Fire on the "Leading Wind", 1891

Image from Barnstable and Yarmouth, sea captains and ship owners (1913), by Frank William Sprague & Leavitt Sprague.

Fire, flax, scuttling, and a (nearly) international diplomatic incident – this is the story of the Leading Wind in Auckland in 1891.

At around 11.30 on the night of 22 January that year, a fire was first noticed amongst the gum and flax bales in the cargo hold of an American-owned full-rigged 1,128 ton ship, launched 1874 in Maine, named the Leading Wind. At the time, the Leading Wind was still in the process, since earlier that month, of being loaded at the No. 2 Jetty at Queen Street Wharf. Captain Francis M Hinckley from New York, one of the ship’s owners, had retired to his berth half an hour before, but finding he wasn’t sleepy, got up again and, as luck would have it, was just heading back to the cabin when a member of the crew gave the alarm. Smoke was seen “rising up from the fore-hold, oozing through the hatchway.” Customs, Auckland Harbour Board officials and fire brigade members were soon on the scene. The usual crowd of onlookers was evident at the wharf, but a fire in the small hours of early morning meant the numbers weren’t as high as they might have been.

With 3,500 bales of flax and about 700 cases of kauri gum on board, all the firemen could do was remove the fore-hatch and pour as much water down into the hold as possible – so much so that the ship began to list about 25 degrees away from the wharf. Still the fire raged down below, no amount of pumped water able to get to the seat of the flames. After a couple of hours, a hurried consultation between Captain Hinckley, Mr. C. V. Houghton of the NZ Shipping Company (the local agents for the Leading Wind), and the harbourmaster Captain Burgess that the best action to take would be to scuttle the ship. Superintendent Hughes of the fire brigade was alone in the opinion that the ship should be scuttled where she was at the wharf, in 26 feet of water, but Captain Burgess was concerned in case the fire should spread to Harbour Board property at the wharf. The Calliope Dock at Devonport was one suggested site for the scuttling, but time was against that option.

At 5 o’clock in the morning, nearly six hours after the fire was first reported, the Leading Wind was hauled out from the wharf into the stream by the P.S. Victoria, the tug Rotoiti and the S.S. Despatch, past the end of Hobson Street wharf, and out to the entrance of Freeman’s Bay. The P. S. Brittania joined the scene, and there, once the tugs were clear of the ship, the ship’s carpenter and others from shore began to cut holes in the hull. After another couple of hours, “a great hole four feet long by three or four inches wide on the starboard side aft had been cut, and this was the first to admit the water, which began to pour into the hold steadily and in considerable volume. With all speed four other holes were cut, two on her port and two on her starboard side, of considerable size, and the ship began slowly but surely to settle down. Being of wood it took only a comparatively short time to scuttle her.”

By ten o’clock the Leading Wind reached the harbour’s bottom, with most of the fire extinguished – except for part forward of the fore-hatch, which still smouldered through the afternoon, until the high tide finished it off. At five pm, tenders were called for the refloating and salvage work. The Leading Wind was successfully refloated three days later. By the beginning of April, she had been sold to a Captain Savory for £2150, and set sail again two weeks later.

A coronial inquiry into the cause of the fire on board the Leading Wind was supposed to have been held sometime towards the end of January or early February. Inexplicably, the official inquiry didn’t take place until 20 April, after the ship had been raised, repaired, sold, and Captain Hinckley had sorted out all but one of the local interests in the ship and its damaged cargo. Even then, the only verdict was an open one, possibly spontaneous combustion of improperly treated flax, but even that option was ruled out later by government analysts. All bills of lading for the cargo, except one, were by April deposited in New York, awaiting final accounting with regard to insurances.

The one exception was Wood, Shand & Co of Christchurch, who had arranged shipment of 1,298 bales of flax on the Leading Wind in January, valued at £3,100. They demanded not only the proceeds of the sale of their damaged stock, but also a further £1,200 from the general insurance average upon the ship. On 25 April, they applied in the Auckland Supreme Court for a writ of arrest against Captain Hinckley to prevent him from leaving the colony until he had provided security of payment.

In fiery response, the American Consul in Auckland at the time, John D. Connolly, wrote the following letter to the NZ Herald:

“Sir, --

“During my brief stay in Auckland I have endeavoured to the utmost of my ability, to promote the most friendly commercial relations between this colony and the country I have the honour to represent. I have upon all occasions when could honourably and consistently do so, written and spoken in the most favourable terms of New Zealand. I have done this from a sense of duty, believing as I do, that every effort should be made by the people of both hemispheres to encourage those sentiments of friendship and mutual esteem which should ever characterise the actions of those through whose veins courses the blood of a common ancestry.I regret to say that recent events compel me to modify my opinions as to the existence here of those friendly sentiments I have just mentioned …

“I have refrained as far as possible from unnecessarily obtruding in the adjustment of this most unfortunate affair, believing the honour and keen sense of justice of those concerned would aid them in determining the proper and most honourable course for them to pursue. In this I am exceedingly sorry to say I was mistaken; nor is it to the credit of those through whose practice I am forced to this conclusion. In most civilised countries, when such misfortune befalls a vessel belonging to a friendly people, every facility and kindness is afforded the master or owner to get him out of his difficulty as pleasantly and agreeably as possible. In this case, however, it is positively painful to observe the treatment Captain Hinckley has received at the hands of the Auckland Underwriters Association, and I may as well include the New Zealand Shipping Company who, by the way, were acting as agents for the Leading Wind …

“Instead of that sympathetic and courteous assistance which an American naturally expects from a British community under such trying circumstances, Captain Hinckley was harrassed, obstructed, and annoyed at every conceivable point, and finally to cap the climax, a summons has been issued from the Supreme Court, praying for his arrest and imprisonment unless he performs certain acts which at this late date are entirely beyond his power … This is friendship with a vengeance! I hope this is not a true Briton’s idea of justice. If it is, I confess it is wholly at variance with the high opinion I have heretofore entertained of his sense of fairplay.”

A day after Connolly wrote his lengthy plea for British fairplay in Auckland, Captain Hinckley was arrested and detained on Saturday 25 April 1891, with Connolly being a vociferous and protesting witness to the whole affair. Captain Hinckley was boarding the mail steamer Alameda at the time, to return to America with his wife.

The Observer described the whole saga as a farce.

“I was a stranger and ye run me in !' Such may be the exclamation of Capt. Hinckley of the ship Leading Wind, as he summarises the treatment he has received in Auckland. He has been violently arrested when about to leave the colony, because a civil claim for damages was laid against him, three months after the fire on board his ship in Auckland Harbour ; and in addition to the bad impression which a stranger thus obtains of Colonial manners and customs, there will in all likelihood be an international difficulty created, which will lead to considerable trouble and expense to all concerned.

“From the time of the fire down to the present moment, all connected with the Leading Wind has been a comedy of errors. The holding of an inquest three months after the fire was in itself a farce, made of the ' screaming ' order by the fact of a medical coroner and a jury of grocers, tailors, &c., inquiring into an occurrence that required all the acumen of nautical experts to unravel. Some of the men connected with the ship lost good situations by being detained to give evidence, and of course the jury could only find that the fire took place by the visitation of God, or something of that sort.

“I really wonder that the intelligent jury did not fall back on the ‘incendiary rat ' theory, which has often proved so useful at inquests on Auckland fires. They got the straight tip, but obstinately refused to smell a rat. Robert Moore, a lumper employed loading the vessel, stated that on the 22nd January, about ten o'clock in the morning, he saw a rat come out from the lower hold. The animal seemed quite stupid, so much so that one of the men picked it up. The hair was all turned the wrong way, and it was quite wet as from sweat apparently. Mr. Moore's evidence ended with the statement that the fire broke out that very night.

“Now, I have no doubt that, had he been cross-examined with a small modicum of acuteness, he would have added that the rat had a prophetic air about it — that it strove to speak, but could only articulate ' Ugg, ugg, ugg,’ or words to that effect, that it then turned pale, gazed vacantly into space, and wrapping itself in the Stars and Stripes gave up the ghost. That rat was a loyal American rat, and it wanted to save Captain Hinckley and his men from all the annoyance that has come upon them through a fire caused by a band of low colonial rats. I am a New Zealander, but in this case my sympathies are with the American citizens who have been so harshly dealt with. “

(2 May 1891)

Eventually, a security was lodged, and Captain and Mrs. Hinckley finally left Auckland on 23 May.

Some interesting link found while gathering info for this post:

Ships on Fire (from Rootsweb)

Barnstable and Yarmouth, sea captains and ship owners (1913), Frank William Sprague & Leavitt Sprague.

Captain Hinckley came from a long line of sea captains from Barnstable, Maine, and surrounding areas. At the time of the Leading Wind saga, he already had at least three decades of experience under his belt as a ship’s master.

“Captain Francis M. Hinckley, of Barnstable, was Master of ships Winged Hunter, Ocean Queen, Leading Wind, Star of Peace, and Arabia. While crossing the Indian Ocean on a voyage to Singapore, in the latter, the cargo of coal with which the ship was loaded, caught fire by spontaneous combustion. He succeeded in safely bringing his ship to Singapore. For this the China Marine Insurance Company presented Captain Hinckley with a gold watch and chain. The inscription on the watch is as follows:

‘Captain Francis M. Hinckley, for his brave and skillful conduct in subduing a fire in the cargo of coals on board ship Arabia, on voyage to Singapore, A.D. 1869.’ …

Captain Hinckley was in command of the ship Star of Peace when she was burned by the [Confederate commerce raider] Florida, March 6 1863.”

(Sprague & Sprague, p. 30)

“Francis Hinckley was told by the owners of the Arabia to use thinner paper when he wrote from New Zealand to save money.”(Images of America: Barnstable Village, West Barnstable, and Sandy Neck, Edward O. Handy Jr., p. 60)

Other sources used included Papers Past, Auckland Star and NZ Herald.

Eye on Auckland blog

Sydney from the Eye on Auckland blog stopped by and left a comment to my post on the Dawn Persson boardwalk -- so, I thought I'd head on over to his blog to check it out. Well, the result was another link added to the growing list at the left. Sydney's blog is excellent -- it gives you a feel of Auckland's present and what may come, along with a bit of Auckland's past, such as the post there on the Deloitte Centre and Tower. This is a new building on the old site of the Victoria Arcade (one of Auckland's late lamented 19th century gems) and the Jean Batten State Building.

Sydney asked if his timeline for the landuse of the site is correct: looks like it is. The former Chief Post Office in Auckland between Shortland and Fort Streets from 1867 was indeed on the site of the original Government Store in Auckland, itself built on the muddy beach. By the 1930s, it had been replaced by the grander Chief Post Office at Britomart, and during that last decade part of the site was further cut into by the establishment of Jean Batten Place by the Auckland City Council (laid out in an effort to alleviate traffic problems on Queen Street). The new Departmental State Building which replaced the old post office (built from 1937-1941) was later named not directly in honour of Jean Batten as many believe, but from the name of the new street along its eastern facade.

I remember, in 2001, heading into the BNZ building which replaced the Victoria Arcade. I was after information from the bank's archives on the history of the BNZ in Avondale. It was a spooky experience; I had to wait in a hallway with locked doors all around, while first one person appeared through one door to ask what I wanted, then back back behind a locked door, and then another door opened and I was handed a small photocopy of an index card listing Avondale's BNZ agencies and banks. It was handy information -- but definitely one of the oddest ways I've ever collected data.

Dawn Persson Boadwalk, Whau River

This is the Dawn Persson Boardwalk, at the end of Ash Street and just beside the Ash-Rata bridge across the Whau River. It was dedicated to Dawn Persson, a community stalwart, serving 10 years on the Community Board, as well as a raft of other community positions in Avondale. She died in October 1999, just two months after this was named in her honour.

This part of the Whau sees ducks ...

... as well as a hawk (flies over on the New Lynn/Kelston side, I saw it on Friday when I took these shots) and lots of pigeons (hawk food, I'd say).

This is the only place where anyone can see what the boardwalk's name is, or a mention of Dawn Persson. Bit of a shame.

Pollution still seeping into the Whau after all these years -- possibly from an old rubbish tip, judging by the rusty, oily water. This spill is close to where the plaque is.

A City Council sign left lying in the mud and mangroves, after giving up the fight to be seen through the coating of tags.

This is where the main interpretive sign for the walk is supposed to be. Lost to vandals and grafitti, some time past.

A view of the river looking towards the Waitemata Harbour ...

... underneath the Ash-Rata bridge ...

... and the other side, looking upriver towards the older Great North Road bridge.

Update, 31 July 2009: See Phil Hanson's comment below. He took this shot of the state of the rubbish along the boardwalk.

Update on the Medico-Dental building

I've added an update to the original post, namely, this photo which I managed to take a few days ago. I reckon this building is one of my favourites in central Auckland. The colouring of the architectural details is probably why (makes it look like a cool 3-D architectural plan).

Brick & Pipe Makers mural, New Lynn

This time when I went past this control box in New Lynn yesterday, although it was raining, I had my trusty camera with me. Corner Hugh Brown Drive and Great North Road.

Brick and pipe manufacture being so much a part of the heritage of both Avondale and New Lynn -- I had to capture the image.

Black November

The statement in the new book West that Waikumete Cemetery is "home to a mass grave filled with most of the 1128 Aucklanders who died in the influenza epidemic of 1918” still had me going this past week. Such a statement is contradicted not only by Geoffrey W. Rice in his extremely good reference on the 1918 influenza pandemic in New Zealand, Black November, 1988, reprinted 2005 (with a specific chapter on the effect in Auckland) – but even in the conservation plan for Waikumete Cemetery produced for the Waitakere City Council itself (the local body that backed the West book):

“In 1918-1919 following the end of the First World War, there was a catastrophic outbreak of Spanish pneumonic influenza that caused a large number of burials in a short period of time. In the autumn of 1918 the disease spread quickly from country to country, resulting in a heavy death toll … The railway line to Waikumete station played an important role in transporting the dead, particularly when the number of deaths reached its peak in the third and fourth weeks of November 1918. Auckland recorded the nation’s highest death toll of 1,680. From 1-26 November there were 469 interments at Waikumete.”

Even that history isn’t completely correct. The figure of 469 interments was taken from the report by Auckland’s City Engineer to the Mayor of Auckland on 27 November 1918. Rice amends that to 444 burials at Waikumete related to the influenza outbreak (as there were, of course, burials resulting from other causes during that period), and puts the total Auckland influenza toll at 1128, agreeing with Matthew Gray. Still, 444 burials out of 1128 deaths still doesn’t mean that Waikumete Cemetery is where “most” of those who died were buried. Just over a third, yes.

Auckland’s public mortuary was the first stop for the increasing numbers of the dead caused by the virus. When that filled to overflowing, Victoria Park’s grandstand and grounds were used as a temporary measure as an open-air morgue (according to Rice, this move led to other influenza legends of bodies laid out not only there, but also at the Domain and Albert Park; as well as bodies being incinerated at the nearby Council Destructor, or buried at sea).

I located in the Auckland City Council archives a wonderful treasure, a file of newspaper cuttings pasted on brown paper (it seemed hardly looked at, with pages almost sticking together) from the pandemic period in Auckland (ACC 219/18-289). That, along with the City Engineer’s report (ACC 398/18d), provided a brief summary of just what had happened in Auckland City as the death toll mounted and something needed to be done with the bodies.

In 1918, Dr. Joseph P. Frengley (1873-1926) was acting Chief Health Officer in Wellington when a milder epidemic of influenza raged through that city. As things started to look particularly bad in Auckland towards the end of October, the Mayor of Auckland, James Henry Gunson (1877-1963) urged Dr. Frengley to visit Auckland. He arrived 3 November.

Victoria Park had been chosen by the City Engineer after an inspection of a number of sites on 9 November to relieve the overburdened mortuary, and a large room at the pavilion was opened to receive the bodies. The following day arrangements were made to transport extra gravediggers to and from Waikumete Cemetery, and “also for the pegging out of extra grave spaces.” (CE report)

The NZ Herald reported on 12 November that Dr. Frengley had, the previous day, acting under powers contained in Section 50 of the Public Health Act 1908 “ordered all bodies of those who had died of influenza to be buried forthwith.” Relatives and friends of the deceased had to immediately organise burial of the dead, rather than leaving them at Victoria Park. Ministers of religion were actively encouraged to keep in touch with the required burials “so that deceased persons are interred on portions allotted to the respective denominations.” That day, twelve more gravediggers were sent out to Waikumete Cemetery.

Two special trains ran from November 13 to convey coffins out to Waikumete from Auckland. The Herald reported that undertakers and relatives had to make their own arrangements with the railway authorities for receiving the caskets and conveying them to the cemetery. The trains did, however, stop at Mt Eden to pick up more caskets and mourners. (NZH, 13 November) William Wallace of the Auckland Hospital Board, authorised “several large woodworking factories to construct caskets” in order that the burials be carried out as quickly as possible. (NZH, 14 November)

Six more gravediggers were sent to Waikumete on the 14th, followed by another six the following day, and three more ten days later. In all, the City Engineer reported that 1 surveyor and 35 men were employed at Waikumete during the outbreak, while there were an additional four caretakers at Victoria Park.

The Herald reported on 16 November that there had been 289 interments at Waikumete since November 1, compared with the (non-outbreak) average of 50 per month. It was announced on 20 November that the special trains were to be discontinued, but to free up hearses still servicing Purewa Cemetery, the railway authorities undertook to continue carrying caskets to Waikumete by the 9.29 am train each day. Anglican clergy, during the crisis, attended the burials in relays, along with those from Auckland’s other denominations. From the Herald on 22 November:

“In some cases a number of bodies have been interred at a time when the relatives or friends have been incapacitated by illness, but care has been taken to number all the graves, so that they may be easily located. A complete record has been kept, and by applying to the Town Hall, relatives and friends will be advised of the exact location of graves.”

From the City Engineer’s report:

“In connection with the Waikumete Cemetery, 469 interments took place from the 1st to the evening of 26 November and this large number of interments necessitated the pegging out of graves in the area recently cleared and ploughed on the Western Boundary, the number of new graves utilised to date in such ground being 131.”

So, not “mass grave” or “mass graves”, but rather, this was a case of a procedure of mass burials, each burial individually dug and sanctified where possible, over the course of just over two weeks. The City Engineer’s description appears to indicate that there were two distinct areas for the mass burials of the influenza victims at Waikumete, with 131 (at least) graves in the second area “on the Western Boundary”. The conservation plan identifies the main area for the graves as “Gumtree Gully” with “more unmarked graves in Pauper’s Gully” (appendices maps), which is somewhere between (according to the cemetery map) Anglican H, Anglican F, Anglican G and Anglican M&N (Rice had in a caption in his book that Plot MN was the site used. This is possibly not quite correct.) With the cemetery at that time mainly occupying the far eastern corner of the whole site, such a location would have been a relatively short distance from the train station, assisting with the unloading of so many caskets in so short a time.

An update: this from the Friends of Waikumete Cemetery Facebook page, 27 August 2014.

"Waikumete Cemetery Monument to the victims of the 1918 Influenza Epidemic. Anglican Division E, Row 6. The green area behind the monument holds individual graves up to 1915. Many of these people died in hospitals. There are no victims of the Influenza epidemic in this row. People who died from the flu were buried in individual graves in the area of their religious denominations often in family graves. Louisa Mary McFlinn died on the 15th November 1918 from influenza and is buried in her family grave. You will see many graves through out the cemetery with dates around November 1918 which indicate that they may have been a victim of the influenza epidemic ... Row 6 was opened in November 1907 and has burials up to 1915. These were mainly hospital patients and so didn't have headstones. It does have some headstones down the far end. Row 7 was opened in May 1918, Row 8 was opened in July 1918, Row 9 which is the 2nd row in from the gums was opened in November 1918, and Row 10 in April 1919. These rows do have headstones. There is a myth that the grassed area behind the monument is a mass grave or pit where flu victims were buried together. This is untrue."

Postal Humour

From the Auckland Star, 14 May 1932.

POSTAL HUMOUR


QUAINT MAIL ADDRESSES


PUZZLES FOR SORTERS


EXAMPLES IN NEW ZEALAND

Not long ago there was posted in Wellington a letter which as an address bore several bars of music and the word Dunedin -- nothing else. Within a day or two it was duly delivered at the office of the "Evening Star" Company. Wagner's Tannhauser excerpt, "O Star of Eve," was what the bars of music represented, so delivery was but a small puzzle to the postal sleuths, one of whom at least must have had a good knowledge of music. With regard to the delivery of this letter, the postmaster at Dunedin wrote: "The letter was posted at Courtenay Place on the 24th, was received on the morning of the 27th, and was delivered within a few minutes of receipt. The exhibit may possibly be of some interest, and certainly indicates the intelligence of postal officers."

Cryptic addresses, humorous and otherwise, form the subject of an interesting article in the Evening Post, Wellington. A self-styled humorist tried to flummox the post office by addressing a letter as follows:

"Mrs. ABCDEFGHIJKMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ,
Spud St.,
Windy."

It was duly delivered to Mrs. Noel (no "L"), Murphy Street, Wellington, for whom it was intended.

For jokes of that kind postal officials have no great appreciation, but when it comes to deciphering addresses obviously not intended to perplex them purposely they leave no stone unturned to decipher the sender's intentions. For instance, "Ogairie King, c/o Er. B., Ltd.," presented few difficulties, and the letter thus addressed went to Ellis and Burnand, Ltd., Ongarue, King Country.

A letter addressed to "Kaupi Kanine, Wellington," ultimately got to the place it was intended for, namely, Kaupokonui, Taranaki.

"Jugesche Street, Manganiri," was rightly translated to be Ingestre Street, Wanganui.

A foreigner's attempt to address a letter to Shakespeare Road, Napier, resulted in "Sha Kesneera Road, Napfea" but the letter found the addressee.

The somewhat vague "Wa H. On, K. 78, N.Z." was on a letter which arrived recently from China. It was duly delivered to Wah On, a compatriot of the sender, who lives at that number in Molesworth Street.

A letter to the Cafe De Luxe in Willis Street was addressed "Coile De Waxe, Wes St., Niceineton, New Leacemp," and it got there!

Few would guess rightly to what address a letter with "Orient, St. Olla Bei, Newa Zelando," on it should be delivered. The Wellington postal officials took it to Trent Street, Island Bay, and they were right.

Hundreds of instances might be quoted of wrongly spelt place names on letters. The following few will suffice:
"3 A. E. Koa" for Paeroa;
"P. Line, Merton," for Plimmerton;
"Emclohsina" for Eketahuna;"
"Molincka," for Motieka;
"Gildrie" for Geraldine;
"Camary", for Oamaru;
"Lake Raw", for Takarahi.

On one letter "Wolliglesoan Geoft" was deciphered as being an attempt at Wellesley Street (Auckland), and on another "Thinane, Theodscia," was rightly interpreted to be Theodocia Street, Timaru. Who can accuse postal officials of lack of intelligence after that?

A George Hemus compendium

I've received emails this morning from Meg Smith, great great-granddaughter of George Hemus, who has featured or been included in a number of past Timespanner posts. Here's the list:

Bell & Gemmell Tannery update (George Hemus was involved with the Riversdale Manufacturing Company as a shareholder and Auckland bootmaker).

The George Hemus Scandal, 1884.

A further update on George Hemus.

Even more on George Hemus (includes headstone image from America).

The list of Riversdale Manufacturing Company shareholders.

Here's Meg's email:

"According to family lore...

George and Frances had 8 children (4 did not survive childhood).
The eight children were named Ernest Howard Hemus (1874-1951 Topeka, KS),
Janet Mary Hemus (1870 - ? died as a baby),
Frances Hemus (1871-? married Arthur Blake and had 1 child Frank Butterworth),
George Harwood Hemus (1873 - died 1944 Colorado Springs, CO, married to Blanch Herman), Leonard Gray Hemus (1877 died the same year),
Percy Turner Hemus (3/7/1878 - 12/22/1943),
Harold Hemus (1878-1879),
Ethel Maude Hemus (1880-1881).

While in New Zealand, Frances Harwood Keane Hemus was abandoned by her husband who left for America. She told people in New Zealand he was setting things up and she was to follow with the children. She tracked him down in San Francisco where her husband gave her some money and put her and their four surviving children on a train to Kansas. Her son Ernest became the bread winner at the age of 9 when he started working for the Santa Fe railroad to support Frances and his siblings. He was a very bright man who worked for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad throughout his life. He married Lucy Riggs and had two daughters Marjorie Riggs Hemus (later Marjorie Hemus Crane) Feb 2, 1902 - Aug 25, 2000 and Bernice "Babe" Hemus. Marjorie was my grandmother and a wonderful strong woman. She married Alfred Harry Crane and had two daughters Marjorie and Judith Ann Crane. Marjorie had two sons with Donald Schnacke (Gregory and Timothy). Judith had two daughters with Robert Harold Elliott, Jr.; Kathryn Crane Elliott and Margaret Harwood Elliott Smith.

George's son Percy Turner Hemus had success as a singer and actor. He cut the first gold record for RCA and was an actor on the radio for the show "Tom Mix" as the character The Wrangler in the 1930s.

George's son George Harwood Hemus settled in Colorado Springs, CO and taught in the State School for the Blind. In 1937 he and his sister Frances Butterworth visited Auckland.

I don't know what happened to George after he abandoned Frances. Needless to say we don't think highly of him ;0)

Hope that helps.

Meg Smith"

My thanks to everyone who has emailed me on the subject of George Hemus. I now know much more about him than when I first started out, and all your contributions has meant that the information provided can now help others. Cheers!

The riches of the Whau River

Audrey from West Auckland, a fellow history researcher, emailed this wee gem to me this morning, from the Bay of Plenty Times, 18 May 1880.

I'm not surprised Gittos may have found pearls -- in much more recent times, if I recall correctly, a hunk of serpentine was discovered by those engaged on a Friends of the Whau organised clean-up of the river's banks. Lots of stuff ends up in the Whau River, which is tidal for much of its length. But the clipping doesn't say it's the Whau River, or even that it's the Oakley. It could have even been a creek somewhere in the city, where their warehouse was based.

When I can, I'll see if more comes to light.

Kintalk: a family history resources blog

I've seen this off and on for a while, but decided last night (while talking to Karen, the Auckland City Library's family history librarian who runs the blog) that I should include Kintalk on the list of links here. It's aimed at genealogists and family historians -- but some of the information on Kintalk about new databases and other info becoming available might prove useful to general historians as well.

West: a new history of West Auckland

I attended the launch of the book West: The History of Waitakere tonight, held at the Waitakere City Council chambers. I have been looking forward both to the launch, and to obtaining the book (it retails for $79.99, but they took $10 off tonight as a launch special. According to the Western Leader, the book cost about $280,000 to produce, receiving $180,000 from Waitakere City Council, $35,000 from the ASB Charitable Trust and $39,500 from the Portage and Waitakere Licensing Trusts.

My thoughts:

It is a beautiful book, and it has fulfulled one monumental aim, to try to compile together as much of the essense of "westie-ness" as possible within constraints of funding, page numbers, etc. Reading the book, you definitely get a feel for the story, both past and present, and it has turned out to be great timing in terms of the publication. With Auckland's Super City just around the corner, this volume will fit in nicely with other "swansong" municipal publications prepared in years past by other authorities lost in amalgamation. I also think that the book is a good starting point in terms of research into West Auckland, for those who make the effort to do so.

I liked the geological summary at the beginning by Bruce Hayward, the underpinning of the entire area. This will prove a great resource. The chapters on the history of Te Kawerau a Maki and Ngati Whatua in terms of West Auckland (the former claim mana over the whole of West Auckland, and surrounding districts, the latter claim the Auckland isthmus and that they are tangata whenua in Waitakere City) provide information on the complex history of Maori settlement and resource use in the area.

Some parts of the work stand out as areas where a little more research would have assisted with accuracy.

In David Luxton's chapter "Struggle Country", "Long" John McLeod is referred to, the difference between Thomas Henderson's possible early mill and the one sighted by J. C. Loch in 1861 "all down to one man, "Long John McLeod, a lumberjack ..." McLeod wasn't just "one man" -- his partner until the late 1850s was Cyrus Haskell, who was a lumberjack, while McLeod was more an engineer.

In "Read All About It" by Rene Bridges, mention is made of a local paper owned by Noel Roseman called the Avondale Dispatch. This is (excuse the pun) news to me. I've heard of The News operated by Avondale's Arthur Morrish, but not mentioned in the chapter (although it extended in coverage out to Swanson), and I've heard of the Avondale Advance (which the chapter does mention.) Not the Dispatch, though. I'll leave that one open for now -- if Waitakere City Library has copies of this, I'd love to see them. It isn't in their catalogue, however. Or anywhere else. [Edited to add, 12 November 2018: A reference to the Avondale Dispatch has been found. A single issue, either complete or in part, in Council Archives from the late 1940s. Looking forward to sighting this.]

In "Fire in The West" by Robyn Mason, the date of 1852 crops up again with reference to Daniel Pollen. I imagine it will take a long, long time for this ill-founded belief that Pollen's brickyard and pottery works started at that time to finally fade away. It is ill-founded: Pollen purchased his property on Rosebank in 1855, a son was born there in 1856, but by 1860 he was over at Eden Crescent, having left the management of his brick works at least in the hands of John Malam. In 1852, Pollen was on Kawau Island during the first part of the year, moving to Auckland later on. The not-totally-accurate Goodall map of West Auckland brick and pottery yards is reproduced without correction. Also, mention is made of "the Craig family's Glenburn Fireclay & Pottery Co (Avondale)" in 1929. In that year, while the Craig family were finalising purchase of the Glenburn site with John Melville and James Fletcher, it was already (and had been since 1920) run by these two men. In 1923, the business became known as Glenburn Fireclay & Pottery Co.

Tara Jahn-Werner in "The Children of Hauauru" writes of Avondale having movies screened in the area "as early as 1920" (actually, movies were shown much earlier, at least 1910). The Avondale Public Hall is described as "a tiny corrugated tin hall" (the hall is wooden, with a corrugated tin side closest to the Hollywood Cinema, and has never been "tiny") and the cinema is described as a neo-classical building constructed when the hall was moved over (no dates are given, but the neo-classical part of today's Hollywood -- the facade -- was built in 1915, and served as the grand front for that same "tiny" hall until 1924). Jan Grefstad's history of the Hollywood Cinema has the details.

In "City of the Dead" by Matthew Gray, reference is made to Waikumete Cemetery being "home to a mass grave filled with most of the 1128 Aucklanders who died in the influenza epidemic of 1918." I know that local West Auckland historian Audrey Lange has disputed this. I was on a bus trip with West Auckland Historical Society a couple of years ago, when Audrey took us around on a brief visit to the cemetery, and showed us where an area of land beside a memorial to those who had died during the pandemic wasn't a mass grave, but actually a series of individual graves, very few marked with a stone. The "mass grave" story crops up in other places, such as Waikaraka (no mass grave there), and to do with the removal of remains from Symonds Street cemetery when the motorway was put through later on last century. I'd always been told, and believed, that the remains were in a mass grave in Waikumete -- until I saw that the remains had actually been cremated, and returned to special deposit memorials in Symonds Street.

The book includes a summary of early development of the area's schools -- but there's only four references to churches in the area, and most of those references are just side references. I realise that the editors were constrained by space restrictions, but even a two-page list of the area's churches and the dates they started would have been a useful tool for researchers. The West Auckland Historical Society is similarly treated -- two references, one to published works used as reference by the authors, the other a mention of Mill Cottage.

All in all, though, it can't be said that West is a white elephant. The team took on a big task, and achieved a book which, hopefully, will provide a historical research resource as well as several glimpses into what Waitakere City in 2009 is all about.

A stroll along Grafton Bridge

I was out in the wonderful breather of fine weather yesterday, doing some work at the Domain before heading back to the city, and decided to walk across Grafton Bridge. (The photos here are in reverse order of shooting).

Above is the view from Symonds Street. For some time now, it has been closed to vehicular traffic while strengthening goes on underneath. For a while, it's a pedestrian/cyclists' open route.

Along the way, the contractors and Auckland City Council have put up signage summarising the project and a bit of the bridge's nearly 100 year history. Below is a close up of the old photo showing the opening day and the stream of people flooding across.

The bridge from Grafton Road.

This is the motorway built half a century after the bridge. Grafton bridge used to span a verdant, bush-clad gully. Today, it spans a motorway interchange. I took this shot on one knee, poking the camera lens through one of the lower arches in the cement side. Couldn't take a shot above, due to the anti-suicide shield.

123 Grafton Road. When the bridge was first being constructed, this was where the city engineer lived, but the house is likely to be around three decades older than the bridge. Usually, you can't see the house for vegetation. Right now, someone is repiling the house (at least, I think they are, judging from the advertising signage on the site). The trees, bar one, have been removed, and once again the Victorian architecture is shown to the world. This is one of the last of its kind in the Grafton area.

Land Wars Memorial, Symonds Street

A bare-breasted Zealandia has had her back to the smog-creating traffic of burgeoning Auckland for nearly 90 years, now.

This is the Auckland memorial to those of the fallen among the Imperial and Colonial side during the Land Wars of the 19th century. It was organised by the Victoria League, and unveiled in 1920.

The Victoria League was founded in London in 1901, a time when Queen Victoria had just died, and the Boer War was soon to follow suit. The guiding principle of the League was “the conservation in memory of Queen Victoria, of the deeds of British soldiers and sailors, and other patriotic men and women in the Empire, and the assistance and hospitality shown to overseas visitors in England.” A meeting in Parnell in 1909 led to an Auckland branch being established.

A Graves Committee was set up in 1910 to search out and tend to the graves of New Zealand War veterans. Realising that many of these graves were unmarked, and that not all the names of the fallen could be recovered, Edith Mary Statham (1854-1951) and the Committee set out to erect a monument in Auckland to all the soldiers who had fallen during the Land Wars. In 1911, a triangular reserve site at the corner of Wakefield and Symonds Street was offered by the Auckland City Council. Sir Joseph Ward had already pledged £100 from the Government towards the project. Onehunga architect John Park won the initial design competition, but his plan was not adopted.

"Showing the memorial on the corner of Wakefield and Symonds Street, Auckland of men who fell in the New Zealand Wars", Reference 4-3393, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries.

In 1913, the Government raised its offer to £1000, and now a second competition was held, this time won in 1914 by British sculptor Thomas Eyre Macklin (whose entry arrived late, and who was chosen despite the disgust of local sculptors and monumental masons such as W. Parkinson). Macklin (1867-1943) was born in Newcastle –on-Tyne who exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1889 and also at Paris. In his obituaries, among his works is included “the Auckland War Memorial”. This isn’t the Cenotaph outside the Auckland War Memorial Museum, however – it’s the Maori War Memorial at the top of Wakefield Street. His design incorporated the three steps from Park’s earlier design, as well as the obelisk, but had a draped female figure representing Zealandia offering a palm to those who had died for the country during the Land Wars.

The names of the sculptor and the Paris foundry where the statue was cast are engraved at the edge of the flag which drapes, as if of cloth rather than metal, down the steps. This is my favourite part of the monument.

The wording of the monument attracted debate; the Victoria League wanted “and Empire” added, while others disputed the original dates of the Wars revealed as at the unveiling on 18 August 1920. The monument was altered so that “1845-1866” was changed to “1845-1872”. Soon after the unveiling, the monument was got at by the city’s larrikins. The palm leaf soon disappeared, so today Zealandia doesn’t offer peace to the fallen; it appears almost as if she’s reaching up to pick something off a tree or a bush which is no longer there. It’s a pity that palm couldn’t be restored.

Still – this is a memorial to the British, Australians and New Zealanders, along with the Maori allies, who fought during our civil wars in the 19th centuries. In the flood of memorials since to World Wars 1 and 2, this at least is something different.

According to The Sorrow and the Pride by Chris McLean and Jock Phillips (1990), Edith Sttatham had 73 graves or cemeteries under her care by 1919, and had been instrumental in the erection of monuments, as well as Symonds Street, in the following places: Waikaraka Cemetery, Te Awamutu (2), Taupiri, Whatawhata, Te Rorae, Paterangi, Tuakau, Ngaruawahia, Waitara, and Opotiki. Eventually, memorials she was associated with came to include those who had fallen from among the other side of the conflict as well. But from 1930, the Land Wars memorials ceased. As McLean and Phillips put it:

"Once more a national amnesia descended about the New Zealand Wars, as New Zealanders struggled to forget about the conflict lest it upset their naive belief that they had the best race relations in the world. Edith Statham had retired from government employment in 1928, and although from a new position as honorary inspector of war graves for the Auckland RSA she continued to write imploring letters to the government about the subject through until at least 1941, she had become a lone voice. Statham died in 1951, virtually unrecognised for her work."

The Edwin Fox

A link to a fascinating page detailing history of the Edwin Fox, currently a Category 1 registered heritage attraction in Picton.

The Lacre lorry of Messrs Archibald Bros. of Avondale

A wonderful surprise in the post today: a photocopy of the front page of The New Zealand Motor & Cycle Journal of 25 February 1913, sent to me by Bruce & Wilma Madgwick of the Otahuhu Historical Society. This is going to be the front page image for the next issue of the Avondale Historical Journal. I can't see anything cooler coming along to pip it.

The caption beneath the photo:

"30 h.p. two-ton Lacre lorry supplied to Messrs. Archibald Brothers, brick and pipe manufacturers, Avondale, by Messrs. Holland and Gillett, North Island agents for the Lacre Motor Company. As proof of the great saving in time effected through the employment of this vehicle, it may be mentioned that a two and a-half ton load of pipes was conveyed from the works at Avondale into the city, a distance of seven miles, in ten minutes under the hour, as compared to two and a-half hours occupied by the horse-drawn lorries."

Bull Baiting

A delightful description of a court case in Christchurch, from the NZ Truth, 14 February 1914.

In the Magistrate's Court at Christchurch before Mr. T. A. B. Bailey, S.M., Henry James Wells sought to blight the fair name of Frederick Bull, by having recorded against him a conviction for assaulting the said Henry James on January 3.

To look at Bull a casual observer would conclude that he had about as much chance of committing' a fair-sized assault on Wells as a pup has of assaulting an elephant. Each of the parties in the case lacked confidence in their verbal punch, and Cassidy occupied the informant's corner, whilst Lawyer Donnelly defended the alleged bully.

Wells unfolded a gruesome story concerning the treachery of his brother butcher, Bull. While following his profession as meat artist at Hogarth's flesh foundry, Sydenham, one day Henry James had occasion to use

A BOTTLE OF AMMONIA,

which he had in his hand when Bull entered tho establishment. Wells said, "This stuff doesn't smell like gin, Fred." Wells allowed Fred a smell. No sooner had he sniffed the ammonia than he hauled off and landed a double turbine, ginger laden bang on Well's eye. The injured optic assumed the color of a moonless night, and its wearer had to hawk it along to a doctor for repairs.

Mr. Cassidy handed in a doctor's certificate containing a pen picture of the injured eye. Lawyer Donnelly barked out: "Wh-what's this ?"

"A certificate," said Mr. Cassidy.

"You know you can't do anything with that. It's merely a certificate that Wells got a black eye. You can get that for a guinea." ("Truth" could not say whether the latter remark referred to the black eye, the doctor's certificate, or both.)

Mr. Cassidy's next exhibit was a picture post-card—a

VERITABLE TRIUMPH OF ART.

On one side were depicted two men— one with a face like a flat-iron and the other with an elaborate bandage covering his optic. The ornamented one was offering words of advice to his chum with the black eye. The reverse side of the post-card bore the following poetic gem which Mr. Cassidy spitefully referred to as "doggerel" :—

"Ah well your eye is black.
There is no doubt I had a crack. . .
I'll stop gin smelling and take a pull,
Or else stop a crack from beastly Bull."

Waving the post-card aloft, Mr. Cassidy asked the witness if the card was delivered to him by the postman. He said it was. He and Bull had always been friendly prior to the morning on which the latter dealt out stoush.

Mr. Donnelly offered a bottle of ammonia to the S.M. and Mr Cassidy to smell. Mr. Cassidy brutally suggested that Mr. Donnelly should smell it, it might clear his head. Lawyer Donnelly, for the defence, said that Wells had played a scurvy trick on Bull, and could not expect anything but that Bull would retaliate. The defendant's story was that when he entered the butcher's shop, Wells took the cork out of the ammonia bottle and said to witness,

THEY SAY THIS IS GIN.

What do you think it is, Fred ?" Fred tested the fluid, and when he regained consciousness he hit Wells on the eye and told him not to play silly jokes. He admitted that he struck Wells on the spur of the moment, although that was not the part of his anatomy that blackened.

Since the dust-up, witness had met Wells and had merely said, "Good morning, Mr. Wells." Nothing was farther from his mind than to taunt the man and goad him into fighting. Witness did not write the post-card to Wells, and had never seen it before. It might have been a joke on the part of the shop boy.

The S.M., after sniffing the ammonia bottle and satisfying himself that it did not contain gin, said he did not want to lay it down that there was justification for the blow, but he was surprised that when one man played a practical joke and got a crack in the eye for his pains he should let it rankle in his mind for so long. The case was dismissed.

From billiard cue to dentists' drill

I found these three photos in a 30 June 1924 issue of The Builders' Record. They show the progression of development at the corner of Lorne and Victoria Street East, from the Auckland Billiard Centre (building there from before 1908, billiard saloon set up in 1919) and adjacent tyre shop, to a 9-story building called the Medico-Dental Chambers.

The tall building to the extreme right is the AMP Building, from c.1913. Around 1958, that, and the three-story building beside, were replaced by a modern glass-fronted office building, also owned by AMP.

The first two photographs were taken by noted photographer Henry Winkelmann (the first is on the catalogue at Auckland City Library as well, 1-W313).

Caption: The above photograph by Mr. H. Winkelmann shows the old buildings at the corner of Victoria and Lorne Streets, Auckland, which have recently been demolished to make room for the splendid, modern, 9-srory building to be called The Medico-Dental Chambers."

Caption:
"The above photograph specially taken for The Builders' Record by Mr. H. Winkelmann shows the Medico-Dental Chambers in course of construction. The contract price is £49,000, the Architects are McDonald, Mullins and Sholto Smith, and the Contractors are Fletcher Construction Co., Ltd."

Caption:
"The above is a photograph of the finished plans of the new Medico-Dental Chambers now in course of erection at the corner of Victoria and Lorne Streets, Auckland."

(Update, 12 July 2009) Here's how it looks now:

Wanted: multi-talented bush handyman

"Wanted, handy man ; must be able to milk, plough, fell bush, kill, cook, assist in laundry and teach children the theory of music. Salary, £30." (Poverty Bay Herald, 19 October 1906)

This attracted the attention of two Wellington newspapers, the NZ Truth and the NZ Freelance:

"They have some very acquisitive people in the Poverty Bay district, if the following advt. from a recent issue of the "Herald" should give ample proof ...Just "imagine " coming in from a twelve or fourteen hours' day at those light farm; field, and forest duties, to a job of ironing and folding, with a cheerful lesson in the theory of music to half-a-dozen vulgar brats, on the side, and all for 15 bob a week. But surely it is not genuine, but a throw off at some skinflint cocky."

(NZ Truth, 6 November)

"God's Own Country! ... "Poverty" Bay, too! But, why stop short at this list of desired qualifications? Couldn't the handy man teach the missus drawn threadwork and bridge. Nothing is said about languages. Doesn't even say the man must be the son of a peer or a teetotaller or a "Christian." It is supposed, however, that the applications will be so very large that a good, meek, smack-me-on-the-right-cheek sort of man will be sorted out of the heap. Milking and the theory of music, Ploughing and assisting in laundry. Thirty pounds a year!"

(NZ Freelance, 3 November 1906)

Aotearoa: still nailing the meaning down

This is just my opinion: why those of us of British lineage have to always have translations for names which derive from someone else's culture, I don't know.

I saw today in Jayne's blog Our Great Southern Land the use of "Land of the Long White Cloud" in reference to New Zealand. Natural enough term to use, because next to everyone else in the world does -- but it isn't quite right, whichever way you look at it.

I was taught at school, on first learning how to spell Aotearoa, that it meant "Land of the Long White Cloud" because a long white cloud is what Kupe's wife saw on the Great Migration. From Te Ara:

"The arrival of Kupe is of great importance, and many tribes are at pains to cite a relationship to him. It is said that his wife, Kuramārōtini, devised the name of Ao-tea-roa (‘long white cloud’) on seeing the North Island for the first time."

Yes, the North Island. Otherwise known as Te Ika o Maui (in one case I've seen, also as Te Whai o Maui, because it ressembles a stingray), for a while my island of birth had the name Aotearoa as well.

According to the late Michael King, an edition in 1916 of the New Zealand School Journal published the Kupe legend and the naming of the North Island as Aotearoa. We Europeans probably thought Aotearoa was a champion native alternative name for the whole country, and Maori have readily adopted its wider meaning (as an alternative to the transliteration "Niu Tireni").

In turn, the School Journal entry probably harked back to William Pember Reeves and his 1898 classic The Long White Cloud. Even earlier still, a reference to Aotearoa in Papers Past where a letter published in newspapers in September 1862 from Tamati Hone Oraukawa of Ngatiruanui, addressed as coming from "Weriweri, a pa of Aotearoa" was given the added note (perhaps by an editor): "i.e. , of New Zealand". (Tamati Hone Oraukawa, however, may have only been referring to the North Island.) European newspaper editors publishing translations of letters from Maori during the Land Wars kept making this same error, unless the context made it absolutely clear to them that it was the North Island, not the whole country, which was referred to.

By the mid 1880s, however, Aotearoa as the Maori name for the whole country had taken hold.

Several Maori scholars with Paul of Orakei have visited tho Raratouga Embassy now in Auckland. The Star says:— "The language of the two people is nearly the same, and the Maoris and Rarotongans can understand each other easily ... Queen Makea and the others said they had never heard of tho name Aotearoa, as the name of a country, till they were told that it was the Maori name of New Zealand.

(Timaru Herald, 30 October 1885)

There was still shifting back and forth between just North Island or New Zealand as a whole claiming the title -- but then, William Pember Reeves got the cement out and laid the foundation firmly for today's usage, backed up by the shot in the education system's arm from the 1916 School Journal. "Niu Tireni" makes an appearance as a translation for New Zealand as late is 1909 -- and then joined the moa and the huia in extinction (apart from the odd guest appearance now and then. Sort of like looking at a huia or moa re-creation.)

But, do things end there? No.

For one thing, Aotearoa does not include "the land of" in the name. It is just "long white/bright cloud". Or, also, "long twilight". This from 1997:

Here is a drastically pruned down version of the entry for "Aotearoa" in the forthcoming Dictionary of New Zealand English, edited by Harry Orsman and to be published later this year by Oxford University Press:

Aotearoa ... [Ma. /|aotea|roa/ ao cloud; daytime; world + tea white + roa long, tall; or aotea bird; or aoatea (=awatea) with elision of medial /a/, daybreak, dawn.]

[Note] Usu. transl. as the LAND OF THE LONG WHITE CLOUD q.v., though 'Land of the Long Day' (or 'Dawn'), or 'Land of the Long Twilight' have more to recommend them.

Why "long twilight"?

"A third explanation is connected with New Zealand's location below the tropics. Polynesian seafarers would have been used to tropical sunsets, in which the sky goes from daylight to night very rapidly, with little twilight. New Zealand, with its more southerly latitudes, would have provided surprisingly long periods of evening twilight to travellers from the tropics. It has been suggested that this long twilight is the actual origin of the term Aotearoa.

The same explanation - or a related one dealing with the presence of the Aurora Australis - is often given for Stewart Island's Māori name Rakiura, which means "glowing sky".

From here.

Somewhere I read recently that Maori scholars advise not to go down the road of translating everything in local place names. We should just accept the word as it is: today, Aotearoa has come to be the Maori name encompassing the whole of New Zealand, rather like the "Land of the Angles", a small fraction of a certain West European country way up north in the 600s CE came to be known as England across the whole country. I do like the "long twilight" explanation, though. Probably because it's so different from that which was taught to me over 30 years ago.