Memorial Park, Avondale

The small park at the corner of St Georges and Great North Roads was gifted by the Avondale Presbyterian Church to Auckland City Council as a war memorial area in 1948. A memorial was raised in honour of those in the district who gave their lives in both World Wars. Each Anzac Day, the annual service is now held there.

In addition to the long stone (which, unfortunately, has no names) are four plaques produced on various anniversaries to do with the Boer War through to World War II.

The Boer War one is interesting. Memorials to the Boer War are far fewer than to World Wars I & II, but it was still our first real conflict which gave rise to memorials.

More information here.

Painting heritage buildings

Exhibit A: Avondale's Hollywood Cinema. A recent repaint of the front and northern side has made this building look stunning. The cinema is scheduled on the Auckland City District Plan at the moment.

Exhibit B: Page's Store building, 1903. It isn't scheduled with Council nor registered by NZ Historic Places Trust. Avondale's oldest shopping block, it was built by the same Arthur W Page who had the more famous Kingsland store of the same name (but ours is older).

The latest in a long series of tenants in the northern-most part of the block (once the location of Des Ferry Panelbeaters) is a meals outlet. I understand the right of the business to have the colour branding of their choice, but -- bright green? It is somewhat of a pity, I feel. The Avondale Business Association put quite a bit into organising a heritage paint scheme earlier this decade. The Pages Building was one of their success showcases. Here's the building from the late 1980s.

Mind you, I could just be sounding like the old fuddy duddy I am becoming as the years progress.

Tea in a Pill

I found an old tin at the Avondale Sunday Market on March 9 this year. It was cheap enough, and fascinated both myself and the seller. I did tell her I was with the Avondale Waterview Historical Society, and that I’d look up on the Internet just what was the story behind this unusual wee tin. Here it is ...

What does a cuppa tea have to do with newspapers today such as the Sunday News or NZ Truth? A word which was once a brand name invented by a 19th century English pharmaceutical company named Burroughs Wellcome & Co — “tabloid”. Able to mechanise drug production by the 1880s, a process which has led to the tablets and capsules we also have today in our prescriptions or simply bought at the supermarket, Henry Wellcombe invented the brand name “Tabloid” for the company’s compressed pills.

The company produced “Tabloid” first aid kits, “Tabloid” photographic developer chemicals — and “Tabloid” tea, a cuppa in a pill. As the website for Wellcome’s archives says: “One can imagine the advertising for such a product: no matter where you were in the British Empire, no matter how inhospitable the climate, with the help of Burrough Wellcome & Co, a taste of Britain could be guaranteed.” The tin I bought may be as old as 1900.

However, the “tabloids” did not sell well. Instant tea had yet to find a niche in the pantries of Britain and elsewhere in the Empire. The brand name, however, now applied to a condensed form of the news of the day rather than a tablet to be dropped in a cup of hot water, has survived.

Work beginning on the Aotea Square revamp

As I was in the city today, took the opportunity of a couple of shots of the construction work underway. The Greys Ave entrance to the Civic carpark is closed, and work is well underway to make Aotea Square in the heart of the city look something like this.

The waters of Te Wai Horotiu once created a swamp there, before it was drained in the late 1860s and a markets building constructed. That in turn was torn down in the 1920s, as were many of the surrounding buildings, leaving the Town Hall to preside over an open-air carpark until the Civic Centre project got underway in the 1950s and 1960s, culminating in the Mayoral Drive in the 1970s.

Work was needed here after leaks were found in the underground carpark. Te Wai Horotiu, it seems, is not quite tamed yet.

Advertisements 1911-1912 (3)

Next time I get bronchitis or a cold, I'll bet I won't see an armoured knight striding across, trampling the little men labelled with maladies such as those, as well as "sore throat", "asthma", "coughs" and even "consumption". This ad is as much marketing the product, as it is also a product of its time.

I like this ad because it is wonderfully drawn, and tasteful with regard to what it's selling -- the services of monumental masons, mainly in the business of headstones and memorial statuary.

How do you replace the old copper system of heating water? With a new copper system of heating water. This one involved stoking up the fires in one tank to heat the water for another tank. In another two to three decades, electricity would start to replace these systems.

An advertisement for buggies, from a "carriage and motor car factory". One foot in the past, the other in the future ...

This is here because it is awful. This could be enough to give someone nightmares. The artist was trying to convey the discomfort of realising your poor choice of laundry soap has shrunk your clothes. Instead, the poor victim looks like someone with a malnourishment disorder. I don't think this one was around for too long. At least, I hope not.

Advertisements 1911-1912 (2)

J. Wiseman & Sons started out as saddlers -- by 1911, they apparently diversified. I just like this ad for the Edwardian feel of what the man and woman are wearing. I do wonder how she's staying in the hammock without having a nasty tumble.

Curicura Medicinal Toilet Soap -- still going strong after all these years (in their case, since 1865). The ad is American in origin, reprinted without alteration, and showing a price on the box of 25 cents. The manufacturers used lots of cute baby art to sell their product here.

This ad is here mainly because of the name, "Wahoo".



I'd say this was an ad from the Australian market for the American Winchester brand of rifle and pistol cartridges, what do you think?

Mosgiel rugs were rightly famous here, in Australia and over in the US even at the beginning of last century. " THE PRIMACY OF THE MOSGIEL RUG is acknowledged the world over; The Perfection of its Quality, the Luxurious Richness of its Finish, the Artistic Character of its Designs, and its Durability make the "MOSGIEL" Rug the typical product of this young Dominion. Tourists can purchase genuine "MOSGIEL" at the leading Drapers and Outfitters," according to an ad in the NZ Tablet in 1908.

This ad, though, just looks attractive to me, and part of its time.

Advertisements 1911-1912 (1)

Early newspaper advertisements catch my eye now and then. Here's a few of them from 1911-1912, from the Auckland Star and Weekly News. If anyone wants full-sized copies of these, just let me know.

The Scouting movement was new here in 1911, but Highlander Milk was quickly associated with them, healthy activities outdoors, and nutrition. "It tastes awfully good spread on bread" says Baden-Powell.

The New Zealand Dairy Association advertising our world-famous butter, the "Anchor brand". Apparently, this was just as New Zealand was breaking into the American market, or trying to. "The United States Government recently purchased in London and Manchester from bulk shipments five samples of the choicest Australasian butter, one of which was manufactured by the New Zealand Dairy Association." The Kiwi sample apparently topped the lot.

This is here because of how R. Hannah & Co Ltd describe themselves: "shoeists". Not shoe sellers, but "shoeists". The difference in language between now and in the past is one of the reasons I love history.

Advertisements were often put in under headings like "Medical" (for the cures, medical aids, etc.) and, like this one, "Public Notices". Mr. Ogilvie is bringing it to your public notice that he's selling "Mermaid Waterwings". A shilling and thruppence -- pricey waterwings, those.

The rat is dining on "Common Sense Rat Exterminator". It not only killed the rodents, it dessicated the bodies so you wouldn't be offended by the smell. In 1911, rats were feared as the bringers of new outbreaks of plague, so such ads were welcomed by those with a vermin problem.

Carved horns at Dargaville Museum

The explanatory caption beside the horns said:

This nineteenth century fine example of carved bullock horns was donated to Dargaville Museum by the Fernandez family.

An excellent example of scrimshaw, they represent the two worlds that collided in the 1880s. [More correctly, 1840s to 1880s.]

The carving on one horn depicts Scottish noblemen and women, and Scotland's national symbol, the thistle. The other horn depicts a group of tattooed Taranaki Maori warriors wearing the white feather adopted at Parihaka as a symbol of resistance to the government's confiscation of native lands.

It is very likely that these horns were carved by a British soldier on active duty in Taranaki at the time, possibly serving under Captain Gustavus Von Tempsky, commander of the Forest Rangers Company.

As well as a renowned soldier and leader Von Tempsky was a talented artist reputed to have encouraged his men to use their non-fighting time productively. Several followed his own example which included scrimshawing bullock horns that were used as powder horns or, as these ones were at some stage, coat hangers.

I disagree with the caption, unfortunately. If the horns date from the Von Tempsky period, they are unlikely to be associated with Parihaka, however. Von Tempsky died in 1868. The Parihaka saga began a decade later. Still, the horns are stunning.

Old Church in Northland

My very good friend who operated the Mad Bush Farm blog has posted about this church with an artistic rendering. I deeply admire her artwork (if you see this post, Mad Bush, there's some St Ninians stuff I'd like to show off, as well ...)

The photos, according to the computer file, date from August 2006.

Update (20 October 2009): Spotted a blog post by Reading the Maps on the church today.

Old signs

Old St Ninians Hall sign.



Detail from above.



Old AEPB sign. Pre 1999, and chances are a lot earlier than that.

Who's Graham?

This is Graham Reserve, a patch of corner green between St Jude's and Donegal Streets. I have no idea who the person named Graham is or was, and why the reserve was named in this way.

Now, folks could say "Who cares?" It isn't really much of an issue, just a heritage one: back in the 1930s, the City Council renamed Palmer Street to Donegal Street because of a eastern suburbs street also named Palmer. Fair enough -- but this was still James Palmer's land, and across from this reserve is the acreage Palmer generously donated to the Anglican Church in the 1870s.

Naming this patch "James Palmer Reserve" would be nice. A campaign project for the future, perhaps.

Update 19 June 2009: Seems this patch of land is a road reserve, dating from the 1926 McLiver subdivision. Auckland City Council tell me (via their call centre) that the reserve has no name, that it's just part of the streetscape. They had no knowledge of the sign -- which, as at today, has gone, making way for a metal track put through for the construction vehicles working on the rail double-tracking. The seat's still there, though.

Second World War Memorial -- St Jude's Anglican Church

The names on the stone are as follows:

D. A. Blackman
W. Brothers
P. W. Crees
R. H. Earland
H. H. Earney
J. Johnston
R. G. Lindsay
F. M. Logan
P. J. D. McGeehan
L. C. Porritt
A. E. Shepherd
D. Tucker

A road which isn't -- southern Layard Street

Back in 1863, Thomas Russell's surveyors laid out Greytown in a neat, tidy pattern. He would never have guessed that in 1868, Blake Street would be changed, diverting it to meet with New North Road instead of going straight up to meet Blockhouse Bay Road. In the next decade, other surveyors would mark out a line of railway which would cast a wide swathe across the eastern part of that pattern, cutting off sections of properties. The railway meant that the southern end of Russell's Layard Street from 1863 would never be formed, never metalled. It remains as a road reserve today, a long and wide strip of grass mowed every so often by the Auckland City Council. It is the road which isn't.

It's also, in a way, a piece of 1860s Avondale which hasn't altered all that much from when Russell's surveyors marked out the Greytown sections.

R. F. Bollard (1863-1927)

Richard Bollard, Avondale-born and son of John Bollard, the first chairman of the Whau Highway District, died on 25 August 1927 of pneumonia after contracting influenza. The following is an obituary published that day in the Auckland Sun.

The late Richard Francis Bollard was born in Avondale in 1863, and his mother, Mrs. Bollard, sen., widow of the late Mr. John Bollard, once M.P. for Eden, lives still in the old family home in Rosebank Road, where the late Minister of the Crown was born.

Richard Bollard was educated in the public schools and under private tuition. He became clerk of the Avondale Road Board, of which his father was chairman for about 30 years. He resigned that position after seven years, and established himself in the Waikato, going into a large timber milling business near Taupiri in partnership with Mr. J. W. Bailey.

Taking up farming, he settled at Tamahere, and began his public life as a member of the Kirikiriroa Road Board and the Waikato County Council, of which eventually he became chairman. He was also a member of the Waikato Hospital Board.

When the Raglan electorate was constituted in 1911, Mr. Bollard became its first representative in Parliament, and he has continuously represented that electorate ever since. In politics he soon came to the fore. He was appointed Junior Government Whip in 1918 and Senior Whip in 1919. From that office he was promoted to cabinet rank as Minister of Internal Affairs in 1923.

Mr. Bollard was in his youth a keen sportsman, particularly interested in cricket and rifle shooting, but he was a fine pheasant shot also. Only recently the Otaki Maori Racing Club elected him a patron and the Wellington Trotting Club in his honour recently put the Bollard Handicap on the programme for the spring meeting.

The Bollard family have been closely associated with Anglicanism and the late Minister of Internal Affairs was a lay reader in the Tamahere Anglican Church.

The late Minister leaves a widow, who was formerly Miss Louisa Dakin, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dakin of Avondale. His two sons are Mr. J. R. Billard, of Tamahere, and Mr. Harold Bollard, of Wellington. His daughters are Mrs. Hunter, Mrs. Duncan Bennett, Miss Muriel Bollard and Miss Madge Bollard, all of whom reside in Wellington.

Mrs. John Bollard, mother of the late Mr. Bollard, still lives in Avondale. Other members of Mrs. Bollard’s family are Mr. W. Allen Bollard, artist, Dunedin; Mr. Ben Bollard, Auckland; Mr. A. E. Bollard, of Campbell and Ehrenfried, Ltd., Auckland; and Mr. Harold Bollard, of the Northern Steamship Company, Auckland.

The late Mr. Bollard’s sisters are Mrs. J. W. Bailey, Mrs. Charles Waters, Mrs. John Mills, Mrs. D. V. Russell, all of Auckland; and Miss Bollard, who lives with her mother at Avondale.

When the House resumes to-morrow afternoon formal expressions of regret at the death of the Minister of Internal Affairs will be made by members.

The Prime Minister [Gordon Coates] was just leaving his home this morning to be present when the House in Committee was to resume when he was informed of the serious condition of Mr. Bollard, and hurried to the late Minister’s home, just in time to be present at his passing, which occurred at about 8.51.

On arrival at Parliament Buildings Mr. Coates conferred with all parties, and when the House met at 9.30 am immediate adjournment was unanimously agreed upon.

“Any formal contribution members may feel inclined to make to our late colleague can be better conveyed to-morrow,” said the Prime Minister. “I feel I am expressing their views when I say that none of us are really in a mood to express what we would like at the moment.”

Mr. H. E. Holland, Leader of the Opposition, agreed with Mr. Coates’s suggestion, which was formally adopted, and the House adjourned.

Avondale's Mayors

For a brief time, from 29 April 1922 until 31 August 1927, Avondale was an independent borough. During that time, we had four mayors.

James Watkin Kinniburgh (1922-1923). Born in 1858, he started his public service career in 1873. In 1910, he wrote a paper advocating the decimal system of currency. He died in Auckland in 1941. More on him here. Photo used here by permission of the Kinniburgh family.

William John Tait (1923-1927). Longest serving of Avondale's Mayors, and often erroneously termed the "first Mayor" of the Borough. He served many years on the Avondale Road Board before the Borough period, and in 1937 spearheaded the creation of the Avondale Businessmen's Association (which still continues today, after some changes of name and constitution). He ran a land agent's business, and built the Unity Buildings on the corner of Rosebank and Great North Roads in 1932. Tait Street and Tait Park are named after him.

Herbert Tiarks (1927). Living in Blockhouse Bay, he was an accountant by trade. He was extremely upset by the poll passed in August 1927 to amalgamate Avondale with the city, and resigned forthwith.

Edward E. Copsey, Mayor for little more than a week before the amalgamation. He organised the petition calling for the poll on amalgamation, and was appointed by the Borough council, then in crisis, to replace Tiarks. A farmer and market gardener, Copsey owned an extensive holding on Rosebank Road. Copsey Place is named after him.

A Place Called Opou (Cox's Creek)

Here is the text of a speech I gave earlier this year on Cox's Creek and the activities there. The West End Friendly Circle were a lovely group of people, and this was one of my most enjoyable speaking gigs this year.

Avondale in 1927

These photos were first published by the Auckland Sun in August 1927, just as the poll result for the amalgamation of Avondale with Auckland City was announced (see "Borough's End"). They show Avondale just at the start as a suburb. Top is the Avondale Shopping Centre -- left is the Avondale Hotel, in the distance the manual training blocks for the primary school, at right is the local bootmaker's shop, next to Pages' Store (with the distinctive facade detail) then the local dentist/chemist. Great North Road was recently concreted in 1925, the old trough and lamp has gone, and traffic islands and roundabout are in the future.

The bottom photo is from Blockhouse Bay Road. To the right of the centre pole is the domed shape of the Avondale Town Hall (now the Hollywood Cinema), with the wooden public hall beside it. Just to the right, but across St Georges Road, is Avondale Presbyterian Church (the name St Ninians was to come in the 1930s). Note the empty ground around the church. Most of that is now Memorial Park and the Mobil service station along Great North Road.

Compulsory military training, a hundred years ago

I got this from an undated newspaper clipping in my files. It was also published in the centenary booklet put out by the Avondale Jockey Club in 1989. Apart from where it is inscribed "Avondale Camp 1912" and is fairly obviously a mounted military outfit on the racecourse, little else is known about them.

I may now know more, however. I'm putting together a paper at the moment on what appears to have been the first military camp on the racecourse, in May 1912. I found the timing of the camp quite by chance -- I was in the city library, looking in a book listing old post offices and postal agencies put out by the NZ Postal History Society, and wondered, "What do they have under Avondale?" Well, there was the usual -- Whau Bridge agency from 1861, then the post office at Avondale station -- and then, a note about two special temporary post offices, set up on the racecourse at two military camps. The first, from 1 May to 8 May 1912, was what I tracked down. The other (also a target for further research) was in August 1914, before the Pioneer Maori camp later that year.

The men in the photo appear to be the 3rd (Auckland) Mounted Rifles, originally constituted as part of the NZ Territorial Force in March 1911. The Avondale camp was their first annual training camp, and the first training camp for mounted forces anywhere in the Auckland area. Two other training camps, one at Papatoetoe and one elsewhere in Auckland, pre-date this one, but were for infantry and artillery units. A band was part of their unit -- the 3rd (Auckland) Mounted Rifles band played at the 1928 at the unveiling of the mounted soldier's memorial at Otahuhu. During World War I, they fought at Gallipoli, the Sinai, and Palestine.

Legislation for compulsory military training, replacing our system of volunteer brigades since the 1860s Land Wars, was passed in December 1909, but after a report by Lord Kitchener suggesting changes, it was held up until an amendment was passed late in 1910. It wasn't until early 1911 that the first territorial armed units were organised and constituted. Military training began in school for all males in New Zealand from age 14, and continued until age 25, with a reserve until age 30 and call-up until age 55.

There was opposition to CMT from the Quakers and trade unionists, but it continued through to World War I.

This is an intriguing find. So far, I have the news reports on the camp from the NZ Herald and Auckland Star, and will do a bit more digging next time I'm in the city around the time the unit formed up, and see if there's any additional information in the Observer and Weekly News. I put the final paper up on Scribd later on. But, here's a taste: this was written by a Herald reporter for the 4 May 1912 issue.

A bag of bran for a pillow, sweet-smelling hay as a mattress, a waterproof sheet and two military overcoats as bedclothes -- and a HERALD reporter settled down for his first night in camp at Avondale on Wednesday. The "last post" had long since sounded, but from different parts of the camp came sounds of revelry. In the horse lines, just outside the tent, all was quiet, save for the "champ, champ" of the horses at their feed, and an occasional sharp rebuke from the guard to a refractory horse. And so to sleep.

At a seemingly unearthly hour in the morning the bugle sounding the reveille awoke the camp. The morning was cold and raw, and it was difficult to leave the warm tent, but coffee, brought by a friendly orderly, made the task easier.

Outside the men were hard at work grooming their horses, and all was bustle and confusion. Horses groomed and fed and accoutrements cleaned, the various squadrons lined up to be fitted for uniforms, and many a laugh was heard as a particularly small man got lost in a particularly large uniform. The regiment clothed, breakfast was the next thing, after which the regiment went through a course of mounted drill prior to being inspected by General Godley in the afternoon.

Update: finished the article on 18 December 2008.

1876 Eden election: a disagreement between two gentlemen at the Whau

The setting: Auckland in 1876, when provincialism was about to receive the axe by central government decree, and the districts found themselves divided in opinion between the idea of provincial government (and some measure of independence) and that from Wellington. Aucklanders had never truly recovered from the wound to their pride when the capital was moved from their fair city to that at former Port Nicholson.

Now, in January 1876, came an election for the seat of Eden, an electorate which covered most of the isthmus of Auckland. What had been a three-horse race before Christmas the preceding year, between Alan Kerr Taylor, Joseph Augustus Tole and Hugh Carleton, was reduced to two with Carleton's bowing out. It became a straight-out choice between provincialism, Sir George Grey who supported the councils (he had after all put them in place back in the 1850s), and Tole; and central government, a path chosen by Taylor to support.

Feelings in the area could be described by the placards which were "posted in conspicuous places" come election day on 6 January. "Vote for Tole and Sir George Grey, or for Taylor and 3s a day wages." "Be true to the interests of Auckland, and vote for Tole and Sir George Grey.

Three days before the election, the Whau Public Hall was double-booked that night. This was not a common occurrence -- usually bookings were handled by the halls' trustees. But as Taylor had arranged to use the hall for a gathering of his supporters (Whau Highway Board chairman John Bollard among them), so Tole had advertised by posters that he would conduct a meeting there that same night. It ended up being a fairly civilised question-and-answer session, chaired by John Bollard -- until local resident Mr. Owen, seconded by a Mr. Cantwell, moved a vote of confidence in Mt Taylor. The Southern Cross reported on the next moments.

"Mr. Buchanan (after a consultation with Messrs. Tole and Dignan) said there had been an understanding that no vote of confidence should be moved in either candidate at that meeting. The electors had now to regard measures, not men. He hoped the electors of the Whau would not be bound neck-and-foot, as they had been hitherto. At the beginning of every election in that district, there were men who went about getting votes in order to carry a certain candidate through before the electors had an opportunity of knowing who the candidates were and judging of their merits. Men had been compelled to go to the poll like so many bullocks. He had witnessed that for many years, until his blood boiled within him. (Cheers.) He had great respect for Mr. Taylor, but considered him a Government man by instinct. He begged to move, as an amendment, "That this meeting thanks both candidates for their expression of their views."

Mr. Owen, saying that he had been unaware that there was any understanding that there was to be no vote of confidence, withdrew his motion, and the amendment was carried unanimously.

Bollard, by now, must have been seething. When Tole moved, seconded by Taylor, a vote of thanks to the Chairman, Bollard bit back at Buchanan.

"The Chairman said that Mr. Buchanan had made an unjustifiable attack upon a person who was not in a position to defend himself.

"Mr. Buchanan: Sir, I rise to --

"The Chairman: Silence, sir. Mr. Buchanan's remarks were entirely out of place. He had made an unjust assertion when he said that the electors of Whau had been driven to the polling booth like bullocks. The fact was, Mr. Buchanan had tried to drive them like bullocks, but had been defeated by a straightforward honest course of conduct. Mr. Buchanan had levelled the insinuations at him (Mr. Bollard) when he was unable, as Chairman, to reply. He now dissolved the meeting.

"Mr. Buchanan: I have a few words --

"The Chairman: I dissolve the meeting.

"Mr. Buchanan: Very well, we can put some one else in the chair and go on.

"The meeting here began to disperse, but before doing so cheers were given for Sir George Grey and for the candidates."

Two days later, John Buchanan wrote to the editor of the Southern Cross:

"Sir, -- The report in the Cross of Messrs. Taylor and Tole's meeting at the Whau escaped my notice on the day of publication. I did not say that "men had been compelled to go to the poll like so many bullocks" but this: "The electors had been sold like bullocks," meaning their promises had been got so early in the day that they did not go to the poll free to vote as they wished on the day of the election. The sapient chairman applied the remarks differently; he would not allow of explanation, nor was there sufficient disinterestedness in him to vacate the chair, and have fair discussion. Abusing the privilege of his chairmanship fits tolerably well in the general course of domination affected in our quiet locality. I am, &c., John Buchanan."

Tole won, by a majority on the day of 51 votes. The Whau vote was tied 22-all.

Two days later, John Bollard replied in the newspaper.

"Sir, - I observe in your Thursday's issue a letter signed "John Buchanan", in which he has thought proper to censure my conduct as chairman of Messrs. Taylor and Tole's meeting. He states that the report of the meeting escaped his notice on the day of publication. This is untrue, as I know his attention was drawn to your report on that date; but it did not suit his purpose to publish his letter sooner. He then goes on to say he did not use the language imputed to him. I say most distinctly that he did, and there are many witnesses to prove it. Again he says that I would not vacate the chair in order to have fair discussion; this also is untrue. The facts are as follows: -- Mr. Buchanan in moving an amendment to the motion, made use of the language reported in your paper, and hurled insinuations at myself when he knew as chairman I could not reply. At the close of the meeting, on the motion of Mr. Tole, a vote of thanks was accorded me for my impartial conduct in the chair; and in returning thanks, I then chastised Mr. Buchanan for his cowardly conduct, perhaps rather too severely, considering his weak nerves. I then vacated the chair, as the business of the meeting was closed. He then tried to appoint another chairman, but the meeting refused to do so. I certainly thought Mr. Buchanan had sense enough not to rush into print over this matter, but now that he has measured swords with me, I advise him to beware, or he may receive some home thrusts. I am, &c., John Bollard."

John Buchanan wanted the last word. Two days later:

"Sir, - I am sorry to occupy your columns with matter very much of a personal nature, but am afraid there is no alternative left me than to reply to a letter in your Saturday's issue, signed "John Bollard." He states it "is untrue, as I know," &c., that your report of the Whau meeting escaped my notice on the day of publication. I reiterate my assertion, and call for his proof. He says I did use the language imputed to me. I say I did not. He says he can call witnesses. I can call witnesses that I did not use the language reported. But, even if I had, and the language used had not conveyed the idea intended, was it not still a chairman's duty to allow of qualification or explanation? I do not see how that helps your correspondent out of his difficulty. Your correspondent works upon such capital as this: -- "A vote of thanks was accorded me for my impartial conduct in the chair." I regret to interfere with the pleasure that fact gives Mr. Bollard, but would simply remind him that the ungentlemanliness complained of occurred after the formal vote of thanks. He says insinuations were hurled at him. I was not aware that insinuations could be hurled. I thought they were generally thrown out in a quiet manner. It was not so in this case. There was a broad and distinct statement made, and that publicly, and it truth is all the more palpable that the principal party concerned put on the the cap that fitted him so well. It is quite competent, Mr. Editor, for a chairman to leave the chair. Was this gentleman ignorant of the fact? If not, why does he -- I repeat the words -- "abuse the privilege of his chairmanship" in making a cowardly attack upon one whom he would not allow to explain? That was the true time for explanation when all parties were present. Why did he not allow it? Was he afraid? Let me now close by saying that it is not necessary to controversy to indulge in calling names, to be free with insinuations, or to make violent threats. Nor is it desirable to the lover of truth to create a great cloud of words, and all the while the would-bee reasoner is escaping from the real issues of the question. This, in my opinion, is what your correspondent has done. I regret not being able to oblige him with newspaper controversy. My business required most of my time, and I trust that the controversy may end here, even at the risk of being supposed to be afraid of Mr. Bollard's home thrusts. I am, &c., John Buchanan."

Buchanan's disagreements with Bollard continued into the disputes over the Northern Omnibus Company in the 1880s. In the end, Buchanan went to live elsewhere.

“Get me out if you can” – William Inskip, 1886

I found the details of the dreadful mishap that happened to William Inskip one January day in 1886 quite by accident. Normally, something like this I’m able to turn into a short, 400-word or so piece for the Spider’s Web. But not this one, there was too much detail I’d have to carve away for the limited space. And I felt poor Mr. Inskip deserved better than that. The following is a summary gleaned from the NZ Herald and Auckland Star at the time, as well as a website on the 65th regiment’s history. It was a dry summer, back in January 1886. Drought had hit Auckland hard, and Avondale back then could only rely on what water was left in the rain tanks and what could be found in deep wells bored into the clay and lined with brick. One Avondale resident, local butcher John Wickham, had a dry well on the property he and his family rented from merchant John Buchanan near the Whau Bridge – so, he asked William Inskip, a 62 year old well-digger, to clean out and deepen the 40 foot well. William John Inskip had formerly been part of the 65th (2nd North Yorkshire Riding) Regiment of Foot. The 65th is known as the regiment with the longest record of service in New Zealand, from 1846 to 1865, known by their official nickname as the “Royal Tigers”, but also by the name given to them by Maori, the “hickety pips”, after the Maori pronunciation of “65th” – “hikete piwhete.” Initially, the regiment served as guards on convict ships bound for Australia in 1845-1846, but were diverted, travelling from Sydney to both the Bay of Islands (location of the first Maori Wars at the time) and Auckland. Much of the time the regiment served in New Zealand, the troops were split up and stationed around the North Island. From 1858, part of the regiment was in Napier, where William Inskip is said to have learned the well-digging trade. The whole regiment was stationed at Albert Barracks in Auckland by 1861, and took part in the invasion of the Waikato in 1863. The 65th were well-known for having an unusually good rapport with their Maori opponents, well-commented upon at the time. From the online history of the regiment:

“There was reportedly a strong respect and chivalrous, almost friendly behaviour between the 65th Regiment and the Maori. No such respect existed for some other units, e.g. the 70th being taunted to "Go back to India". The Forest Rangers were particularly disliked, probably due to their use of guerrilla tactics, which offended the Maori warrior code. “For example, as described in The York and Lancaster Regiment, Vol 1, p 112, when pickets from the 65th went into the bush at night, they would identify themselves to the Maori and ask them if there would be fighting that night. If the reply was something like "Not tonight - too wet and cold; we’d better get some sleep. Good night, Hickety Pip," both sides would honour the agreement. If there was going to be an attack, they would be given warning, then be expected to fight like any other regiment. “On other occasions, during a lull in fighting, there would be a temporary truce and the Maori and men would exchange food and tobacco and the Maori would point out where they had carefully buried and neatly fenced off, the bodies of 65th men. On another occasion, when the 65th led an assault on a pa, a Maori shouted out for the Regiment to lie down, because they wanted to fire at the following regiments. The request was ignored. “The respect of the regiment for their enemies was such that a memorial plaque was placed in St John's Church, Te Awamutu.”

When the regiment embarked for England in 1865, less than half the regiment were on board the two ships. William Inskip was one of those who chose to stay behind in the colony. By 1886 he was married with a large family, the youngest being nine years old, and living on the Avondale-Manukau Road (likely present-day Blockhouse Bay Road). Starting work at Wickham’s on Monday 25 January at 7.45 am, Inskip brought along William H. Scarlett to assist, and both Wickham and Scarlett lowered Inskip carefully to the well’s muddy bottom using a sling. Then Wickham went off to his shop up in the township, while Inskip and Scarlett set to work scooping the three feet of mud from the bottom of the well. Suddenly, Inskip remarked that “the earth was slipping and running like sand under the lower course of bricks”. Scarlett, alarmed, called down, “Take care of yourself, Bill, whatever you do!” There was a cry of alarm then from Inskip, and he called for the rope. Scarlett hurriedly threw the rope down the well after detaching a bucket – but too late. Just then, the well collapsed, the walls falling inward in tiers, an estimated 1300 bricks toppling down upon the hapless Inskip below, along with earth and clay. The topmost levels remained, but the debris was some 15 feet deep. Scarlett said later he heard groans from the entombed man, as he quickly sought help. A carter passing along the road was hailed, and asked to get assistance. The carter went to fetch a Mr. Goldie nearby in New Lynn, but a carpenter named James Forsyth arrived, joined soon after by Wickham (who had been alerted by his son) and a Mr. Benton. Scarlett and Forsyth removed the last of the bricking still in place in order to make any rescue safer, and then men volunteered to go down in the sling to start removing the bricks entombing Inskip. One report recorded that the last words Inskip was heard to utter at that point were “Get me out if you can.” Wickham headed for the Avondale telephone bureau (most likely, given those early days, the Avondale Railway Station) to send a telegraph to the police all the way out in the city. Superintendent Thomson promptly sent Constable Kelly on horseback out to Avondale. Meantime, the rescue party found the shaft was becoming increasingly unstable, more earth falling in. Local grocer Henry Peck arrived and volunteered to go down and pass up the bricks – but five minutes after he was lowered down in the sling another fall of earth took place, and he was hoisted up. He was said to have been the last one to hear Inskip moaning, at 10 o’clock that morning. From that time on, the unfortunate man made no further sound. Avondale residents gathered at the scene, including Inskip’s eldest son. The rescuers chose not to tell Mrs. Inskip of the tragedy until midday, in the hope that Inskip may have been rescued alive by that time. Mrs. Goldie from New Lynn went up to the Inskip house to break the news to his wife. Devastated, Mrs. Inskip headed straight down to the Wickhams’ to see for herself, but was persuaded to go back home by her friends on finding that nothing could be done. She did so, but returned later in the day to see what progress, if any, had been made. A party of men returned to Avondale to get timber for shoring up the sides of the shaft, and Benton and Forsyth prepared the timber and made sets for slabbing. Henry Peck once again volunteered to go down to fix the timber in unsafe places, relieved by a Mr. Smith. Once the timber was in place, preventing more slippages, gangs of men worked to start bringing the fallen bricks up and off Inskip, with one man down the well in the sling passing the bricks and earth up to the other rescuers. The NZ Herald recorded the names of those involved with the work that day: James Forsyth, Benton, Simpson, Smith, Peck, Scarlett, James Heaphy, Goldie, Taylor, Webb, Ringrose, Bollard “and others whose names we could not ascertain.” Wickham and Peck kept tea and other refreshments going for the workers, and a boy was sent out to the Avondale Hotel for beer for the men in the mid-afternoon. The work continued laboriously on towards dusk, the ground around the shaft still uncertain and described as “being in the nature of quicksand, and treacherous.” Lights were obtained, and by gaslight more helpers arrived as the news rippled out across the communities of both Avondale and New Lynn, including Robert Garrett from the Garrett Tannery in Waterview, and Francis Gittos. Around 10 pm, one of William Inskip’s arms was discovered protruding through the rubbish of bricks and earth. The rescuers redoubled their efforts, desperately trying to reach him. A quarter hour later, they had succeeded in getting his head clear, but by then it was certain he was dead. It was another two hours of painstaking removal of the debris that had entombed him alive before they were able to hoist his body up out of the well shaft. “The task was a dangerous one,” the Herald reported, “as the body was so jammed in the bricks that it was necessary to get a purchase on the windlass to draw it out of the debris. When this was done a rope was fastened round the body and it was hoisted up to the bank amid the hurried whispers of the group standing around the well, Mr. Smith being brought up afterwards.” From what was seen of the position of his body when it was found, Inskip at the time of the brick lining’s collapse on top of him tried to protect his head by raising his arms – hence why an arm was the first part of him found. There were some cuts to his head, a dent in the chest along with some blood, but it appeared that he had suffocated. I don’t know what happened to his family, whether they stayed in Avondale or just simply moved on. But it is worth even just a passing thought as you travel along Great North Road, heading along the sweeping curve that takes you towards the Whau Bridge and on towards New Lynn – that somewhere close to that bridge, either in the vicinity of the pensioner flats up on the rise to the left, or in amongst the houses and their driveways to the right, somewhere there a man died so dreadfully that summer’s morning in 1886. Somewhere there, as well, people in a small rural community rallied around and refused, right to the bitter end and at great personal risk to their own lives, to give up on their friend and their neighbour. That is also part of this sad story that should not be forgotten today.

New links to the Gittos story

Updated from here.

Hopefully, these work. Please advise -- if they don't, I'll have to consider putting the whole thing in the blog direct.

Leather Makers Part 1.

Leather Makers Part 2.

Leather Makers Part 3.

Leather Makers Part 4.

Leather Makers: the story of the Gittos tannery in Avondale

Image: Benjamin Gittos, from Murray Gittos collection.

This has been quite a long time in coming. I began to actively compile information on the Gittos family in 2004 -- now, late in 2008, it's complete enough for me to publish "Leather Makers" on Scribd. There may yet be some tweaks and changes, but what I aimed for here is not a rewrite of Murray Gittos' wonderful family history First There Were Three, going into the story of Rev. William Gittos (the best known of the family) or detail as to Francis Gittos' story in Blockhouse Bay (I understand research is underway now into his life there). I was interested primarily in the Avondale-Mt Albert tannery (it straddled the border) and what impact the family had on our local history here in Avondale. The fact that the old Whau Public Hall is still standing, built in 1867 from fundraising mainly by performances by the Whau Minstrels, workers from the tannery including Francis Gittos -- I'd say that impact has left a positive mark here.

An update: for some reason, Scribd tonight is giving me all manner of strife. It seemed to refuse to load the first page (and probably still does).

Another update (Nov. 24) -- well, I knew this was a large project, but I didn't know it would cause so much grief in Scribd. Perhaps their servers are a little slow over the weekend. I'll do another post, and put up links to a four-part version. Part of that has loaded, part hasn't at time of writing.

New post here.

Auckland Baptist Tabernacle

The Auckland Baptist Tabernacle today (above), and an impression from the 1902 Cyclopedia of NZ (below).

According to the Baptist Tabernacle history page, the first Auckland service was in 1855. Land was bought at the corner of Federal and Wellesley Streets (today's ASB Bank Tower) and a church built there to seat 350 people. By the 1880s, however, even with an extension, the building proved to small. The foundation stone for today's Auckland Baptist Tabernacle was laid at Easter 1884, and the building completed May 1885.