Ellerslie's Bridge of Memories

I was at Ellerslie on Friday to give a talk, so used the opportunity to take photos of whatever Ellerslie had to offer a travelling history buff. The Bridge of Memories was a good start.

Even though it crosses the Southern Motorway, and I have a leery thing about crossing bridges over busy roads. The mind just keeps wondering if today will be the day the bridge collapses into the stream of traffic below ... I'm nervy crossing the bridge over Wellesley Street in the city as well. This shot is from whwen I'd reached the other side from the train station.

Anyway ...

In 2006, the Ellerslie Town Centre received a bit of a do-up, and the Bridge of Memories was part of the work done. These panels represent Ellerslie School.

Historical places in the village itself.

Horse racing, of course. You can't possibly have Ellerslie without its racecourse.

A tribute to Robert Graham's Ellerslie Gardens. They weren't a zoological gardens at all, despite what's on the mosaic -- just a sports ground and walking areas with a small menagerie of a couple of cages. So, here's an urban legend, enshrined in tiles.

Ellerslie Hotel. The c.1860 date is interesting. Do they mean the Harp of Erin Hotel, at Ellerslie, from around that date (said to have been on the Panmure Road?)  Or the "first-class hotel at Ellerslie Station" designed by G W Hollis and owned by Robert Graham, where tenders for the building of same were advertised in the Southern Cross in April 1874? The Ellerslie Business Association's webpage on the hotel stays out of any arguments.

Surviving logos like this (although this was of course a mosaic made long after the logo was obsolete) are historical enough now in the changing landscape of Auckland's territorial authorities. This one will be even more so after the end of this year.

Grafton Train Station art

The Grafton Station opened back in April. It's taken me this long though to organise the schedule so I had a reason to stop and admire the heritage art.

This mural has been causing appreciative comments from users of the Western Line since April.

I'll take a guess at what the views are.

Old Grafton Bridge, 1880s to 1910. Wooden construction across the gully, folks had to break step in case it collapsed.

Part of Upper Symonds Street.

Shops in Grafton?

St David's Presbyterian, on Khyber Pass Road.

The present Grafton Bridge.

The Auckland Hospital, late 19th century (top left), with one of the elderly refuges middle, on the Domain.

Auckland Hospital, 19th century to mid 20th century.

Grafton Bridge again.

And again.

Former Trinity Methodist Theological College, former Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design, now Whitecliffe College, Grafton Road.

Seccombe's Great Northern Brewery, Khyber Pass.

Auckland City Hospital, Park Road.

The original Auckland Museum in Princes Street pre 1920s

The Auckland War Memorial Museum.

And ... the Skytower view.

Searching for Newmarket's RML gun

I posted about Newmarket's rifle muzzle-loaded gun back in January last year.

Since then, the work on Lumsden Green has been completed, and dignitaries reopened the reserve earlier this month. I popped across Broadway yesterday to have a look -- and to find the gun.

It was nowhere to be seen.

Lumsden Green looks very neat and tidy. The big artwork by Marté Szirmay, the 1969 Smirnoff Sculpture, is there ...

... and there's a memorial plaque to Newmarket Borough Council mayors, town clerks, and councillors.

But -- no gun.

I came home, and looked on the internet. I found one report of the reopening of Lumsden Green, where Mayor John Banks did the honours on 8 June 2010 (same day Avondale Train Station was opened). In the text was this note:

"The 19th century cannon from the Green has been refurbished and relocated to Olympic Park."

Two thngs: the gun is not a cannon, and Newmarket has an Olympic Reserve, not an Olympic Park (the latter is actually over here, between New Lynn and Avondale). Still, at least I now had a location. I set out today, with finding the gun on my agenda for my Saturday journey.

I found Olympic Reserve. It's on the north side of the swimming pools complex.

On crossing over, I looked for the gun, and found it.

It looked for all the world as if it had just been dumped in the midst of a bed of tussocky plants.

It isn't even on its own stand, as it had been at Lumsden Green, just to the south. Just a couple of bits of concrete. The muzzle is now on the ground, and it looks like the gun is just left on its side.

It would appear that, being such a nuisance to the development of Lumsden Green as it must have been, the gun was simply shifted over as a bit of old metal, and used as piece of old stuff just on the landscape. No signage, no context about what it was all about, that it's at least as old as the late 1870s and part of Auckland's great Russian Scare.

There's probably an explanation for its fate, lying there like a piece of rubbish discarded in the greenery, but right now in my opinion it's appalling to see it end up this way. I'd appreciate readers' views.

Good experience at Auckland War Memorial Museum

Further to my comments here.

I had a good visit, in summary. The main purpose was to head up to the library, at the back of the Armoury and the Scars on the Heart displays (and the extra display area which completely hides the library from view, still ...) Walking from Grafton Train Station to the Museum, by the way, is still a heck of a hike and longer than the walk from Newmarket West Station (grumble, moan, grumble ...Mike Lee was right, after all, we should have kept the temporary station...grumble)

Anyway ...

I came across a friend who worked with me back-in-the-day at Avondale Citizens Advice Bureau years ago, said friend working at info desk on Saturdays now. That was great, and a stroke of luck. Took ages to get my bag checked in at the counter, the bloke there had vanished and no one turned up there to take over. Only when I called across to the info desk "Is anyone actually at this bag check desk?" did he appear. By now, time had passed, and I wanted to get going. I made the mistake, in my rush, of not securely tucking the bag card away. Betwen the ground floor and a seemingly labyrinthine search for access to the second floor, said card got lost. Now, I had my really valuable stuff with me (chequebook to pay at the library, passport, wallet, camera), but I didn't want to lose the bag. Back down I went.

I couldn't quite remember if the bag was black/blue or what. I know, that sounds daft, but to me it look black/blue, and to the museum staff it looks black/grey. They couldn't be sure which one it was. Then, when I said my mobile phone was in it, there was a brainwave from the staff member there (different from when I first entered), and they rang the phone number, tracking my bag by the ringing. I am really glad I have an old dinosaur of a phone that has no silent function, and that I left (hardly anyone calls me, so there's usually no problem).

Now, all through that, which was my fault (I should have tucked the card in my wallet as I usually do), the staff were helpful, patient, sympathetic and gracious. I reckon the cool vibe is coming back there, which is a relief.

That, and there was a darned book sale at the museum shop in the atrium, where I went for a pot of tea afterwards. I'm financially lighter because of that (sigh) but happy.

Railside art: back to Newmarket

Yesterday, on the way through Newmarket Station, I decided to try to get a picture of a piece railside art I've been waiting months for a chance to put on this blog.

I found a bit of a teaser for it along Broadway. But this wasn't what I was looking for.

There it is. Dan Mills' artwork along the corridor leading from the Western Line into Newmarket. Taking these shots involved me standing on the overbridge and holding the digicam out through the railings, hoping I'd get the picture in frame. It has been designed to try to deter tagging.

Here are some details.

According to the NZ Herald:

"The artwork, on either side of the tracks which extend under Newmarket's main street Broadway, includes a crushed leather backdrop, with people dressed in early 1900-style clothing and paintings based on Newmarket's history."