Tuesday, November 11, 2008

M. Francois Rayer: Avondale's French Connection



A barricade in the Paris Commune, March 18, 1871. Source: Hachette Biblio College, Les Miserables. Via Wikipedia.

Posterity is left with two tantalising pieces of information about a Frenchman in the 1880s who came to settle in Auckland and chose a patch of ground on which to be a winegrower or vigneron somewhere close to Mt Albert and present-day New Windsor.
Taking the left side of the road above Mr. Gallagher’s farm, we came to the section lately purchased by Mr. Stewart, of the Thames Hotel, 25 acres in extent, taken up a couple of years ago, and laid down in grass; adjoining is that of Mr. Beaumont, 15 or 20 acres, just ploughed, and beyond that again the section of Mr. Longuet, where clearing and fencing is going on, and then comes the extensive vineyard of M. Rayer, some 12 acres in extent, with as much more yet to bring under cultivation.

(NZ Herald, 24 June 1882)
THE MOUNT ALBERT VINEYARD

On several occasions we have drawn attention to the efforts being made in the Mount Albert district to establish vine growing for wine making on a scale which will go far to settle the question as to the suitability or otherwise of this industry for the district around Auckland. The experiment is being carried out by Mr. Rayer, a skilled French vine grower.

The situation of the vineyard is not such that the majority of Auckland settlers would have chosen for such an enterprise. The site chosen is on the slope of land at the back of Mount Albert, on the rolling land stretching onto the blockhouse at the Whau. The surface soil is a clayey loam, resting upon a not unkindly free yellow-brown clay. The situation the vineyard occupies exposes it to the sweep of the south-western winds, as they come up from the Manukau, but Mr. Rayer says he has nothing to fear from any winds which prevail in Auckland. Far stronger winds blow in France, but even there no injury is sustained by the vines from this cause …

He is satisfied that the Auckland climate supplies … [equable climate] conditions … On this account Mr. Rayer is of opinion that the Auckland district will produce wine in greater abundance acre for acre than either France or Australia … These are certainly encouraging prospects and it is to be hoped that Mr. Rayer will be enabled to carry his experiment to a successful termination. He is at present unable to give an opinion as to the particular flavour (or bouquet as he called it) the Auckland-grown wines may develop, but he has no doubts as to the ripening of the grapes, and the abundance of wine which will be yielded.

The land purchased by Mr. Rayer is 22 acres in extent, about 15 or 16 acres of which is a clayey loam, and the balance rich volcanic flat, subject, however, to a super-abundance of water in the winter season. This, however, can easily be cured by blowing out a narrow ledge of rock which crosses the creek a short distance below the boundary of his land. A few acres of this flat have been sown in oats for oaten hay this season, but the vines are as yet all planted on the clayey loam, nearer the road than this flat. Fifty thousand vines are permanently planted out, at varying distances of three to five feet apart, besides a little over three thousand rooted plants, which will be planted out at the proper season. The vines are of different ages, some being planted only last season. A few of the older ones are bearing, and all are being trained in the bush form. They are all healthy looking though not yet making the rapid growth of wood which well rooted plants invariably do here…

Upon the whole Mr. Rayer is well satisfied with the prospects before him. This year he expects to make twenty or thirty gallons of wine merely as a sample of what can be done, but next year he anticipates to have a considerable quantity. Beneath his dwelling-house he has excavated a cellar where the wines will be made and matured. This cellar is of sufficient size to enable him to carry on operations for three years, by which time an opportunity will be afforded of testing the results of the enterprise.
(Auckland Weekly News, 20 January 1883)

M. François Rayer (c.1831-1883) seemed at the time of the Weekly News reporter’s visit, to be a shining example of a great horticultural and business experimenter – establishing a fully-fledged wine-making industry in Auckland. Within weeks, however, Rayer was dead and buried in Symonds Street cemetery. That alone would have made his story interesting: New Windsor may well have been covered by vineyards, had he lived and the project continued, up until the last quarter of the 20th century, judging by the development patterns of the Henderson area where thriving vineyards were also (later) established.

But – Rayer was also a convicted Communard, a former political prisoner, a participant in the Paris Commune uprising of 1871, sentenced along with thousands of others to penal servitude at New Caledonia when the uprising was crushed. Rayer was present at a series of events in the French capital which were to have a major impact on the political history of Europe.

Much has been written about the 1871 Paris Commune, which took place immediately after France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. The Auckland press in 1880 called those from the commune “communists”, but the people themselves preferred to be known as “communialists”, to differ from the socialists and nihilists. The political prisoners on New Caledonia were pardoned from 1879, and were made a generous offer: as deportés, they had an option to either return to France or head for anywhere in the Australasian colonies at the expense of the French Government. Other prisoners, common criminals, were known as ticket-of-leave men. They were forever banished from France or any of her colonies – and to get elsewhere, they had to pay their own way.

A mixture of the two classes of former prisoners, 24 in all, sailed from Noumea in January 1880 to Onehunga in the Griffen, on a voyage which should have lasted just 10 days – instead, with bad weather, it took 30 days to reach New Zealand. Almost as soon as they touched Onehunga’s shore, the news spread of their arrival, and the papers blared that it was “The French Invasion.” The Auckland Evening Star did differentiate between the political prisoners and the ordinary criminals (the former not nearly as bad as the latter in their opinion), and most of the fuss over the next days was over whether France continued to intend to use New Zealand, or any British colony for that matter, as a dumping ground for their “dregs”.

Of the deportés, the Star found that their language skills in English were on the whole poor to non-existent.
A reporter from this office interviewed about a dozen of the Communists at Onehunga, while they were awaiting the arrival of the 1 o’clock train from the wharf. Some of their number had gone to Auckland early in the morning, and had returned to report progress. They appeared very anxious to ascertain the chances of employment, and made diligent inquiries with respect to the state of the market. None of them could speak English, and they seemed keenly sensible of the disadvantage at which this fact placed them. One gentleman who acted as a spokesman for the rest unearthed from the inmost recesses of a leather satchel a well thumbed French and English dictionary, and exhibited it with great satisfaction, although he sorrowfully explained that he had not a sufficient knowledge of the grammatical structure of the language to be enabled to derive much assistance from the volume.
(Auckland Evening Star, 18 February 1880)

By the time another vessel, the Sovereign of the Seas, arrived with more ex-convicts from Noumea the following month, Aucklanders had more or less settled on accepting that a new, small wave of immigration was taking place. After all, former Communards had arrived years earlier, via London, but because they had entered in dribs and drabs, no one created the fuss which occurred in February.

François Rayer when he arrived was described on a list of the deportés compiled at the Auckland Police Station and later submitted to Parliament as being 50 years of age, 5ft 4in in height, medium build, with a dark complexion and grey eyes. His hair was dark, tinged with grey, he had a full moustache, slight beard and whiskers. His general appearance was described as smart. According to records, he had worked as a contractor (possibly on Noumea), but in Paris he had been a wineseller. Almost everything else known about Rayer is sketchy at best.

What he was doing in Auckland from 1880-1883 is uncertain. There is a possibility however that he was at the New Windsor property as early as 1880, given that the Weekly News described the vines planted by January 1883 as being of varying ages. Rayer never owned the land he worked at New Windsor. Part of Allotment 66 of the Parish of Titirangi, it had been sold by Robert Greenwood to a solicitor, John Benjamin Russell, in May 1882. It was Lot 10 on Plan No. 131. Rayer comes into the picture, taking out a lease from Russell for Lot 10 in July 1882 – then, two months later, transferring the lease to Graves Aickin (Auckland chemist, politician and nephew of Dr. Thomas Aickin), Henry Brett (proprietor of the Auckland Star), and John Chambers (an Auckland merchant). So curiously, at the time of the Weekly News article, even the lease was no longer in his name.

Map from DP 131, LINZ records.

The Weekly News and the Star published concerns about his failing health before he died. On 3 March 1883, the following death notice appeared in the NZ Herald:
RAYER – Décédé hier, l’Hôspital Provincial, François Rayer, agé de 52 ans, natif de France.
L’enterrement aura lieu aujourd’hui, 3 Mars, á 4 heures après midi. Le cortège se réunira devant l’Hospital. Le members de la Société Littéraire Française sont invités á vouloir lui render les deroiers honneurs.
“His death,” the Star stated, “at the present time is much to be regretted, when the success of the experiment at vine growing for wine making purposes depended upon his knowledge and skill.”

All the French residents in Auckland are said to have attended the funeral in Symonds Street, along with members of the French Literary Society. “The Secretary of the Society“ the Weekly News reported, “placed on the coffin a crown of flowers, ornamented with the French national colours, and the cortege proceeded to the burying yard, where the Rev. Mr. Dudley read the burial service. M. A. Villeval [another former Communard], in the name of the French residents and of the Literary Society, made a short speech, in which he referred to M. Rayer’s humble but useful career, and bade him adieu.”

Sources:
Verna E. (Ching) Mossong, “The Communists are Coming!”, The New Zealand Genealogist, January-February, 1980, pp. 504-505
Christine Liava’a, “French Convicts in New Zealand”, The New Zealand Genealogist, September-October, 2001, pp. 323-325
Lucy Marshall, “Convicts and communists arrive in Auckland,” The New Zealand Genealogist, November-December, 2001, pp. 396-398
Land Information New Zealand records
Auckland Evening Star, Auckland Weekly News, NZ Herald, Papers Past.

Monday, November 10, 2008

1908 City of Auckland Map

Auckland City Archives have recently launched a searchable online version of the 1908 City of Auckland. History of the map's creation is included. Follow the link.

Catholic Church history in Avondale

In 2004, Jack Dragicevich (a very good friend of mine, and fellow member of the Avondale-Waterview Historical Society) put together an article for the Avondale Historical Journal called "To Serve Them All My Days", the story of the Avondale Catholic church. He has given me permission this morning to publish his article on Scribd (thanks, Jack.)

You'll find it here: To Serve Them All My Days.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

A bush scene from somewhere, somewhen

My dear friend over at Mad Bush has seen this image before:



I've decided to give this one to Special Collections as well. It's in a bad way, quite faded. At least they'll be able to provide the right atmospheric storage conditions.

Some details from the photo follow:





Miscellaneous photos

Last of the Armanasco collection.



This one is unknown location, as is the next.



Mission Bay.



This was was labelled "Kaitia". Could it be Kaitaia?

Brigham's Creek

More from the Armanasco collection. Building in Brigham's Creek.




Cowes Bay, Waiheke

More from the Armanasco collection.




Piha 1919

More from the Armanasco collection.




Arawhata

More from the Armanasco collection.










Ngaruawahia

Images of Ngaruawahia, early 20th century, from a portion of a photo album once owned by the Armanasco family of Blockhouse Bay.









I've left the photos as-is in scanning. They aren't all inserted straight, as you can see, and were glued (!) onto the pages with fancy frames on other pages glued (!!) onto the photos. I know this is something some scrapbookers do these days, but hey ...

I was given just a few pages from the album which has been separated by the Blockhouse Bay Historical Society. They'd removed images relating to Blockhouse Bay. I wish the album had been left whole and as complete as possible, though, and lodged with Special Collections or the Auckland Museum. At the moment, I'm scanning each image in both .tif and .jpeg, and this week I'll drop what I do have of the album into Special Collections for safe keeping.

As I do the scanning, I'll post more of the images up on the blog.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Avondale Sports Day, January 1887

Close to the Auckland Anniversary date, and on the day itself, Aucklanders in the 19th century not only got out onto the water in the Waitemata Harbour regattas, they also held sports days in various districts. Avondale was no exception, and their organised sports days stretch back to at least the early 1870s (the paddock belonging to George Thomas of the Star Mill used, between what is now Crayford and St Jude Streets in the heart of Avondale's shopping centre).

What is interesting about the following article is that the sports day was held on John Bollard's farm, part of which forms the Ash Street half of the Avondale Racecourse -- and they held horse races, although on a small scale, that day. As this was 1887, this event would have been one of the earliest, if not the earliest, known instances of horse racing on this particular part of Avondale, and predates, of course, the Jockey Club which formed in 1889-1890.

From the Auckland Evening Star, 29 January 1887:
"AVONDALE SPORTS

The local sports for the districts of Avondale, Mount Albert, and Henderson were held to-day in Mr. Bollard's paddock at Avondale, when there was a good attendance. The events, which were of the most interesting character, were under the control of the following gentlemen: Judges, Messrs J. Kelly and J. Bollard; Starters, Messrs. J. Archibald and G. Thomas; Clerk of the Course, Mr. J. Potter; Clerk of the Scale, Mr. H. Peck. Mr. A Beetham, the energetic Secretary, was also present, and it is owing to that gentleman's exertions that the sports were so successful.

Foot Race (100 yds) -- Wood (scratch, 1; Ramsbottom, 2; Potter, 3.
200 Yards (under 14) -- Only two entered. E. Wood won the prize of 15s.
Extra Race (boys under 14) -- Six started. P. Burke, 1st, 5s; J. Burns, 2nd, 2s 6d.

Horse Races

Hurdle Race -- Handicap Hurdles of £5. Six horses started. Mr. J. Gordon's No Name, 1; Mr. J. Stewart's Lady Alice. 2. Won hands down.
Pony Race, 1 mile. -- First prize, £2. Height, 14h, 2in. Ten entries -- Mr. Hazard's Kitty, 1; Mr. Stewart's Little Minnie, 2."

Friday, November 7, 2008

Old photos (Part 3)



On the back: "Joyce and Ernie, November 1942."



On the back: "To Mrs and Mr King from Rachel". Saxony Studios isn't included on the ACL database.



This is from an old postcard -- unfortunately, it was apparently never used, as nothing is written on the back to tell us what this gathering was all about.



This photo is another I find intriguing. The photographer was NZ Photo Co. of Wellington (no info on ACL database). So ... what was this chap doing? Where was he? What's he looking at?



Just a glimpse of the lady in the greenhouse. No information on the back, unfortunately -- but whoever she was, she had a green thumb.

Old photos (Part 2)



The photographer is Frank R. Huff, advertising on the back of this card "Artistes in Miniature" and "This Photograph can be enlarged and finished in Oil or Water colors to any size required." According to the ACL database, there was a Frank R. Huff in business in Wanganui in his "American Photographic Rooms" (note the spelling of "color") from c.1880 until he and his family left for London in 1886.



On the back is written, simply, "Father."



This is Alice Tapp, according to a note on the back. George Gregory was a photographer from c. 1886-1911, but the Excelsior Studios where this photo was taken dated only from 1905. He died in 1913.



This is a photo of Mary Dunn. Another George Gregory photo, but from his first studio in Ponsonby, so this dates from c.1886-1892.



I find this photo intriguing. A dapper gent, standing to pose with a cane and top hat, in what looks like a field or paddock. The photographer's shadow can be seen in the lower left corner.

Old photos (Part 1)

The photos in this and the next couple of posts were found in a basket of photos being sold for fundraising by the Blockhouse Bay Historical Society a couple of years ago or so. The origin is unknown.



This one could be English, but it reminds me in a way of mid-19th century American portraits as well. There's some old newspaper stuck to the back, covering the photographer's stamp, so I can't give you more information than that.



Another one that could be English. The background reminds me of the brick tenement housing in London and the northern counties.



The photographer was part of Falk Royal Studios, Symonds Street "right opposite Khyber Pass". No sign of this one at the moment on the Auckland City Libraries' photographer's online database.



Written in very small white letters on the folding card where this photo is mounted is "Ivy Studios". No info on this one.



Nothing on this photo at all, front or back. The card it's on, though, resembles those used as promotional ad cards by photographers.

... and then came the bridge.



Another Auckland local history book, and one I've been looking forward to reading, will be launched tomorrow -- ... and then came the bridge, a history of the Torbay area from earliest times, down to 1959 when the Auckland Harbour Bridge was completed and everything changed.

I'm making the bus journey starting around 7 am (two buses) from Avondale to Long Bay, then a hike up to Vaughan Homestead by 10 am tomorrow to attend the launch. The things I do for the sake of my passion/obsession! Should be a nice day weather-wise, though.

A free plug for my friends at the Torbay Historical Society -- the book is $35 plus $5 p&p for one copy, available from the Society.

Traherne – Avondale’s second island

Head out along the North-Western motorway from Waterview, westward towards Rosebank Road, Te Atatu and beyond. Just before you reach the Patiki interchange you might see a blur of wetlands, mangroves and perhaps birdlife beneath State Highway 16’s causeway there. You will have passed over one of Avondale’s two main off-shore islands (the other is the larger Pollen Island): Traherne, around 18-20 acres of mud, shell, scrub and precious animal species.

Both Pollen and Trahern Islands are basically low-lying banks of mud and shell. Half of Traherne is underwater at high tide, and wasn’t even surveyed until 1889, more than 40 years after the more famous Pollen Island. But when Henry Douglas Morpeth Haszard surveyed the island, noting that it was covered in wiki and manuka, with mudflats all around and between it and the mainland, he must have felt that it was worth something. In 1894, he and his brother, fellow surveyor Norman Haszard, purchased title to the island, and were to remain owners until 1906.

H.D.M. Haszard was noted in his field. He surveyed the Kermadec Islands in 1887, was responsible for the survey of the Waihi and Waitekauri mining townships, and carried out a survey of Niue, while he was in the Pacific recuperating from blood poisoning, in 1903. Haszard was a founding member of the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors. He retired in 1921, living out the rest of his days in Waihi.

In late 1927, Ernest Tasker bought the island. He already owned a section towards the end of Rosebank Road, and in 1928 tried selling both his land on Rosebank and the island to a firm called the Dale Shell Lime and Sand Company Ltd. However, things didn’t work out, the company vanished, and Tasker was to remain as Traherne’s owner until 1947. Some of Avondale’s residents from that time recall him burning heaps of shell until all that was left was the powder – lime, valuable both when used in building mortar and upon the fields of crops. It was lime from Pollen Island, and perhaps also from Traherne, that Avondale Road Board shipped to their neighbours in Mt Albert during the 1922 typhoid outbreak, to decontaminate the affected springs behind the Asylum grounds.

In 1954, the last private owner of Traherne Island, Charles Whitfield Ralfe, had the island taken from him by the Ministry of Works for the planned motorway. Since the 1960s, all that can be seen of Avondale’s second island by most of us is a brief glimpse, but usually hardly more than a blur, while on the way to somewhere else at speed.

British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines



Another from my collection of anonymous photos. The period is just about the only thing I can pin down -- late 1940s-early 1950s. This is because of the plane, part of the fleet of British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines, based in Sydney but operating throughout the Pacific region. They started in 1946, and ran into financial difficulties after a plane crash (cause: pilot error) on approach to San Francisco Airport in 1953. QANTAS took over the airline's Pacific route, and TEAL (forerunner to Air New Zealand) took over the planes.

Somed of BCPA's promotional posters are online.