Arawhata

More from the Armanasco collection.

Ngaruawahia

Images of Ngaruawahia, early 20th century, from a portion of a photo album once owned by the Armanasco family of Blockhouse Bay.

I've left the photos as-is in scanning. They aren't all inserted straight, as you can see, and were glued (!) onto the pages with fancy frames on other pages glued (!!) onto the photos. I know this is something some scrapbookers do these days, but hey ...

I was given just a few pages from the album which has been separated by the Blockhouse Bay Historical Society. They'd removed images relating to Blockhouse Bay. I wish the album had been left whole and as complete as possible, though, and lodged with Special Collections or the Auckland Museum. At the moment, I'm scanning each image in both .tif and .jpeg, and this week I'll drop what I do have of the album into Special Collections for safe keeping.

As I do the scanning, I'll post more of the images up on the blog.

Avondale Sports Day, January 1887

Close to the Auckland Anniversary date, and on the day itself, Aucklanders in the 19th century not only got out onto the water in the Waitemata Harbour regattas, they also held sports days in various districts. Avondale was no exception, and their organised sports days stretch back to at least the early 1870s (the paddock belonging to George Thomas of the Star Mill used, between what is now Crayford and St Jude Streets in the heart of Avondale's shopping centre).

What is interesting about the following article is that the sports day was held on John Bollard's farm, part of which forms the Ash Street half of the Avondale Racecourse -- and they held horse races, although on a small scale, that day. As this was 1887, this event would have been one of the earliest, if not the earliest, known instances of horse racing on this particular part of Avondale, and predates, of course, the Jockey Club which formed in 1889-1890.

From the Auckland Evening Star, 29 January 1887:

"AVONDALE SPORTS

The local sports for the districts of Avondale, Mount Albert, and Henderson were held to-day in Mr. Bollard's paddock at Avondale, when there was a good attendance. The events, which were of the most interesting character, were under the control of the following gentlemen: Judges, Messrs J. Kelly and J. Bollard; Starters, Messrs. J. Archibald and G. Thomas; Clerk of the Course, Mr. J. Potter; Clerk of the Scale, Mr. H. Peck. Mr. A Beetham, the energetic Secretary, was also present, and it is owing to that gentleman's exertions that the sports were so successful.

Foot Race (100 yds) -- Wood (scratch, 1; Ramsbottom, 2; Potter, 3.
200 Yards (under 14) -- Only two entered. E. Wood won the prize of 15s.
Extra Race (boys under 14) -- Six started. P. Burke, 1st, 5s; J. Burns, 2nd, 2s 6d.

Horse Races

Hurdle Race -- Handicap Hurdles of £5. Six horses started. Mr. J. Gordon's No Name, 1; Mr. J. Stewart's Lady Alice. 2. Won hands down.
Pony Race, 1 mile. -- First prize, £2. Height, 14h, 2in. Ten entries -- Mr. Hazard's Kitty, 1; Mr. Stewart's Little Minnie, 2."

Old photos (Part 3)

On the back: "Joyce and Ernie, November 1942."

On the back: "To Mrs and Mr King from Rachel". Saxony Studios isn't included on the ACL database.

This is from an old postcard -- unfortunately, it was apparently never used, as nothing is written on the back to tell us what this gathering was all about.

This photo is another I find intriguing. The photographer was NZ Photo Co. of Wellington (no info on ACL database). So ... what was this chap doing? Where was he? What's he looking at?

Just a glimpse of the lady in the greenhouse. No information on the back, unfortunately -- but whoever she was, she had a green thumb.

Old photos (Part 2)

The photographer is Frank R. Huff, advertising on the back of this card "Artistes in Miniature" and "This Photograph can be enlarged and finished in Oil or Water colors to any size required." According to the ACL database, there was a Frank R. Huff in business in Wanganui in his "American Photographic Rooms" (note the spelling of "color") from c.1880 until he and his family left for London in 1886.

On the back is written, simply, "Father."

This is Alice Tapp, according to a note on the back. George Gregory was a photographer from c. 1886-1911, but the Excelsior Studios where this photo was taken dated only from 1905. He died in 1913.

This is a photo of Mary Dunn. Another George Gregory photo, but from his first studio in Ponsonby, so this dates from c.1886-1892.

I find this photo intriguing. A dapper gent, standing to pose with a cane and top hat, in what looks like a field or paddock. The photographer's shadow can be seen in the lower left corner.

Old photos (Part 1)

The photos in this and the next couple of posts were found in a basket of photos being sold for fundraising by the Blockhouse Bay Historical Society a couple of years ago or so. The origin is unknown.

This one could be English, but it reminds me in a way of mid-19th century American portraits as well. There's some old newspaper stuck to the back, covering the photographer's stamp, so I can't give you more information than that.

Another one that could be English. The background reminds me of the brick tenement housing in London and the northern counties.

The photographer was part of Falk Royal Studios, Symonds Street "right opposite Khyber Pass". No sign of this one at the moment on the Auckland City Libraries' photographer's online database.

Written in very small white letters on the folding card where this photo is mounted is "Ivy Studios". No info on this one.

Nothing on this photo at all, front or back. The card it's on, though, resembles those used as promotional ad cards by photographers.

... and then came the bridge.

Another Auckland local history book, and one I've been looking forward to reading, will be launched tomorrow -- ... and then came the bridge, a history of the Torbay area from earliest times, down to 1959 when the Auckland Harbour Bridge was completed and everything changed.

I'm making the bus journey starting around 7 am (two buses) from Avondale to Long Bay, then a hike up to Vaughan Homestead by 10 am tomorrow to attend the launch. The things I do for the sake of my passion/obsession! Should be a nice day weather-wise, though.

A free plug for my friends at the Torbay Historical Society -- the book is $35 plus $5 p&p for one copy, available from the Society.

Traherne – Avondale’s second island

Head out along the North-Western motorway from Waterview, westward towards Rosebank Road, Te Atatu and beyond. Just before you reach the Patiki interchange you might see a blur of wetlands, mangroves and perhaps birdlife beneath State Highway 16’s causeway there. You will have passed over one of Avondale’s two main off-shore islands (the other is the larger Pollen Island): Traherne, around 18-20 acres of mud, shell, scrub and precious animal species.

Both Pollen and Trahern Islands are basically low-lying banks of mud and shell. Half of Traherne is underwater at high tide, and wasn’t even surveyed until 1889, more than 40 years after the more famous Pollen Island. But when Henry Douglas Morpeth Haszard surveyed the island, noting that it was covered in wiki and manuka, with mudflats all around and between it and the mainland, he must have felt that it was worth something. In 1894, he and his brother, fellow surveyor Norman Haszard, purchased title to the island, and were to remain owners until 1906.

H.D.M. Haszard was noted in his field. He surveyed the Kermadec Islands in 1887, was responsible for the survey of the Waihi and Waitekauri mining townships, and carried out a survey of Niue, while he was in the Pacific recuperating from blood poisoning, in 1903. Haszard was a founding member of the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors. He retired in 1921, living out the rest of his days in Waihi.

In late 1927, Ernest Tasker bought the island. He already owned a section towards the end of Rosebank Road, and in 1928 tried selling both his land on Rosebank and the island to a firm called the Dale Shell Lime and Sand Company Ltd. However, things didn’t work out, the company vanished, and Tasker was to remain as Traherne’s owner until 1947. Some of Avondale’s residents from that time recall him burning heaps of shell until all that was left was the powder – lime, valuable both when used in building mortar and upon the fields of crops. It was lime from Pollen Island, and perhaps also from Traherne, that Avondale Road Board shipped to their neighbours in Mt Albert during the 1922 typhoid outbreak, to decontaminate the affected springs behind the Asylum grounds.

In 1954, the last private owner of Traherne Island, Charles Whitfield Ralfe, had the island taken from him by the Ministry of Works for the planned motorway. Since the 1960s, all that can be seen of Avondale’s second island by most of us is a brief glimpse, but usually hardly more than a blur, while on the way to somewhere else at speed.

British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines

Another from my collection of anonymous photos. The period is just about the only thing I can pin down -- late 1940s-early 1950s. This is because of the plane, part of the fleet of British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines, based in Sydney but operating throughout the Pacific region. They started in 1946, and ran into financial difficulties after a plane crash (cause: pilot error) on approach to San Francisco Airport in 1953. QANTAS took over the airline's Pacific route, and TEAL (forerunner to Air New Zealand) took over the planes.

Somed of BCPA's promotional posters are online.

J & A Wiseman, saddler and harness maker

I took this shot (sorry for the odd angle and the flash, folks) in Centennial Street at the Auckland War Memorial Museum last Easter Sunday. I'm thoroughly glad the museum is open on Easter Sunday, by the way -- a welcome diversion from the weekend.

Anyway ...

The following comes from the museum's 1966 guide to Centennial Street (the street display itself originally donated by Milne & Choyce to mark their own centenary):

"The firm of Wisemans was founded in 1861 by two brothers, James and Alexander Wiseman, who came to New Zealand from Tasmania, where they had been in the saddlery business with their father.

"They started a wholesale saddlery business in Dunedin, but soon moved to Auckland where, under the name of J & A Wiseman, they opened their first shop next to the site later occupied by His Majesty's Arcade. At that time, a creek flowed down Queen Street, and entrance to the shop was by footbridge.

"By the end of the century, the premises consisted of a large three-storied building, mainly occupied with the wholesale trade. In 1921, the premises were moved across the road next to the site which they now occupy.

"On the death of Mr James Wiseman in 1898, the business was taken over by Mr John Wiseman. In 1924, Mr Frank Wiseman formed the company of Frank Wiseman Ltd to operate the retail side as a completely separate business.
"Shortly after the business opened in Auckland in 1861, Mr. James Wiseman cast a white horse in plaster and mounted it over the shop front, where it remained for nearly 50 years. It is claimed that the last hitching post in Auckland was outside the shop."

Alexander, the son of James Wiseman, became an architect and designed one of Auckland's enduring landmarks: the Ferry Building (1912).

Devonport's "Bear Gardens"

(Plaque on part of the "Bear Garden" wall -- sadly, what is known doesn't agree with the plaque.) As I was writing The Zoo War this year, a couple of people I know mentioned Devonport's Bear Gardens in relation to early menageries in New Zealand. I had never heard of these before (but then again, I'm finding out stuff that's new to me almost every day, which is one of the reason why I love local history), so decided to do some digging. I was disappointed somewhat that the Devonport Museum was closed at the time, so I was unable to access any of their collections -- but what I found out via other sources led me to believe that the reason why I hadn't heard of this before was because it never truly existed as either a pleasure garden of the late-Victorian style, nor was it a menagerie of any size. Certainly, I found no documentation as to the bears. You'll find the info on the "Bear Gardens" here, from page 8.

(Another part of the original concrete and scoria wall -- rapidly built, and now only partially standing. Bits of green bottle glass jut from the very top, a possible 20th century addition)

Mrs. Menzies

Another lost photo I've picked up in my travels. The back simply says "Mrs. Menzies". She reminds me a bit of a younger version of my grandma (who was born back in 1892, so may have been contemporary with Mrs Menzies.) I have no idea whether this was taken in Grandma's home country (England) or here -- but I like the image.

Railway Rummy's Club

Another find (this one, though, I purchased from Bookmarks in Hurstmere Road, Takapuna.) A friend of mine who's an ardent rail fan has been helping with the identification and determining the time period this would have been taken. It's a New Zealand scene (the train in the picture behind them says "NZR") and the engine may be a "U" class (possibly a "Ud" as was used by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway, taken over by the Government in 1908). The guesses are still out there, though.

Edwardian Aston family

This is another of my market finds -- the Aston family. That's all the identification on the back of the photo says. Edwardian, quite proper, and keeping a straight face for the camera -- I do wish I knew more.

House and horses photo

Those who know me, know that I have a weird quirk in addition to my other weird quirks which breaks out from time to time when I visit markets -- I see old anonymous, often subject unknown photos and buy them. At times, when I see ones that can be identified and are of real historic merit, I give them to Special Collections for their archives in the Auckland City Library. That way, I know they're in safe keeping, and others can see them. I found, one time, an image which appeared to show a scene from the Gallipoli campaign, World War I. That went straight to Special Collections, same day I bought it.

Anyway -- there are others which I have no idea where they cane from, but they are very cool images. Such as the one above. Three horses in motion on a field, a spectacular house beyond, and a big hill. I'd love to know where this might have been, but I doubt I'll ever find out.

Waikaraka Cemetery Veterans' Memorial 1915

Now and then, the Onehunga Fencible and Historical Society have guided walks through Waikaraka Cemetery in Onehunga. I can thoroughly recommend them to anyone with an interest in the social history behind the mute monuments.

At the eastern side of the cemetery, at what was once the edge of the area (behind was all reclaimed from the harbour during the 1920s-1930s) is an unusual memorial to war veterans -- those who, as at 1915, had served in the British Empire's 19th century wars and had died at the Auckland Veterans' Home.




There's a plaque for each man so remembered -- and the design, including the sentry statues at either end, caught my eye.

Behind, in the reclaimed section, are the veterans graves of those from 20th century wars.

Update 13 November 2012: Just spotted an advertisement for stonemasons for the memorial, placed by architects Wade & Wade, Auckland Star 8 November 1913, p. 12.

Early traffic control in Auckland: 1919-1924

More from Equal to the Task by Alan Woolston.

In 1919, it was illegal under Auckland City Council bylaw not to sound the horn of a motor-car when approaching intersections or junctions. The NZ Automobile Association criticised the bylaw: “If every car passing every intersection was required to sound a horn it would result in a proper babble of noise.”

By 1922, the seven-man traffic department’s duties were:

Issue licenses and vehicle registrations
Inspect licensed vehicles
Supervise all Traffic Licensing and test all Driver’s Certificate applicants
Conduct Point Duty at intersections in the absence of the Police
Inspect all amusement parlours
Collect Heavy Traffic fees
Supervise omnibus services
Supervise traffic entering and leaving the city’s racecourses
Conduct general traffic control

In the same year, the first “mechanical traffic control apparatus” was installed at two city intersections: Queen/Wellesley Streets and Karangahape Road/Symonds Street. These were described thus:
“Four short arms placed at right angles and facing the four approaches to an intersection are fixed to the top of a standard which may be attached to a tramway pole or fitted into a socket into the ground. The arms are painted red and each has the word “go” painted distinctly in white on one side and [“stop”] on the reverse. It is worked manually by the Constable on duty.”

The white lines painted on central city footpaths to ensure that pedestrians “kept left” (I remember these still there in the early 1970s) dated from 1922 as well.

In 1924, the Chief Traffic Inspector returned from Australia with a new idea for the city’s intersections: painting a white line across each “leg” of an intersection, and requiring vehicles to stop behind this line until signaled to go by a pointsman.

In the same year, regulations came into effect under the Motor Vehicle Act which made it illegal to be intoxicated while in charge of a motor vehicle – but proof of said intoxication was based “on an officer’s subjective observation of a driver.” The same act brought in national registration for motor vehicles, replacing local authority registration.

Early traffic control in Auckland: 1894-1916

One of my favourite books is Alan Woolston's Equal To The Task, a history of the City of Auckland Traffic Department from 1894-1989. In chronological format, it recounts the development of Auckland City's traffic department from a single "Inspector of Vehicles" to the point where it was absorbed with the Ministry of Transport. The following comes from the first part of the book.

The first traffic officer in the City of Auckland was Thomas Turner, appointed as “Inspector of Vehicles” in 1894 by the City Council. He worked from out of the Sanitary Inspector’s office initially, sharing duties with the Assistant Sanitary Inspector. Traffic and sanitary inspections were therefore shared duties in the early years.

By 1900, in a Council bureaucracy that was very small and served a growing population, traffic inspectors were expected to undertake the following duties as part of their job description:

Act as Sanitary Inspectors
Supervise the night soil contract
Inspect food shops
Supervise the rubbish contract
Report to the Council on the cleanliness of streets
Inspect lodging houses and issue licenses
Supervise the building regulations
Other minor duties.

Some reorganisation pruned a few duties away from the list – but that of rat-catcher was later added.

“Throughout the city motor vehicle accidents began to increase (1911), especially at night. After several spectacular rear end crashes, motorists began to hang lamps on the rear of their vehicles, but there was no prescribed type of light and many hung a simple white lantern over the tailgate. To avoid confusion with other city lights, on 19 January, [J.B.] Lindsay recommended the Council amend Bylaw 11 to require all rear lights on vehicles (motor or horse-drawn) to be red.”

“Pedestrians and motor vehicle drivers continued to be in conflict with each other. On 17 March (1911) a young woman crossing Queen Street to catch a tram was knocked down and run over by a passing motorist. She was not seriously injured, but the motorist was charged with, ‘Having driven a motor car on Queen Street at a speed likely to be dangerous to the public.’ In a show of excessive zeal the prosecution called 16 witnesses who variously assessed the vehicle’s speed between 8 and 12 mph.”

Also by 1911, much of the Traffic Inspector’s workload involved checking and regulating trams. In 1916, the Council moved to enforce a 9 mph speed limit when it prosecuted an Auckland Electric Tramways motorman for exceeding 9mph. The Tramways Company countered by stating that trams had only two speeds – 12 mph and 19 mph. The magistrate that time ruled in the Company’s favour and felt that the bylaw was unreasonable. The following year Council won another case, when the evidence showed the tram in question had been traveling at 20 mph.

Ladies’ fashion was another subject of an early traffic bylaw. The fashion of the day dictated that ladies wore large decorative hats with long hat pins. The sharp projecting end of said pins was cause for concern for those sharing tram transport with the ladies in their finery, so Council developed a special Bylaw, requiring that all hat pins were to be covered with a cork. The Traffic Inspectors were obliged to board the trams and check that this was complied with and that all sharp points were corked.

Bell & Gemmell tannery update

An Update from here.

Last night, on a late-at-night trawl through my records on the Parish of Titirangi, I came across an entry for a lease in June 1879 concerning the 77 acre Allotment 86 (today, this is the site of Kelvinside, Arran, Stedman and Alanbrooke Streets off St Georges Road) between John Buchanan the owner and "Bell & Other" (DI A2.267, source of lower image, LINZ)

Today, a bit of nosing around led me to find Allotment 101 of the Parish of Titirangi, next to Allotment 86, but fronting onto today's Wolverton Street (image at top, from NA8/67, LINZ records). This belonged to John Buchanan as well, and in October 1879 he leased the 6 acres there to Henry James Bell and Robert Gemmell. While I doubt I'll ever find out for certain exactly what happened to the lease over Allotment 86 (except that it was probably called in by 1884 when Buchanan was selling his land, and definitely by 1889 when he went bankrupt), the one for Allotment 101 is documented on a certificate of title.

Bell & Gemmell transferred their lease to Bell and George Hemus in September 1881. Hemus was an Auckland bootmaker -- a close association with a tannery for business. In turn, Bell & Hemus' lease was transferred in October 1882 to the "Riversdale Manufacturing Company Limited." I strongly suspect John Buchanan was a leading light behind this company. In November 1883, he transferred his freehold title over Allotment 101 to that company. Back up at Allotment 86, with his sale only semi-successful and entering bankruptcy, the official assignee transferred the title from that property also to the Riversdale Manufacturing Company in 1889, but it was assigned back to Buchanan in 1891.

For Allotment 101, the official assignee also transferred it to the Company in 1889. I suspect (a lot of suspicions, I know, but I hope to nut this all out eventually), that the Company comprised the following: Jonathan Elkin of Auckland, gentleman; Charles Colville Fleming from Onehunga, merchant; Margaret Russell Smellie Buchanan, John's wife; and John Macky Alexander, an Auckland solicitor. While Buchanan himself went bankrupt, the Company didn't. It conveyed land at Allotment 86 as late as 1903, though its file in Archives New Zealand only appears to cover from 1881-1884.

Henry James Bell purchased 3 acres of Allotment 101 outright by 1893 (the half closest to the railway, just across the Whau Creek tributary from the site of the Maori carving in my profile photo, by the way), but sold it to a Mangere farmer in 1895, who then sold it to Mrs. Gertrude Stone (see below).

Margaret Buchanan transferred her interest in the Company to Herman Brown and John McKail Geddes in 1893 (the Buchanans had moved to Paeroa in 1891), and by 1898 Allotment 101 had been joined to the lower part of Allotment 86 (between the railway line and Wolverton Street/St Georges Road). From then it was owned by a widow named Gertrude Eliza Stone; Ernest Arthur Stone, an Avondale farmer (from 1906); Ralph Montgomery, a Waikino Hotelkeeper (from 1908); Joseph Ruddock Simpson of Avondale (from 1909); and many more.

By the 1950s, the land was owned by a family named Taylor, who sold part to Universal Builders Limited in 1961. By 1962, Amsterdam Place had been dedicated and formed, and the subdivisions fronting the new cul-de-sac came into existence.

The Motor Car Changes Avondale: Part 2

Updated  28 November 2021.

Image: Turn-of-the-century Bowser pump from America.

 Fine enough to have the new motor car. But you need a place to have it serviced, to renew the oil, to fill it with fuel. These places are the service stations, which began appearing as specialised business in Avondale just after World War I.

 In 1919, one Harry Waygood returned to New Zealand after serving in the Royal Australian airforce as a flight engineer during World War I, and built himself a motor garage on Windsor Road, Avondale (Wingate Street). Waygood’s Garage was among the first to start selling petrol (in the early days, coming in three colours – blue, green and clear – depending on the petrol ratings). Imported petrol came to the retailer in 4 gallon cans until 1926.

Waygood family photo.

His garage was open on Saturday mornings, and Harry Waygood quickly earned the reputation of being very good with his hands, using the expertise he’d learned during the Great War, along with possessing a “ticket” to handle steam engines. His father had been a teacher at the New Lynn School.

His son Ron Waygood told me how his father had the Western agency in the 1930s for the Morris 8 type of motor car from Dominion motors in the City, and also taught people how to drive – so they could buy his cars.

Harry Waygood met his future wife, Elsie Binsted (whose father was a butcher in Avondale) while he was choirmaster, and she the organist at St Jude’s Church, Avondale. He continued to operate his garage until World War II, when petrol rationing meant keeping his garage open became uneconomical. He went on to work in Parnell until he retired. 

Up until 1926, petrol came in 4 gallon tins, packed in wooden crates, and served to the public either from garages like Waygood’s (which has a specially built safe in the building wall to protect the petrol from ignition) or from the local grocery store right along with the wheat and the chaff for the dwindling horse population. 

In 1926 saw the appearance of kerbside fuel pumps at service garages. C A Trigg applied for a permit “to erect a Kerbside Benzine Pump” at his garage on Great North Road (granted) [Avondale Borough Council minutes, 3/2/26]. The site of these pumps can still be seen today, in front of the Avondale Spiders, where vehicles would drive across what is now footpath to park up against the “bowsers”, and then drive off. 

Later that month, British Imperial Oil Co (in 1927 to become the Shell Company of New Zealand Ltd) asked for the Borough regulations in relation to kerbside pumps. The Chief Inspector of Explosives of the Department of Labour wrote saying his department were in favour of tank installation for petrol storage. 

Suddenly, all over the city the matter of petrol pump regulations became an issue, Newmarket Borough calling for “uniformity “. By August George Stuart had a pump at his garage also (Great North Road. H M Waygood applied for his kerbside pump in July (granted). 

1926 saw the appearance of the GOC Station at the five-roads intersection (present day roundabout). This was to become the Bowzer Benzine Station by 1928 (Bowzer was the tradename of the American-designed pump, and the slang of the time: “kerbside bowsers”), and by 1929 the Central Service Station, run by Albert Graven. [Wise’s Directories]

According to Mr Ernie Croft, son of a builder also named Ernie Croft who worked with Charles T Pooley, Albert Graven’s original name was Albert Grubnitz. Ernie was close: Graven's birth name was actually Albert Heinrich Knowles von Graevenitz, his father German-born, his mother English.  Ernest Croft senior helped build the service station, which was situated on land formerly owned by Charlie Pooley. Graven leased the property from Pooley through to the mid 1940s, then from a new owner until his own death in 1967.  Avondale lore has it that Graven won the Irish Sweepstake, which helped set him up in business. In those days, the Sweepstake was worth around £20,000 to £30,000. But, this does not appear to have been the case, Graven's business longevity more down to investment wheeling and dealing. Essentially, another form of gambling entirely.

By the mid 1960s, Graven had left the business, and it had become a Mobil service station from 1969. In 1989 it was replaced by the completion of the new bigger Mobil service station across the road (by St Ninians). The site is now a restaurant, after having been a collectibles shop.

Stewart’s garage was in Great North Road between Racecourse Parade and Rosebank Road. On 18 August 1927 – “Fire, which broke out at about 11.30 last evening, destroyed Stuart’s service garage, Great North road, Avondale, together with eight of the nine cars which were stored in it. Residents in the locality were awakened by the sound of an explosion, probably caused by the bursting of a tin of benzine. “The building was of galvanised iron with wooden frame-work and when the local volunteer brigade under Superintendent Watson arrived, it was enveloped in flames. Stuart’s garage is the largest in the district, and is situated a few yards past the Avondale Post Office. It is understood it was closed up for the night early in the evening, and the cause of the outbreak is a mystery.” [NZ Herald, 19/8/27]

After serving time with Northern Steamship Company, Scotsman Jim Crawford came to Avondale and opened Crawford’s Garage on Great North Road. This later became Morrison & Crawfords, then under Atlantic brand, and finally replaced by Mobil station by Battersby’s when Mobil Oil bought out Atlantic. Crawford went on to be a president of the ABA, master of the Titirangi Masonic Lodge, and founding member of the Avondale Cricket Club, among other honours. He died in September 1966. [Western Leader, 27/9/66] According to his widow, Mrs Vera Crawford, he also held the Queens Coronation Medal.

Jim Crawford came into the business at the instigation of Jack Fearon (of Fearon Bros.) who owned all the land which is now occupied from the corner of the Fearon Block to Battersby’s carpark. Mr Fearon introduced Mr Crawford to a Mr Morrison (hence the firm’s name), and the partnership was arranged. Unfortunately, Mr Morrison left the partnership after around 6 months, and as it was the Depression at the time, Jim Crawford felt he couldn’t afford the charges for changing the name solely to his own. By the time the Depression was over, the locals had become used to the name, and so he left it as it was.

After Mr Crawford died in 1966, Mrs Crawford managed the business for another ten years. The service station was altered to allow vehicles to drive onto a forecourt beside the pumps, and the site of the original station is now Battersby’s Funeral Services car park. “Owned and operated by the family of the late Jim Crawford (as Morrison and Crawford Ltd), from its beginnings as a multi-brand outlet in 1930 the station has, despite the effects of economic recessions, roading changes and rising fuel prices, maintained steady upward growth which reflects the vision and confidence of successive managements. “Leaving an indelible imprint upon its history is Mrs Vera Crawford who took over the running of the business in 1957 when her husband was forced to retire through ill health. 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.” [Mobil Happenings, in-house magazine, 1982, from the Crawford Collection, courtesy of Mrs V. Crawford] 

In 1976 Morrison & Crawford became Curtis & Miller “In 1976, after forty-six years, the Crawford family retired from the operation of the service station, leaving it in what have certainly proved to be the capable hands of Pat Curtis and Paul Miller. Sharing managerial, mechanical and merchandising skills, this partnership has built on the rock-solid foundations that Mrs Crawford had established. The keystone of the business continues to be ‘service second to none’, and Curtis and Miller Ltd have certainly demonstrated that you don’t frighten customers away by ensuring that their motoring needs are well satisfied. “Looking at the service station today, a flourishing, modern business, well equipped for the eighties and beyond, it is possible to surmise that Mr Crawford would be well pleased by the successive achievements of firstly Mrs Vera Crawford and latterly, Pat Curtis and Paul Miller.” [Mobil Happenings, in-house magazine, 1982, from the Crawford Collection, courtesy of Mrs V. Crawford]

  (Above photos from the late Mrs Vera Crawford.)