Counting heads: tracing the Shortland Street corbels of Anton Teutenberg

When I see the word corbel, I think of these -- scroll-decorated, garlanded bits of masonry jutting out from the face of buildings. Auckland has, however, a set of very precious corbels, cast away from their original home by demolition in the mid 1930s, and still on somewhat of an odyssey in the city even today.

The first time I saw them was some years ago while visiting the Auckland War Memorial Museum. On display at the ground floor, in behind the Maori Hall, are these:

According to the interpretive panel that is a far distance away from these:

"Heads.

Bishop Selwyn, Gargoyle, Hone Heke, Duke and Duchess of Kent. - stone

Anton Teutenberg carved several portrait heads and corbels to decorate the exterior of the Shortland Street Post Office. Teutenberg is said to have learned to carve wood with a pocket knife during his voyage to New Zealand. The sculptures included members of the English royal family and Maori chiefs and their families as well as colonial administrators."

These days, since finding out more about other exhibits at the Museum like that of Te Toki a Tapiri, I take such information with a grain of salt. These panels are only as good as the information available, after all. But -- I recalled those heads when I came upon these:

On a visit to the Auckland office of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (who very kindly gave me permission to photograph the above heads) -- I came upon Teutenberg's work. Up close, without having to peer through display gallery gloom. The staff at the office confirmed these were Teutenberg heads from off the long-gone post office in Shortland Street. What got to me, though, was the question -- how could they be there, when the Museum had theirs? I did wonder whether I had imagined things at the Museum. So, I emailed the NZHPT for more info as to how they got these two at least. That led to Judy Grieves, Mid Northern Area Coordinator for NZHPT, pulling the file and offering to leave it at the desk for me to have a read. Which I did, yesterday. (My thanks to the staff at the Auckland office, by the way.)

As happens so often around here with a Timespanner topic -- I just kept being more and more intrigued. Asking more questions. Deciding that it was worth tracking between the NZHPT office, the Auckland War Memorial Museum display areas, their Museum Library (my thanks also to the very helpful staff there, who dug up some archive information for me), the Auckland Research Centre at the city central library for the Auckland Scrapbook information and newspaper reels -- and dear old Papers Past here at home.

The story begins with Ferdinand Anton Nicolaus Teutenberg, who arrived here from Westphalia, Germany, in 1866. According to J R Duncan:

Soon after his arrival Teutenberg received a commission to carve heads for the Supreme Court building being erected under the supervision of architect Edward Rumsey. He had carved a piece of filigree woodwork for the captain of the Rob Roy, who had shown this work to Rumsey. For 15s. a day he carved six major heads in stone – a medium he had never before handled – and a number of gargoyles, along with a series of wooden heads for the gallery of the court room. He was next invited to sculpt heads for the post office building in Shortland Street, but now asked and received 20s. a day. He carved 11 heads in stone, five of them Maori, and a line of corbels showing the spread of the British Empire.

There is a slight error there -- for the Shortland Street Post Office, which was Auckland's Central Post Office from 1868 until the Queen Street building took over in 1912, Teutenberg carved ten heads, not eleven. Considering the twists and turns of the saga of the corbel heads which you'll see, though -- I'm not surprised that such a mistake has crept into the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography as well.

From 1905. "Looking west along Shortland Street showing the corner of Queen Street (far left), Victoria Arcade (right) and Shortland Street Post Office (centre), pedestrians, horse and carts, man on horseback," reference 4-2415, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Council Libraries.

I really wish I could have seen this building. The Shortland Street Post Office, actually starting out as a combined government building for both Customs and the post and telegraph services, was begun in 1866, expected to be complete by July 1867, but actually took until around April 1868. But the Southern Cross on 3 January 1868 was extremely positive.

This massive and magnificent building… is approaching completion, and will be ready for occupation in about two months hence. The site is convenient, and occupies about the same area as the new Supreme Court-house. The edifice is constructed on a solid scoria basement of red pressed brick, with stone finishings, and is in the Gothic style of architecture. The front to Fort-street comprises the principal entrance to the Custom-house, and the portion of the building set apart for telegraph offices. On the extreme right and left are entrances leading through to Shortland-street, and from which access is had to the bonded stores, which cover an area of about 4,000 superficial feet. These entrances also give access for the receiving and delivery of foreign letters. The letters are raised by a lift and taken to the sorting-room, and there is a "lift" on the extreme left of the building by which they are lowered into the basement storey. In the basement storey, to the left, are the strong rooms in connection with the Custom-house and Post-office, constructed of solid scoria masonry, the walls being about 2 feet 6 inches in thickness. They are secured with strong iron doors. There is also a bonded store for tobacco … 

The entrance to the Post-office is from Shortland-street. There are three flights of steps leading to a spacious corridor of five arches. The ceiling of the corridor is constructed of kauri, varnished, and is of ornamental design. The terminations of corbels, from which the moulded ribs of ceiling spring, are enriched by foliage and nondescripts … 

The facade fronting this street is in the Gothic style. The ground floor consists of five arches, surmounted in the upper floor with two-light pointed windows. The front is surmounted with an ornamental corbelled parapet. There are a number of finely-carved figure-heads ornamenting the façade, representing the Queen, Prince Albert, Prince of Wales, Empress Alexandra, the Governor, the Bishop of New Zealand, chief Paul, the late chief William Thompson, and another celebrated native chief and his wife. This noble building forms an important and handsome addition to our street architecture, and will be highly ornamental to the part of the city where it stands. It has been erected from designs prepared by Mr. E. Rumsey, architect, and under his superintendence. Mr. Farrow is clerk of works, and Mr U Hurrell, foreman.

Note particularly the part I have made bold. Somehow, when research into the Teutenberg heads was carried out in the following two centuries, no one mentions this Southern Cross article. Even the NZ Herald's report from 4 April 1868 (according to Auckland Museum archives) said:

"... carved corbels representing the faces of illustrious and well known personages as Her Majesty and the late Prince Consort, the Prince and Princess of Wales, Sir George Grey, and the Bishop of New Zealand; the Chiefs Tamihana, and Paora of Orakei, all of which are excellent likenesses."

By 1936, the Auckland Star was guessing who the heads were meant to represent. The article "History in Stone" and its accompanying captioned illustrations which appeared 15 February that year, has influenced identifiers of the Teutenberg corbel heads from the old Post Office ever since -- and not necessarily in the right direction.

This was the first sign that things were going awry. The Star assumed that this was Te Hira Te Kawau, son of Apihai Te Kawau of Ngati Whatua. But -- Te Hira did not succeed his father until the latter died in 1869, a year after the building was completed. 

Both the Southern Cross and the NZ Herald in 1868 identified one of the heads as being a likeness of Wiremu Tamihana ("William Thompson"), also known as the Kingmaker, who was very well-known when Teutenberg prepared his carvings. His death in 1866 would have been a current event at the time.

Wiremu Tamihana Tarapipipi Te Waharoa with a double barreled shot-gun, 1863, Reference Number: 1/2-019840-F, Alexander Turnbull Library. 

According to the NZHPT file, the Trust holds this carving, but they have also misidentified it as that of Te Hira Te Kawau.

This one is correct (apart from the spelling), and is the Maori head currently displayed at the NZHPT Auckland office -- the one that started this hunt for me. Paora Tuhaere, known as "Paul" to the European settlers in 1866-1868, was a prominent Ngati Whatua chief.

Paora Tuhaere, [ca 1875]. Ref 1/2-073329-F. Paora Tuhaere, with a moko, circa 1875. He wears a Maori cloak. Photographer unidentified. Alexander Turnbull Library. 

Another one that hasn't been misidentified. Hard to miss the distinctive features of Governor Sir George Grey. This is held by NZHPT today.

Correct, also. This is on display at the NZHPT Auckland office (see top).

Held at the Auckland Museum, who correctly identify this head as Bishop George Augustus Selwyn, the NZHPT list still identifies it as Edward Gibbon Wakefield. Considering Wakefield's impact on the founding of the Wellington settlement, and Auckland still smarting from 1865 over losing the right to call ourselves the capital of the colony in favour of that southern city -- this was not a good guess on the part of the Star.

Bishop Selwyn, 1875, from Wikipedia.

Correct -- Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, husband to Queen Victoria. This one is at the Museum and is on display -- but they call him the Duke of Kent ...

NZHPT have this one correctly identified, however.

Prince Albert, 1848. From Wikipedia.

Why would the Star have surmised that this was a Duke of Kent (and his wife, the Duchess, below)? The one almost holding that title at the time of the building of the post office was Queen Victoria's son, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (he was Earl of Kent). But if the dashing and famous Prince Alfred had been included, that would have been the name included in the Southern Cross and the Herald in 1868. Late in the 20th century, in a bit of a scramble to make sense of things, it was theorised that this one, and the one below, were Queen Victoria's parents.

But really -- I'd go with what the two newspapers said, contemporary to the completion of the post office: these are of Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, and his (then) relatively new bride, Princess Alexandra of Denmark.

Engagement photo, 1862. From Wikipedia.

A younger Alexandra. Notice the ringlets -- a feature Teutenberg tried to capture.

Today, misidentified both by NZHPT and the Museum, the head is on display at the latter.

We are down to the two described by the Southern Cross in 1868 as "another celebrated native chief and his wife."

The Auckland Star identified this one as representing Motire Toha, but for some reason the part about "a celebrated chief and his wife" was missed. As NZHPT also identify this one as Motire Toha (and, with no images yet found, I can't say whether that is correct or not, so I'll accept it for now), this means the tenth corbel head in the set is that of her husband, Kati Takiwaru, younger brother of Potatau Te Wherowhero, the first Maori King. Kati Takiwaru was associated with the Maori settlement at Mangere along with Tamati Ngapora, and is buried there.

A beautiful tombstone has just been completed by Buchanan Bros., stonecutters, to the order of Government, to be erected at Mangere over the grave of Kati Takiwaru, an influential chief who died a few days ago. He was younger brother to Te Wheoro, who is at present so useful in negotiating between the King Natives and Government. The monument has the following inscription : —

"Sacred to the memory of Kati Takiwaru, a chief of the Waikato, and younger brother of Te Wheoro-Wheoro, who, with his children and grandchildren, descendants of Tapene their ancestor, is buried in this tomb. This stone is raised to their memory by the Government of New Zealand, during the administration of George Grey, Premier, and John Sheehan, Native Minister, in the month of September, 1878." 

 Christchurch Star, 15 November 1878

Angas, George French 1822-1886 :Te Werowero, or Potatau the principal chief of all Waikato. Te Waru, principal chief of the Nga Ti Apakura tribe. Te Pakaru, principal chief of the Nga Ti Maniapoto tribe. George French Angas delt & lith. Plate 44. 184

Images of Potatau Te Wherowhero are few and far between. This illustration (seated left, from the Alexander Turnbull Library, ref. PUBL-0014-44) indicates wavy, curly hair as in the Teutenberg head -- but the sculpture could just as easily be his younger brother (for whom there are no available images).

Matire Toha wasn't married to Potatau Te Wherowhero, so that identification isn't correct. She wasn't married to Hone Heke either, but that didn't stop the head being identified as such in the 1960s by NZHPT's Auckland committee.

The list at NZHPT doesn't include the Kati Takiwaru scuplture, but I'd say it may well be in their safe-keeping. They do hold the one identified as Matire Toha, his wife.

The main Teutenberg corbel heads from the Post Office, possibly along with as many of 12 smaller sculptures from the building, had been intended for the Old Colonists' Museum.

"In 12 smaller ones the artist has simply let his fancy run: two are of women in bonnets and the rest mostly of bearded warriors. The remaining four are grotesque animal heads, two having drainpipes issuing from their mouths. In any event it is to be hoped that the rest of the sculptures will be preserved in the Old Colonists' Museum or elsewhere as relics of early Auckland."

 NZ Herald 11 January 1936

The Museum has three gargoyles, NZHPT one (on an uncut block). Above are two of the Museum's gargoyles -- the top misidentified as Hone Heke. Why, I just don't know ... perhaps because of the tongue sticking out? Could just as much be some cheeky larrikin. The identification, without evidence, is dubious.

The Old Colonists' Museum (site of the City Art Gallery today) never received the sculptures. For some reason or other, they ended up stored in the basement of the Auckland Town Hall. This came to the attention of the Auckland Committee of what was then the National Historic Places Trust, who wrote on 29 May 1957 to the Council's Town Clerk enquiring about them. In response, A J Dickson, City Engineer and Director of Works, advised that they would be stored carefully so as not to cause damage, and that the committee could go along to inspect them. This meant shifting the sculptures to a works depot at Freemans Bay. The Committee applied to the Council for them to take over care of the sculptures, and the Council agreed on 19 August that year. The committee immediately entered into discussions with the Supreme Court, to obtain space for the sculptures there.

On 21 November 1960, Basil King, secretary to the committee, wrote to the Council:

... my committee have made arrangements for six stone heads from the City Depot to be mounted in the vestibule of the Supreme Court, the actual work being in the care of Mr E A Lawry, member of the Committee and a registered architect in practice in Auckland.

At its last meeting the Committee considered what might be the best thing to do with the balance of the heads, some of which are not seriously damaged. It was thought that a few could, with advantage, be used in City parks and reserves as it would seem difficult to justify them being deposited in some dump.

It was also thought that after the City had made use of those it required, perhaps the rest might be offered to Citizens of Auckland who might be interested and could use them as garden ornaments.

E A Lawry worked with Draffin & Lawry, architects. The sculptures were worked on by Parkinson's monumental masons.

F J Gwilliam the Town Clerk replied that the Director of Parks viewed them as unsuitable for the City's parks, but that the committee might go ahead on its own behalf with the idea of offering Aucklanders a piece of Teutenberg sculpture (I'm presuming they meant the lesser gargoyle ones) as "garden ornaments."

24 October 1962, the committee wrote to the Registrar of the Supreme Court.

... suitable pedestals are now ready to support eight sculptured heads of European and Maori notable persons of a century ago. They will stand about shoulder high ... A suitable legend explaining these personalities will be attached to each piece of statuary to inform the public of the historical merit of the display. 

The sculptures on display were:
Queen Victoria;
"The Prince Regent" (actually, Albert was correctly the Prince Consort);
Sir George Grey;
"Edward Gibbon Wakefield" (actually, Bishop Selwyn);
"Hira Te Kawau" (actually, Wiremu Tamihana);
Paora Tuhaere;
Potatau Te Wherowhero (actually, more likely his brother Kati Takiwaru);
and Matiri Toha.

If the committee did install "legends" beneath the sculptures, 50% of them would have been in error.

By February 1963, the committee already had the heads on display -- in Milne and Coyce's Queen Street windows (at a time of a Royal Visit). By April, the Supreme Court advised they only had space to display six of the heads. The committee asked if the other four could be stored in the court's basement for the time being. By February 1964, the number to be mounted at the Supreme Court had dropped to five; the committee contacted the Auckland Institute and Museum, asking if they would accept a donation of two of the other heads, "one Maori chief and one Maori woman". These may have been Wiremu Tamihana and Matiri Toha. The Museum apparently accepted -- but access to the court basement was blocked off due to renovations for three months. The committee asked the Museum to wait.

In the end, after the renovations were completed, six heads went up on display at the Supreme Court -- and the Museum ended up obtaining four: "Wakefield" (Bishop Selwyn), Prince Albert, "Duchess of Kent" (Princess Alexandra), Wiremu Tamihana, and Matiri Toha, judging by the images of the six the committee held onto for the Supreme Court display. (Herald, 18 July 1963)  This lasted into at least the early 1970s.

At some point since then, though, the Museum and NZHPT have entered into a 20 year loan agreement for four of the heads and three of the surviving gargoyles to be located at the Museum -- although, with the confusion between "Wakefield" and Bishop Selwyn, it isn't entirely clear from the NZHPT list compiled perhaps much more recently which heads the Museum actually does or doesn't have: the whereabouts of that of Kati Takiwaru (identified publicly as both Potatau Te Wherowhero and Hone Hika by NZHPT in the 20th century) isn't recorded.

I think, perhaps, the sculptures should cease to be so divided between the two institutions, and go to where it was intended that they be: the Auckland Art Gallery, the site of the Old Colonists' Museum, and a place where the set could be together, instead of splitting Queen Victoria from her beloved Albert (she would not be amused at such an arrangement!), and King Edward VII from his Alexandra. The ten heads faced Shortland Street from beside and beneath the entry arches of the old Post Office from 1867-68 until 1936.

I think they should be together again.

With all their correct names. Please.

Miramar Gasworks Tramway

Gas works at Miramar, Wellington, 1920s. The words `Wellington Gas Co Ltd' are upon the gates in the foreground. Photograph taken by Sydney Charles Smith. Ref. 1/1-024844-G, Alexander Turnbull Library.

Andrew sent a link through earlier this month to a great well-illustrated and fact-chocked webpage by Steve Cook on the Miramar Gasworks Tramway in Wellington. Worth checking out.

Tunnelling under Albert Park

Looking east from Albert Park towards Princes Street, showing part of the gardens and the fountain (right); photographer Henry Winkelmann, 6 January 1921, ref. 1-W1710, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Council Libraries.

Looking at the mown lawns and laid-out gardens, with what statuary has survived the cruel indignities of vandalism over the decades, it is at times difficult to comprehend that beneath all that are the remains of one of Auckland's bits of wartime history.

Map of the WWII Albert Park tunnels. Click to enlarge. NZ Map 6508, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Council libraries

Come the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, precautions were hastily arranged lest our city suffered air raids, or attack by sea. One of the ideas was to create a vast system of tunnels beneath Albert Park to Wellesley, Kitchener and Victoria Streets, under Bowen Avenue to another part of Kitchener Street and across Waterloo Quadrant and Symonds Street to Constitution Hill; an air raid shelter complex capable of hosting 20,000 Aucklanders working in the city centre.

DEEP SHELTERS AUCKLAND PROPOSAL TUNNELS UNDER ALBERT PARK (P.A.)
AUCKLAND, January 19.
A scheme to provide deep air-raid shelters for more than 20,000 people in tunnels under Albert Park and Constitution Hill is to be submitted to the Government through the Public Works Department by the Auckland City Council and the Auckland Central Committee of the Emergency Precautions Service. The Mayor and Chief Warden, Mr. Allum, said that various proposals were under discussion. Plans for a scheme prepared by the works technical group committee were nearing completion, and an early decision was expected. The scheme is complementary to one recently announced for making public shelters in 35 buildings in the central city area. If it is accepted by the Government the latter will provide 75 per cent, of the cost under the provisions of emergency shelter regulations. The proposed shelters consist .of three systems of timbered tunnels, two under Albert Park and one under Constitution Hill, with about a dozen entrances distributed so as to give easy access from various directions. The scheme provides for linking the two groups of tunnels under Albert Park with each other and by long connecting tunnels with the Constitution Hill group. This arrangement is meant to ensure that if some of the entrances were closed by bomb explosions a number of others would be available for egress, if necessary, at a distance. Mechanical ventilation, sanitation, and electric lighting are important features of the scheme. The steepness of the hillsides ensures ample head cover at a moderate distance inside each entrance …

Evening Post 20 January 1942 

BIG AUCKLAND SCHEME APPROVED (P.A.)
AUCKLAND, February 4.
The Albert Park and Constitution Hill tunnel shelter scheme for 20,000 people has been approved by the Government, according to advice received by the Mayor and chief warden, Mr. Allum. The practical effect of this is that the Government will find 75 per cent of the cost, which is estimated at £120,000, and the remainder will be provided by local bodies contributing to the upkeep of the Emergency Precautions Service in Auckland. The Mayor said that surveys on the site were still in progress, but he hoped it would be possible to start work very shortly. It was believed that if three shifts were employed it would be possible to complete the scheme in about, four months. The tunnels would begin to be usable as shelters at a fairly early stage, and accommodation would increase as the work went on. Plans prepared under the direction of the city engineer, Mr. Tyler, provide for groups of galleries arranged gridiron-fashion under Albert Park and the Bowen Avenue reserve. Each group will have cross-galleries at intervals so that there will be no dead ends. The shelter galleries are to be large enough in section to take a wooden bench on each side, with standing room between for use when all seating is occupied. Electric light and sanitation will be installed.

Evening Post 5 February 1942 

AUCKLAND SHELTERS SYSTEM OF TUNNELS (P.A.)
AUCKLAND, This Day. Work was begun today on the construction of a system of tunnels that will radiate under Albert Park, as one of the city's main raid precaution measures. An increasing number of workmen will be employed as the work progresses, including all available City Council staff and outside labourers, working day and night to finish the job in four months.

Evening Post 12 February 1942 

SHELTER TUNNELS
ALBERT PARK WORK
Men Busy 24 hours daily
Working 24 hours a day, large gangs of men are making progress with driving a system of tunnels under Albert Park, to provide shelter for 20,000 city workers in the event of an enemy attack from air or sea. Seven main and two subsidiary drives are being made from points around the perimeter of the park, and an extensive system of cross-tunnels is included in the scheme to avoid the possibility of people being trapped underground through any one of the entrances being blocked by a direct hit. Under the harsh glare of electric lamps, far removed from the friendly daylight, men are constantly working in what to a stranger seems an inferno of noise.

Overhead, the stout timbers that line and support the tunnels are dimly seen, and at the face of grey sandstone, earth or clay, men stand or crouch, chiselling away at the stone with pneumatic tools. Operators have their heavy picks against the face, and the tunnel is filled with a deafening roar that ceases when the air-pressure is turned off only long enough for them to change position and make a fresh attack. Other workmen shovel the spoil into trucks, and rails run back to the entrance, where the spoil is converted by a hoist into a hopper, and discharged into waiting motor trucks. For all the sense of unreality underground, with endless noise and dampness underfoot caused through seepage, there is a feeling of real security from any possible raid. The timbers that line the roof and sides of the tunnel are mounted in such a way that the immense pressure from above serves merely to set them more firmly to position, and ventilation is good, special shafts having been provided.

Ultimately the doors of the tunnels will be covered with scoria, seats will be provided, a more permanent system of electric lighting installed, and first-aid posts built. A special feature will be blast-chambers, with stout walls designed to prevent the blast of near misses from penetrating deep into the tunnels, and injuring occupants. Because only a limited number of men can work at any one face, work is being done on some tunnels from both ends, and also from the middle. This is made possible by sinking shafts down from the surface to tunnel level, and working from there to connect with the tunnels being pushed forward from the perimeter. An emergency water supply, for use for fire-fighting, should the main supply be interrupted, is contained in a reservoir built in Albert Park. It will hold 100,000 gallons. 

NZ Herald 14 May 1942 

AIR-RAID TUNNEL.
Auckland. —Tunnellers this afternoon fired the shot which finally pierced a tunnel 2000 feet long under Albert Park, extending from Victoria Street to Constitution Hill. The Mayor (Mr. Allum) and the City Engineer (Mr. Tyler) shook hands through the final opening. The tunnel and side tunnels will provide air-raid accommodation for 20,000 people in the heart of the City. 

Evening Post 12 August 1942 

After all the hard work, the shelters were opened in October 1942.

The Mayor of Auckland, J A C Allum, photographed with a group of officials at the entrance to the Albert Park Tunnel. Photographed in October 1942 by the Weekly News. Ref. PAColl-0783-2-0064, Alexander Turnbull Library.

Auckland Shelters.
The air-raid shelters under Albert Park were inspected by the Governor-General, Sir Cyril Newall, yesterday, a Press Association message reports. His Excellency made a detailed inspection along the route, and at the plan board made careful inquiry into the practical aspects of dealing within a few minutes with a very large crowd. One point he made which should be given the widest publicity, the message says, is the tendency of people in the first rush to stop at the end of the access tunnels. This would soon block the entrances. The Mayor informed him that wardens would be posted to keep the stream moving rapidly inward. 

Evening Post 5 December 1942 

Two things, however. One: after all that, we weren't bombed from the skies or shot at from the Waitemata Harbour. Two: the tunnels cost money, quite a sum for maintenance, let alone all that electricity. The other councils in the area which contributed towards the tunnels both in their construction costs and ongoing maintenance, began to get edgy as the war wore on, and it became apparent how far back from the front our country turned out to be. The EPS was questioned, and the decision came to fill in the tunnels.

The Auckland central committee of the E.P.S. decided today that as soon as labour is available the public shelter trenches will be filled in and the Public Works Controller, who is the city engineer, has been given instructions, the Mayor said, to begin the work as soon as possible. There will be no objection to people filling in their backyard trenches. The tunnels are to be maintained in the meantime. 

Evening Post 11 August 1943 

But wait! some said in Auckland City. We have traffic problems (due to being a city designed for horse-and-cart, rather than the ever-increasing in numbers motor car). How about preserving the tunnels, and having traffic drive straight through?

A CITY OUTLET
AUCKLAND TUNNEL SCHEME
AUCKLAND, This Day. P.A.
Representatives of the Auckland local bodies in conference this morning viewed with favour a proposal that a traffic tunnel as a new outlet from the city should be constructed under Albert Park, where there is at present an extensive tunnel shelter. The Mayor, Mr. J. A. C. Allum, submitted a comprehensive report containing four recommendations, firstly that the City Council seek Government authority to construct a tunnel as proposed by the city engineer at. an estimated cost of £276,000, secondly that the council undertake to fill in the side tunnels at an estimated cost of £30,000 without subsidy from the Government or contribution from the local authorities, thirdly that the Government be requested to contribute £75,000 towards the cost of the works outlined, and fourthly that the Government and contributory local bodies be requested to allow the council to take over without payment all the existing plant and equipment, arid whatever portion of the existing tunnel work which may be of value in constructing the traffic tunnel. The delegates decided to recommend the scheme to their local bodies as a reasonable one. 

Evening Post 17 November 1943 

But -- this was thought about, and found to be an idea with nowhere to go.

The abandonment of the proposal to construct a traffic tunnel under Albert Park was agreed to by the City Council on Thursday on the recommendation of the .Mayor, Mr. J. A. C. Allum. The recommendation was made in a report in which he advised that the Government was prepared to contribute £45,000 on condition that the money was applied either to back-filling of the existing air-raid tunnels or towards the construction of a traffic tunnel. As the Government was responsible for 75 per cent of the cost of back-filling the tunnels, the Mayor said it would be seen that its estimated liability, namely, £43,500, nearly equalled the amount of the present offer, and conferred no material advantage on the council. Mr. Allum said the cost of maintaining the tunnels was now considerable owing to the natural deterioration of the timber. He recommended that the Auckland Metropolitan Emergency Precautions Organisation be requested to back-fill the tunnels as soon as possible. The recommendation was adopted. 

Evening Post 15 July 1944 

Auckland Air-raid Tunnels.
The filling of the air-raid tunnels under Albert Park, Auckland, has been started. After several months' preparation a certain amount of material was packed into position on Friday, and it is hoped to have operations fully under way this week. When a joint tender of £54,437 was accepted for the work last April a condition of the contract was that the fillings should be completed within a year. Until now the contractors have been engaged in opening a quarry, testing materials, and installing equipment in the tunnels to handle specially-made wet clay bricks, which will be used for filling. According to an estimate made some time ago, about 5,500,000 of these bricks will be required.

Adjustments to equipment in the tunnels have delayed the start of filling operations longer than anticipated, but it has been possible to place a number of the bricks in the main tunnel running from Victoria Street to the foot of Constitution Hill. The actual start was made at a point almost under Princes Street. Some of the bricks were taken by motor-lorry from Victoria Street and others were carried by trolleys from the Parnell end. Trolleys will be used for practically all the transport when the work is fully under way. It is anticipated that about 15 men will then be employed. 

Evening Post 20 August 1945

Many sources state that the unfired clay bricks came from New Lynn. Perhaps a fair amount did -- but much of the clay came from Pt Chevalier, near the old quarries alongside the Oakley Creek, from land purchased by Albert Crum and a consortium to quarry the clay and truck it out to the tunnels (see valuation field sheet files for Morrow Street, Auckland Council archives).

The story of the tunnels isn't yet over, what with reports of subsidence, entrepreneurs talking of creating a tourist attraction there -- and just general curiosity into one of Auckland's hidden engineering feats.

You'll find a lot about the tunnels online:

Wikipedia
Rootsweb
Exploration by the Intrepid Binary Brothers (my favourite link)

The sealed up tunnels, 1949. Ref. 7-A13963, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Council Libraries

Albert Park's box

My good friends Bill and Barbara Ellis have done me a great favour by sending through these shots of a traffic control box I keep meaning to photograph myself -- at the base of Albert Park in the city, just at the top of Victoria Street, and close to the (now) sealed off entrance to the WWII Albert Park tunnels. Thanks, folks!

A platform and and a pier at Official Bay

Detail from SO 4, crown copyright, LINZ records

I was looking for early things regarding Parnell recently, and a mis-cataloguing by Land Information New Zealand and their Landonline service led me to a Survey Office plan which wasn't about Parnell at all. Sometime in the very early 1860s, someone (perhaps Charles Heaphy) prepared what was to become SO 4, showing detail to a few bits of land in Freeman's Bay, and Official Bay.

This was what intrigued me: "Carr's Platform", just to the east adjoining the long T-shaped Wynyard Pier in Official Bay. A fenced-odd square (actually likely retaining wall, see comments below) on the beach, beside a sawpit, and possibly Carr's factory just below.

This plan also showed two more sets of similar structures, over at Freeman's Bay.

So, who was this man who owned a platform at Official Bay?

James William Carr, photo held at Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Council Libraries. Reproduced with permission.

According to Euan and Robert Carr, who wrote about their ancestor in the Auckland-Waikato Historical Journal, April 2000, James William Carr was born in London in 1827.  His father was a boat builder as was his grandfather. Their article says that Carr arrived with his bride here in Auckland in 1849, and started a boat building business here, before a brief interruption of travelling to San Francisco after word of the gold there, only to return in March 1851. He must have kept his head down, though -- or didn't actually have a business of his own in Auckland until later, in November 1853, where we see he had been employed by a Mr Beeson, and had only just taken over premises at Fort Street, to build his boats.

 

Southern Cross 29 November 1853

But, as seen later, Carr advertised that his business began in 1849. Whatever the true date was -- it appears he was usually quite successful, and good at his trade.

 

Southern Cross 5 September 1854

Southern Cross 15 August 1859

By late 1859, we find Carr on the move. This was the period when Commercial Bay was being filled in and reclaimed, and Customs Street formed in front of Fort Street, no longer the fore shore and haven for boat builders. He obviously decided to move east. He took out a lease on Lot 15, Section 8 of the City of Auckland in June 1859 (DI 1A.92, LINZ records), the site right next to Wynyard Pier. Obvious, then, why he so-named his boat-building factory there, near the end of Short Street.

Southern Cross 11 February 1862

 

Southern Cross 15 November 1862

He assigned his lease to a Mr Harris in August 1862, and by November that year the site where he'd been for less than three years was up for auction sale. He didn't reappear in the newspapers until March 1866, with his Red House boat building business, next to the Auckland Gas Company works in Brickfield Bay (the intersection of Wyndham and Nelson Streets today).

Southern Cross 5 March 1866

But where had he gone in the intervening four years? Apparently -- up north to Batley on the banks of the Otamatea River. James William Carr and his brother William Joshua Carr, according to Carr family history, had the first store there during the initial period of Albertlander settlement, a hut later taken over by Joseph Masefield, and later still becoming the site of the Batley wharf. Probably, like a few other cases during the Albertlander immigration period of the early 1860s, the brothers Carr weighed up the privations of life up in the Kaipara at the time, versus the rewards which (at that time) probably seemed very far off. William Joshua Carr left the colony, and James William Carr returned to Auckland.

The Welcome Dining Rooms opened on Customs Street West, opposite Gleeson's Hotel, bottom of Nelson Street, in 1883. Photo ref 4-RIC372, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Library.

By the 1880s, Carr's sons had joined the business. In 1883, Carr was elected to the Mt Roskill Road Board, becoming chairman two years later and remaining in that post for ten years. Carr Road in Mt Roskill is said to be named after him. He died in 1909 and was buried at Purewa Cemetery.

But as to why whoever drew up the survey plan called his patch on the beach a "platform" -- I still don't know. Any ideas from readers would be welcome.

Detail from SO 9, 1864, crown copyright, LINZ records

As for the Wynyard Pier itself, that originated from a subscription drive for funds in April 1851, and while it wasn't opened officially, the Southern Cross eagerly awaited its completion later that year.

During the progress of this Pier, we have frequently had occasion to allude to the beauty and solidity of the construction, as well as to the vast convenience it is calculated to afford to passengers landing, and embarking at all times of tide. The work is now approaching towards completion, and we may, we believe, safely assert, that a more substantial or more graceful structure could not easily be put together. The pier is indeed a feature of gratifying prominence in Official Bay. It is in the shape of the letter T and from its landward to its seaward extremities, is 480 feet in length, by 10 feet in breadth. Inside of either angle of the T there are staircases for the convenience of passengers and at intervals, further up the platform, there is also a staircase on either side. When we recollect that for the last ten or eleven years there existed in Auckland no landing place whatever, we cannot but feel grateful to Lieut-Colonel Wynyard for the anxiety he evinced in originating this pier, as well as for the unwearied assiduity with which he has at length conducted it to successful and substantial completion ... Under these circumstances, then, we venture to express a hope that when this pier shall be opened, as we understand it shortly will, it may receive the appropriate and well merited name of "The Wynyard Pier." And, to give eclat to that opening, occur when it may, we have heard that a miniature Regatta has been some time in contemplation. 

Southern Cross 28 November 1851

There was a bit of a fireworks display off the pier in August 1852, but as hardly anyone was told about it, hardly anyone attended.

One feature of Wynyard Pier was that this was where water was supplied, from a tank located just beside what was briefly Carr's boat building yards, supplied by a long piping system from the waters of the Waiariki spring, Waiariki being also the original name for Official Bay.

Wynyard pier (mid distance) as seen from eastern Mechanics Bay, 1850s. Ref 4-5182, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Council Libraries.

Same view, 1860s. Ref 4-834, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Council Libraries.

Wynyard Pier was where troops arrived by ship, disembarking for the march up to Albert Barracks in the 1850s. Foley's Menagerie, the first of its kind in the country in 1855, entertained Aucklanders alongside the pier on the beach amongst the trees -- possibly pohutukawas. In 1857, H Webster informed ladies via advertisement in the newspapers "that he has one of his Bathing Machines now ready, and at their service," from 7am to 1pm, and from 2 pm until evening, at the "Bathing Office, Wynyard Pier". His wife, a milliner, also sold tickets.

Henry Dangar's Steam four mill, preceding the pier by a matter if months in 1851, remained on the western side of the pier until around 1862, the period when Carr was shifting out and commencing his brief period up north.

By 1862, though, the pier seemed to have passed its heyday.

Sir, 

The pier in Official Bay seems gradually falling to pieces. Pray, who is to blame? I presume the provincial government have charge of it. It is a great pity for want of a stitch in time, that so useful a structure should be allowed to fall to pieces but I suppose no political partisans have land close to it. Yours, R. 

Southern Cross 24 November 1862

But -- not quite so.

Sir,

Could you, or any of your correspondents, inform me if Wynyard Pier is to be used for foot passengers alone, or to be a landing place for sheep, cattle, &c. As  I am informed, some hundred sheep were landed yesterday and to-day, causing a loss to me, and a breach of contract, if not protected, as I paid an advance of £600 and upwards on last year's rent, on the faith of no other wharf being allowed for traffic. I have always understood that Wynyard Pier was devoted to the personal convenience of the public and I presume the police, or someone having authority, will see who are the aggressors, and protect my traffic in future.

I am, &c, 

Jno. Russell, 

Lessee Queen-street Wharf. Auckland, January 13, 1864

Southern Cross 14 January 1864

Wynyard Pier was the point where Governors arrived, and from which Royals (such as Prince Alfred in 1869) left the city for other ports.

The stub of the pier in the 1870s. Beach Road is already being formed, and causeway formed across adjoining Mechanics Bay. Official Bay now virtually a memory. Ref. 4-540, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Council Libraries.

But as the 1870s proceeded, the pier began to fade.

We are sorry to find that the Wynyard Pier is fast failing into a state of dilapidation, and is melting away. The timbers are perfectly rotten, and in many places the planks have disappeared bodily. This jetty has always been a favorite place for promenading on summer evenings, and even for that reason ought to be kept in such repair as would prevent people from breaking their legs. 

 Auckland Star 14 December 1871 

The disgraceful state of Wynyard Pier, to which we have repeatedly called attention, has at length caused an accident, as we predicted. Captain Gilfillan, of the schooner Nukulau, while going down the pier on Saturday night to where his boat was moored, slipped through one of the dangerous apertures which have wantonly been allowed to remain. He fortunately saved himself from dropping in the sea, but two of his ribs were fractured in the fall, and he is now under medical treatment. Public safety demands that the pier be either repaired forthwith or closed, and unless something is done after the repeated attention called to it by the press, should any fatal accident occur there is no hesitation in saying that the authorities, who have charge of this pier will have been as much guilty of manslaughter as any reckless driver who runs over and kills a fellow creature. 

 Auckland Star 11 March 1872

Railway works were commencing around this time, finally connecting Auckland with Onehunga -- and the beach where Carr built his boats became the line along which the trains would pass. In combination with that, Beach Road was initiated, linking downtown Auckland directly with Mechanics Bay and on to Parnell. The Auckland Harbour Board in January 1873 considered the old Wynyard Pier, now broken in two places by the railway contractor was "almost beyond repairing" and should probably be replaced by a wharf elsewhere. By July, the pier was largely demolished, the remainder just a jetty poking out from the other side of the railway embankment.

The pier's traffic now mainly redirected to Queen's Wharf, those east of the city felt aggrieved enough as to the inconvenience of losing their ready access thanks to railway construction as to take it through to Parliament in 1875, where proposals for re-erection of the pier were mooted. The wrangle over the lost access to the pier continued on as far as 1879.

Detail from "Standard Survey, City of Auckland", 1879. Ref NZ Map 116, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Council Libraries.

The Auckland railyards, looking towards Parnell, 1880s. Wynyard Pier's remnant left of centre. Ref 4-1027, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Council Libraries.

Petitioners asked the Harbour Board in 1879 to lengthen the stub of the pier into deep water -- but the Board turned down the request. Ladies, though, still strolled there, little boys fished, and the occasional shark was caught, and made the headlines. The public, with no direct access, simply crossed the railyards anyway, despite the dangers. The authorities seemed to relent in 1885 by promising a special road access to the old wharf -- but there was still discussion about a bridge access over the rail lines into 1889.

The extended Wynyard Pier, c1900. Ref 4-939, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Council Libraries

Then, in 1899, the Harbour Board agreed to extend Wynyard Pier, by then popular with yachtsman as well as nearby boat builders. For the first three decades of last century, the pier remained -- but finally, development of both Tamaki Drive from 1928 and the Auckland Railway Station in the early 1930s on Beach Road finished it off. Carr's Platform would possibly now be deep under the vicinity of 73 Beach Road.