger” and “Battle axe” strewn in the trenches. Down on the margin of the pretty little bay at the foot of the cliff (Green or Fisherman’s Bay), coming into vogue now as a popular resort of picnic parties, lives the “oldest inhabitant” of the locality, a Belge, rejoicing in the cosmopolitan name of Smith. Formerly he had a mate, who died somewhat suddenly of some complaint, but Smith still clings in solitary loneliness to the old Robinson Crusoe life, in the little cove, two formidable mastiffs who have “a deal of openness when they smile,” doing duty for the man Friday. Here, fishing and gumdigging, the old man wiles away his remaining years. If his assets are few, his wants are fewer. The bursting up of a bank has no terrors for him, as it never upsets his balance. Some day civilisation and progress will get into the charming little bay, and Smith, the representative of Arcadian simplicity, will be requested to “move on.”

The Canal That Was Never Dug

(Left) Sketch drawn in 1907 for the "Waitemata-Manukau Canal Promotion Company", showing a coastal steamer passing through the biggest cut, 130 feet deep, between Karaka Bay and the Whau estuary. From NZ Herald, 24 January 1956.

(Updated 20 December 2018. A book The Canal Promoter is due to be published in 2019.)

For the better part of 60 years, from the mid 19th century to the dawn of the 20th, Auckland men of influence seriously considered the benefits and practicality of a canal linking the Waitemata and Manukau Harbours. As the New Zealand Herald in 1956, more than a century after the first musings on the scheme put it, this was “The Canal That Was Never Dug.”

There were two main routes through the isthmus in contention from the 1850s -- the Tamaki option, via a canal reserve dedicated as such in 1850 out of the Fairburn Claim, and the Whau option, first surveyed in 1857 along a route from New Lynn just north of the Whau Bridge to Blockhouse Bay (Endeavour Street). Most of this failed to be properly dedicated, and so much of the route was sold to private owners and vanished from the maps.

In 1901, a new route was proposed to link the Whau River with the Manukau Harbout, via straightening and channelising of the Avondale Stream, with an outlet now at Green Bay. The distance between the tides of the Waitemata and Manukau Harbours by this route was estimated (in 1903) as being only a mile and a half, making the steaming distance from Green Bay to Queen St only 12 miles, while from Manukau Heads it was 25 miles.

“If the canal were made it would be a most pleasant ending to the sea journey to Auckland, via the West Coast, for the Whau River is very pretty in parts, and when it is utilised as a canal there would probably arise a demand for residential sites.” (NZ Herald, 1903).

By the early 20th century, whereas businessmen wanted to cut down the cost of carting grain and agricultural products from the Waikato in the previous century, it was now a need for the raw products of industrialisation that drove interested financiers and businessmen to form their committees and seek the easiest route from the south to Auckland. By 1903, they wanted better transport for King Coal, both from the Waikato (Huntly fields alongside the Waikato River) and from the West Coast.

 The “only serious engineering difficulty on the route” involved “a cutting of a third of a mile through the hill, where Manukau blockhouse is situated, and which rises over 400 feet above sea level.” (NZ Herald, 17/2/1883). In 1869, Auckland businessmen were still pressing for the scheme, trying to persuade shipping companies to bring ships direct to Onehunga from Melbourne.

In 1883 the Auckland Weekly News reported a suggestion that instead of following the Whau, the route could be moved east to go through the Avondale flats, perhaps joining the Waitemata near the end of Eastdale Road. Another Weekly News article can be found here. In the 1890s, John Edward Taylor from Mangere began his own campaign, in support of the Tamaki option.

In his presidential address to the Chamber of Commerce in 1900, Samuel Vaile “deplored the Government’s apathy about the canal. ‘It is difficult to understand why this important work has been so long neglected,’ he said. ‘Certain it is that if it were made it would bring in a large increase of trade to our port and city.” (NZ Herald 24/1/1956, on the centenary of the Chamber of Commerce)

The New Zealand Herald of 16/7/1903 reported that “The committee and subscribers to the Waitemata-Manukau Canal scheme, together with a large number of gentlemen interested, made a visit of inspection yesterday along the route of the proposed canal, which is intended to link the Manukau and Waitemata harbours, and materially shorten the sea distance between Auckland and the West Coast ports.

"The party were taken by the launch Ruru to the mouth of the Whau River and beyond to Archibald’s brickworks, where Mr Archibald came on board, kindly piloting the steamer to Keane’s brickworks. Here a landing was effected. It had been arranged to get up as far as the Whau River bridge, but the tide was falling when the steamer reached Keane’s. Brakes were in waiting at the bridge, and the party were driven as far as Astley’s tannery, where most of them alighted, proceeding on foot over the selected route to the highest point along it. Here Mr Atkinson, who was in charge of the party, pointed out the principal engineering difficulties and the cutting which would have to be made.

"The party then descended through Mr W. H. Smith’s property at Karaka Bay, where it is proposed to make the Manukau entrance to the canal. After a brief inspection of the geological features of the bay and some further explanations by Mr Atkinson, and also be Mr Hamer, who appeared to be thoroughly convinced of the practicability of the scheme, the party rejoined the brakes and returned to town.” This was one of a number of visits made by supporters of the Waitemata and Manukau Canal Promotion Company's scheme to survey, plan, and eventually construct a canal on the Whau route. In the next few years three shafts and a large number of exploratory bores were sunk in the New Lynn-Avondale district, but nothing more was done, primarily because the company had no finance to construct the canal itself. The company wound up in 1907. That year Auckland Harbour Board engineer W H Hamer produced a set of plans for the Promotion Company and estimated the cost of the work at £788,000.

In 1912 David B Russell proposed a canal scheme that included a number of locks and pumping stations together with some deepening of the river and its approaches. He suggested that dredgings could be used to create an artificial island on which could be built playing fields and a multi-storeyed hotel. The total cost of the project was eventually estimated at over £2,000,000. The Russell scheme failed as well; the Tamaki option was preferred by a Royal Commission in the early 1920s, Russell's promises of American finance for the project never eventuated, and he was unsuccessful in obtaining a concession from either the Harbour Board or the Government which would have included taking private land under the Public Works Act and allowing his company to have a 50 year monopoly.

When the Main Trunk Railway was opened in 1908, and when roads improved in the roads improved in the 1920s and the 1930s the canal proposal lost its previous status as a high priority public works project. The last known suggestion to build canals in the Auckland Region, including at the Whau, was in 1982, when Auckland City Council’s resources and organisation committee agreed to reopen discussion “on the construction of five canals linking the Waitemata, Manukau and Kaipara harbours, and the Waikato River.” (NZ Herald, 10/12/1982)

Then, it was suggested, the renewed canals proposal would provide an alternative to a roading-based transport system (long since the successor to rail, and the cause of many headaches for local politicians in the region). This idea was probably sparked off by the “Think Big” development projects of the Sir Robert Muldoon government era of the 1970s to early 1980s. A Mr L J Johnstone even went so far as to prepare a 23-page report on the scheme, which did not come to pass.

The 1908 Auckland and Manukau Canal Act, last regulatory vestige of Auckland's canal dreams which gave the Auckland Harbour Board the power to take land under the Public Works Act for canal construction, was repealed in 2010.

The 1903 party from the Waitemata-Manukau Canal Promotion Scheme, alighting from the steamer at Keane's Brickworks, during the 1903 inspection of the proposed canal route. From the New Zealand Graphic, 25 July 1903.

The Rosebank Bakehouse

R & M Kirkpatrick's bread cart, c.1903-1905. Photo courtesy of the Kirkpatrick family.

At what is now 69 Rosebank Road a Mr Grubb became the first baker on the Rosebank Rd/Great North Rd (northwest) corner. His shop included an area for the stabling of horses, which is now the present-day site of the former Masonic Hall. Before this, the area, part of the larger Chisholm Estate, was just farmland.

The father of Mr Grubb who started the Rosebank Bakehouse came to New Zealand in the 1860s, and set up a bakery in Karangahape Road. Unfortunately, during the Depression of the 1880s -1890s, he went bankrupt.

His son was a baker in the Northern Ireland Constabulary when he emigrated with his sister to New Zealand, following their father. Later, in Avondale, once he had married, he started the bakery.

Mr Keith Grubb, his grandson, told me how his grandfather would drink quite a bit, and would frequent the Avondale Hotel all too often and for far too long as far as his wife was concerned. Once, when losing her patience with her husband, she took a stock whip and went into the Hotel, clearing everyone out in her anger. However, Mr Grubb had seen her coming from across the fields, and was well out of the way. The licensee at the time, possibly Mr J R Stych, banned Mrs Grubb from ever coming in and clearing out his hotel again.

John Bollard, during his time as the local MP for Eden, would often come into the bakehouse to talk to Mr Grubb – and would just as often walk out onto the street with flour all over his back from being heartily patted across the shoulders by Mr Grubb.

By 1 April 1903, Mr Robert Samuel Kirkpatrick had bought Grubb’s land and bakery on the north-western corner of Rosebank/Great North Road, and ran Kirkpatrick’s Bakery there until early 1905.

Robert Samuel Kirkpatrick (1866-1948) was the son of Duncan Kirkpatrick (arrived 1860 from County Antrim, Ireland) and Jane McCaughan, whom he married in Napier. “Sam” Kirkpatrick married Magdalene Webster Grubb of the Avondale baker’s family in 1890, so in 1903 he was essentially carrying on the family business. (The Kirkpatricks and the Grubbs had been cousin families before this).

One of their sons, Robert Webster Kirkpatrick, (1890-1937) went on to co-found, with the Stevens family, Kirkpatrick & Stevens of Newmarket, and one of his sons in turn, Robert Noel Kirkpatrick, was a Newmarket Borough Councillor in the early 1970s. His daughter is Noeline Raffills, current Auckland City Councillor for Avondale-Roskill Ward.

Mr Grubb senior continued to work for his son-in-law until his death on the railway line, crushed between two carriages he was passing between without realising they were being shunted. According to Mr Keith Grubb, his grandson, his grandfather’s dog (to which he gave a double whiskey and milk each morning) ran yelping from the scene and fetched Mrs Grubb. He died "after a long illness", according to his death notice in the Auckland Star, in 1916, and is buried in Waikumete Cemetery.

By 1910, Daniel Robertson had a general store on the bakery site, running his combined bakery-groceries-coal business until around the end of World War I, when the Thode Brothers took over. Ernest Bright ran a bakery business close by, until a fire in the early 1920s burned the entire block out.

Fearon's Building stand there today.

13/3/2009: Post updated and corrected here.

Avondale Salvation Army Corps

The Salvation Army Hall on Great North Road, just beside the primary school, was opened on 27 February 1928. This was just a few weeks after the first officers were appointed to Avondale (12/1/28). The property ledger of the time records that the section in Great North Road was bought as early as 15 September 1915. The erection of the building in late 1927 was delayed “owing to the difficulty of securing building contract by reason of this suburb having recently been taken over by the City Council, and existing by laws being at some variance [Salvation Army Property Board minutes].

“The block of land was purchased in 1915 with the idea that Avondale would be a likely place for a corps opening within the next 10 years. The land is excellently situated – right in the centre of what is considered to be a fine suburb.” The Corps decided in 1924 to start preparations to build the hall – the architects were Gray, Young & Norton, built by the Property Department of the Salvation Army. [Property Records, Salvation Army Archives].

The completed building cost £1,483 , 5d. On 3 April 1966, a new frontage on the hall was opened. The hall was sold and officially closed on 11 December 1976, when the corps was transferred to Delta Ave, New Lynn. [Above from e-mail to author, written by Major Alan Robb, Territorial Archivist, The Salvation Army, Wellington, 2/4/01]

The old building was torn down, and a Tingeys store put in its place. Avondale lost yet another place for community gathering. These days, it's a Civic Video outlet.

History of the Avondale Salvation Army Corps

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Publish Post

Avondale Primary School in the 20th century

In 1914, the Avondale Infant School was completed, known in my day as the Primers Block. According to local people I've spoken to, the builder was a local man by the name of Mr Vibert, who the Roads Board the next year asked if he would put in a proposal for the new board offices (he declined).

In 1922, the school achieved its greatest expansion with the opening of the Manual Training School, which were two buildings close to the Great North Road, where woodwork, cooking and sewing were taught for Standards 5 and 6. The Avondale Manual Training School was opened on the Primary School grounds fronting Great North road on 27 April. A tender from Mt T Wilson for erecting the school of £3585 was accepted by the Supervisor Mr Kalaugher in early 1921. [Avondale Roads Board minutes, 1921, 1922]

In so many remembrances and oral histories from past and present residents of Avondale, the name of Mr Burgess comes up time and again. He was the woodwork teacher at the Manual Training School (which also had cooking classes). Mr Bob Browne recalls Mr Burgess clearly saying, almost as a catchphrase: “Put the tools down, you sawny yob!”

(From unpublished memoirs by Mr H. H. Harrison, courtesy of Mr Ernie Croft, concerning school
in the 1920s, and escpecially the Proficiency Exam): "... a government set exam that if passed gave us entrance to a secondary school. With a class of over forty pupils we set off with that in mind and a teacher who was determined that everyone should achieve a pass. A pupile teacher, Miss McFarlane, helped with the marking of our work for part of the time.

"Each day we were tested in ten words, I think, set to be learned at home. Anyone with two or more mistakes was caned. That was often my fate to be caned, not because I hadn't tried to learn the words at home, my mother saw to it that I did, but I always have difficulty with spelling. Every day we had ten mental arithmetic sums -- pencils up, pencils down -- limited time to answer. Writing sample was always on the board each morning written there before school -- (Mr Slevin) arrived at eight -- as was the weekly arithmetic test each Friday morning.

"Reading daily out of the Government supplied School Journal. Everyone watched the page and had to be ready to go on at any moment, while one stood and read. So the day went on. Most of us accepted all this as normal, cane and all, and bore our teacher no grudge even if we did not particularly enjoy it. We had a realization that it was necessary if we were to get the exam. After school you could go home if all your work was up to date, that is to say if every spelling error was written out three times; every badly formed sentence in the weekly essay rewritten in better form, with spelling mistakes also written out three times and taken to teacher for his approval and signature. All work was kept on a file at our desk. At 4 p.m. we went home.

"During the last term those weak in English grammar were invited to come at 8 a.m. and receive extra tuition and we, the weaker ones, did attend. As a result of this effort the supervising inspector at the exam in our schoolroom was able to announce that everyone except one passed and the one received a competancy certificate."

When the Avondale Intermediate opened in 1945, Avondale Primary lost the training school, and “decapitated”, becoming a Contributing School, which it is today. [Ron Oates, Avondale Primary School, 1870-1990, 1990]

The front building of the Training School (there were two, one behind the other, on the left-hand side of the Great North Road frontage) became the Assembly Hall in 1963, after being strengthened to satisfy concerns over building safety. Unfortunately, it was declared an earthquake risk in 1979 by the Education Board, and demolished in 1981.

A sign in 1969 that read “Assembley Hall” [sic] was corrected by the then Headmaster. [Ron Oates, Avondale Primary School, 1870-1990, 1990]

I have my own memories of that old Assembly Hall. When I went to Avondale Primary from 1968 to 1974, the old Hall was used as a place for school performances (a stage, with changing rooms below, was at the western end), and to show films. I still remember the clatter of the old-style film reels going through the projector, and especially when they ran the films backwards to rewind them! There were few things funnier then, it seemed, than people and cartoon animations running backwards, jumping back onto diving boards, and all the rest.

Beside, as a separate side room, was the lunch kitchen, where parents (including my mother) volunteered on roster to come in, make up sandwiches, and fill out the lunch orders which would come in every morning from the classes on little forms of white paper – whether you wanted marmite sandwiches, or a meat pie (my favourite was apple pies).

Then, in the early 1970s, the old school was demolished. All that remained for a time were, as mentioned, the assembly hall, and also the dental clinic and reading therapy rooms at the top -- but even they are gone now.

But, the school remains. Where the greatest achievement for my generation would have been learning the times tables and keeping our clothes clean by home time, these days Avondale Primary School teaches the children all about computers and the world of the future.

Learning in the Whau

For years, there has been uncertainty as to exactly when the first school in the Whau district (now Avondale and surrounding districts, including Henderson) opened and operated. Unfortunately, Presbyterian records for our area lodged with Presbyterian Archives in Dunedin don’t go back further than the 1880s, as with Avondale school committee records. The school also had no uninterrupted financial support from the provincial government, later the Crown, until 1864. At the moment, I’m compiling a study of the early Whau schools, from what records are at hand and available, but our earliest school did start 148 years ago.

The Whau Presbyterian Church, completed in time for Easter services in April 1860, was always intended to serve both as a church and as a school. Under education regulations at the time, the community were entitled to apply for Provincial Council funding to run a day school, if a certain number of teaching hours were given to secular education, by a certified teacher. This, apparently, the local community succeeded in achieving, as they are noted as applying for Government aid that year. According to later reports, the school had only 10 children — and that may have been the reason it ceased being funded by the Council for a period, until 1864, and indeed shut completely until sometime after June 1861. In those days, the subsidy paid only part of the teacher’s salary. The rest had to come from school fees, often a shilling a day per pupil. If children didn’t attend, or families couldn't afford the shilling, the school had no money.

Enter John Bollard, newly-married in May 1861 and settling in Avondale with his wife by July that year on land he leased from William Innes Taylor. He may have chatted with his neighbour in the Rosebank area Dr. Thomas Aickin about the fact that the school had shut down. Together, they made efforts to resurrect the school, and probably formed their own informal school committee — perhaps just two members — by July 1861. (Bollard was later awarded in 1911 for serving 50 straight years on the district’s school committee, hence how we know when the committee began.) By 1863, they may have been joined by merchant John Buchanan. They were definitely joined by Rev. Andrew Anderson by early 1864, who went on to be the first Presbyterian minister based at Avondale from 1865. The school committee sent in applications for funding to the Provincial Council in 1864, and by the following year had a fully funded school once again, based at the Presbyterian Church. By now, the district was developing rapidly, with settlement and farms increasing further west, talk of a proposed canal, the Pollen brickyard on Rosebank from around 1860 and the Gittos tannery from 1864. It all looked quite promising as far as progress for settlers in the Whau was concerned.

In 1867 another committee set-to and fundraised for the construction of a public hall. The hall, built just across the road from the Presbyterian Church and opened on 14 November 1867, came with a trust deed which expressly stated that it was intended for literary, scientific and educational purposes. The school moved there in 1868. The School Committee were not charged any rent for use of the hall, and the school was the major user, but whenever important community meetings or elections cropped up, the school from 1868-1882 would have to shut down for days — and find, on returning, their equipment and furniture damaged in some instances. The hall, the school committee complained to the Education Board, was cold and draughty, with both children and teachers often falling ill. Yet, the Hall Committee claimed they hadn’t enough funds to repair the hall, and said that grants offered by the Education Board weren’t enough.

With the Common Schools Act in 1868, the new Whau Educational District from 1869 became one of the first in the Auckland Province, and first on the Isthmus, to strike a separate special rate for educational purposes. The school committee may have utilised the now-departed Rev. Anderson’s house built at the corner of Layard and Cracroft (Crayford) Streets as a residence for the school’s head teacher from 1869. The education board purchased his land after a mortgage default in 1875, which was much of what is now the present site of Avondale Primary School. Henry Hasall’s land alongside was purchased in January 1882. Education Board architect Henry Allright designed the first purpose-built schoolhouse for the district erected there, which opened in May 1882.

Along the way, there have been some interesting characters associated with those early days of the first Whau schools. Archibald H Spicer (1830-1883) was born in Vizagapatama, India, his father a captain of the 12th Regiment, Madras Native Infantry, of the East India Company. He arrived in New Zealand in 1851, and finally settled for a time in the Whau district in the early-to-mid 1860s. His estate here, close to the corner of New North and Blockhouse Bay Roads, was apparently the home of wandering peacocks. Spicer is listed as a teacher of the Whau School in Provincial Council records, after a man named Knox who had a dispute with Rev. Anderson over pay, but Spicer may well have helped Bollard and Aickin earlier than that date.

Another was Samuel Frederick Mayhew. For some reason, the Education Board insisted in 1881 that the teacher Joseph Glenny be replaced by Mayhew. The Whau School Committee were outraged, but were told that what the Education Board said, went. So, it was Mayhew who was the first teacher of the new school in May 1882. Later that year, however, he left Auckland in the wake of scandal and bad debts owed to Queen Street merchants. He popped up in Blenheim, 1886, charged with embezzling funds from the Spring Creek Rifles (he got off the charge, on appeal and a technicality). His wife Alice sued for divorce in 1897, on the grounds that she hadn’t heard from her husband since 1882, he’d committed adultery with women unknown to her, and had been living with another woman as his wife in Sydney.

The Whau School Committee’s misgivings, after all, proved correct.

Archibald Hitchins Spicer: peacocks and school slates

I can't add much more to the story of A. H. Spicer from what has already been published online (unfortunately, the website no longer exists - update April 2018). He was also an early uncertified teacher at the Whau School in the Presbyterian Church before the school regained Provincial Council funding after 1865, and most of his property at Avondale was purchased by Benjamin Gittos under equity of redemption when Spicer nearly defaulted on mortgages.

From the site linked above:

"He purchased a property of about ten acres which he named "Glenlaveroch". It was situated near the corner of Blockhouse Bay and New North Road, which was then dangerously far from any centre of settlement. The house was a fine one for the times, with a hipped roof of corrugated iron. No lead was used on the roof as it was feared (being the time of the Waikato Wars) that the Maori would strip the lead for making bullets.

The property was laid out in gardens, with flower beds, and peacocks walking about. There were household servants. Archie employed a groom to drive him into the office in the "dog-cart". The house was still standing in the 1930's.

Unfortunately Archie's circumstances changed. He lost his position at the Customs Office and became ill. The family returned to live in Auckland. Archie spent his final sixteen years working as a clerk in the Deeds Office. His fine writing can be found in the old ledgers."