Legend Maker: Rev. Alexander MacKenzie

In 2005-2006, starting with a speech before the NZ Pioneers & Descendants, I spoke to about 8 different groups on the "Danish Princess" legend. Jessie MacKenzie's grave is arguably the most famous in West Auckland -- many have come across the stories of royalty making unofficial visits to Avondale's St Ninians cemetery. In 1986 the Danish consul, when approached by some folk and advised that the 99th anniversary of Jessie's death was coming up, was unfortunately not aware of the decades of letter from Denmark (and Wales, and Scotland ...) denying all knowledge of a princess in the grave. He came out with staff dressed in Danish national costume to a service at the gravesite. As I said during the speeches, when I found this out, if he'd only waited for the 100th anniversary, he'd have found out all about the legend ...

The Legend Maker: Rev. Alexander MacKenzie (1842-1920)

An early Rosebank industry: the Best family's varnish works

Back in 2005, I compiled a history of the Best family varnish works for an article in the Avondale Historical Journal. The embedded document is updated to include an account of the fire and destruction of the works in 1907 -- it was rebuilt, but on a vastly smaller scale amid the ruins, to continue producing varnish from kauri gum into the first three decades of the 20th century.

Best's Varnish Works - Upload a Document to Scribd

Mrs. Vera Crawford (1907-2006)

Written as an obituary, for the Spider's Web.

On Friday 19th May 2006, Mrs. Vera Florence Rebecca Crawford, née Syers, died aged 98. With her passing, another part of Avondale’s history slipped away. Mrs. Crawford came to Avondale with her family in 1916, her father a railwayman, in charge of the lines from Avondale to Henderson until his retirement in 1931. Mrs. Crawford first saw Avondale in the days when horse-and-cart was still the main way goods were delivered to homes, before the Great North Road was concreted, before there was even a Borough Council, let alone the amalgamation with Auckland City.

She married Jim Crawford in the 1940s, and together they managed and operated the Morrison & Crawford Garage at 1851-1853 Great North Road until Mr. Crawford’s first stroke in 1957, and then his death in September 1966.

After Mr Crawford died, Mrs Crawford managed the business for another ten years, shifting the service station and realigning it to its current layout. As reported in a contemporary trade magazine: “Whilst we now see women taking an increasing part in the management of New Zealand service stations, she surely was a pioneer in this area. And why did she take on this challenge? ‘Because people told me that (as a woman) I couldn’t do it,’ says Mrs Crawford.”

In 1976, the business was sold to Curtis & Miller, and more recently was known as Tahal’s Service Station. It is currently under the Caltex brand.

Mrs. Vera Crawford had, during her life, served as a nurse in the Melanesian Missions, worked for Plunket and the Anglican Church, and even supported a Mother’s Union group in her last years at Selwyn Village, where they celebrated her long and busy life on Monday 22 May. In June 2001, she took time out to talk to me, while I was gathering information on our village’s past for Heart of the Whau. “You won’t get much from me,” she’d said on meeting her and shaking her hand. “I don’t remember much.” I was there at her unit for three hours, that first time, and left amazed and awed by how much that wonderful lady did remember. Thanks to her, we have some of those memories to pass on to those who come after us.

Mrs. Vera Florence Rebecca Crawford, 1907-2006 – Avondale businesswoman, nurse, community stalwart, matriarch to her family and a determined lady. Thank you, Mrs. Crawford, for the pleasure of knowing you.

Street Stories 3: Thomas Russell’s Greytown

In early 1863, a map was drawn up of a subdivision which was to be auctioned by Samuel Cochrane on behalf of Thomas Russell. Russell, better known in New Zealand history as one of the founders of the Bank of New Zealand, had purchased Allotment 64 that month from city publican Daniel Lockwood. Immediately, it was surveyed and 48 sections mapped out, along with four new streets: Blake Street, Layard Street, Cracroft Street and Browne Street (the latter alternately lost and regained its "e" over the years). The subdivision was entitled “Greytown”.

Now, it is fairly easy to see who the “Greytown” was named after: Governor Grey, at the time embroiled with the land wars of the 1860s. But why were the streets so named?

I still can’t be certain at this stage, but I have some theories for you.

Blake Street (now St Jude Street) may have been named for Lieutenant William E Blake, while Cracroft Street (now Crayford Street) could have been in honour of Captain Peter Cracroft. Both men served aboard the HMS Niger during the Taranaki period of the 1860s land wars. In March 1860 they saved volunteers and militia by attacking a Maori pa at Waireka. The settlers during the battle of Waireka were led by a Captain Brown, but the new street on the Greytown map clearly had “Browne” with an “e” on the end. I’m led to think, therefore, that Governor Thomas Robert Gore Browne might be a more likely candidate, as it was under his leadership that the Taranaki campaign began in 1860. Browne Street is now Rosebank Road.

The odd one out remains Layard Street. There doesn’t seem to be a connection in the land wars history with anyone by that name. As I mentioned in Heart of the Whau, there could be one possibility: a British Imperial hero, academically anyway, named Sir Austen Henry Layard. In 1851 he made significant discoveries regarding ancient Assyria, and was called “Layard of Ninevah”, the most famous archaeologist of his time. In the 1860s, however, after failures in politics, he was working in the Foreign Office in London.

Without access to Thomas Russell’s papers of the time, we may never know for certain why he chose these names for his 1863 subdivision, which included around half of today’s Avondale Mainstreet. But of all of them today, only Layard Street has kept its name.

Street Stories 2: “Lucus a non lucendo”

Fourth century Roman grammarian Honoratus Maurus gave examples in his writings of “etymology by opposites”. Putting it simply, his “Lucus a non lucendo” means calling a grove a “lucus” (similar to the word for light) made “sense” in that there was little light in a forest grove. In other words, it represents the far-fetched derivations cooked up for the meaning of street names as we know them today, in many cases.

In 1929, an anonymous writer in the Auckland Star used the same phrase, “lucus a non lucendo” to comment on the pattern being considered then for the renaming of Avondale’s streets.

Fifty-two streets in both the former Avondale Borough and Tamaki Road Board areas were on lists for reconsideration of name change by 1929. As the writer “W.M.” advised, Maori names were suggested for Avondale but discounted at the time. Taylor Street in Blockhouse Bay was “Taylor” in one part, “St Georges” in another (Taylor won out). Folk at the time weren’t happy about losing the name of Brown Street (now upper Rosebank Road between Blockhouse Bay Road and Great North Road), the name having been “so widely and so honourably associated with business that it was chosen for one of the chief business areas.” (I wonder which Mr. Brown this was who was so honoured? There had been at least two Browns of note in the 19th century story of Auckland enterprise.) The writer also queried why the more “euphonious” name of Manukau Road should be swapped for “Blockhouse Bay”.

But what really caught “W.M.’s” eye was the suggestion that Avondale, “with a few exceptions”, should be divided along the line of the railway when it came to deciding on street name changes – south of the line, the names coming from those of English counties, while north the names of trees were to be suggested. Take a look at a map of Waterview, Avondale and Blockhouse Bay today, especially one showing the line of the railway, and you’ll see what they meant by “north” and “south” of the line. South of the line you’ll see English and Irish place names crop up, ones which later commentators have erroneously explained away by saying it reflected the European patterns of settlement – but were actually just a matter of street renaming convenience for the Council and Post Office alike: Armagh, Exminster, Bolton, Crowther, Ulster, Wolverton, Tiverton, Holbrook, Margate, Hertford, Leinster, Bentleigh, and Donegal. In Waterview, a pocket of exception to the rule, with Middlesex, Daventry, Arlington, Hadfield, and Cowley north of the line. But in Avondale, the “north rule” brought the non-descriptive tree names: Plane, Aspen, Holly, Elm, Ash, Oregon and Maire. Trees by which the streets were never associated with at all.

Such is “Lucus a non lucendo”.

See also Street Stories 4.

Street Stories 1

These were originally written in 2005, I think for the Spider's Web newsletter in Avondale. I've done some updating reflecting information gathered since then.

Street names help us define where we live. In some cases, though, they are of more meaning than we think.

Take Henry Street. Along with Walsall Street (once known as Walton Street before the early 1930s), this is a memorial to Henry Walton (1815-1898) who owned the land called Roberton today. In 1838, he and his brother Charles arrived in Sydney, then journeyed to New Zealand, soon forming partnerships with Thomas Elmsley (who bought land at the Kaipara and Maungatapere) and William Smellie Grahame, a Scottish trader in Auckland from the 1840s. It is said that Charles and Henry Walton were the first in the Whangarei District to import sufficient men, stock and machinery to stock a complete farm there in 1840. Among Walton's achievements in this country: mediating between Sir George Grey and all Northland chiefs in 1862 over a major land dispute, election as a member of the Legislative Council in 1863 and appointment as Auditor of the Bank of New Zealand.

Roberton Road itself is named after John Roberton (c.1829-1894) who helped his friend Henry Walton from the mid 1880s until his death in organising the subdivision and sale of Walton’s Estate. Sometime from 1866 to the early 1870s, 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.

Walsall Street is one of several in Avondale and Waterview that lost their original names (and their meanings) in the early 1930s as Auckland City Council rationalised the multiplication of names within their (then) boundaries. Walton Street in Remuera had more residents – so ours had to change. In the main, new names were chosen randomly, with the common pattern being those which started with the first few letters of the old name.

Six Avondale streets once commemorated, by their designated names, the age of derring-do out there in the glory days of the British Empire – before World War I. The number of mute memorials to once celebrated British commanders now stands at three – Methuen Road, Cradock and Powell Streets, the rest having had their glorious designations changed over time.

Travel along Tiverton Road, across the roundabout which in a couple of years (according to plans drawn up) will become a set of traffic lights, then head down Wolverton Street towards New Lynn, and you journey down the two roads once known as Garnet Road (Tiverton) and Wolseley Road (Wolverton). Alas, these roads had their names changed during the early 1930s Auckland City Council reform of street names across the city. I’ve wondered as to the reason why a name which came to be synonymous with a popular make of 20th century motor vehicle should be next to one for a precious stone. I still have no firm proof – but the leading candidate for a theory as to why is Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley of Cairo (1833-1913). His career was a long one in the British military, and can’t be totally described here; suffice to say, he was involved in action in the Sudan and Egypt in the early 1880s, around the time both roads would have been formed for settlement, and tried in vain to come to the relief of General Gordon in Khartoum.

Travelling further north along Blockhouse Bay Road you come to Methuen Road. In 1903 this was the centre of Methuen Hamlet, one of the workers’ homes settlements devised around the country by the government to encourage settlement by offering sites with low mortgages to working class folk, within easy reach of the railway station (much like one of the intents of the Avondale’s Future Framework today, ironically enough). The road once terminated abruptly just east of Bollard Avenue, and is named after Paul Sanford Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen (1845-1932), best known for his exploits as a British commander during the Boer War (1899-1902).

Also along Blockhouse Bay Road, you find the other Imperial history survivor: Powell Street, named after the more famous Sir Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell (1857-1941), who became a hero throughout the old Empire for withstanding the Siege of Mafeking (1900) during the Boer War. Much later, after Powell Street (along with half of Cradock Street, part of the Cradock Hamlet, another workers’ settlement) was named, he founded the Boy Scouts movement.

The fifth street was Kitchener Street, centre of the Kitchener Hamlet (completing the set of three such settlements in Avondale), but we now know this road by the name Holly Street. The hamlet and road was in honour of Horatio Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener (usually referred to as “Lord Kitchener”) (1850-1916) who also, like Garnet Wolseley, served in the Sudan during the 1880s, as well as the Boer War, like Lord Methuen and Baden-Powell, shortly before Kitchener Hamlet was created. His face is the most well-known of all the commanders in this article, as the moustached stern visage pointing a finger at prospective recruits from the famous “Britons, [Lord Kitchener] Wants YOU!” posters of the First World War.

The sixth is Cradock Street, often misspelled Craddock because the latter just looks better somehow, I suppose. But the fighting Cradock brothers, any one of whom could be the reason behind Cradock Hamlet's name, would probably take issue with such arbitrary adding of letters to their family name. There are three brothers likely to be memorialised in the Avondale placename: Major Sheldon Cradock (1858-1922), who served in the Boer War and World War I with distinction; Lt. Col. Montagu Cradock (1858-1929, noted for campaigns both in Egypt and South Africa (and author, in 1904, of a now rare book called Sport in New Zealand, all about our abundant fish & game, shooting, horse racing, yachting and polo -- he's the front runner, I'd say); and Sir Christopher Cradock (1862-1914) who rose to the rank of Rear Admiral, served in the Sudan and China, and was later killed in action during the battle of Coronel. Take your pick.

Bell & Gemmell and the Riversdale Tannery

Image from a detail from Deed 40, LINZ records.

 The Bell and Gemmell tannery remains a mystery at this stage. I know roughly where it was: along the Whau River shoreline, between the railway line and bridge (north of Olympic Park) and the Whau Bridge at Great North Road. This was all land owned by John Buchanan, one of the early elders of the Avondale Presbyterian Church. But, with Bell (a member of the Whau Public Hall Committee and auditor for the Highway District Board) and Gemmell either working for Buchanan or leasing the property for the tannery from him, details are sketchy. There is, however, a likely archaeological site worth investigating along that stretch of the river, if anyone cared to give it a go.

The tannery appears to have been operating as early as 1878. In November 1879, the firm won a first prize at the Auckland Agricultural & Pastoral Show for "sole leather, sides, kip, butts, tweed, calfskins, memel kip, belting, hose leather, black and brown harness and bag leather." That's quite a range of product. All else that is known comes from a scattering of contemporary sources. Herald, 1882: "On part of Mr. Buchanan’s estate, at the head of the Whau Creek, is the fellmongery and tanning establishment of Messrs. Bell and Gemmell, who, from small beginnings, have now succeeded in acquiring a business which is as large as their plant can overtake. They are now making additions to buildings and machinery with a view to an extension of their trade.

Out of the 16 acres available they are about to plant a considerable breadth in wattle, so as to produce their own wattle bark at first hand, and save expense of importation."

Weekly News, 1883: "The Riversdale tannery and fellmongery (formerly Messrs. Bell and Gemmell's), recently converted into a company concern, has been enlarged, fresh pits put down, and additional machinery added of an improved description. Adjacent, some ten acres of land have been planted with black wattle for tanning purposes. This factory, and the older established one of Messrs Gittos and Sons, near the railway station, are now turning out large quantities of manufactured leather for local use and the interprovincial trade." Herald, 2 February 1884 (11 days before the auction of the property in the above image): "The Riversdale Tannery, situate on Mr. Buchanan’s estate farther westward, has been enlarged, and the machinery improved by the Riversdale Tannery Company. This factory is still on the fringe of the settled sections of the district, but if the Auckland suburban population pushes westward at the pace it has done of late years, it is only a question of time when the above institution will also be requested to “move on”."

 From Parliamentary reports, AJHR, H-14, 1884: T. Thompson prepared a report for the Premier, including an extract from Auckland merchants Potter & Co, regarding "The Cultivation of the Wattle". "I enclose copies of some information re wattle-growing in Victoria, also the result obtained from a tree cut down by Mr. Bell, manager of the Riversdale Manufacturing Company, Avondale, Auckland. I may mention that this company have 10 acres planted with wattle. The trees have been planted three years, and are now 12ft. high. Other 30 acres were planted last year, and are doing well ..." Memoranda from Mr. Bell, Avondale. "I cut down one of the wattle trees growing by itself on the Riversdale property, stripped and dried the bark, and it weighed when dry 56lb. This would give about 90 tons per acre for four or five years' growth. The tree I cut down would be four years old."

 By 1885, however, it appears that the firm had vanished from Avondale's landscape. Perhaps Buchanan pulled the plug in selling his "Avondale Estate" in February 1884. Perhaps the Long Depression began to bite, and the removal of the Gittos Tannery in 1886 convinced the firm to pack up and leave the area themselves. I'm just not sure -- but if anyone reading this sees any further references to them or to the tannery, I'd appreciate the info.

 An update (31 October 2008): On reading through some notes and articles I have on the Gittos tannery in Avondale, I saw that both a Mr. Bell and "R. Gemmell" were around in the Whau village in the late 1860s, associated with the Whau Minstrels, which took in most of its members from the Gittos tannery. Slender stuff, but Bell & Gemmell, like Elijah Astley, may have learned the skills of the leather trade while working at Gittos', and then branched out with Buchanan's assistance.

 Further update (5 November) here.

Moses Exler's pottery

Image: one of Moses Exler's ceramic lions, on display at Auckland War Memorial Museum.

It is not certain exactly when Moses Exler (1835-1900) arrived in Auckland. He landed at Brisbane in December 1874, and then decided to move on to Wellington, and finally Auckland where he worked first at George Boyd’s potteries in Newton, then at a Grey Lynn works, before settling in Avondale, on two sections between New Windsor Road and Tiverton Road. He purchased the two sections outright in 1882 and 1883 (the latter in a mortgagee sale), but may have leased them from the owners c.1879. By October 1880, he’d attracted the attention of the NZ Herald:

“Another local industry has been started in the Mount Albert District, about a quarter of a mile from the land taken up by the French vignerous for vine-culture. It is that of pottery-making, &c., by Mr Moses Exler. He had visited the Waikato and other districts without finding a piece of land so suitable as that which he has selected, which contains nine different varieties of clay. He is at present engaged in making flower pots, vases, and ferneries, also encaustic and ornamental tiles for gardens. Mr. William Aitken visited his place, the other day, and gave him, by way of fostering local industry, a large order for the latter articles, as has also Mr. Samuel Morrin. Mr. Exler is at present supplying Messrs. Mason, Wren and other gardeners with all they require in the above descriptions of pottery manufacture, and the industry promises to become thriving and lucrative, as the articles can be produced under the price of foreign importations.”

In 1882, the Herald said:

"Adjoining Captain James’ nursery is the Brick, Tile and Pottery Factory of Mr. Moses Exler, situate on a section of some six acres in extent. Mr Exler is a working man, and he and his two lads do all the work. Considering these circumstances, what he has accomplished by patient industry, in eighteen months, is something wonderful. Here are made drain and ornamental tiles, drain pipes, jars, bread-pans, and all kinds of brown ware, the latter class of goods having a glaze equal to that of similar ware turned out in the Staffordshire potteries. Had Mr. Exler looked the Province over he could not have got a piece of land with seams of clay better adapted for his purpose, and even Ingersoll would admit that this is not one of “Moses’ Mistakes.” In his kiln at the time of our visit were over 500 dozen of flower pots, drain tiles, and bricks. The flower pots, which are of excellent manufacture, are turned out in some cases as low as 4 ½ d. a dozen – about the English price. He has a good demand for all the bricks he can make, while his flower pots are furnished largely to the nurseries of Messrs. Wren, McDonald, Palmer and Green. Mr. Exler also exports flower pots to the South. He has a fine seam of white clay on his property, very suitable for the finer classes of houseware, but owing to lack of sufficient capital is unable to do much in that way. These valuable seams of clay seem to run down to the railway station, where in the face of the railway cutting they can be seen several feet thick."

The distinctive brick house at the corner of Exler Place probably dates from just after 1882, replacing an initial home which was little more than a “clay floor and shingle roof.” It is likely that the house also served to advertise the quality of Exler’s work to all who passed along the road, one of the main routes toward Onehunga.

His eldest son, also named Moses, was drowned in the Whau River on 5 July 1885.

“He had been working all night attending to a kiln that was burning, and in the morning, being all black from the smoke and coal dust,, the deceased and a coloured man named “Harry”, who had also been up all night watching the kiln, decided to go to the river for a wash. Exler being unable to swim, wished to go in the fresh water higher up the creek, where it is not so deep, but Harry asked him to go lower down to the salt water, alleging that the other was too cold. The deceased refused to do so, saying, “No, I won’t go there; if I do, I’ll be drowned.” Ultimately, however, his companion prevailed upon him to go into the salt water. They waded across the creek together in safety, but as they were coming back, Exler must have got into one of the blind channels, for he suddenly drifted away from his mate, and was drowned before he could assist him. This occurred at the portion of the river between Bell’s Tannery and the Whau Bridge. [Today, just north of Olympic Park.] As soon as the news reached the village, Mr. Richard Bollard came into Auckland to inform the police of the accident. At that time the body had not been recovered. Between one and two o’clock the body was discovered by a party of searchers near the boathouse of My John Buchanan. [Possibly just upstream from the Whau Bridge.] The deceased was a bright intelligent young man, universally liked by those who came in contact with him. He was engaged to a young lady residing in Grafton Road, whom he was in the habit of visiting on Sunday evenings. She was naturally surprised at not seeing him last evening, and it was not until this morning that the sad news of his unfortunate death reached her. The deceased was well known in Auckland, his father having been employed at Boyd’s Brick Works, and afterwards at the premises now occupied by the Arch Hill Brick and Tile Works.” (Auckland Star, 6 July 1885)

Exler potter was awarded two gold medals at the Auckland Exhibition of 1898-1899. His fired pots were used by local nurserymen. Decorative roof ridging from the pottery was used as one of the features of St Paul’s Church in Symonds Street. The pottery eventually closed in 1965.

The old Goods Shed is no more

An update from here.

The Western Line has been completely shut down this Labour Weekend for track maintenance, and so Ontrack can also get going in earnest on the two big projects -- the New Lynn rail trench and the Avondale station relocation. Going past with a friend this afternoon, I saw the last bit of the demolition of the Good Shed at the Avondale station -- above is what's left today.

I'm still waiting to see what happens to the Pigeon Club building. After all, although it's on railway land, the clubhouse belongs to the club. It'll all get sorted by December, I'd say.

Post updated here.

The Lively Brays of Mt Albert

I've been working on this piece of research for a couple of days, all coming via the usual circuitous route of diversion-following which I do when not really looking into a project specifically. In the city on Friday, at the end of some commissions, I went into the Research Centre at the library to look up some articles related to the Henderson racecourses. I was in the late December period for 1867 because Boxing Day on some years during the 1860s was when the Dundee Saw Mill Races were usually held (started initially by Thomas Henderson, apparently, for the benefit of his mill workers. Probably the stop-gap until a hotel could be started up there, and a healthier alternative to same.) Anyway ...

I was scanning through the NZ Herald film file for December -- and spotted the A. K. Taylor attack story of Christmas Eve. This had remained undated in the book In Old Mt Albert by Dick Scott. Then, later, I saw William Galbraith's rather pointed letter identifying himself as the man who "impertinently" put his head into Taylor's carriage -- something else I hadn't seen before. Finally, came the report of an arrest made and the police court hearing concerning William Bray. I then contacted a friend of mine who is a descendant of the Bray family of contractors in Onehunga, and asked if his line included some Mt Albert settlers, and the answer was yes ...

Now, I have another piece of Avondale's puzzle filled in, as well as Mt Albert's. Thomas Bray and his sons William and George owned land between what is now Richardson Road and Oakley Creek, leading down between Hendon Ave and New North Road (and, for a time, the Pak n' Save site as well). Part of that land, the remaining farm owned by Thomas Bray at least in the early 1880s, went to his son-in-law J. Stewart, whose name keeps popping up with some regularity as a landmark for both Avondale and Mt Albert Road Board minutes. All this may even help me nail down a Mr. Gallagher in the future, someone I've been trying to sort out (who attempted to start up a brickyard, and have a rail siding along Blockhouse Bay Road towards his land, but failed with both projects).

Anyway, here's the research:

The Lively Brays of Mt Albert.

Update: confusion between John Stewart (married to Mary Bray and the next owner of Thomas Bray's farm) and James Stewart (one of the owners of Allotment 66 and associated with the Thames Hotel) has been resolved. The original version of "The Lively Brays" has been deleted and replaced with the amendment (29 October 2008).

Update 28 April 2011: Info from Lew Redwood (see below also) re the Redwood-Bray connection. 

AWHS report on the Roberton area, 2005

The Avondale-Waterview Historical Society submitted the following to Auckland City Council in 2005 in response to proposals put forward to change the zoning of almost all of the Roberton area in Avondale (apart from one block that's Res 1) from Res 6 to Res 8 -- and thus create a zone of intensified housing. To date, we haven't heard anything either for or against, and the zoning so far hasn't changed. Above image comes from the Viggers photo collection, AWHS records.

History

Originally, the Roberton area was Allotment 63, 61 acres purchased at public auction by Henry Walton (1815-1898) on 20 October 1845 for £61. (1) The purchase was described as bounded by three roads, so what was to become Great North Road, Browne Street (later Rosebank Road) and Station Road (later Blockhouse Bay Road) had been drawn up at that time -- but were likely, including Great North Road, to be little more than rutted tracks at best.

Henry Walton was born in the West Riding of Yorkshire. In 1838, he and his brother Charles arrived in Sydney, and soon formed partnerships with Thomas Elmsley (who bought land at the Kaipara and Maungatapere) and William Smellie Grahame, a Scottish trader in Auckland from the 1840s. (2) It is said that Charles and Henry Walton were the first in the Whangarei District to import sufficient men, stock and machinery to stock a complete farm there in 1840. (3)

Among Walton's achievements in this country: mediating between Sir George Grey and all Northland chiefs in 1862 over a major land dispute, election as a member of the Legislative Council in 1863 and appointment as Auditor of the Bank of New Zealand. (4)

It is likely that it was through his partnership with W.S. Grahame that Walton came to know a Scotsman named John Roberton (c.1829-1894). Roberton, born in Glasgow, arrived in Sydney at the age of 16 with his brother-in-law, and sailed for Auckland in 1845 to join Grahame's office staff. Grahame was a partner of Roberton's brother-in-law, a Mr. Wright. (5) In 1854 Roberton returned to Sydney to take charge of Wright's business there. In 1860 he returned to Auckland, setting up in business for himself after a Sydney business partnership (possibly involving Grahame) was dissolved. (6)

Sometime from 1866 to the early 1870s, 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. (7)

In May 1878 the Walton Estate, as Allotment 63 came to be known, was altered slightly under Section 26 of the Public Works Act 1876. Part of the south-eastern corner was transferred back to the Crown to allow the line of the coming railway (completed 1880) to head straight through to the present railway station site as it is today, and realign the top section of what is now Rosebank Road to suit. (8)

In 1883, the Walton Estate was put on the market, with Roberton organising the subdivision. It is from this subdivision that the three roads the area is best known by came into being and were named: Henry and Walton (now Walsall) Streets, after Henry Walton, and Roberton Road, after John Roberton. (9)

The map detail to the right comes from the 1890s, and shows the Walton Estate subdivisions of 1 to 3 acre lots. Sales were slow, however. Only 9 sections were sold between 1883 and 1899, (10) an effect possibly of the Long Depression from the mid 1880s to mid 1890s. John Roberton died in 1894, and apparently his son Dr. Ernest Roberton was appointed Attorney by the Walton family in England on the death of Henry Walton 4 years later. (11)

In the new century, 23 of the sections were sold between 1900 and 1903, (12) which would appear to indicate that three-quarters of the Walton Estate was sold to individual title holders within the first 20 years.

Between 1900 and 1925, many of the original lots of the estate's subdivision of the mid 1880s were in turn subdivided. The map to the right (c.1925) illustrates the developing intensification of settlement within this part of Avondale. This would have been in line with better passenger rail and bus timetables, and the concreting of the Great North Road, but came before the arrival of trams to Avondale (along the Blockhouse Bay-Rosebank Road route to the south of the estate) in 1932.

Bound by limitations of time, the Avondale-Waterview Historical Society have been able to conduct only a brief version of the full area study which we feel would be required for this area and its history. Looking at Cleave's Directory for 1911 (showing the "postman's walks" for the previous year, and therefore an indicator as to tenancy in Auckland streets at the time), we note the earliest settled part of Roberton Road would appear to be between Rosebank Road and Henry Street (4 occupiers on the left side from Rosebank Road to Henry Street and 4 on the right side, the latter occupants now all in the current Residential 1 zone). For Walsall Street, down from Roberton Road, there were also only 4 occupiers. For Henry Street, there were only two occupiers: Henry Viggers, a carpenter at no. 8 Henry Street, and Magdalene E. Davis at (possibly) no. 7 Henry Street. From this point on, occupation of sites within the area increased.

Robert J. Allely lived here, Avondale's first chemist/dentist and the man who saved lives in the district during the 1918 influenza epidemic by operating a field hospital on the racecourse and tirelessly visiting people in their homes. St Judes Street blacksmiths William and Thomas Myers lived here. The area was home to Frederick Bluck, early Avondale land agent, clerk of the Avondale Road Board, and the man who had the Bluck Buildings erected on the corner of Roberton Road and Rosebank Road (today a sewing machine centre) 90 years ago in 1915. Up on Station Road, now Blockhouse Bay Road, J. W. Kinniburgh, Avondale's first Borough Council mayor, lived with his wife Naomi. Harry Waygood who operated Waygood Motors in Wingate Street, in a building which still stands today, lived in Roberton Road. The Richardson Family lived here as well, in Henry Street - Paul Richardson was an Avondale Borough Councillor, worked for the tramways, and in 1955 was on the ASB Board of Trustees; and his wife Margaret Richardson is renowned as the "Cocoa Lady" for Avondale Primary School during the Depression years, a JP and was one of the ladies holding the ribbon across the new tram track at the opening ceremonies, 1932.

But aside from those noted as part of Avondale's history so far as is known, this was a working class area. Taking a snapshot of occupations of those living here in 1925, we find a council employee, a blacksmith, clerks, a liftman, carpenters, bootmakers, cabinetmakers, a carrier, a baker, painters, storemen, drapers, engineers, labourers, a brickworker, a tailor's cutter, motor mechanics, postmen, a doctor, an orchardist, a salesman, joiners, a land agent, a grocer, an electrician, a railway employee, a builder, a tramway inspector, and a farmer. (13)

Why Walsall Street, and not Walton? In the early 1930s, the Auckland City Council changed Walton Street to Walsall Street, to avoid confusion with Walton Street in Remuera.

Roberton Today

Today, Roberton is an area of contrasts that works well. The area has already been infilled with a variety of housing styles ranging from flats to townhouses, all of which are sympathetic to the overall aesthetics of the area. The residents here like where they live; they have pride in owning period houses and pride in living amongst styles of housing with character. Villas and bungalows here are restored and maintained to a high standard. The two cross intersections, Walsall/Roberton and Henry/Roberton, have distinctive and attractive views, both in terms of the houses which are adjacent to these intersections, and the Waitakere Ranges in the distance.

It is a concern that these views, valued highly by the residents and visitors to the area alike, could be jeopardised or severely compromised by the introduction of intensive development under Residential 8a and 8b zones which may not be in keeping or sympathetic to the existing special character typified by the villas and bungalows.

It is hard to see why only one block of the Roberton area has indeed been zoned Residential 1, whereas the rest of the area isn't. There is little difference in the overall occurrence and density of styles of housing between the corner zoned Residential 1 (bounded by Rosebank, Blockhouse Bay, Walsall and Roberton Roads) and the rest of Roberton's residential area, zoned 6a at present.

The Avondale-Waterview Historical Society has conducted an interim survey and historical study of the area. We find that there is a considerable number of houses remaining which are either cottages, villas or bungalows of good to exceptional quality, many of which would be affected by the proposed land use zoning change. [We included charts reflecting a visual survey of the area.] We also conducted a photographic study, only a small part of the results of which accompanied this report.

The Avondale-Waterview Historical Society would like to see the heritage importance of the Roberton area reflected in all urban design provisions for any land-use zoning change to this part of Avondale. While we have not been consulted to date during the process leading up to the Avondale Future Framework proposal, we welcome the opportunity to make this, our submission, to that proposal, and would warmly welcome the opportunity to liaise with Auckland City Council regarding the future of Roberton.

We are opposed to any land-use zoning change from 6a to 8a and 8b under the District Plan that does not contain provisions recognising and protecting the special heritage character of the Roberton area of Avondale.

Lisa J Truttman,
President and Historical Research Officer for Avondale-Waterview Historical Society
30 April 2005

Notes:

1. Crown Grant No. 1428 (LINZ records)
2. Courtney, Phyllis E., "The Walton Brothers of Kaipara and Maungatapere," Auckland- Waikato Historical Journal, September 1989, No. 55, p. 20
3. Rae, D. A., "Whither Walton Street?", Auckland-Waikato Historical Journal, April 1984, No. 44, p. 26
4. ibid.
5. "Death of Mr. J. Roberton", NZ Herald 21 July 1894, p. 5
6. ibid.
7. Courtney, p. 21
8. Deeds Index for Allotment 63, LINZ records
9. Rae, p. 21
10. Deeds Index, Allot 63.
11. Notation to deed no. 157081, 11 November 1901.
12. Deeds Index for Allotment 63, LINZ records
13. Postal directory 1925 for Roberton Road, Walton Street and Henry Street.

Sometimes, the past breaks through

On my way into the city yesterday, I spotted something a little different about what was once a second-hand furniture shop on the corner of Carrington Road and Great North Road in Pt Chevalier. Somehow, part of the newer signs along the top of the verandah had come off. Perhaps truck damage ... who knows? Underneath it, however, is a bit of the building's history.

Now, to me it looks like the sign used to read: "Shop at MAX MARKET". It might even be "MAY MARKET" I took a couple of moments to check an old directory from the 1960s, and that shop was once a grocer's, so -- the old sign may be late 1960s to 1970s. A corner general store, the kind that was probably choked off by the 3 Guys development across the road.

I took the shot from a moving bus going through the intersection, by the way, so please excuse the quality. It was a one-shot (which I usually do), quick snap through a grimy bus window while in motion job. I'm glad I had the camera with me. You never know when a bit of the past will suddenly appear from out of the coverings of the present.

The Hetana and Waari question -- solved?

My reference to the Hetana Hamlet in New Lynn as being one of only two out of six in Auckland from the Workmen's Homes scheme of 1902-1904 to retain a Maori name may be solved. Tonight, I spotted on Paper's Past a piece from the Otago Witness in March 1902 where they said:

"A new nomenclature is being founded in New Zealand. Evidently the musical Maori language is not adequate, and a northern paper reports that Hetana, Methuen, Plumer, Kitchener, and Cradock Workmen's Homes, near Auckland, will be open for selection on the lease-in-perpetuity system on the 22nd April."

Intriguing ... the writer lumped "Hetana" in with the English names, it seemed, and for mysterious reasons. After all, "Hetana" looks Maori, doesn't it?

Well, apparently it is, but the reason the New Lynn site kept the Maori name was because it is in honour of a person, and a European at that: Richard "King Dick" Seddon. From the Hawera & Normanby Star of 24 March 1899:

"According to the Manawatu Standard the following are the Maori names of the Maoriland Ministry: - Hetana (Seddon), Mikenihi (McKenzie), Waka (Walker), Katiman (Cadman), Tamihana (Thompson), Timi Kara (Carroll), Horihoni (Hall-Jones.)"

Elsewhere, I see that "Te Waari" was a nickname too -- for Sir Joseph Ward.

So, none of the Auckland hamlets in John Bollard's scheme ultimately bore truly Maori names -- all were named either for politicians of the day, or Boer War commanders.

Henderson's racecourses

Ben Copedo, well-known West Auckland local historian (someone I am truly honoured to say I know), asked me a question when I last visited Mill Cottage, the HQ for the West Auckland Historical Society. Something, as I recall, about why on earth there'd be a racecourse in Henderson. Short answer to that is: well, why not? Back in the 1860s to early 1900s, there seemed to be racecourses popping up everywhere, wherever some obliging farmer had a spare paddock, or even a stretch of beach. Rail transport wasn't a necessity, although it did help when it came to bringing in the crowds, so Henderson's racing history did pre-date the coming of the Kaipara Line in 1880.

Then, there came the research tangents, of course ...

Yesterday Ben gave me a brilliant map he'd made, showing some of Henderson's early landmarks and roughly where they were. I was rapt. He's included Prior's Landing, Delta Landing, Henderson's saw mill, the Oratia Hotel ... and the two racecourses. Yes, two racecourses, separated by the Swanson Road (and more paddocks) and a few years in time.

Here's what I have so far ...

On 4 January 1862, the first known horse races in Henderson were staged and called the Dundee Saw Mill Races, after the name given to Henderson's saw mill. This was held, according to Ben, in a paddock at the back of what is now the Methodist Church, close to the corner of Swanson and Lincoln Roads. Henderson's horse racing history got off to a lively start. The Pony Race was run in heats, and was for "ponies that never ran for public money. The first heat was disputed, but was finally given to Tubby, who came in 3rd. Second heat Tubby threw his rider twice, and was distanced, as were also Gipsy and Boomerang, both of whom bolted off the course." (SC, 14 January 1862)

Heartened by their success, the organisers had another meeting the following year. This too went well, even though the Hack Race provided some drama: "The first heat was won by Mr. Coyle's Miss Grizzle, and the second would to all appearance have secured the prize to her owner, but that shortly after the start the rider was thrown, and the mare bolted across the country. She was, however, caught after a gallop of four miles, and brought up to the starting post in time to contest the third heat, which she won easily." (SC, 5 January 1863) This time, I suspect, the rider kept a firmer hold of the situation.

Another meeting of the Dundee Saw Mill Races was held in December 1866 -- then, it vanishes from the record (well, at least from what it known at the moment).

In 1873, the "Henderson's Mill Races" were advertised to take place on Boxing Day. Now, there was a grandstand, refreshment booths, stewards and clerks of the course. The organisers were taking the Sport of Kings in Henderson very seriously now, and may have made their move to the second site, off Henderson Valley Road, opposite and just a bit to the south of today's railway station. The grandstand faced Keeling Road, looking south-west. The site, in 1875, was described as "a large paddock at the rear of J. McLeod's Hotel. This was one reason for the early success of the Henderson's Mill Turf Club -- proximity to a place where thirsts could be slaked with more than just water and ginger beer. By 1876, the Southern Cross recorded: "We noticed many of the leading citizens of Auckland present, and no doubt on another occasion many more will avail themselves of the opportunity of enjoying a very pleasant drive in the country, and derive benefit from visiting Henderson's Mill race course, which is equal to any in the province." This statement, I imagine, was intended to include the new Ellerslie racecourse, which cannot have pleased that venue's backers when they read it! Indeed, some members expressed their dissatisfaction that Henderson should choose to hold a meeting on Boxing Day when the Auckland Racing Club held theirs at Ellerslie: "... no true sportsman would do such a shabby thing as to hold a meeting in opposition to the meet of the province," one Ellerslie fan huffed to the Southern Cross editor. Henderson, way out in the country, was seen as a real threat, even though Ellerslie had a railway close by and Henderson did not.

When rail did come to Henderson after 1880, people attended the races in their droves. Attendances were usually from 600-1500 in the good years of the 1880s, and one year was reported to have topped the 2000 mark. The last good meeting for Henderson was possibly that held in March 1890, even in the depths of the Long Depression.

Why isn't there a racecourse in Henderson today, if they were doing so well? The major reason could be Avondale, and the consortium based around Moss Davis' new Avondale Hotel who decided to convert Charles Burke's former raupo swamp farm into the start of a first-class racecourse. The first meeting was in 1890, and soon after the crowds at Henderson began to dwindle. Then again, the Auckland Star felt that Henderson's facilities were "as primitive as when the Club started racing," and wondered whether Henderson was simply just "a proprietary affair". By February 1891, Henderson's course was in the hands of mortgagors, and their meeting was held at Avondale. After March that year, nothing more seems to have been recorded of their meetings.

In 1901, a subdivision plan for the Oponuku Hamlet (later renamed Plumer Hamlet, just like the Avondale worker settlements, after a Boer War commander) showed the grandstand as a feature. After this date, though, it would have been demolished. Plumer Hamlet, by the way, was the only West Auckland hamlet to lose its original Maori name. Hetana Hamlet in New Lynn and Waari Hamlet in Sunnydale both retained their names. Why this is is not yet known.

A Lynfield trio

Occasionally, as well as writing pieces for Avondale's Spider's Web (and what crops up now and then in the Rosebank Roundabout), I have lately supplied small "filler" pieces to Blockhouse Bay's Newstalk. Here's three recently published there, on Lynfield.

Old place names in Lynfield

Settlement of the Lynfield area was sparse until around 50 years ago, but the area was still important enough to have coastal landmarks named. Around 1850, the Wesleyan Church obtained the Wesleyan Mission Property from the Crown (from Wattle Bay Reserve to Waikowhai Reserve) but the Crown retained Cape Horn as a defence reserve. Artillery Road (Cape Horn Road) is probably one of the first roads in the district, before even Hillsborough Road was formed. During the “Russian Invasion” scare of the mid 1880s, it was probably garrisoned for a time with one of Auckland’s local artillery units, keeping a look out in case the Russians sneaked into Manukau Harbour.

Place names in the district have changed over the years. Well, in many respects, they did a somewhat sideways shift along the coast.

Green Bay was once Karaka Bay. Blockhouse Bay (Sandy Bay, Flounder Bay and Lynfield Cove) was once Green Bay. Wattle Bay used to be Waikowhai Bay, and Waikowhai Bay used to be Wesley Bay.

Some names were to the point. The Wairaki Stream which still flows into Lynfield Cove was once Duck Creek.

The copper’s horse knew the way

Much of today’s Lynfield, fronting Hillsborough Road and between Lynfield Cove and Wattle Bay, was once Auckland Harbour Board endowment land from 1911 until subdivided from the 1960s. Small farms were leased, but some were later occupied by tenants once the farmers gave up on their dreams.

Shacks were built along Halsey Drive as time went on, first meant as living quarters for the settlers, but then rented out to whoever wanted them. This, according to stories passed down, included those continually getting into trouble with the police and the courts, and ordered to “go to the country” away from the city’s temptations. Country life, however, did not reform these men, apparently. The police never really lost touch with these misfits. The duty of contacting them so they could “assist the police with their enquiries” fell to the lot of one Constable McKenzie of Mt Albert. It is said the constable had to pay so many calls in the direction of Lynfield that his horse, once mounted, would immediately turn as of habit in the direction of Halsey Drive.

A memorial to Margaret Griffen

Griffen Park Road was originally Endowment Road then Griffen Road. The authorities decided to provide easier access to the Halsey Drive farmlets from the White Swan Road end. Griffen Park Road was the result. This cut out the steep and very rough incline that took the traveller up White Swan Road to the corner of Ridge (Hillsborough) Road, and also eliminated an equally rough and steep descent.

It also meant several blocks of land came onto the market. On one of them, Griffen Brothers (A.D. & J.B.) were able to work up a milk supply and strawberry growing business known for many years as Griffenville Farm.

On retirement, A D Griffen bought back his brothers property at the corner of White Swan and Griffen Road, along with an adjoining property The resulting 10½ acre block was given to the people of Mount Roskill as an athletic ground and playing area for the youth of the district, in tribute to the memory of A.D. Griffen’s late wife Margaret in the 1940s. This is now Margaret Griffen Memorial Park.

Captain Robert David James

Below, something I've loaded onto Scribd: concerning a footnote to both Mt Albert's and Avondale's history, Captain Robert David James. I'm still looking for further information, so watch for updates.

Fruit From the Scoria - Upload a Document to Scribd

Fossicking for facts: Mrs. Dorothy Davy

(Image from Western Leader, 28 June 1977)

I started gathering information of Avondale history back around 1983, when I was 20. That's probably why I have so many bits and pieces on my area's heritage, some on paper that I'm still in the process of filing, some that's only come in since the start of the flood of information brought on by my work on Heart of the Whau and the foundation of the Avondale-Waterview Historical Society, and some stuck in the corners of my own head. It's an interest, a hobby and a passion of mine to find out the answers to questions I have about why things are the way they are where I live and grew up.

One other person, judging from what the local newspapers of her time said about her, had that same level of interest. Which is why I consider Mrs. Dorothy Davy to be Avondale's first true historian, someone whose work I first read in the late 1980s, as I scoured through the vertical files at the Avondale Community Library.

Born c. 1894, Mrs Davy had come to live here in Avondale in 1920. Around 1939, she was a co-founder of the Avondale Country Women's Institute, and thirty years later entered a writing competition run by the Institute, around the theme of "The history of the district where the writer's institute stands." Mrs. Davy researched as extensively as she could, and won first prize. This led her to continue fossicking, picking up bits and pieces of knowledge of the past. According to the Western Leader in 1977: "Eight years later [after winning the competition] she is still seeking out facts and anecdotes of early Avondale. She has given talks on the district's history to Avondale school children [must have been after I left Avondale Primary in 1974, pity. I'd have loved to have heard her] and she is concerned that all her facts must be authentic. Mrs Davy finds there are conflicting reports about early Avondale. 'At first, I thought Dr Pollen cultivated the land but from later research I tend to disbelieve this,' she says. 'I want to know who turned Avondale from a wilderness into a garden, if he didn't.'"

Mrs. Davy wasn't just a historian -- she was also an artist, writer, a producer of plays, and a trained speech teacher. But to me, she remains someone I admire, and unfortunately never met. Someone who hunted for facts on our past, presented them to the community in both written form and by verbal presentation, and always strove for the truth. I recall speaking briefly to a daughter of hers back in 2001/2002 -- and learned then that Mrs Davy had only recently passed away, aged over 100 years old. I would have truly loved to have met her.

Borough's End

On the 17th of August, 1927, an angry Mayor of Avondale denounced the then-Borough as “the dirtiest suburb of all Auckland’s suburbs, the most bankrupt due to muddle on the part of past administrations. The engineer has admitted that he has never been allowed to complete any work. For five years I have fought their battles to get efficient administration. Some of the residents here have my deepest respect; others I would not touch with a forty-foot pole.”

At that Avondale Borough Council meeting the Mayor, Herbert Tiarks and three councillors resigned, leaving Avondale in an administrative crisis.

The issue was that of Avondale’s amalgamation with Auckland City, something which had been looked at since the start of the “Greater Auckland” concept earlier that century. In 1912, when it was proposed to abolish Road Boards, the Avondale Road Board declined to sign a protest petition, and instead wrote to Auckland’s Mayor Christopher Parr asking that he come to address Avondale’s ratepayers on the question of incorporation with the City. (Parr responded that he would give the matter thought, and asked for a copy of the Board’s last balance sheet. There, the matter rested.) In 1914, the Avondale Board started organising a petition to be sent to the Governor for Avondale to be constituted a borough. At the inquiry before a Royal Commission in 1915, 21 out of 30 ratepayers who attended opposed the borough proposal, and so the petition was declined. One of those chosen as a spokesperson for the opposition was Mr Edward E. Copsey, who was to feature prominently later in the 1920s.

In 1921, Avondale ratepayers petitioned Auckland City for amalgamation, but were turned down, the city council deciding that conditions were “too disproportionate” for such a union. In April 1922, Avondale was appointed a borough, and calls for amalgamation died down to a simmer. Auckland City’s decision was based not only on the fact that Avondale was a largely rural district, with areas without proper water reticulation, formed roads and footpaths, and a low rates base, but also because a surge in urbanisation was expected, and did happen to Avondale. For contrast: the Avondale in 1905, when W J Tait began his public service record in the district on the Roads Board, had a population of 500. This had swelled to 5000 by 1927 when he retired from office as Mayor.

Herbert Tiarks started his campaigns in 1922 against “financial mismanagement” on the part of the administrations of Avondale Mayors J. W Kinniburgh (1922-1923) and W. J Tait (1923-1927) and was a councillor from 1925. By April 1927, with Mayor Tait stepping down from office, dissatisfaction among ratepayers to do with road and footpath conditions, and alleged “irregularities” concerning tenders, Tiarks won the mayoral election by a majority of 714 votes over fellow councillor Paul Richardson. He told voters during his campaign that “he would give no promises with the exception of putting the financial affairs of the borough in order.”

Out-going Mayor Tait said in a newspaper interview prior to the election that amalgamation with Greater Auckland was “inevitable”, due to the newly concreted Great North Road, and easier access to the city. Indeed, almost immediately after the April poll Edward Copsey wrote to Auckland Mayor George Baildon asking if, in the mayor’s opinion, a majority of the council would be in favour of Avondale joining the city. The response Copsey received by the end of May was a “yes”, provided there was application by the Avondale Borough Council.

In June, the Tamaki Road Board and their ratepayers agreed to join Auckland City, and the Auckland Star reported Mayor Baildon as saying that “a number of ratepayers in the Avondale district had expressed a wish to join the city,” adding that “the matter has as yet been but briefly discussed, and it would be more fully gone into later on.” Things now became heated, despite the winter, in Avondale. In July, Mayor Tiarks complained about “scurrilous comments” made against him in the local News publication. By the 13th of July, over 800 residents had signed a petition started by the Citizen’s Amalgamation Committee (also known as Concerned Citizens Committee) and authored by Copsey, and at a borough council meeting on 20th July the by then 1151 signature petition was presented to the council. The date for the amalgamation poll was set for Saturday, 13 August.

A public meeting was held on 4 August at the Avondale Town Hall, where Tiarks and Councillor Pendlebury denounced Auckland City as having “failed to provide adequate transport …[and] proved incapable of handling the system. It had made the mistake of placing down a strip of concrete in the centre of the road from the Mental Hospital to Henderson, thus leaving no provision for future tramways extension.” Tiarks claimed that the City had mismanaged their affairs, avoiding bankruptcy only because it was a municipal corporation, and described the back streets of Pt. Chevalier, the latest of the amalgamations, as reminding him of “a clean shirt on a dirty back.” Auckland’s Mayor Baildon remarked on the comments that “I think the whole thing is very undignified, and the less notice we take of it the better.”

According to the wording of a petition presented to Council in 1933 by the Avondale Development Association, Mayor Baildon and city councillors visited Avondale to speak to the ratepayers. This may have been at a reported meeting on 10 August. They presented the affirmative case for incorporation with Auckland, promising proper footpaths along roads and streets leading to Rosebank Road, and attention to the shoulders of Rosebank Road. Copsey made a speech promoting amalgamation, and earned hearty applause.

A letter to the editor of the Star summarised the situation which had led to the formation of the Copsey’s Citizen’s Amalgamation Committee: Tiarks had promised a reduction in the cost of borough administration, but instead increased the consolidated rate by 2d in the £, doubling the rates from what they were in 1924. Ratepayers in Waterview and Blockhouse Bay claimed they didn’t receive a fair proportion of street improvements, pointing to the central area as being looked after first.

On 13 August 1927, by a margin of 707 votes, in the largest poll undertaken to that date in Avondale, the ratepayers chose to amalgamate with Auckland City. Avondale was to join Auckland on 31 March 1928. However, events were speeded up rapidly by what happened next.

Rumours swept the district that something sensational was going to happen at the next borough council meeting, and so the chamber at the Town Hall was packed on 17 August. The rumours were correct. Mayor Tiarks and councillors Pendlebury, Reisterer and Edmiston resigned from the Council, plunging Avondale into an administrative crisis. With only six councillors remaining and no mayor, with one councillor overseas and another in hospital with pneumonia, the Borough Council had no quorum and could not function. Even staff wages were at risk, with the remaining councillors having to give their personal bond to the bank until the account could be passed. The New Zealand Herald described the actions of those who had resigned as “childish” and “an expression of personal pique”.

Tiarks had declared that the poll result had been “a decided vote of no-confidence in the ability of the council” to manage the borough’s affairs, and “I have come to the conclusion that I cannot possibly retain the mayoral chair and my self-respect at the same time. As the one is a matter of indifference to me and the other is of paramount importance, I am tendering my resignation.” Accusing the Amalgamation committee of lack of courtesy and consideration to the council, he said that he felt the amalgamation could have been achieved at the end of the financial year (by this, I take it that he would have preferred a poll to have happened after April 1928). Yet Tiarks in another report is said to have stated he expected it would have been better if amalgamation hadn’t taken place until after April 1929. Councillor Reisterer claimed that the Council hadn’t had a fair chance, but was still keen to go for election as Mayor; Councillor Edmiston accused the other councillors of disloyalty to Tiarks (there was mention at the meeting of a “gentleman’s agreement” which apparently wasn’t honoured, possibly for all of the council to resign with Tiarks); and Councillor Pendlebury waved a pamphlet (apparently distributed by the Amalgamation Committee) in his hand, claiming that was a “deliberate lie”, and announced his loyalty to Tiarks “to the very end.”

A scandal emerged the next day, when the borough engineer reported that Tiarks and Pendlebury had authorised work on the formation and blinding of Gilfillan Street on July 29, after the date for the poll had been announced, instructing the engineer not to report this work to the rest of the borough councillors. Only £200 had been raised in loans for the work, but Tiarks and Pendlebury authorised the full cost of £600. Gilfillan Street was near the home address for Mayor Tiarks. The four councillors remaining ordered a stop to the work, as the road was in a “reasonably passable condition.”

The remaining members of the council were faced with a dilemma. With no quorum, a bi-election for the vacancies seemed inevitable. They appealed to Auckland to bring the date of amalgamation forward to 1 October or earlier, then realised that amalgamation needed to be by 1 September to avoid an election. After one failed meeting at the Auckland Hospital, the councillors finally met around the bedside of Councillor Manning on 23 August, and again on the 24th, nominating Edward Copsey as Mayor, along with P Turner, P Adams and G. R. Desmond (members of the Amalgamation Committee) as councillors. A formal petition to the Governor-General for amalgamation was signed by Councillor Manning from his sickbed. The Governor-General confirmed the appointments of Copsey and the three others to the Avondale Borough Council, and so Edward Copsey became (for a few days), the last Mayor of Avondale. The last meeting took place on 31 August, and on 1 September the amalgamation came into effect.

Edward Copsey, H Potter and J W Kealy were appointed as City Councillors, serving until April 1929. Paul Richardson, who was defeated by Tiarks in the last borough election for mayor, went on to be president of the Avondale Development Association in the early 1930s, a group which lobbied Auckland City for more works to be done in the district. Nothing further is known about Herbert Tiarks after his resignation as Mayor of Avondale, but he did for a time have offices in the Ferry Building in the city, and donated a baptismal font to St Saviour's Church in Blockhouse Bay, in memory of his daughter Dorothy.

Sources: Auckland Star, NZ Herald, Avondale Borough Council minutes, Auckland City Council archives, and Decently and in Order by GWA Bush (1971).

When Trams Came to Avondale

(Image above: Tram 248, 1938 "Streamliner", at MOTAT 2 tram terminus, Western Springs, 14 July 2007. Notes below.)

On the early Saturday afternoon of the first day of February 1932, at 2.15 pm, the first of two special trams completed the inaugural trip along the final stretch of line from Mt Albert to Avondale, the first bearing dignitaries, the second members of the public. Local residents packed what was then Brown Street (now Rosebank Road above Great North Road), the Auckland Municipal Band played the National Anthem and other selections throughout the afternoon on an adjacent vacant lot (possibly close to the site of the WINZ offices today), and a ribbon held across the track by Mrs. P. Richardson and Miss Johnson was cut by the wife of the tramways manager, Mrs. Allum. The Mayor of Mt Albert, Mr W. F. Stillwell, expressed his appreciation to the Auckland Transport Board in extending the trams to Avondale, and Arthur Morrish (editor/publisher of the News in Avondale, and representing the Avondale Development Association) congratulated all on their work. Residents enjoyed rides on the special service that day between Avondale and Mt Albert all afternoon.

The Auckland Transport Board said they aimed to provide a 16-minute service, with 10-minutes during rush hour, and more frequent services as need warranted. The present-day stage boundary at Mt Albert shops comes from that day the trams came finally to Avondale, the section boundary shifting from Ennismore Road, making the journey to the City from Richardson Road to the City three sections instead of two.

The tramline to Avondale was a long time in coming. Nearly 29 years, in fact. What was to be the line reached Kingsland along New North Road by May 1903 (7 months after the introduction of electric trams on the 4’8½” gauge), Morningside by July 1912, Mount Albert by September 1915, and finally Avondale, 1932. It was only after control on the tramways was taken from Auckland City Council and passed onto the Auckland Transport Board in January 1929 that progress toward extending the line to Avondale was made. Up to that time, Avondale was not seen as economically viable to sustain the passenger numbers required to have the line terminate in the shopping centre. However, the tram was soon well-utilised by racegoers and the general public. Later in 1932, the Unity Building was erected in that part of Avondale and, together with the Post Office building from 1938, helped change the focus of the Town Centre itself.

Some further excitement came to Avondale when, one day, the tram failed to stop at the end of the tracks and, with the gradient of Station Hill adding impetus, shot down through the intersection with Great North Road, gouging deep furrows in the road as it went. According to local residents around at the time, the Transport Board put in preventive measures by digging a trench at the end of the line, covered by a wooden board that was designed to give way and therefore impede the forward progress of any future runaway trams.

Right from the start, though, trams were seen by transport planners as a short to medium term solution. In 1932, an electric train system was seen as a viable alternative to maintain connections between the City and the suburbs, as well as “trackless trams” (trolley buses) and diesel buses.

Trams after World War II, though, were doomed for other reasons. They were considered obsolete, a symbol of “old fashioned days” as the 1950s dawned, a part of Edwardian New Zealand that had no place in the modern post-war world. Their track-bound progress through city streets conflicted more and more with the pressing traffic flow needs of a burgeoning number of private motor cars. They were simply too old, and too inflexible, to continue.

For Avondale’s tramline, it was decreed that Friday, January 13 1956, “Black Friday”, would be the day the last tram would leave the bottom of steep Station Hill in the township. A turning circle for trolley buses was built opposite the old Methodist Church (part of the circle can still be seen, as a carpark). More than 5500 circulars were distributed by the Transport Board advising residents of the new bus service that was to replace the trams, along with new signs on the route. The greatest concern at the time concerning a smooth transition was that there was a race meeting on at Avondale that weekend. However, no problems were reported, with buses handling all the race traffic.

The last tram to run to Avondale from the City left at 11.30 pm, while a crowd waited in Avondale for its arrival and ultimate departure. Compared with the celebrations back in 1932, the farewell in 1956 was to an old example of the dwindling fleet. “We are sending an old tram because we would not like a newer one to be smashed about,” said a Transport Board spokesman. “In the past, quite a bit of damage has been done by over-enthusiastic crowds.”

And so, in the early hours of 14 January 1956, Avondale’s last tram left Rosebank Road, heading back up the route that had taken three decades to complete, and only three decades on which trams would run, disappearing into history. On December 29 that year, the last tram left Onehunga, and an era was at an end.

(Notes on the 248 "Streamliner" image above: Last type of Auckland tram, built by the Auckland Transport Board at the Manukau Road Workshops. No 248 was restored and painted the 1938 livery by MOTAT in 1980. Continues to run in regular museum service. Source: MOTAT brochure on trams and tramway equipment in their collection.)

The Overseas Clubs, 1915

Tracking down information on what lies behind this certificate is difficult -- not a lot has been done with regard to research into this aspect of the once ubiquitous Empire Day celebrations, each May 24th, right across the British Empire, and in New Zealand from 1903.

The Overseas Club appears to have formed c.1915 to collect funds to go towards comforts for soldiers serving overseas during World War I. This site mentions Sidney Ward as the creator of the certificates, but nothing more is known about him at this time.

I bought the above certificate, originally presented to Maud Beresford, as well as another presented originally to Nellie Beresford (perhaps sisters?), today at the Blockhouse Bay Community Centre market. They didn't cost much to buy at all, a fraction of what some places online are asking for. I bought them because Empire Day is a bit of a side interest of mine -- and because back in 1915, these would have been proudly held by two members of a family named Beresford. Two people I haven't a hope of tracing, or knowing even if they were in New Zealand at the time they received these.