Before Avondale’s Mosque: teachers, tanners and stationmasters

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Epsom Mt Eden
June 7th 1873

To The Hon Dr. Pollen

Dr Sir

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

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

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

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

Your Humble and Obedient Servant

Amos Eyes

(copy)

Epsom Mt Eden
Mar 4th 1873

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

Dear Sir

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

Your Humble and Obedient Servant

A Eyes

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

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

(Southern Cross, 1 January 1875)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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


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


The site in 1959.


The site in 2001.

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

Weasel attack

From Weekly News, 12 January 1900.

Our Waiuku correspondent write: -- A little girl, 11 years of age, daughter of Mr. James Lowe of Packington, had rather a strange experience during the past week.

The child went to frighten some fowls out of the garden. Whilst standing in the paddock calling the dog she felt something tugging at her foot, and on looking down saw a strange animal.

The little one began to kick; and after several attempts managed to throw the brute off. The child at once began to run, when the weasel, which it proved to be, chased her. Being much frightened the little girl soon became exhausted.

Fortunately she had a stock whip handle in her hand, and on the weasel making for her she struck it, thereby killing it. Luckily the child had boots on.

Beverley Price memorial, Oakley Creek

One of the members of the Avondale-Waterview Historical Society spotted a reprinted article (originally from the Sunday Star Times) in the "Auckland Grammar Old Girls' Newsletter" recently, and sent a copy over to me. It was about Beverley Joy Price, a member of the Alpine Sports Club who was one of those who forged through the weeds and long grasses that grow verdantly beside the winding Oakley Creek in the 1970s and pushed for the establishment of a public walkway there.

Oakley Creek boasts Auckland City's only natural waterfall, a drawcard for folk from far and near. It isn't Niagara, we know, or even the mighty flows in the Waitakere Ranges, but we are rather fond of it all the same.

According to the article, Beverley Price along with a couple of friends formed an all-woman alpine team, tramping and taking on Mt. Cook, Mt. Ruapehu and Mt. Tasman in the 1940s and 1950s. She knew Sir Edmund Hillary, meeting him in a late 1940s summer in a hut on Mt. Tasman. "He was a rather gangling young man," according to her friends, "very good fun." On an expedition Beverley went on to the Himalayas, however, four climbers were killed in an avalanche.

She had attended Auckland Girls Grammar, become a teacher and head of languages at Westlake High School, and took early retirement after 30 years in the profession. At the end of her first year of retirement, in November 1979, Beverley and her mother gave each other Christmas presents (Beverley never married, and lived with her mother to the end of her life). The presents -- were tickets for an Antarctic flight on Air New Zealand TE901, 28 November 1979.

Beverley and her mother perished in the Erebus disaster, along with 235 other passengers and 20 crew.

On 2 July 1994, Auckland City Council installed a memorial plaque for Beverley Price, alongside one of the Oakley Creek walkway bridges. It reads:

"The Avondale Community Board dedicates this section of walkway in memory of Beverley Joy Price whose research, foresight, and active campaigning provided the foundation for the development of a walkway route along Oakley Creek. An accomplished mountaineer, tramper, teacher and member of the former Walkways Committee. Beverley died in the Air New Zealand DC10 plane crash on Mount Erebus in Antarctica on 28 November 1979."

Members of the Alpine Sports Club attended the dedication.

Riccarton, oh Riccarton ...

Jayne, the indefatiguable chronologist from the West Island, included a bit about Riccarton race course, Christchurch, in her blog today. I'm not sure what turned on a lightbulb in my noggin, but I started wondering whether the racecourse really was as old as the Christchurch Library said it was.

Well, it stands to be a shade older -- but may still have been just one of a few sites used by those fond of the Sport of Kings in Christchurch until the late 1860s.

The library used as one of its sources, J. P. Morrison's The Evolution of a City, 1948, which in turn used a book of memories of early Canterbury by Miss. C. I. Innes, Canterbury Sketches, or Life from The Early Days, 1879. Morrison said that Innes described the first race day at Riccarton racecourse in 1856. However, the passage he quoted didn't have that date included, and I can't lay my hands on Innes' book at the present moment in time.

Nothing in Papers Past via the National Library seemed to help. Early Canterbury newspapers which were around at the time are not yet on the site. So, I turned to Proud Silk, a history of NZ racing, from 1979.

The first four ships of immigrants for the Canterbury Association landed in December 1850. A year later, amongst festivities to celebrate the settlement's first birthday, horse racing events were held, on a ground later to "become that part of Hagley Park facing the road running from the Riccarton Hotel to the Fendalton Bridge." The following Easter Monday, 1852, they held another meeting there.

On the second anniversary, 16 December 1852, the arrangements were more formal, with nearly all jockeys "in proper costume." 16 December 1853, more races at Hagley Park. On 4 November 1854, "a public meeting was held to consider forming a Canterbury Jockey Club. " One of the club's stated aims was "acquiring and preparing a suitable racecourse." This was the start of the Canterbury Jockey Club. "

"In the memorial the Club stated that the most suitable piece of land for a racecourse was that lying in the neighbourhood of Trig Pole No. 2, about six miles from Christchurch, and that in order that an oval or horseshoe-shaped course of two miles round might be laid out, not less than 300 acres would be required.

"For these reasons, the meeting that would have celebrated the 1854 anniversary was held over until 6 and 7 March 1855, when the first meeting under the auspices of the Canterbury Jockey Club took place on the course arranged for in the neighbourhood of Trig Pole No. 2."

(Fine -- but where exactly was this Trig Pole No. 2? Anyone with a handy early map of 1850s Christchurch and environs, I'd love to hear from you.)

Back to Papers Past.

The Nelson Examiner of 28 March 1855 recorded that at the recent market day in Christchurch, "the polling for the country members, together with its being the day appointed for the payment of the stakes won at the races, brought a large number of persons together." A silver cup was imported from England by April 1857, and presented to a winner. But in 1864, despite hurdle races having been held at the Trig Pole No. 2 site since 1855, there seemed to be a bit of a search for a place to hold them.

"Steeplechase Meeting. —A numerously attended meeting took place at the Jockey Club Room, at Mr. Birdsey's British Hotel, on Saturday afternoon, for the purpose of settling the preliminaries of the race which is to take place on the 4th of August. Mr. Thomson occupied the chair. Mr. Lance reported that Mr. Quinn and himself had selected Mr. Wakefield's farm, near Riccarton, as the ground best suited for the steeplechase, and read a letter from the proprietor, who is now m Wellington, consenting to the race being run upon his land; he imposed the conditions that his grounds should be open to all foot passengers, but that the horses taking part m the race should not be followed by any one mounted. Mr. Lance said that on the 30th instant he would appoint a time when Mr. Quinn and himself would point out to the jockies about to ride the course, which would be flagged out on the morning of the race. A discussion of considerable length took place, as to whether winners of hack hurdle races should be admitted and it was eventually decided that the race should be a strictly "maiden" one, and that all winners except those of flat races should be excluded."

(Timaru Herald, 30 July 1864)

By 1866, things seemed to have settled down.

"The great race meeting, which has created so much excitement lately in this province, was inaugurated yesterday at the course on the Riccarton Road, in the presence of a large number of persons, who came together from all parts to witness it. The crowd was scarcely so large as it was last year."

(Evening Post, 19 January 1866)

According to Proud Silk, a stone grandstand had been added to the course in 1864.

Race courses in early New Zealand tended to move around before finally settling in one location (usually once clear title was assured). In Auckland, the first races were at Epsom on 5 January 1842, with day two of the races immediately following. By 1849, annual races were established, and the first racing club in the region formed (New Ulster Jockey Club). From 1842 to 1856, most of the races were held on Potter's Paddock, close to present-day Alexandra Park raceway. Annual races were held at Ellerslie from 1857, by then run by the Auckland Jockey Club. 1863-1864, Otahuhu was the location, then in 1865, a return to Ellerslie. The Auckland Turf Club held a meeting there in 1873, then the Auckland Jockey Club (now Auckland Racing Club) from 1874 to the present day. (Source: William Mackie, A Noble Breed, Auckland Racing Club 1874-1974)

Image above: Otago Witness, 15 March 1856, via Papers Past, National Library of NZ.

Graphic description of cow vs. train

I love Victorian-era newspapers. They can be descriptive wonders of the art of text. I suppose, seeing as this report came from the Waikato Times, a mainly rural paper in the early 1880s (28 March 1882, to be precise), it isn't surprising to see the abattoir-like description of the victim's remains. It wouldn't have turned a hair on the readers' heads.

"On Saturday the goods train, which leaves Auckland at 6.30 for Hamilton, consisting of three waggons and guard's van, met with what might have been under other circumstances a very serious accident, when about half a mile on the south side of the Papakura station. On this side of the station there is rather a steep decline, and near the bottom of it is a swamp ; about half a mile down the decline there were three head of cattle on the line, one of which instead of running off the line undertook to race the train, and before anything could be done to stop, the beast was knocked down, and the train passed right over it, cutting the beast to pieces.

"For a distance of about 30 yards it was distributed in fragments, on and alongside the line, pieces of bone, windpipe, skin, &c, being strewn about promiscuously. The three trucks and guard's van were thrown off the rails, and for a distance of 150 yards were dragged along, the wheels on one side bumping along on the sleepers, cutting into them about an inch, and the other wheels tearing up the ballast between the rails. Fortunately the line at this particular part is almost perfectly straight, for had it been at one of the curves, with which the line abounds, it must have been a more serious mishap, and might very probably have resulted in a fatal manner to those in charge.

"The passenger train arrived at Papakura and learning that a mishap had occurred, the engine at once proceeded to the scene of the accident to render assistance, and after about three-quarters of an hour's delay, the trucks and van were replaced on the line, and the goods train shunted into the Papakura siding, thus allowing the passenger train to proceed. The passenger train was then delayed an hour and 20 minutes at Mercer, as the authorities did not expect the line would be cleared so soon, and arranged that the up and down trains should pass at Mercer instead of Rangiriri."

Street Stories 9: The Governor's Private Secretary

Image from Wikipedia.

Back to Layard Street. As I mentioned in a previous Street Stories post, one suspect for the position of namesake to the street was archaelogist Henry Layard, short of finding anyone else to fit the general Land Wars pattern of the other names in Thomas Russell's Greytown subdivision.

Well, I found another: Edgar Leopold Layard, born 1824 in Florence Italy, and he died at Budleigh, Silverton in England in March 1900. He served as private secretary to Sir George Grey from 1854, when Grey served in the Cape Colony, and accompanied Grey to New Zealand. His main claim to fame was as an ornithologist.

Still a bit dodgy, but at least E. L. Layard had an NZ connection.

Cremorne Gardens

Jayne, in a comment to my earlier post on Michael Wood, which included reference to Auckland's Cremorne Gardens in Herne Bay, pointed out a post she had made previously on a Cremorne Gardens in Melbourne. Perth had one as well.

But the first appears to have been in London, Lord Cremorne's Gardens from 1845-1877. Like the Auckland gardens (which don't appear to have lasted all that long, ending around 1871), the English original is remembered by a street name. London's Cremorne gardens came off as second best to the more famous Vauxhall Gardens -- here, our Cremorne has faded into footnote before the much more well known Vauxhall of the North Shore, and Robert Graham's Ellerslie Gardens.

A map of Herne Bay's Cremorne Gardens can be found here.

An Austrian flag incident, Ruakaka, March 1900

Image from Wikipedia.

Apologies to my Northland historian colleague (hi, Liz) for straying into her turf, but -- on finding this article in the Weekly News of 11 May 1900, I was intrigued.

"Waipu, Monday.
An inquiry instituted by the Government, at the instigation of the Austrian Consul in Auckland, was held here to-day, in connection with the incident of hauling down the Austrian flag at Ruakaka, where it had been hoisted by some Austrian gumdiggers. Mr. Hutchinson, S.M., who is holding the inquiry will take further evidence at Whangarei before reporting to the Government.

"Our Waipu correspondent writes: -- The pulling down of the Austrian Crown flag at Ruakaka on March 19 last, by Mr. N. J. Campbell, has been taken up as a serious offence by the entire Austrian community throughout Auckland, as one of the witnesses at the inquiry stated that he made the complaint to the Austrian Consul in the name of over two thousand Austrians. The principal witness, named George Vlich, seemed to be impressed with the idea that the flag was ordered down by public authority, and in his statement to the Consul averred that the flag was pulled down by Constable Abrams, and trampled on. This statement was made on oath, I am informed, before the Consul, but at the inquiry here, before Mr. Hutchinson, S.M., he admitted that he knew there were only three men left in the camp at the time of the incident, and these three men all stated that it was Mr. Campbell who took the flag down. The investigation, so far as it proceeded here, entirely exculpated Constable Abrams from any indiscretion in connection with the flag.

"The simple facts are as follows: --

"Mr. N. J. Campbell, a storekeeper here, is lessee of a block of flat gum land, on which diggers go every summer to search for gum in dry weather, and Mr. Campbell has a small store on the ground to receive gum and supply necessaries to the diggers. The majority of men digging there every summer have been Austrians, and some years ago a party of Austrians erected a flagpole, on which it was customary for them to hoist a variety of different flags. And many different parties of Austrians have been coming and going to the field, forming camp there, and the flagpole, which is standing in close contiguity to Mr. Campbell's store, and which is undoubtedly Mr. Campbell's property, was used by the different parties to display their emblems on without objection till this particular occasion.

"The Austrians were celebrating the anniversary of the Emperor Francis Joseph, of Austria, the Rev. Father Smeers holding Mass in Mr. Campbell's store, and a long line of bunting was hoisted on Mr. Campbell's flagpole, the Crown flag of Austria waving proudly at the top. Mr. Campbell was on his way from Waipu when he met a man on the road, who advised him not to let the Austrians fly such a flag as that at his place, as it was a fighting flag, and was put up as a defiance. When Mr. Campbell reached his store, the Mass was over, and he asked the Austrians who put up the Crown flag, but he got no reply, so he told them it would have to be taken down.

"George Vlich, the principal complainer to the Consul, rushed forward, and violently declared that he would kill any man who dared to pull the flag down, and also declared that Austria would yet rule this country, and he would see the b------ British flag trampled in the dust. Mr. Campbell thereupon sent for Constable Abrams, and in the meantime the whole of the Austrians, excepting three who were left in camp, proceeded to the races, which were being held on the Belleveau Road.

"When Constable Abrams arrived, he went to the three men left in the camp, and at Mr. Campbell's request asked them to pull down the Crown flag, but they declined, saying they did not want to get into trouble with their mates. Mr. Campbell then lowered the flag himself, taking off the one he considered objectionable, and hoisting up the rest of them again. These are the simple facts, which the aggrieved parties admit to be true, and over which it is hoped a risk of international complications may be averted."

Lost child in a Coromandel winter, 1900

From the Weekly News, 8 June 1900.

"Last evening word was received in Coromandel that the little son of Mr. V. Y. Gatland, of Tiki, had strayed away and was lost. The child was 20 months old, and when missed had neither boots nor hat. It transpires that Mr. Gatland was in his brother's yard, about seven or eight chains from his own home, the little chap being with him. Whilst the father's attention was otherwise engaged the lad suddenly disappeared. This was about four o'clock.

"Tea-tree was growing plentifully around the house, and it was particularly dense on one side. Between the two homes lies a swamp, which is spanned by a single plank bridge, with a rail on one side only. Mr. Gatland, on finding that the child had not gone into his brother's house, became anxious, and at once made for the swamp bridge in case he should have fallen into the water. He found no trace of him, neither had he reached his own home.

"The family were now alarmed and the assistance of neighbours was invoked, and active search made. Dense tea-tree rendered a search in the dark most difficult. An adjacent creek was searched and the deep holes dragged. Darkness set, and a cold, wet and stormy night was threatening, but still no signs of the wanderer.

"In the meantime word had been sent to the various churches, and the announcement to the congregations that a little child had been lost stirred up practical sympathy. The male portion of the congregations, almost to a man, turned out with lanterns and overcoats to aid in the search. There were now about 200 searchers, including the various ministers of religion and many ladies, each armed with a lantern. The sight of these lights darting in and out of the bushes, like so many will-o'-the-wisps afforded a most unique spectacle.

"Teddy Collins, the Australian tracker, joined in the search, but he was led on a false scent down the creek. The search for the child was maintained throughout the night, and renewed with increased vigor at daylight this morning.

"At about nine o'clock the searchers' efforts were rewarded by finding the child. He was about a quarter of a mile from home in the dense tea-tree. When found he was in a clump of soft mossy ferns, near the edge of a swamp. His cry was heard by one of the searchers, Mr. J. Carina. When found his clothes were dry and his body fairly warm, but his feet and hands were chilled, and show marks of severe suffering through his 20 hours' exposure.

"In his arms was his pet, the family cat."

Cheaper going further on early suburban rail

The Western or Kaipara line was completed by the mid 1880s, when passengers were able to journey between Mt Eden and Newmarket without having to hop off and take the horsebus or go by foot. It seems that from that point on, things became quirky as far as fares went.

In 1885, the NZ Herald remarked that, while a passenger could journey from Mt Albert to Auckland for a shilling, first class -- if said passenger tried boarding at Newmarket to return to Mt Albert, a shorter distance, he stood to pay more: 1 shilling tuppence. The less you travelled, it seemed, the more you paid.

Somewhere I have an article (I can't find it at the moment) where a train user at the turn of the century, buying a ticket to Kingsland from the city, decided to get off at Mt Eden instead, and was promptly fined for using the cheaper Kingsland ticket to just go to Mt Eden (the stop before Kingsland).

Yesterday, I found the following letter published in the Weekly News, 14 April 1900, written by a noted West Auckland settler, John Gardiner:

"Sir, --

It is tacitly understood by the travelling public that the farther you go the less, in a given proportion, you pay per mile. However, the Kaipara railway fares are an exception to this law -- or, rather, they are in the inverse ratio, because the further one travels the more one pays in proportion per mile.

The case in question is this: For a ticket between Kaukapakapa and Mount Eden you pay 7s 5d, and from Kaukapakapa to Auckland 8s 3d, making a difference of 10d, whereas the ordinary charge from Mount Eden to Auckland is 3d. This is preference with a vengeance! This is how they swell the railway returns at the expense of that easily plucked goose, the country settler. Sir Robert Peel said the science of political economy lay in plucking the goose without causing it to squeal.

"When I remarked to the stationmaster that my remedy would be to take a ticket to Mount Eden station and there purchase one to Auckland, he said the Mount Eden master would close the window and not allow such purchases till the train had gone. Would you kindly let the public know in a foot-note if he can lawfully do this? I am, etc., John Gardiner, Glorit, April 14, 1900."

The might-have-been cemetery at Waterview

For a brief time in 1862, those in charge of Auckland Province’s affairs were seriously considering sites for a new cemetery to replace the one then at Symonds Street. This was because of real concerns had by many as to the risk of contamination of ground water, then an important commodity for the survival of the young town of Auckland. So -- options for other sites were suggested. One Tree Hill, Robert Graham’s estate at Ellerslie, Remuera … and Waterview.

Yes indeed, our Waterview. Michael Wood’s 1860 sale had gone very slowly and not all that successfully. There was a tract of his land of around 26 acres still unsold by February 1862, and Auckland Provincial Council member Daniel Pollen checked it out for the Council. Pollen, in reporting back to his fellow Council members, felt that the Waterview site (known as Oakley’s Creek then) could be suitable, “but I consider the price would prevent its being purchased.”

The Council’s Burial Grounds Committee recommended in March 1862 that in replacing Symonds Street, three cemeteries be created -- Oakley’s Creek in the west, another at Orakei Point, and one at the cemetery reserve, Three Kings. It all looked set to happen, but for one thing: it appears the Superintendent did not approve. Back then, the Superintendent was the Provincial Council’s CEO. While he was supposed to be the one to carry out the councillors’ orders, in reality if he didn’t agree with a project, it was quietly shelved. This happened with Auckland’s triple cemetery project -- it was quietly forgotten in the rush of new business. It wasn’t until the 1880s (and the Auckland City Council period) that Symonds Street cemetery would be replaced by a new site to the west -- Waikumete.

Had the Waterview cemetery gone ahead in the 1860s, by the time rail transport corridors were being surveyed in the 1870s there might have been a route along Great North Road via Newton Gully (which was a route supported by John Buchanan at the time) rather than via Mt Albert, to convey the coffins and the mourners. The railway station for Avondale might then have been closer to the mainstreet area and part of it, and the current problem with the St Judes Street crossing wouldn’t exist. However, the rail most likely would have created chaos at the five roads intersection (Avondale Roundabout), just as it does at New Lynn today.

Had that idea for a Waterview cemetery gone ahead, there may well have been no such suburb known as Waterview, a different railway line to the west, and the development of both Avondale and Pt Chevalier may well have accelerated much earlier than it did in reality. In this case, a “too hard basket” kept the history on track.

Michael Wood: the man who named Waterview

Back in 2004, a family historian named Vivienne contacted me and shared information she had at that time on Michael Wood: merchant, bookseller, land agent, speculator, and publican/hotel keeper. I found her email recently, did some further digging (thanks in large part to the innovation of a searchable Papers Past) and put the following together from Vivienne’s information and my own research.

Wood is of interest to me, as it was he who named Waterview (a pretty, descriptive land agent’s term for sites he was attempting to sell in 1861), and was associated with the second (1864) Greytown sale of the central business district of Avondale (the first Greytown sale, of the same area, was that by Thomas Russell in 1863; Wood was foolish to purchase most of Russell’s land, and was then left holding baby, as it were.)

Michael Wood (1827-1869) was born in Horncastle, Lincoln, in England. He married Hannah Jones in 1853, recorded as a draper at the time. However, Vivienne thought he may have worked as an auctioneer in Spalding. Soon after he got here in 1855, he is listed as a Queen Street storekeeper.

He is recorded as giving £5 5/- to the Patriotic Fund in July 1855. (Southern Cross, 6 July, p. 4) He was a bookseller by later that year

“1500 volumes by the most popular writers of the day, also a few copies of “Household Words,” “Punch”, “Illustrated London News”, “Family Herald” etc.

(SC, 25 December 1855, p.2)

By April 1856, however, he authorised auctioneers Connell & Ridings to sell all the stock from his Queen Street shop: “About 500 volumes of new works by Bulwer, D’Israeli, Cooper etc., Stationery & Fancy Goods.” (SC, 29 April 1856, p. 2) On 10 July, he advertised that he was going out of business.

It seems that Wood, then only 30 years old, had irrepressible energy when it came to business. He apparently dusted himself off and set forth onto a new endeavour promptly, this time as a publican. The British Hotel’s license was his from April 1857 – but by April 1858, this pub was run by William Kennedy instead. Later that year, Wood was chasing another business dream. “M. Wood, House, Estate & Commission Agent, Next door to Mr. Mark Somerville” (the City Mart). (SC, 29 October 1858, p.1) According to Vivienne, he purchased land in 1859, possibly on the Kaipara river.

His brother Edward Wood (2 years older) also came to New Zealand, and married on 10th April 1860. At that time, Edward was a merchant, while Michael was a land agent, with offices in the Orpheus Hotel, in lower Queen Street.

In May 1861, Michael Wood held the first of his Waterview sales: 72 acres, 210 allotments, complete with special omnibuses from Shortland Street put on for the buyers. Along with other speculators at the time, he gambled on people wanting to buy up land as close as possible to the proposed line of the Whau Canal (which was, of course, never built).

OMNIBUS FOR WATERVIEW,
From James's, Shortland St., AT TEN O'CLOCK A.M.
Intending buyers are requested to visit the property as the whole will be sold unreservedly. TO-MORROW, at 12 o'clock.

Suburban Homes and Villa Sites.
WAT E R V I E W.
SAMUEL COCHRANE, BROTHER, & CO.
Have been instructed to sell by public auction, without reserve, TO-MORROW, the 1st day of May next, at twelve o'clock, THE WHOLE OF THE VILLAGE OF WATERVIEW, containing 207 spacious Building Sites, unsurpassed in the neighbourhood for salubrity and beauty of position. The distance from town is less than 3½ miles, and as the omnibus passes the property daily (leaving Auckland at 9 a.m., and Henderson’s Mill at 3 p.m.) purchasers will have an opportunity of forming their own opinion of the desirability of selecting an allotment in one of the healthiest neighbourhoods of Auckland. The Great North Road and all the streets are a chain in width, and none of the allotments have less than a chain frontage by an average depth of 190 feet. The land has a warm northerly aspect, and is situated about half way between the City and the Line of Junction Canal, which must, ere long, connect the waters of the Waitemata with the Manukau. The immediate neighbourhood of Oakley's Creek, with its pretty rivulet, and the never failing springs that supply the Mills of Messrs. Low & Motion, add much to the desirability of the situation. Point Chevalier selected as the future site for our Garrison Buildings, &c. closely adjoins, and in a few years must much enhance the Commercial value of the property. Situated on the main road to the Northern districts of the Province, and having in addition an extensive water frontage, there is no doubt of Waterview speedily becoming of equal importance with the villages of Newmarket, Mount St. John, and Epsom. N.B.—The Sale will be total and UNRESERVED.
Terms : — One third Cash. The balance may remain 3 years at 10 per cent., or 5 per cent, allowed for immediate payment.
Lithographed Plans may be obtained, at Mr. Brophy's, Newton Store; Mr. Edgecombe's Northern Hotel; Mr. Michael Wood's office, Queen-street, and the Auctioneers.

(SC, 30 April 1861)

As will be seen later, not all the sites were, in fact, sold. Wood’s assets did not readily turn either into cash or a profit.

From Vivienne’s email:

1861 June 11th. Michael wrote to His Honor, The Superintendent, Auckland from his office in Queen St, offering land in Freemans Bay (No1, Section 8, suburb of Auckland) as a suitable site for a new cemetery. “Believing that there is a general wish on the part of the inhabitants residing in the vicinity of the existing cemetery for its removal, and understanding that the Government contemplate taking action in the matter, I have the honor to make an offer of a piece of land in a position most suitable for a place of interment. Its advantages are being approachable by a good and level roads; and though so short a distance from town so situated as not in the least likely to affect the sanitary condition of the neighbourhood and the ground inclining towards the Waitemata (to which it has a large frontage) and away from the town. In addition to easy accessibility by land its approach by water is so favourable that a boat can be brought close to the place at any time of tide…..”. His offer was not accepted. (Copy of letter).

Later, part of his Waterview land would also considered by the Provincial Council as a possible site for a cemetery.

In 1862 Michael Wood bought land at Coromandel and laid out the town of Kapanga. This deal apparently went quite well. He followed it up with the Lake Property deal on the North Shore by December that year (SC, 30 December 1862). In January 1863, an entertainment fete was organised at Takapuna. “Enquiries to be made at “Boulters, Queen Street” (SC 22 January 1863) Joseph Boulter of the British Hotel was sole supplier of refreshments to Wood’s Takapuna shindig and will reappear later in Wood’s story.

By 1863, Michael Wood lived at Brookville, in Freeman’s Bay, according Vivienne’s research into electoral rolls. His eldest daughter Bessie, sadly, died of dysentry aged 7 years and 9 months in December. Another daughter, Nellie, died the following February, aged only 15 months. But, in September, his son James Michael Wood was born.

In late 1864 Wood may have tried to diversify, being the possible purchaser of an office in Durham St. There, a newspaper was started called the Evening Post with printer/publisher Isaac Donchaise. According to Vivienne, “George Main, a former compositor mentioned this in a pamphlet written approximately 1890s.” The enterprise was rather short-lived. The paper was defunct by April 1865, with Waymouth & Gilmer, accountants, were liquidators. (Public notice, SC 7 April 1865) This debacle cannot have helped Wood’s fortunes.

“Messrs. Jones and Co. will hold an important sale of city property to-day. It comprises a six-roomed verandah cottage and allotment in Barrack-street ; twenty valuable building sites in Lower Hobson street, adjoining St. Patrick's School, and having frontages to Hobson-street and the harbour; and a valuable leasehold property in Hobson-street, with six buildings on it, let at £2 12s. per week. We need hardly say that all of the sites named are rapidly improving ones, and that they therefore offer particular inducements to small capitalists to invest. Mr. Samuel Cochrane will hold a large land sale to-day of city and suburban property, viz., two cottages in Chapel-street ; the lease of office in Hardington's yard, now in the occupation of Mr. Michael Wood ; ten very valuable allotments in the very pretty suburb of Glenburn ; a large number of lots in Waterview and East Whau; several farms of from five to twenty acres at the Whau bridge; and thirty-six acres at Takapuna, late the property of Mr. Hawkins. Much of this property is of so valuable a description that we cannot doubt but that there will be a brisk competition for it.”

(24 January 1865, SC)

In 19 April 1865 – the license for the British Hotel passed from Joseph Boulter to John Skeats. (SC) Meanwhile, the partnership between Edward and Michael Wood dissolved.

SALE OF MESSRS. WOOD'S ESTATE.
Mr. David Nathan is to sell to-day, commencing at 11 o'clock, the valuable city, suburban, and country freehold estate, city leaseholds, gold-mining and other shares, the property of Edward and Michael Wood, who are dissolving partnership.

(20 April 1865, SC)

But, “never say die” appears to have been the theme to Michael Wood’s business tenacity. At the termination of Lake Road on the North Shore, by the beach, on the site of Mr. Beddoes’ house (who had sold much of the land around Cheltenham Beach), it was advertised in June 1865 that Michael Wood planned to build “a large marine hotel”. (SC 6 June 1865) By June 1865, Wood was also a shareholder of the Waitemata Steam Ferry Company (SC 16 June 1865) and 1866 he owned land and a house on Victoria Road, Flagstaff (Devonport).

All this really didn’t change his true situation all that much. The bubble had burst, the land wars were winding down, and Wood found himself in trouble (in Police Court) in January 1866 for non payment of rates to the City board for wood buildings and allotment in Howe Street, wood building in K Road, brick office in Queen Street, wood buildings in Chapel Street, allotments in Franklin and Ponsonby Roads. Ordered to pay £15 8d. (SC, 17 Jan 1866)

Next came another fire-sale of his assets.

EXTENSIVE LAND SALE.
We have been requested to direct the attention of our readers to the peremptory sale of city and suburban properties which will be held to-day by Mr. David Nathan, for the benefit of the creditors of Mr. Michael Wood. The sale will comprise houses and cottages in Karangahape Road, Howe-street; Day-street, Freemans Bay, Home Bay, Marston's estate, Bayfield, Richmond, Oakley's Creek, Greytown, Mahurangi, Kaipara, Takapuna, Kapanga, Devonport, North Shore, Waterview, and 180 shares in the Waihau Gold Mining Company. The terms will be found to be most liberal -- seven years' credit for the whole amount of purchase money, bearing interest at the rate of 10 per cent., payable annually in advance; the purchaser having the option of paying off at any time during the seven years. Cash purchasers will be allowed a discount of 5 per cent. A great number of these properties are desirable investments.

A substantially-built and well-arranged Family Residence, containing eight rooms, kitchen, pantry, etc etc, at present in the occupation of Mr. Michael Wood. It is situated on a valuable and large plot of ground, having a carriage entrance from the Karangahape Road, and a frontage to Day-street, commanding a splendid view of the harbour, &c. The grounds are beautifully arranged and planted with choice trees, shrubs, &c; with the usual out-buildings are a good poultry house and enclosed yard.

OAKLEY'S CREEK. Lot 18, parish of Titirangi 31 acres 1 rood bounded by the Waitemata, Oakley's Creek, and the Great North Road. For a Slaughter House a position not to be equalled in the vicinity of Auckland.

GREYTOWN. Lots 19 to 22, 27 to 30, in all, 8 acres; surrounded by 66-feet streets. Lots 33, 34, 39 to 42, 47, 48,in all 8 acres 1 rood 17 perches ; streets on three sides. Lots 35 to 38, 43 to 46; in all, 8 acres 2 roods perches; streets on three sides.

WATERVIEW: A few water frontages.

(SC, 10 April 1866)

While his assets appeared to be dwindling, Michael Wood made one last business decision, it seemed – he took up partnership with Joseph Boulter, in October 1866 – advertisements for the Orpheus Hotel, lower Queen Street, listing Joseph Boulter and Wood as partners.

Then, in December 1866 – came the Cremorne Gardens in Herne Bay. Originally known as Kemp's Gardens, these were a popular pleasure resort for Auckland's people during the 1860s. The gardens were "complete with pavilion, gardens and illuminations": “A free hand was given, drinks were sold, music was provided and the least said the better”. Later renamed “Cremorne Gardens” after the fashionable pleasure gardens in London, Kemp’s gardens boasted a “Dancing Pavilion, ten acres of walks and sports grounds” It is remembered in the name “Cremorne Street”, and the gardens were operated by Joseph Boulter down to 1871. There is a possibility that Boulter may have been set up by his partner Wood. Of the two, Boulter’s success lasted slightly longer.

Michael Wood obtained a new bush license for the British Hotel on the North Shore (he must have been quite fond of the name -- SC 18 April 1867) but by August 1867 this was up for sale or lease. In December 1867 the whole of his household furniture, etc. at his North Shore residence was sold. (SC 7 December 1867)

Joseph Boulter, meanwhile, apparently quit the hotel keeping business entirely, transferring his licence for the Orpheus Hotel to John Nolan in December 1867, and transferring the British Hotel on Pollen Street, Thames, to John Gibbons in September 1868.

Michael Wood, however, died intestate on January 22nd 1869 on the North Shore, aged 42, from organic disease of the liver. The family historian wondered if he had died from drinking himself to death. That’s possible – there were a few cases of publicans killing themselves with the occupational hazard of too many debts, and a lot of ready booze to forget them by.

His widow Hannah and the children (one born just a few months after Wood’s death) went back to England at some point prior to1881.

Now I remember why I wrote "The Zoo War"

Here in Auckland, our City Council has just approved, in principle, the spending of $13.5million on creating a "herd" of elephants at Auckland Zoo by 2016. This, in a recession. This, on the eve, so to speak, of Auckland becoming a super-city/patchwork quilt/whatever the heck they plan to do after the Royal Commission have their say to the powers that be. This, which will mean more of Western Springs Park, 22,000 square metres, locked up as zoo land. I know there's lots of people who say "But we love elephants"" and "It's a world conservation measure!" To the former, I say, "Okay, but why in a recession when we're supposed to be belt-tightening," and to the latter, I say: conservation of world zoo animal stocks, sure. Not wild elephants -- elephants bred and raised in zoos tend to stay in zoos, and I don't care how many times you say that zoos have improved, become more "natural", more like the native habitats -- they are still zoos. They are not the real habitats of these creatures, the same habitats we keep on destroying and disrupting to fuel a worldwide economy which appears, at this time, to be on the skids. Apart from people finding money to buy more captive elephants, mind you.

There ya go, I'll get down off that particular soapbox, now.

Anyway -- looking up stuff on the Web (I want to find out just where they're going to hack away land from the park for this scheme) -- I found a Wiki article on Auckland Zoo. Regular readers of this blog know that I've already had a rave about one Wiki article, the one on Weetbix and its origins (my thanks to Jayne, by the way, for following up and trying to find info on this. The upshot appears to be a lot of scratched heads over there in cereal-making land.) The Wiki article uses the Auckland Zoo site as a source of information on the zoo's history. Now, I have no quibbles with the stuff from 1922 onwards. That's fairly well documented from City Council Archives and newspaper sources.

It's the stuff on J. J. Boyd. Particularly where they say:

"In February 1912, a "zoo" opened in the Auckland suburb of Onehunga. This area belonged to John James Boyd, who set up a private menagerie consisting of six lions, a tiger, a panther, one hyena and several monkeys..."

First, the quotes around "zoo". Perhaps the authors of the website feel that a true zoological park can only be on the huge sites most folk see as zoos today. Perhaps they see theirs as Auckland's first and only zoo. Truth is, although Boyd had only a 5½ acre section, he started off at Royal Oak with:

"...21 monkeys, a kangaroo and wallaby, two French rabbits, four opossums, two lemurs, two Indian cranes, two macaws and other parrots, guinea fowls, and cassowaries ...expecting 200 more parrots from Australia, and the following from Sydney Zoo: three bears, a leopard, a pair of kangaroos, tortoises, black swans, emus, kangaroo rats, wallabies, and golden pheasants. A young elephant, two cheetahs and buffalo were expected from India and Ceylon, and a tiger from Singapore ..."

This in 1911, as well, not 1912, and as at late 1911 he not only had his zoo at Royal Oak, but the earlier (1908) one at Aramoho near Wanganui, plus another at Wainoni, near Christchurch. By 1916, when he was down to just his Royal Oak zoo, Boyd advertised:

“ZOO. ROYAL OAK. – New Additions. Bear Cubs (Russian and Himilayan), 4 Cub Lions, 9 Large Lions, 5 American Black Bears, Japanese Bears, Malay Bears. Baboons, 100 Monkeys, host of other Wild Animals and Birds. Vehicles admitted free. Adults 6d. Children 3d. Open, every day. Fed, 4 p.m.”

(Advertisement, Auckland Star, 28 July 1916)

The numbers of individual animals and birds he had on that small section in Royal Oak ran into the hundreds. It went beyond "menagerie", although that was where its roots were -- just as with Auckland Zoo.

In The Zoo War (2008) I published this photo (sadly, only in greyscale). Installed by the Maungakiekie Community Board in the 1990s, every single paragraph on the sign is historically incorrect. It's even placed outside the wrong location for the Royal Oak Zoo -- outside the present-day school, which in Boyd's time was a neighbour's cow paddock (the zoo was next door, but a hundred metres or more further up.) The 1912 date used by Auckland Zoo probably comes from this inaccurate sign. Both sign and website were and are funded, ultimately, by rates. The rates I pay towards, as a property owner in Auckland City.

Just as, ultimately, I'll be paying towards more captive elephants and more open space taken up by Auckland Zoo.

My thanks to the owner of Ematejoca

Just spotted that Timespanner is one of the blogosphere links on the Ematejoca blog: thank you! I can't understand the language, but Ematejoca is certainly a very beautiful blog to visit.

A Code of Honour for New Zealand Boys and Girls

As a New Zealander, proud of the privilege, yet humble in the enjoyment of it:

You will scorn all dishonesty, of whatsoever form or degree, as petty and mean and altogether unworthy of your family and the high traditions of your school and your Empire.

You will cherish frankness and sincerity, never committing the smallest deception of silence, word, or deed.

You will readily acknowledge your faults and resolutely fight them.

You will avoid the arch-sin of selfishness – whence spring all other sins – for under its sway Empires have crumbled to dust.



In all things you will be temperate – in eating, in play, in rest, in work, exercising always the one true discipline – discipline of self.

You will rise above intolerance and cultivate breadth of vision, endeavouring always to see both sides of a question, so guarding against the formation of hasty and uncharitable opinions.

You will regard coarseness in thought, language, or action, as belittling and degrading, and always and altogether beneath the dignity of a future citizen of this fair Dominion.

You will cheerfully yield reasonable and prompt obedience to your elders, particularly your parents; and you will show a like respect for the rules of your school, the by-laws of your town, and the laws of your country, since you know that rules and laws are not needlessly made.

You will exercise a jealous care over all property, particularly public property, protecting it from damage or disfigurement; and, loving the beautiful, you will seek to remove all unsightliness from your home, your school, and your town.



You will be punctual and orderly and cheerful. You will keep your promises. You will grudge no effort, no matter how small or how great the task, remembering that only your best is good enough.

You will be courteous, and kind, and helpful to all, remembering that all honest labour is equally honourable.

You will play for the side and play the game, always striving honourably for victory, yet taking defeat, when it comes, as part of the game. You will never add to the discomfort of a defeated opponent. Most of all you will love clean play and good play, whether it is on your own or the opposing side.

You will ever be pure and true, for there are those who daily trust you. You will remember that in the hands of the Children of To-day is the World of To-morrow and you will strive to be not unworthy of the sacred trust.

You will remember the Golden Rule, acting towards others always as it would most please you that they should act towards you.

Lastly, you will seek honour before all else, ever remembering that there is no finer aristocracy than the aristocracy of character; and you will not forget that character is built of tiny acts, small strivings, and much earnestness.

Text from "Code of Honour [Book Excerpt]." Children and Youth in History, Item #89, The New Zealand Boys' Diary: Whitcombe's New Zealand Pocket Diary for 1936. Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs, 1936, 51. Photos are mine, showing the last remaining building of the old Mt Albert School site, off School Road, Morningside. This building may date from c.1908. The school moved in 1937 to Sainsbury Road, and this building first served as an RSA building, then a Maori Kokiri school. At the moment (March 2009) it looks like this. The original school here went back to 1870.

“Someone has blundered” – the suicide of Thomas Meredith

On the 5th of November, 1897, 35 year old Thomas Meredith, a patient at the Auckland Lunatic Asylum at Pt Chevalier, slipped away from being at work in the asylum’s garden between just after 11 in the morning (when A. W. Leys, an attendant, later reported being the last to see him alive) and half past eleven when he was reported as missing. (A count of heads had been made, as per procedure, once every twenty minutes – only 12 were counted, when there should have been 13). A search was immediately organised and continued throughout that afternoon, but to no avail. A report was made that day to the police in Auckland, and nothing further was said of the matter. Meredith had been reported to have been cheerful the night before, even engaging an attendant, Mr. Meerkau, in a game of cards. There had been no indication that he would do anything untoward.

A week later, Meredith’s relatives learned that he was missing only from indirect reports that the police were making enquiries in the country districts. A cousin, Mr. Asmuss, went to Auckland Police Station to find out what was happening, then travelled to Avondale Police Station, the nearest one to the asylum. The constable there was unaware that anyone was missing from the asylum, although he’d heard a rumour of “a strange man being seen in the district.”

A search was then undertaken through the western districts, from Avondale to Henderson, following these rumours of a man acting oddly, seen at various times by the local residents in this still (at that time) thinly populated area. This turned out to be a red herring in a way – the trail led to the Oratia Bridge on 16th November, and the drowned body of John Halstead, an inmate from the Costley Home in Greenlane. Halstead had, coincidentally, escaped from Costley around the same time as Meredith had disappeared from the asylum. He was even identified, initially, as Meredith, until properly examined.

Finally, on 20 November, Meredith’s body was found, hanging by his own belt, from the limb of a willow tree near the Asylum grounds. He hadn’t wandered far away at all to put an end to his life. Two of the Walker boys, members of a Pt Chevalier family, came upon the body in an advanced state of decomposition – identifiable only by the clothing.

“Someone,” the Auckland Star said direly in their headlines, “has blundered.”

Up until 1897, the usual course of action once a patient had escaped from the asylum was for the institution to alert the city police, who would then alert the district’s police (in this case, those stationed at Avondale) so that the local constables could keep an eye open for strangers. At the same time, the city police issued a statement to the press, so those in the community could also be on the watch for sightings of the fugitives, and thus report these to the local constable as well. It seemed to be a good system, even if it did lend to the asylum the reputation of having quite a number of such escapes happening.

Then, in 1897, the procedure changed. Dr. R. M. Beattie, the medical superintendent of the asylum at that time, instituted the procedure whereby while the city police were still notified, they were expressly asked not to further divulge any information as to the escape. Concern as to privacy was the reason given by Dr. Beattie for this change – something we can indeed relate to in our own time with privacy legislation versus official information. The Costley Home, itself the keeper of a number of elderly inmates who had their own share of mental health problems and suicidal tendencies, had the same policy. The Star, however, was scathing of the policy.

“Had the facts been promptly communicated to the press and published, the settlers in the adjacent districts would have been on the lookout and given information to the police, which would have led to their speedily being traced up.”

It is doubtful, given the facts as they turned out, that Meredith’s life would have been saved. Clearly, he killed himself soon after slipping away from the gardening detail, and upon finding the willow tree. Halstead, on the other hand, may have been recaptured before he had drowned. Over and above this, the relatives of the missing men should have been informed as soon as the escapes had occurred, privacy considerations or not.

“It is understood,” said the NZ Herald at the time, “that the police authorities are in communication with Wellington with a view of getting the instructions relaxed as to withholding information on such matters from the press. There is little doubt that Halstead’s life might have been save … The police admit that due publicity to such matters in the press would save a great deal of trouble and expense; and that most of the recaptures of lunatics in former years were effected through the country settlers seeing the escapes from the Asylum recorded in the papers and furnishing information to the police.” Keeping the truth private, the Herald continued, also endangered such districts, should the escapee turn out to be a violent one.

At the departmental investigation in December 1897, the police were blamed for not passing on the information about the escapes to their outlying stations. This the police indignantly repudiated – but it seemed that, in this way, the health authorities backed away from their “don’t tell anyone” policy, and still managed to save face.

Someone had blundered, indeed – and yet, still kept their job.

Image above: one of my photos from Christchurch -- a willow by the River Avon.

Asylum Days

Auckland Lunatic Asylum, Point Chevalier, 1870s. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 918-03.

Updated: 24 June 2024

The history of the Auckland Lunatic Asylum/Mental Hospital at Pt Chevalier is huge. Seriously, it is. I have four ringbinders full of copies of reports from newspapers, the AJHR, photos and photocopies of documents testifying to what an enormous undertaking a general history, both of the site and its buildings and its deep social historical associations, would be. One day, I'd like to do it. Not because my own grandfather died there (committed for senility, died from pneumonia), but because it's a hole in our region's history. It's something which, in my view, still seems to be skirted around by historians.

Recently, I was approached by a staff member at Unitec about anything I knew as to the site's history. Well, I pointed him in the direction of the three works I have published which include some aspects of the site's story: A Doctor in the Whau, Wairaka's Waters, and Terminus. But I also mentioned I'd see if I could pull together a limited chronology. Here it is -- still with gaping holes due to lack of knowledge, and by no means therefore anywhere near as comprehensive as I'd like it to be.

Perhaps, though, it might be the start of something more which is very much needed in terms of filling that gap in our history.

1841 The Queen Street Gaol is constructed. Between 1841 and 1853, cells would be set aside at the Queens Street-Victoria Street West site for those who were deemed insane, alongside other prisoners. 

In February 1843, one unnamed individual died at the gaol, and attempts were made to blame the Sheriff and his team for not looking after the person properly, including dietary needs. But, as the Auckland Times pointed out, “The Sheriff had no legal custody of the man, be it remembered, beyond what his own humanity prompted, and the turnkeys of the gaol have of course their own business to attend to. Religious feeling and common sense require alike that these things should be properly attended to. The jury returned a verdict of ‘Died by the visitation of God.’”

In 1846 Joseph Hale, “pronounced by the Medical Officer to be labouring under insanity” was lodged at the gaol, to the consternation of the Sheriff, Percival Berry. “The man is incessantly raving and requires the constant attention of a keeper. The gaol at present is so full that it is impossible to keep him apart from the other prisoners and not only is it unsafe to approach him but he keeps the prison and its neighbourhood in an uproar day and night.” Whenever the man was in a rational state, he requested that he be sent to Sydney. Unfortunately, the asylum at Sydney was too full, so Auckland’s request was turned down.

Another man in the same year, Owen Connor, required a strait jacket, and was provided with 12 ounces of beef daily. Connor, “in a state of violent madness” made his escape from the gaol on 17 May after he had been removed from his cell in order for it to be cleaned and himself washed. Appearing tranquil, he abruptly changed, overcame the keeper in charge, rushed over the debtors’ yard and went over the fence to freedom. He was recaptured an hour later.

December 1850 Plans begin for subscription drive to build Auckland’s first insane asylum.

7 January 1851 Public meeting in the Mechanics’ Institute Hall “to consider the expediency of establishing a lunatic asylum in the district of Auckland.”

17 April 1851 The Governor expresses his support for the endeavour, with the opinion “that a detached building on the grounds connected with the existing Hospital would for the present be most convenient and suitable.” Management of the asylum was to be not by the appointment of Trustees by the subscribers, but under a comprehensive plan of Executive Council control, to be vested in a Corporation once that body came into being.

April 1852 After opposition from the short-lived Auckland Borough Council (main opposing point being to the location on the Domain grounds), the building of the asylum commences.

January 1853 By now, the building is completed. The city gaol in Queen Street is no longer the only repository for those deemed to be of diminished capacity. It may be from this point that additional Asylum Endowment properties are set aside by the Governor from out of the Crown’s waste lands to provide an income for the institution.

1862 The asylum building is found to be inadequate, and requires extension. The Provincial Council Superintendent is petitioned to, instead, choose an alternative site in the region and build a new asylum there.

15 January 1863 Specifications for a proposed asylum published in the New Zealander.

September 1863 By now, imported plans from England had been submitted to the Provincial Council’s appointed architect, James Wrigley. The Auckland Loan Act and Empowering Act of 1863 are passed, giving the Provincial Council power to raise funds for capital works, including the asylum. For a time, the Meola Reef area is considered as a site, but then the site close to Oakley Creek is chosen.

1864 Work begins on the building of the asylum. John Thomas’ tender for brick supply submitted 5 January. Detail on the difficulties around his tender published in Terminus (2008).

8 March 1867 No official opening, but this was the first day patients were removed from the Domain site to Great North Road at Pt Chevalier.

"The removal of the lunatics to the new Asylum on the Great North Road took place yesterday morning, when three of Mr. Hardington's 'buses conveyed them out in two trips. The ride appeared to give them much pleasure, and the manner in which they conducted themselves was really surprising. The keepers accompanied them, but not the slightest trouble was given, and all were conveyed in safety to their new home in charge of Dr Fisher. Every praise is due to the drivers, who not only showed proficiency in the manner they conveyed the patients out, but also behaved in a most kindly manner, giving every comfort that lay in their power. The inmates of the Asylum are to have more liberty and open-air exercise in future. They will work at their respective trades, and those who have no trade will be employed in cultivating the ground." (Southern Cross, 9 March 1867)

May 1867 The main asylum building at Pt Chevalier completed. Further history of the asylum provided in Doctor in the Whau (2007) and Wairaka’s Waters (2007).

31 October 1869 Death of the first Resident Surgeon (effectively superintendent) of the Auckland Asylum, Dr. Robert Fisher.

20 September 1877 First major fire at the asylum. After the fire, the Colonial Government appointed architect Philip Herapath to plan and undertake repairs to the building so the male patients, removed to the Albert Barracks, could return in the shortest possible time. By the middle of October, the repairs were sufficient that the male patients were able to be shifted back to the asylum. Herapath was also called upon to draw up plans for the long asked-for extensions to the building, as well as the setting up of a supply connection with the Auckland City mains.

29 September 1879 The farmland immediately behind the asylum is purchased by the Crown. The Asylum’s farm begins. This process of title ownership completed 1888-1893 by extinction of the water right formerly held by John Thomas for the Star Mill operation.

1880 Extensions completed to the asylum’s main building.

1881 Tenders advertised for laundry building and boiler rooms.

1882 Tenders advertised for auxiliary asylum building and workshops. “The farm-overseer and family live at present in a very miserable wooden house, old and filled with all sorts of vermin. While erecting the proposed new buildings, a very little additional expense would enable a house to be added to said building, and supply the present want.”

1883 “The erection of the wooden building for 60 quiet male patients has just been commenced.”

1884 “The auxiliary asylum is not yet ready for occupation, the drainage not having been completed, and other necessary work remaining yet unfinished.”

1885 Drains from the asylum and auxiliary building complete and running into the Oakley Creek, “below high-water mark”. Auxiliary asylum now in full occupation.

October 1885 Death of 3rd medical superintendent, Dr. Alexander Young.

1887 New female block for 100 patients “is being built on the site of the old refractory division.” The kitchen block was enlarged, and new boiler-house erected.

1888 New wing “all but completed.” The old workshops were burned to the ground, and now replaced by a brick building.

1890 Bell, Engineer for Buildings, inspected the site, and in the wake of a typhoid outbreak made plans for reform in the sewage outfall, preferably out to the sea.

1891 Stone-crusher machine now at work, preparing metal for new airing-courts, and roads on the site. (This was likely also used by the Avondale Roads Board during later construction of Oakley Creek culvert bridge.) Stone probably came from Meola Reef area of asylum endowment.

1893 New farmsteading erected by asylum labour, supervised by C R Vickerman of Public Works Dept. Asylum still looking to establish a “gravitation system” of sewage disposal into the mouth of the Oakley Creek.

1894 “The system of sewage irrigation is nearly finished, and is already at work over a considerable area of the garden. The concrete swimming-bath is rapidly approaching completion – a very considerable work, which has been admirably carried on by attendants and patients. New workshops at the rear of the farm buildings are being put up in the same way.”

20 December 1894 The Asylum’s auxiliary building destroyed by fire.

December 1895 Tenders advertised for the supply of bricks for the new auxiliary building. This was completed in 1896.

1896 “A large number worked in the garden and on the farm, not only in maintaining the property and cultivating produce for consumption, but much has been done by them in the way of improvements. The orchard has been enlarged, and upwards of five hundred new fruit-trees planted. Unusually fine piggeries have been erected on a suitable site. Some progress has been made in reclaiming rocky ground, which forms so large a proportion of the Asylum property. The sewage irrigation scheme has also been practically completed. This work serves its purpose admirably, and very materially adds to the productive capacity of both the vegetable-garden and the farm.”

1904 A new female wing added, by altering the laundries.

1910 The Wolfe Home was erected on the other side of Carrington Road from the asylum site, to serve as another auxiliary hospital.

1927 A nurses home was built, for 60 nurses.

1929 Medical Superintendent’s residence proposed to be converted into a neuropathic unit for female patients. “A new Superintendent’s residence can be built with a view to its saleability when the evacuation of the institution becomes possible). Said evacuation was intended to be to Kingseat. 1932 By now, the old superintendent’s residence had been converted into a residential clinic for women. The new residence was completed by 1935

1934 An assistant-superintendent’s residence built.

1935 Drives on the site formed and tarsealed.

By 1936, the proposal to completely evacuate the Auckland Asylum to Kingseat was abandoned.

1962, 1 January, official renaming as Oakley Hospital.

Mid 1973, Oakley Hospital divided into Oakley and Carrington Hospitals. 10.4 hectares of the asylum farm designated as a site for a technical institute, which takes the name of Carrington as well.

1974-75 “The barn” erected to house Carrington Technical Institutes workshops. Part of the farmland leased to Mt Albert Grammar.

1975 “Carrington Village”, a collection of cottage-sized buildings, transported to the site.

Late 1980s, Titiwhai Harawira established Whare Paia mental health unit at Carrington Hospital. 

1993 Old asylum building sold to Carrington Polytechnic Today, the Mason Clinic is the last vestige of the original land use as a mental hospital remaining on the site.