A Matter of Convenience

We might be about to lose another part of our past and the landscape of memory, if Auckland Council sell off the small toilets and rooms at 50A Rosebank Road.

Avondale considered a public toilet was both a necessity and a convenience by 1916. The only facility of its kind at that time seems to have been connected with the Post Office of the time, the old Avondale Hotel building on the corner of Wingate Street and Great North Road. The Road Board of the time made an offer to take it over, but the Postmaster refused.

Things continued as they were until the inauguration of a tram service in early 1932. With the tram stopping just at the beginning of the shopping area on upper Rosebank Road, it gradually became obvious that people getting on and getting off at the tram stop had a need for relief. There was no place at the tram terminus for the travelling public to “spend a penny” apart from private residences. H J Johnstone, Secretary of the Avondale Development Association, one of our early residents and ratepayers advocacy groups, wrote to the Town Clerk on 8 September 1932, drawing Auckland City Council’s attention to the need for a public toilet at the shopping centre. The Association followed this up with another meeting that November, and another letter, suggesting a site – at the corner of Rosebank and Great North Roads, alongside Fearon’s butcher shop. This may have been the site which is, today, Catering Kitchen café. But, nothing further came of this for nearly five years.

The Avondale branch of the Labour Party made an appeal to Auckland City Council on 1 April 1937 that employment opportunities be created in Avondale. An example of a works project to be undertaken in the district, they suggested, was the provision of a public convenience, somewhere in the shopping centre. The City Engineer visited Avondale in February 1938, and reported that two likely sites could be either  Crayford Street at Great North Road, or Racecourse Parade. On 28 June 1938 Council received a petition organised by Mr C H Speakman of Orchard Street, from 169 residents of Avondale, including that W. J. Tait, local land agent, businessman, and President of the newly-formed Avondale Businessmen’s Association. The petition pleaded for a “convenience for Ladies and Gentlemen of the Avondale district and travelling public.” However, there were still no funds available for any work to take place, and the proposal was deferred until the 1939/1940 estimates round.

In November 1939 a combined Avondale-Blockhouse Bay community lobby committee was formed, consisting of representatives from the Avondale branch of the Plunket Society, the Avondale Businessmen’s Association, Blockhouse Bay Improvement Society, Avondale South Women’s Club, Avondale Women’s Institute, Avondale Labour Party and Avondale Returned Servicemen’s Association. They met on November 28, and wrote to Council the next day to consider the proposal for a combined public convenience and Plunket restrooms. At a deputation meeting with Council on 14 December, the committee’s secretary advised that Tait was prepared to offer land on Rosebank Road in return for work on the toilet/Plunket rooms being completed within a year. This was a small part of land which Tait owned as a result of a mortgagee sale in July 1938. Tait originally offered the small site with a 16 foot frontage, but Council by-laws required 20 feet minimum, so Tait increased the area offered to 20 feet x 100 feet. In May 1940, the Avondale Plunket Committee began fundraising for a donation of £50 to Council toward the cost of their rooms.

At the time, the Plunket committee in Avondale, founded in 1922, had seen an increase in work in the district by 200%, a sign of Avondale’s increasing residential development. They were paying rent for use of the ante rooms in the Oddfellows Hall (St Georges Road, just along from St Ninians church, now demolished) for the nurse’s use, receiving mothers and babies on Monday and Friday afternoons. “These ante rooms,” according to M Everton on 20 June 1940, writing as the Auckland committee’s secretary, “cannot be locked, leading as they do, from the street entrance to the Hall where dances are held during the week. Therefore, at times they are left in a disorderly state, and on several occasions Nurse’s cupboard has been broken into, and belongings taken.”

Council approved the construction of two conveniences at a cost of £700 in June 1940, and plans were drawn up by the City Engineer by September of that year. The western wall was to have been a party wall shared by the toilets and a new building for Tait: the new building was not constructed. Foundations were to be steel reinforced concrete, with construction of brick and concrete, with wooden floors and tile roof. The land was transferred to Auckland City Council in December 1940, and the building was completed towards the end of 1941 as per the agreement with Tait, officially opened in 28 February 1942. The Avondale branch of Plunket was based at the offices at the rear of the toilet block from 1942 until 1981, when the service moved to one of two villas at 99 Rosebank Road (present day site of Avondale Community Centre). The establishment of the Rosebank Road toilets emphasised, in an understated way, that the boom years for Avondale’s shopping centre (1940 to 1965) had arrived.

The interior has been altered many times since construction, with the exterior less modified. Improvements were made to the Plunket rooms in 1947, along with the small semi-circular brick wall at the front to separate the entrances to the toilets from that to the Plunket rooms. The entrance to the Plunket rooms was completely separated from the toilets in the early 1950s. Land at the back of the block was transferred in 1947 to J Steele Limited for £30 for that company’s factory building, and more land was transferred in 1955 for the bus turnaround area when trams were replaced by trolley buses. In 1981 the Council Traffic Department moved into the former Plunket offices. In the 1990s, this was the base for the Keep Avondale Ward Beautiful anti-graffiti campaign.

In February 2011, a fire in the storage rooms at the rear of the toilets badly damaged the rooms. The toilets themselves were closed. Auckland Council is now considering selling the land completely, and installing replacement toilets across the road.

It’s a pity, really, that the building can’t be altered and put to another use, even if no longer a toilet. Quite frankly, in all the time I’ve had the need to use its conveniences, the interior (of the ladies, of course) had a dingy appearance to it. It was old and small, and no amount of flashing up with bits of paint and tile could hide the fact that it was tired, and out-of-step. As for the offices at the back, even during the heyday of Plunket’s tenure there, one story my mother told me as to why I wasn’t a Plunket baby was because of the drafty cold corridor there. She objected, after one examination, to dressing me in the chill – and never went back. But it’s a pity something else can’t be done with it. A member of the community, and former Avondale Community Board member, Paul Davie, suggested to me this week in conversation that one reuse could possibly be as an art space, combining the toilet area with the back rooms.

The wall facing the remains of the bus turnaround area, its existing old mural the subject of a previous post, could also become a great canvas for another of Avondale’s already much-loved heritage mural works. I have some suggestions for subjects on that wall, if ever it was saved: a tram coming down Rosebank Road, a trolley bus waiting on the turnaround, the old Methodist Church, now long gone across the road, and because Plunket in Avondale had such a long association with the small building – perhaps a nurse and a child, or something along those lines. The old toilet block on Rosebank Road, for all its faults, is part of our history, something the community got together and campaigned to obtain for our part of Auckland. A pity it may not be part of our future.

Just … a pity.

Sources:

Council Archive files, especially those copied by Mike Butler and lodged at Avondale Library.

Heart of the Whau, 2003.

Update, 23 December: Positive news from the Whau Local Board, which has decided to look at ways to keep the building. More here.

Update, 21 September 2015: After just over four years, the Local Board had approved a lease for the refurbished office space that the old block has now become to the Pacific Events & Entertainment Trust, calling it the Avondale Community Hub.

Chinese NZ Oral History Foundation blog

Another new heritage blog, this one from the Chinese New Zealand Oral History Foundation (which I proudly support). It's still in the process of set-up, but worth taking a look.

Rosebank Peninsula Study (Stage 1)

In 2008 the Avondale-Waterview Historical Society commissioned John Adam, landscape historian, to undertake Stage 1 of a study about Rosebank Peninsula here in Avondale. It was completed early this year, but -- it's taken me this long to finally finish necessary editing, formatting etc.

It is available to read online here at Scribd. If anyone has problems with the Scribd site (registration, ads, whatever) and would like the 11.6 MB .pdf file direct, just send an email to waitemata@gmail.com and I'll pass the digital copy on to you.

I will also organise a limited number of hardcopies for library reference sections here in Auckland and (of course, with Legal Deposit) Wellington.

Now, though, rather than take a breather -- it's on to commence the start of Stage 2, a broader history of the area including schools, churches, residential areas and industrial development. If anyone out there is interested in taking part or has information to contribute, let me know, please.

Shipwrecks NZ blog

Just a heads-up for a new blog started by my friend Liz -- Shipwrecks NZ. Here Liz finally turns her interest in our country's maritime disasters into its own purpose-built site.

The Coteles of Upper Symond Street

In a comment to an earlier post on the Pierce Building on Symond Street, "M" wrote:

Hi I've become quite a fan of your site and have noticed you've written a few pieces about the upper Symonds Street area. I happen to live in the area and love it and have heard a few things about the history of the empty lot on the opposite block to 'Symonds Court' at the end on the corner with Basque Road. I wondered if you were open to the challenge of finding out the building history of that (recently sold) empty lot. Also why 'Basque' Road and 'Basque' Park?

As it turns out, I took a photo of the site in June when I was out on the fairly bleak day up on the ridge, getting images of the buildings in the area. I already knew what had once been there -- and I've wanted to do something on it for years.

What was there once was a house dating back to c.1902 named "Cotele" -- actually, the second Cotele House on the site. The first dates right back to 1849, when David Burn purchased land here in January 1849 from William Smellie Graham, who in turn bought from the Crown in December 1848.

David Burn (c.1799-1875) is an interesting character. The State Library of Tasmania notes:

David Burn was born in Scotland c.1799 and after a short career in the navy he arrived in Tasmania for the first time in 1826. In 1842 Burn accompanied Sir John and Lady Jane Franklin on their soujourn to the west coast of Tasmania writing the Narrative of the Overland Journey from Hobart Town to Macquarie Harbour. He was also a playwright and wrote Fugitive Pieces in Verse (Hobart Town, 1842) among others. In 1847 Burn migrated to Auckland where he edited the Maori Messenger and the New Zealand Herald. He retired in 1865 and died on 14 June 1875 at Auckland, aged 76.

He married Catherine Fenton at New Norfolk, Tasmania, 6 November 1832 (Hobart Town Courier 9 November 1832), left Tasmania for England in 1835 (Hobart Town Courier 1 May 1835), only to return in 1841, doing a tour of all the penal facilities in the Australian colonies. I wonder just how involved he was in the penal system, judging by his own comments in a letter later published in New Zealand.

“As a Tasmanian landholder … and, for several years, myself a component portion of the prison discipline machinery, so ably and efficiently worked by Sir George Arthur …

“I visited and closely inspected all its prison machinery, from its principal depot of trebly refined crime at Port Arthur , to its scarce less infamous probation barracks, at the Seven Mile Creek, near Marlborough.””

New Zealander 31 March 1849

This seems to have been, somehow, in response to a pamphlet he published in England on the convict transportation system and whether it increased vice and corruption in Australia or not (he reckoned it didn't) and a dispute over the issue he had with the Bishop of Dublin. Burn definitely merits closer study at some stage.

He appears to have arrived in Auckland from Sydney on the Hyderabad, 17 April 1848. He edited the New Zealander for John Williamson until he was dismissed in July 1849 -- in favour, according to him, of a Wesleyan summoned from England. But he was then in the process of building Cotele. In his diary enrtry for 1 May 1850, he refers to it as “a very airey mansion at present.” References seem to indicate that it was relatively new. “Met Sir George and Lady Grey … Having made some remarks on my house, I invited him to call and see it. He said he would be most happy to do so.” A raupo whare apparently preceded the house. On 4 May 1850: "“Kitty has two Maories [sic] pulling down the raupo house.” May 9: “The horrid raupo warre [sic], otherwise “Buckingham Palace” thrown down at last. It is a great relief, and has unmasked a pretty view.”

In The Lively Capital (1971), Una Platts noted that Burn and his wife walked home to Cotele from Col. Wynyard's fancy dress ball, which was also the first of its kind in New Zealand, according to the Southern Cross of 19 July 1850.

Southern Cross 24 February 1852

Why Cotele? Dr. J B W Roberton commented to Donald Rae, author of "Cotele: Dr Ernest Roberton's House in Upper Symonds Street, Auckland", Auckland-Waikato Historical Journal, September 1988, p. 5, that the family believed "Cotele" to mean "cottage on the hill."

The highest point of the hill would have been directly across the road where there was a reservoir and a firebell.It would fall slightly to the east through St Sepulchre's and the vicarage and large garden across the road (Burleigh Street). One went a little up the hill from Khyber Pass to the church.

I'm not too sure about that derivation, but there doesn't appear to be anything else more likely to replace it. Burn's background in the navy doesn't throw up any alternatives.  Nor is there a Cotele in Scotland. There is Cotehele in Cornwall, and an old family of Cottle/Cotele which goes back to William the Conqueror, but nothing seems to link in with a house and estate in Auckland, NZ, mid 19th century. Perhaps, even, something to with the word in French: "côtelé" means ribbed, as in cloth. Who knows.

(Update 25 January 2012: My friend Margaret Edgcumbe wrote in November 2011 that "there was a Mr Henry Edgcumbe/Edgecumbe at Deloraine in Tasmania, who decided to call his extensive property Cotehele ... Henry apparently selected ithe block in in 1841, about the time that David Burn's mum was dying at her selection, Ellangowan. I have no idea whether these two farms were anywhere near each other but they appeared on the same pages of the Tasmanian newspapers." So, there's another option. Thanks, Margaret.)

Mr and Mrs Burn lived there only until 1857. They moved Emily Place by September that year, and leased Cotele to Francis Braithwaite.

Southern Cross 15 January 1861

Then, in 1861, came the first and largest sale of Burn's Newton/Eden Terrace land -- 150 allotments in South Newton. This sale was followed by that of the Cotele Estate. the following year.

Southern Cross 7 January 1862

New roads appeared: Basque, Dundonald and Exmouth. Basque Road, seems to be most likely connected with an 1809 Napoleonic Wars sea battle, The Battle of the Basque Roads. Dundonald Street could be in honour of another piece of British naval history, Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, a naval captain during the Napoleonic Wars. Exmouth Street could also be part of the Napoleonic Wars pattern -- David Burn, who grew up during that period, may have been a fan of that historic period in naval history -- for we have Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, who served in the Royal Navy during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary War, and the war against Napoleon.

Approximate footprint (black) of the first Cotele House, taken from image ref NZ Map 4495-11, map of the 1862 Cotele sale, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries. The underlying map is Deed 1333, LINZ Crown copyright, date unknown but shows 1862 Cotele sale allotments and streets. See also NZ Map 4164

Real Estate.—On Wednesday Messrs. Connell and Ridings sold the suburban estate of Cotele, the property of Mr. D. Burn, in forty-six allotments, for £3,076. There were about 12 acres disposed of.

Southern Cross 28 March 1862

"Cotele" became, for some time after the sale, a readily-identifiable district. It seems it even had a cricket team named after it.

CRICKET.
COTELE v. STANDARD.
On Saturday afternoon the return match between these two elevens was played in the Domain, wickets being pitched at 2.30 p.m., and as will be seen by the subjoined scores the Cotele won the game after a close contest by one run. The rain coming on about 5.30 p m. prevented the game being finished, which was consequently decided by the first innings. We believe a match between the same elevens will be played next Saturday, at the same time and place.

Southern Cross 15 December 1873

When Burn died, over on the North Shore, whatever controversies he attracted in life, at least his obituaries were kindly compiled.

Mr. David Burn, of the North Shore, expired on Monday, June 14. Mr. Burn had been connected with the fortunes of Auckland for about 30 years, during which time he had filled many honourable positions. For many years he had editorial charge of the New Zealander in its palmy days, afterwards he was for some time editor of the Southern Cross, from which position he again, returned to the editorial chair of the New Zealander. When the New Zealand Herald was started Mr. Burn acted as editor for some time. For several years he has lived a retired life at the North Shore, upon the well earned fruits of a successful career as a colonist. He was always of a cheerful and kindly disposition, and had the pleasing art of successfully making friends. He leaves a widow to mourn her loss.

Southern Cross 8 July 1875

Mr David Burn, of the North Shore, died last night at half-past nine o'clock. Mr Burn was a very old colonist, was formerly an officer of an English ship, and devoted much time in early life to literature and dramatic compositions. He was formerly connected with Auckland press, and was engaged upon the New Zealander; and subsequently on the Southern Cross and New Zealand Herald. Mr Burn had always been of an economical turn of mind, and consequently amassed a considerable fortune. He leaves a widow well provided for, and numbers of friends at the North Shore, who will cherish his memory with respect.

Auckland Star 15 June 1875

After David Burn, came John Roberton (c.1829-1894), a merchant who purchased the house along with just over an acre of land in 1862 for £840 12s 6d, bounded by Symonds, Basque and Dundonald Streets. 

There's an Avondale link to the Cotele story. Sometime from 1866 to the early 1870s, Henry Walton decided to retire and leave the colony to return to England in retirement. He resigned from the Legislative Council in 1866, but still retained land holdings which would have needed a New Zealand resident agent to manage on his behalf. Walton appointed John Roberton as his attorney, and part of the land Roberton was tasked to administer was the Walton Estate in Avondale, today's Roberton area (the street and the area named for John Roberton). After John Roberton died, Henry Walton's family appointed Roberton's son Dr Ernest Roberton attorney for the estate of the now deceased Walton.

DEATH OF MR J. ROBERTON.

News was received by cable, from Sydney last night, of the death of Mr John Roberton, a gentleman whose name has been long and honourably associated with the commerce of this city. Mr Roberton was born in Glasgow 65 years ago, and first went to Sydney. He came over to Auckland in 1846 to his brother-in-law, Mr Wright, of Wright and Graham, merchants, Fort-street. Afterwards he was the Auckland partner of Bain, Graham and Co. Subsequently Mr Roberton was in business on his own account for many years in Queen-street, next the Bank of New South Wales, and was one of the largest and most prosperous merchants here in those days, and took a keen interest in all matters connected with the welfare of Auckland. When his premises .in Queen-street were burned down, Mr Roberton transferred his business to Durham-street, and in 1872 he sold out and went to England. While at Home the purchaser went out of the business which was carried on by Mr J. Potter until Mr Roberton returned, when it was arranged to continue in partnership which lasted until a few years ago, when Mr Roberton finally retired from business. 

He was for some years Chairman of directors of the Taupiri Coal Company, but resigned that position last October. Ever anxious for the progress of the city of his adoption Mr Roberton was one of the foremost men in obtaining the San Francisco mail service. He was formerly president of the Chamber of Commerce, and was one of the small knot of gentlemen who started St. Sepulchre's Church in Symonds-street, being for many years a church warden. During his lengthy residence in this city Mr Roberton in all his transactions acted so as to leave behind him an irreproachable character, while in his private life he made numerous friends who will sincerely mourn his loss. As a business man, he was successful in accumulating enough of this world's goods to enable him to pass his later years in ease. Some time ago, by the death of a relative, he had property left him in Sydney, and it was in connection with this that Mr Roberbon went to reside in New South Wales with his wife. Latterly he had been in a weak state of health, but the cable sent last night by Mrs Roberton to her son, Dr. E. Roberton, did not state the actual cause of death. In the earlier years of his life, Mr Roberton was an active member of the Masonic fraternity. He leaves behind to mourn his death, the partner of 35 years' married life, and also four sons, Dr. E. Roberton, Mr A. B. Roberton, Mr B. H. Roberton and Mr E. B. Roberton, and three daughters, Mrs G. Chamberlain, Mrs D. Wilkie and Mrs H. D. Heather. 

Auckland Star 20 July 1894

But, John Roberton and his family had vacated Cotele by 1884, letting it out to a Mr J Ballard in that year (letter from Ballard giving Cotele House as an address, Waikato Times, 26 January 1884), and Dr. Lawry in 1886.

Dr. Lawry, writing from Cotele House, Symonds-street, states that his name appeared by mistake as one who took part in the fancy dress ball on Wednesday last. He adds :—" As the statement is likely to do me considerable harm, please correct it. I have neither the time nor inclination to indulge in such frivolities."

Auckland Star 11 August 1886

According to Donald Rae in the Auckland-Waikato Historical Journal, the Robertson's son Dr. Ernest Robertson was the next owner of Cotele House, taking over in 1888. Dr Robertson, however, apparently didn't return to Auckland from Europe until 1891.

Photo supplied by Donald Rae to Auckland-Waikato Historical Journal, September 1988

The view above is captioned from the Journal as being an image of the Old Cotele during Dr. Robertson's occupancy. It doesn't seem to quite fit the 1862 footprint pattern for the house, though.

In 1902, though, he demolished the old house, and built a new Cotele. Land just to the south, according to Rae, was transferred to Selina Robertson for a block of shops.

Second Cotele, c.1905. Photo supplied by Donald Rae to Auckland-Waikato Historical Journal, September 1988

Dr Ernest Roberton (1862-1949) was educated at Auckland Grammar, and Edinburgh and Vienna Universities. He was honorary physician to Auckland Hospital 1891-1924, then served as honorary consulting physician. He was president of the New Zealand branch of the Medical Association in 1905. Dr Roberton was one of the founders of the Diocesan School for Girls, a member of the Auckland Grammar School Board of Governors in 1896, and chairman of that board for a number of terms. He was first chairman of the Auckland Orphanages Advisory Council, and was appointed a serving brother of the Order of St John in 1928. He was twice president of the Auckland Institute and Museum, in 1898 and 1905, and served overseas during World War I, 1916-1919, in the New Zealand Medical Corps. A few years before he died, he and his wife went to live in Christchurch (obituary, NZ Herald, Obituary Scrapbooks, Auckland Central Library.)

Rear view of second Cotele. Photo supplied by Donald Rae to Auckland-Waikato Historical Journal, September 1988

Dr. Robertson owned the house until 1912, when he sold it to John Fuller, the theatre proprietor. From that point on, however, it became a boarding house and a private hotel. From 1924, when Fullers built the block of brick shops still standing today next door to Cotele (see below), the older building became known as "Mount Royal". Fullers sold the property in the 1940s.

Cotele in 1986. Photo supplied by Donald Rae to Auckland-Waikato Historical Journal, September 1988

By the time this photograph was taken, the building was as I remember it -- retail, with accommodation at the rear. Sometime after 1996, the second and last Cotele House was demolished. (Edit, 12 July 2014 -- a commenter below has very kindly pointed out a video on YouTube showing the house fully ablaze c.1996-1998). Stills from Geoff Mackley's video.

David Burn's view, from where he watched the weather and the appearance of sails in the harbour in the 1850s, is now gone, blocked by development and factories. This photo is of the site of Cotele House as it was in June this year.  Redevelopment, and a new building facing Symonds Street, may not be far away, now the site has been sold.

Sources:
Valuation field sheets, ACC 213/172c, Auckland Council Archives
NA 124/276,  403/87, Deed 1333, DP 3294, LINZ records
Auckland-Waikato Historical Journal (thanks to John Webster for advice on photo use)
The Lively Capital, Una Platts (1971)
David Burn diary, Library of NSW website (thanks for the heads up from Margaret Edgcumbe)
Auckland Research Centre, Central Library (thanks for sending me Dr Ermest Roberton's obituary)
Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries
Auckland Council website, GIS viewer

Burke's Brickyard on the Whau

Image from Western Leader, 16 January 1998.

This is an update, in the light of additional information from the Auckland Star, found by both Murray Wright and myself.  It is linked to the previous post, Avondale’s riverside brickmakers  (January, 2009) and incorporates some of the text from that post.

Charles Burke, a farmer and later tailor, purchased most of the southern half of Allotment 12 over a number of years from the mid 1860s until 1871. In the mid 1870s, he was part-and-parcel of the local scene at the Whau, taking part in events such as the Whau Excelsior (Temperance) Lodge entertainment evening on 21 July 1875 (Southern Cross). 

In Simon Best’s report on the Burke Brickyard, his investigation included part of the background of a couple of brick makers named Thomas William Murray and William Sloan. The first, from around 1871 to 1875 had a leasehold property at the Whau on Allotment 11, while the latter lived on a leasehold site on Allotment 12. Simon Best used some of the oral traditions handed down to J. T. Diamond in his report on the remains of the Hoffman kiln at the Burke site in Avondale. One of these, from Sam Exler in 1977, has it that Murray & Sloan had a brickworks at Arch Hill and then made their second attempt at Burke’s. Another note claims that Murray & Sloan started on a brickyard at the foot of Rata Street (which has been claimed as a Redfern site in notes by Diamond), then worked at Burke’s, then Arch Hill. This appears to be negated by the directory and electoral roll information gathered by Best.

Murray Wright found the following article in Papers Past, and sent it through to me. It spurred me on to carry out an update on the slightly tangled story of Burke's Brickyard on the Whau. The story, though, is still somewhat of a dig through the clay to try to find enough pieces to fit together for the story.

THOMAS MURRAY V. NEIL CAMPEBLL AND OTHERS:

Claim, £31 17s.

Mr Rees for plaintiff, and Mr Joy for the defendants. Mr Rees having explained the case, called Thomas Murray, who stated that he knew the defendants, who were the proprietors of Burkes brickyard at the Whau. He saw the three defendants on the 28th of December last, and gave them a memorandum or tender of terms upon which he was to carry on certain works. That memorandum was never properly signed; but he had seen it since in the possession of two of the partners, Campbell and Burke. He offered to make, burn, and deliver bricks at 16s per thousand, which terms were accepted by defendants. A statement to this effect was drawn up for the purpose of being signed, but as Mr Connell, solicitor, had gone to Coromandel when they called at his office the matter was neglected. He took possession of the brickyard at the end of December last year, and commenced to work on the 3rd January.

Auckland Star 11 May 1874

The next day, the Star announced the verdict -- and added a wee verse. Possibly one of the very few verses about an Avondale brickworks?

In the case of Thomas Murray against Neil Campbell and others, heard before Judge Beckham in the District Court yesterday, judgment for £26 12s 3d, was given for plaintiff. It is not a little singular that the majority of defendants in this action were Auckland tailors, and we may state that they bore their defeat with a magnanimity of spirit which proved them to be regular bricks. The defendants, be it known, are owners of a brickyard at the Whau, and the claim was for making and delivering bricks, hence the significance of the lines:

These makers of breeks

Became makers of bricks,

And toiled day by day

Between broadcloth and clay,

Though the action they lost,

They were not passion-crossed,

But bore it like men—

With amen, and amen.

Auckland Star 12 May 1874

This was the reference I'd come across earlier: where Thomas Murray worked for Neil Campbell and three others, the “proprietors of a brick-yard”. (Southern Cross, 12 May 1874)

By 1877, Murray and Sloane were over at Arch Hill, making flower pots and winning prizes. We know Thomas Murray was at the Arch Hill brickyard by late 1876 (Southern Cross 24 November 1876,  reported a court case over illegal bowls played near his kiln.)

PRIZE AWARDS.

Sloan, Murray, and Co.'s collection flower pots bricks, lime, &c, 1st prize.

Auckland Star 9 November 1877

By 1879, however, it looks like Charles Burke had some bricks on his hands.

Auckland Star  19 July 1879

Nearly two years later, his house burns to the ground.

FIRE AT THE WHAU.

A four-roomed house at the Whau, owned by Mr Burke, the proprietor of the brickfields, was destroyed by fire last evening. The details which have reached us are, however, very meagre. The house was unoccupied at tho time of the occurrence. Mr Burke sends his boy and girl up there every afternoon to milk the cows, and a report was current to the effect that they had lighted a fire yesterday for cooking purposes and had forgotten to put it out when leaving. Whether there is any truth in this report, we are unable to say. We have also been unable to ascertain if the house was insured.

Auckland Star 15 March 1881

There is little indication that he remained at Avondale much after that.

Thomas Murray and William Sloan with their Arch hill brickworks continued.

Auckland Star 30 August 1881

WANTED, two Men accustomed to digging clay or falling it at per yard; none but good men need apply Thomas J. Murray, of Sloan and Murray, Arch Hill.

Auckland Star 14 December 1881

Then, in February 1882, their partnership dissolved.

Auckland Star 9 February 1882

Later that year, a very short-lived business enterprise at Burke's brickyard in Avondale.

Auckland Star 4 November 1882

Thomas Murray popped up again at Avondale in late 1882. From the Weekly News, 11 November 1882, in a description of William Hunt's brickworks at what later was called Glenburn, on St Georges Road:

"Mr. Hunt has been fortunate in in securing the services of Mr. T. J. Murray, who has been in the New Zealand brick trade about 17 years, and in partnership with Mr. Sloan for nearly 15 years, of which time the last nine years was as Sloan and Murray, of Arch Hill."

Which would explain this advertisement -- not for Burke's old works, but Hunt's.

Auckland Star 28 September 1883

The following may refer to Burke's brickworks.

BRICKYARD, to lease at the Whau, and 5 acres of Land; rent, £50 per annum. —Guy Trenchard, 83 Queen-street.

Auckland Star 6 February 1885

(Update 3 October 2013: Found in passing in the NZ Herald:

"... the Messrs Kane have commenced working the brick-fields of Mr Burke ..." (26 February 1887) Nothing further after that.)

J. Crum (via Diamond notes) recorded that Burke's site was leased to J. J. Craig “during a boom.” He was correct, it seems. The following report was well before J J Craig bought the Hunt Brickyard on St Georges Road from Bycrofts. The only other Avondale location may well have been Burke's by the Whau River.

An incipient fire was discovered at Craig's brickyard at Avondale yesterday, and was fortunately put out before any serious damage was done. The fire was first observed in the woodwork on top of the kiln by Mrs Schraft, a neighbour, who called her husband's attention to it. He extinguished the flames with considerable trouble, and not without some damage to his own clothing, and thus saved a roof and two wooden sheds from destruction.

Auckland Star 5 November 1888

The Assessment Court sat at Avondale this morning at 10 o'clock.

Mr R S Bush, S M, was judge. Mr John Bollard appeared on behalf of the Board. Mr. R. F. Bollard (valuer) was also present. Eleven objections had been lodged, but only two objectors appeared. Chas. Burke, part 12, parish of Titirangi, 16 acres, valued at £520. The appellant asked that the valuation be reduced by £200. After evidence was heard the valuation was sustained.

Auckland Star 1 May 1895

TO LET, at Avondale, Paddocks for Grazing. —Apply Chas. Burke. Avondale.

Auckland Star 24 November 1897

The text of a January 1902 lease between Burke and Walter W. Daw which made reference to a kiln and buildings (surrendered in February 1904 after Burke’s death, so the entire site could be sold to the Avondale Jockey Club.)

“The Lessee may use the said demised property in the production of bricks, pottery and other ware … shall and will keep proper accounts of bricks, pottery and other ware made … or whether any earth part is used … shall not nor will in digging for or excavating brick earth or sand do any needless damage to the said demised lands or premises … shall not nor will sell or remove from off the hereby demised premises any earth clay or sand in an unmanufactured state …”

Until 1904, Moss Davis (who held a lease over the eastern half of Burke’s farm for the Jockey Club) was bound to allow “right-of-way and passage at all times during the currency of this lease by day or by night on foot or on horseback and with or without horses, carts and carriages laden or unladen and other animals and vehicles through over and along the piece of land …” The access was via today’s Wingate Street.

Auckland Star 4 June 1903

And, in 1903, the Whau Canal tour stopped off at Mr. Keane’s brickworks – Keane or Cain being one of the names which keep cropping up in the Whau River bricks story, as perennial as the grass.

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

There is a much clearer version of this image at Local History Online (click on West Auckland images, then search for Burke's) but I'm not convinced that the library's caption identifying this site as Burke's landing, at the bottom of Wingate Street, is correct This is what I have put as a comment to that site tonight.

There is doubt as to whether this is "Burke's Landing" at all. The NZ Herald reporting this event referred to the steamer reaching "Keane's" as the tide was falling. (NZH 16 July 1903) The NZ Graphic of 25 July 1903 captioned this photo as "The party leaving the steamer at the head of the Avondale Creek" and described that the steamer dropped the party off half a mile from the Whau Bridge. Burke's brickyard (and any landing, if it existed) was too close, being at the end of Wingate Street. The brickyard at Burke's had no need for a landing at that stage -- bricks then were carted directly to Great North Road. The location of this photo, considering the curve of the river, may well have been from the end of Ash Street -- the site of today's Rata Street bridge.

Overlay on aerial photo of part of Avondale Racecourse (top right) and the Whau River, from Auckland Council website.  "A" is the site near the end of Ash Street, "B" is the Burke brickyard. Whau Bridge is at the bottom right.

At the other Ash Street site, there are reportedly still a lot of brick rubble on what was part of the racecourse property. This was formerly land owned by John Bollard, on Lot 12 -- which Sloan apparently had a lease for, in the early 1870s. It is also a likely site for the area identified by Diamond as "Black Bluff". I've yet to see the name Keane in association with Burke's brickworks in the contemporary newspapers. The original Bernard Keane, often suggested as being involved at Avondale, was instead associated with Hobsonville, Mahurangi and Whangarei, as well has having his own brick and lime works in the central city in the 1880s.

The Burke site is today all residential, now, all traces of the past gone. Even in 1998, Simon Best reported finding mainly what constituted a rubbish dump – old bottles, imported ceramics, animal bones. Not surprising – the Avondale Road Board had their rubbish dump at the end of Wingate Road.

I suspect that there's more information out there. Just a matter of waiting.

Update 21 August: as per the comments below, 10 August saw a bit of a clearing up as to where the landing was -- definitely  Site A, identified by Simon Best as part of the Burke's yards, as it was his section of Allotment 12. But, it doesn't explain one thing: why there is only that reference, a single article and caption, to a Mr Keane having a brickyard at Avondale. More on this in a further post.

Lyttelton's Timeball Station on Facebook

Further to this previous post.

This, from the latest newsletter by the NZ Historic Places Trust.

Work to dismantle the Timeball Station is progressing amid continuing aftershocks that are rendering the remainder of the building and some areas around the site increasingly unstable. Wherever possible dressed stone, stone blocks, whole bricks and timber are being salvaged, recorded and stored off site and it is hoped that some of this material can be included in any future building on the site.

The mechanism and timeball, which were badly damaged in the 13 June quake, are also being stored off site and a metal detector may be used to locate any pieces missing in the rubble. Once the building has been taken down, the site will be made tidy and damaged retaining walls repaired.

Their special Facebook page, with updates on the work in progress along with images, can be found here.

An artist between Cromwell and Q-ships: Henry Francis Worsley

1899 statue of Cromwell by Hamo Thornycroft outside the Palace of Westminster, London. Photo by Tagishsimon, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, from Wikipedia.

Slightly edited 25 January 2016.

Yesterday, I woke up to find an email from Jayne, of the Our Great Southern Land blog. In her local cemetery, she'd noted reference to an Englishman named Henry Francis Worsley who had emigrated first to New Zealand, apparently after the glitter of gold, then headed trans-Tasman to, as Jayne puts it, turn up his toes in 1876. Her sleuthing had thrown up the fact that his grandson, Frank Worsley, was part of the early 20th century Shackleton expeditions.

As I do, I went looking to see if there was a blog post out of Mr Henry Francis Worsley.

First, why on earth have I got an image of Oliver Cromwell's statue up the top? Well, If you can go by family history sites like Rootsweb, it appears that Henry Francis was a descendant of Cromwell, the chap who became Lord Protector in England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland when Charles I's head was lopped off in 1649. Cromwell's daughter Francis married Sir John Russell, their daughter Elizabeth married Sir Thomas Frankland, Mary Frankland married Sir Thomas Worsley of Hovingham, their son was also Thomas, his son was Rev. George Worsley, Rector of Stonegrave and Scawton, and one of his sons was Henry Francis Worsley (1806-1876). This means, if you also go by The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal by Melville Henry Massue Ruvigny et Raineval (marquis de), (1907, part online at Google Books), then not only was Henry Francis Worsley great-great-great-great-grandson to Oliver Cromwell, there was a bit of the Plantagenet blue blood (via the Franklands, apparently) in his veins. Then again, Victorian genealogies have a lot in common with pinches of salt.

What is known via newspapers is the following.

Married, Sept. 1, at Ryde, Henry Francis Worsley, esq. of Hovingham, Yorkshire, to Catherine Agnes, youngest daughter of the late Benj. Blackden, esq. of Bedlow House, Bucks.

Hampshire Advertiser (Southampton, England) 17 September 1831

By 1858 Worsley had come to live in Christchurch. (Lyttleton Times 10 February 1858) Researchers state earlier dates for his arrival (see comments below), which may be correct, but the available newspapers searchable online show him here at least by then.

At that point, his artistic side took over. He exhibits a “gallery of pictures” at a “conversazione” at the Mechanics Institute, Christchurch, in August 1859. (Lyttleton Times 23 July 1859) Later reports alluded to him exhibiting fairly frequently on this side of the Ditch, but I've yet to find anything from the period between that exhibition at the Mechanic's Institute, and when he popped up in Melbourne in 1868.

H F WORSLEY, artist, No. 6 Cardigan-street, Carlton, has a variety of OIL PICTURES on view, that have been highly valued, and is prepared to take any commission.

Melbourne Argus 2 September 1868

Mr H J. Worsley, an artist of very considerable merit, who has practised his arts for some years past in New Zealand, has recently arrived in this city (Melbourne). His studio has, during the last few days, formed a centre of attraction for the lovers of the fine arts amongst us. Mr Worsley's productions have been very much admired by those who have had the pleasure of inspecting them, and the public journals speak very highly of them, both individually and collectively.

Otago Daily Times 7 September 1868

The art reviewer for the Argus in Melbourne however, while obviously trying very hard not to say that Worsley's body of work was rubbish, still came quite close.

The Argus of Aug. 26 has the following: — We had the pleasure yesterday of examining some works from the easel of Mr H. J. Worsley, an artist who has resided for some years in New Zealand, and who has come to Melbourne to practise his art. Mr Worsley is an enthusiast in painting, and his works bear testimony to an intelligent and severe study of the great masters. The works which he has now collected in his studio, and some of which were painted many years ago, indicate a cultivated and disciplined taste, considerable skill in manipulation, some degree of imagination, and perhaps also some of those lofty if unfulfilled aspirations which are necessary to the true artist. There are two large cartoon pictures— the one, the Angel appearing to the Shepherds on the night of the Nativity; the other, Edward the Black Prince receiving the submission of the King of France after the battle of Poitiers. These are subjects which require the very highest kind of artistic genius to deal with satisfactorily; and although Mr Worsley's paintings have many meritorious points, they are wanting in power and imagination. The best of the two is the Angel appearing to the Shepherds. The figures are well grouped; both the drawing and the colouring display many excellences, and some of the countenances are not without considerable character and expression. The other picture, however, appears commonplace and insipid. The composition of the picture is feeble, and a more harmless-looking and characterless assembly of warriors was never brought together on canvas. It is, however, in his smaller pictures, and especially, we think, in his copies, that Mr Worsley 's qualities as an artist may be most favourably observed. His copy of the smaller of Rubens' pictures, "The Descent from the Cross," now in the Munich Gallery, is a very finished work, and reflects in a high degree the merits of the great original. In some of Mr Worsley's own less ambitious works his powers appear to considerable advantage. For instance, the King and the Queen of the Fairies, in the "Midsummer Night's Dream," is a light and graceful production. The picture of David returning across the brook with the head of Goliath is a work of fair merit, but most people, we think, will be of opinion that the countenance of the young Hebrew is too effeminate. A visit to Mr Worsley's studio will well repay the trouble.

Christchurch Star 10 September 1868

Perhaps there were those among the Christchurch Star's readers who nodded with wry smiles, knowing full well the extent of Worsley's talent. Still, in the face of doubt (everyone else's), Worsley kept right on believing that he had something to offer. He seems to have gone back to New Zealand for a time, then returned to Melbourne by 1872, raring to go with a vast collection of his art work. The Argus was still somewhat less than impressed.

Mr. H. F. Worsley, an artist who has been resident in the Australian colonies for many years and who returned recently from New Zealand, has opened an exhibition of his own paintings at 135 Latrobe-street east. The collection comprises about 100 pictures. The subjects are chiefly Scriptural, classical, and historical, with a few landscapes. Some of the paintings are admittedly unfinished. A few, Mr. Worsley says, are of European reputation, but various opinions will, no doubt, be expressed as to their merit.

Melbourne Argus 15 May 1872

A Melbourne journal states that in a very unassuming little wooden building, near the top of Latrobe-street east on the left hand side going up, there has just been opened to the public a collection of painting under the designation of the Melbourne Exhibition of Divine Art. This title is somewhat pretentious, as well as incorrect, but the collection is not without merit. It numbers about fifty pictures, all from the easel of the exhibitor, a hard-working New Zealand artist, Mr. H. F. Worsley, who has come over to Melbourne with the intention of opening a school of art. There are two copies of Reubens— one of the Crucifixion, the other of the Taking Down of Christ from the Cross; several historical pieces, landscapes, studies after great artists, and portraits. Amongst the portraits is a very good one of Mr. Fawkner. The collection is worth a visit, but the dingy appearance and bad lighting of the place are against it.

Evening Post 1 June 1872

Undeterred, he entered examples in the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1872.

OPENING OF THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.
The fourth Melbourne exhibition of natural products and works of art will be formally opened by His Excellency the Governor at noon to-day …

What induced Mr. H. F. Worsley, of 123 Latrobe-street east, to send such a painting as "The Temptation of Christ on the Mountain " it is hard to discover. Apollyon looks exactly like Mr. O Smith as the Elf of the Eddystone.

Melbourne Argus 6 November 1872

Jayne says that, at the time, there seemed to be a major swing in taste away from traditional art. Some of the criticism was aimed at his lack of imagination. Worsley was, possibly, simply a good copyist, but so-so artist. Still, there he stayed, perhaps painting almost to his last breath. He may have had an "unassuming" and "dingy" building in which to display his work in 1872, but he apparently wasn't exactly living life in an artist's garret. Jayne found the following description of his home, up for auction after his death, called Hovingham Lodge (named, doubtless, after the seat of his forefathers back home.)

That very convenient and substantially built villa residence, known as Hovingham-lodge, situated Waverley-road, Gardiner, near tho Racecourse Hotel, with stabling, harness room, necessary outoffices, and eight acres land attached.

Melbourne Argus 9 September 1876

He died 24 July 1876, with an estate probated at £1000, and a  "very large and valuable collection of OIL-PAINTINGS, etc, among which will be found some really first class subjects" waiting to be auctioned by his executor, son Charles.

 Frank Arthur Worsley, from Wikipedia

At least one of Henry Francis Worsley's sons, Henry Theophilus Worsley (who was a labourer), stayed over here in New Zealand, and had a son in turn at Akaroa who earned quite a name for himself. Frank Arthur Worsley (1872-1843) turned out to be a mariner and naval officer (active war service during WWI with the Royal Navy on Q-ships, hunting German U-boats), polar explorer (he was captain of the Endurance on Shackleton's 1914-1916 Antarctic expedition) and writer.

Henry Francis may not have been a sensation in the art world, but his bloodline did provide our country with a hero.

Update: Writer of the Purple Sage (Yardy Yardy Yardy blog) has just sent this link to an image of a derivative work from an H F Worsley painting (which, knowing Worsley, was probably derivative at least in part.) At least it's something. Cheers!

Pierce Building, now Symond Court

Every time, up to now, when I've gone past this building on the corner of Khyber Pass and Upper Symonds Street, I've wondered if it was ever a hotel. Well, no, it wasn't, but -- it had connections with one. To a point.

It seems that the corner site once belonged to a Mr Gilfillan, according to NZ Map 4207 in the Sir George Grey Special Collections. Likely this was John Anderson Gilfillan who is remembered among other things as the Gilfillan of Gilfillan's Store in Queen Street.

, 

 Auckland Star 18 January 1873

 Those readers out there who would like the challenge for further information: try rates records for Auckland City's Grafton Ward, Deeds Index 1A.615 and application file 34697C with Land Information New Zealand. Let me know what you find.

Then, sometime between 1873 and 1890, this appeared.

Edward Qualtrough's Orchard & Garden Store (left), and M J Coyle's smithy (right), 1890s. Ref. 7-A11354, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, by kind permission.

A wooden store, operated by Edward Qualtrough, appeared by around 1890 at the corner, next to Michael John Coyle's coachbuilding, smithy and contracting business (Coyle was later a chairman of the Pt Chevalier Road Board, a Mayor of Mt Albert, and headed the Auckland Charitable Aid Board for a time).

Looking down Khyber Pass from Symonds Street showing the Indian Contingent of the Imperial Troops wheeling into Khyber Pass with the Queens Hotel on left, Edward Qualtrough, grocer, on right, and Holy Sepulchre Church. Ref. 4-991, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, by kind permission.

In 1902, Qualtrough's business was taken over by J Valentine, down to sometime around 1910.

Valentine's store (centre), Upper Symonds Street, c.1908. Ref. 7-A1922, Sir George Grey Special Collections, 

Auckland Libraries, by kind permission.

I know that by 1912, when the Auckland Council valuation sheets (ACC 213/171d) began recording the properties for Upper Symonds Street, the wooden store had been replaced by brick shops tenanted by a number of businesses, known as the Pierce Buildings, named after the owner at the time, widow Eleanor Pierce, and the family. Her husband George Patrick Pierce was much lamented when he died in 1891.

The face and figure of the deceased gentleman will be sadly missed from our streets,his genial laugh from many circles where he was always welcomed, and not a few people in Auckland will say with heartfelt sorrow to-day "We have lost a truehearted friend." To the family thus suddenly bereaved, such consolation as may come from a universal public sympathy will be theirs in the painful and unexpected affliction which, in the course of God's providence, has befallen them.

Auckland Star 18 May 1891

Mr. George Patrick Pierce, for many years well known and greatly respected as the General Manager of the New Zealand Fire Insurance Company, was born at Plymouth, on the 21st of June, 1825, and died at Auckland on the 17th of May, 1891, deeply regretted by all classes of the community. He was a son of the late Captain Pierce, R.N. Mr. Pierce placed a memorial window in St. Sepulchre's Church in remembrance of his father and mother. While he was a lad his parents removed to Ireland, whither he accompanied them. Subsequently he was connected with the firm of Messrs Smith, Elder and Co., of London. About thirty-five years ago he arrived in Auckland and became a member of the firm of Messrs Bain, Pierce and Co., trading for a considerable period in Auckland. He retired from the connection, however, and became first local and then general manager of the New Zealand Insurance Company, and occupied both positions with conspicuous ability and success. From his first arrival in Auckland he identified himself with church work, and gained the respect and esteem of the Bishop of New Zealand. In 1865 he joined with four other gentlemen in building old St. Sepulchre's church, under the direction of Bishop Selwyn. From that date until his death he filled various church offices; as vestryman or churchwarden of St. Sepulchre's, Diocesan Nominator, Diocesan Trustee, and member of the Diocesan and of the General Synod. He was also one of the assessors of the Bishop's Court, and for many years secretary of the Orphan Home, Parnell, founded by Archdeacon Lloyd. Mr. Pierce was not only a veteran Freemason, but one of the most distinguished members of the craft in the Colony. ‘He was a member and subsequently worshipful master of the Ara Lodge, I.C., from the early days up to his death. On the retirement with the troops from New Zealand of Most Worshipful Brother De Burgh Adams, the first Provincial Grand Master of the Irish Constitution of Freemasonry, the choice fell upon Bro. Pierce, as his successor; and by his suavity and courtesy, combined with firmness, strict justice and impartiality, Mr. Pierce gained the love and esteem of every Mason belonging to the various constitutions. A Mason he lived and a Mason he died, and his funeral was attended by the members of the English, Scotch and New Zealand Constitutions, who paid their last tribute of respect to their deceased Brother at the Purewa Cemetery, and the occasion was marked by a most eloquent funeral oration delivered by the Grand Chaplain, the Rev. D. Kidd. Mr. Pierce was twice married, and his eldest surviving son by the first marriage, Mr. George Nelson Pierce, is the manager of the New Zealand Insurance Company at Auckland. He contracted his second marriage with Miss Eleanor Connell, who survives him. (NZETC, Cyclopedia of NZ)

Pierce's Building (left, with car parked outside), 10 January 1928, photographed by James D Richardson. Ref. 4-2185,       Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, by kind permission.

After Eleanor Pierce died in 1912, aged 67, the Pierce family retained ownership of the building under Pierce Properties Limited, through to 1944 when the family sold the building to Grace Bros. Ltd, and it became a furnishing store, complete with bulk store to the side and rear. (NA 767/197, LINZ records) Whether this was a branch or subsidiary of the Grace Bros. stores over in Australia, I'm not sure.

Part of Pierce's Building (right), 20 September 1929, photographed by James D Richardson. Ref. 4-1835, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, by kind permission.

Probably Grace Bros. renamed the store. Or, a later owner, refurbishing, decided that "Symond Court" sounded swish.

Oh, the hotel connection? The photo just above also shows the Queens Hotel on the left hand side. There was a bottle store, run by that hotel's proprietor, just across the road in the Pierce Building, according to the Council records.