Remembrance at Waikumete

Back to Waikumete Cemetery in Glen Eden today. I was heading into Henderson for a West Auckland Historical Society function (celebration of the naming of Fuller Lane near Glendene), but -- I have been after a shot of a power board box here for quite some time, so dinged the bell on the bus, got off just up the road, and headed back to the Soldiers Cemetery at the corner, beside the original entrance gates to the cemetery.

The cenotaph was put up by the Auckland Returned Services Association in 1921 for those who served during World War I.

On the eastern face are marked the names of places where the men served: Samoa, Egypt, Gallipoli, France, Belgium, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Salonika. In Maori on the western face: "Kia Ratou I Mata Kia Tu" and "Kia Ora Ai Te Ao."

A seat was installed to the south of the monument by the Victoria League. Just behind is the 1963 memorial to commemorate 57 servicemen of the Auckland Province who lost their lives in and around New Zealand during both World Wars and "to whom the fortunes of war denied a known and honoured grave." A brief look at the Auckland War Memorial Museum's Cenotaph database seems to indicate that many of the World War I casualties on the plaques died at sea while en route to England, at least one within two months of cessation of hostilities. This is another one of those lists of names which hopefully someone can get a bit of time going through the database so that something about the lives that were lost is known to the future. I might give it a go some day.

What kept attracting my attention to this place, however, was the power box artwork.

Those poppies stand out when you're caught in a bit of a traffic jam or, like me, gazing out of a bus window at the surroundings, looking for street art for this blog day by day.

Avondale Train Station, number three -- coming soon

My I-can't-wait-for-it day as far as June will be ... the re-opening of the Avondale Train station on 14 June. The new station looks to be pretty standard stuff, but -- it'll be new, not far for me to trot down to in order to catch my favourite mode of public transport, and ...

... I'll get my access back across Crayford Street and the rail line to Great North Road. Which I have missed, quite terribly, these past long weeks since they closed it again.

So ... yay!

Henderson box art

Three more examples of control box art in Henderson.

At the corner of Sturges and Swanson Roads, the huia bird lives on amongst fairly tropical colours.

At the corner of Great North Road and Buscombe Avenue, it's gone a bit botanical.

And at the corner of Great North Road and Alderman Drive -- the wetas rule.

More on Oliver Alfred Rayson

Further to earlier post: In Search of Oliver Alfred Rayson. John from NSW's Blue Mountains has kindly reported back on his findings with regard to Mr. Rayson. There's more pieces to the puzzle, but still some gaps. However, now we are a bit more informed about both the Avondale Rayson and the Sydney one -- it's just still not proven that they were either one and the same, or related. Many thanks, John, for taking the time to look into this!

Dear Lisa,

Well, as promised, I went to the NSW State Records Office last Monday and checked out the Deceased Estate file for Oliver Alfred RAYSON and also did some further miscellaneous research on him. Your man has caught my imagination and being responsible for such a large number of horses involved in the omnibus business, is not altogether unrelated to an area of research I am interested in at the moment – the history of animal welfare.

Anyway, to the Deceased Estate file first! While this did not provide any confirmation of his New Zealand origin, it did give his full name as Oliver Alfred RAYSON and his wife’s name as Catherine Margaret RAYSON and provided some interesting detail about his estate.

His estate was valued at £485 and consisted of: £26-5-0 worth of shares in the Sydney Tramway & Omnibus Company Ltd; £100 deposited in the Savings Bank of NSW; £7-4-4 of interest on these savings; a policy with the Colonial Mutual Life Insurance Company Ltd worth (with bonuses) £349-7-0; one milch cow valued at £2 (probably the one that later went wandering!). On the debit side he owed a debt of £2-7-4 to the Colonial Finance Mortgage Investment & Guarantee Corporation Ltd.

Though not mentioned as part of his estate in the above file, I later found an auction advertisement placed in the Sydney Morning Herald, 7 December 1896, on the instructions of Mrs. Rayson that included considerable furniture, glass, china and electroplate, a pianoforte, carpets, engravings and watercolours and other household items.

A further advertisement I located in the Sydney Morning Herald, 22 August 1889, that sheds some light on the affluence of Rayson at this time is one placed by Mrs. Rayson: “General servant required, good wages, Mrs. Rayson 1, Lancaster Villas, Ocean St. Woollahra.”

Now a look at some further odds and ends I discovered from poking around a bit more:

It appears that Rayson may have gone from New Zealand to Melbourne before moving on to Sydney. In the index to Victorian BDM I got one match for a marriage between ‘Oliver Rayson’ and ‘Catherine’. You have to pay on-line to access the details so I will wait until I next visit my local library (where I used to work) where they have it all on CD-ROM. However, I am pretty certain this is our man as I also came across a notice in the Sydney Morning Herald, 9 August 1895, for the death of Catherine Rayson’s sister at her home in Richmond, Melbourne. So, it would seem that Mrs. Rayson came from Melbourne. (No marriage for Oliver and Catherine came up in the NSW Index.)

It appears, also, that Catherine was not Oliver’s first wife! I had a quick look at the NZ BDM Index and found a baby girl, Eliza Mary, born to Oliver Alfred and Sarah Agusta (sic) RAYSON in 1875. (Eliza died ten days later.) Couldn’t find their marriage so went to the International Genealogical Index (IGI) and up came a marriage between Oliver Alfred RAYSON and Sarah JONES at St. Paul, Deptford, Kent, England, on 27 November 1858. If this is our fellow I wonder what happened to Sarah between 1875 and the Melbourne marriage to Catherine (for which I don’t yet have a date)?

While I was at the State Records Office I also checked the Sands Sydney Directory for the earliest date of Rayson’s appearance in Sydney. The first entry for him is in the 1884 edition, suggesting that he began his job as Manager of the Omnibus company ca.1883-84.

Finally, the NSW Index to BDM shows that Catherine Margaret and Oliver Alfred RAYSON had five children in NSW – Sidney (1884); Ruby (1886); Katherine M. (1888); Alfred H. (1890); and Harold G. (1894).

The NSW Index (Deaths) records Oliver Alfred RAYSON’s parents as Oliver and Louisa.

So, for the moment, I’m afraid that’s it! I hope it’s of interest and you can make something of it all. I will certainly pass on anything further I might come across. We don’t know for absolute sure, of course, that the Kiwi Rayson and the Aussie Rayson are one and the same and I think we might have to get a copy of Rayson’s death certificate to prove this categorically.

With very best wishes,

John

Looking for McLeod's Crossing

As I've mentioned before, my quest this year is to complete a bit of a history of Henderson's Mill, called Timber's Fortune. This means that most of my visits to Mill Cottage, the base of operations for the West Auckland Historical Society, tend to involve discussions with local historian Ben Copedo. Who, one day recently, referred to McLeod's Crossing.

Which I hadn't heard of before.

Righto. That was on my list of places I needed to see, next time I was in the area. Which was last Monday, where I decided to take the other route along Edmonton Road way to Mill Cottage, instead of the more direct Ratanui Street route.

On the way -- other things were found. Always a mark of a good journey, when other things are discovered along the way.

Newey's Corner (right in the photo), 1930s, from the information plaque in the reserve on the corner of Edmonton and Great North Roads. There used to be a house there, owned by Eileen Newey, a schoolteacher. When she died, the Henderson Borough Council got the land and the house.

The land is now a pretty little reserve and walkway beside the Oratia Stream. The house, put up on offer to any community group who wanted it in 1987 ...

Image: Western Leader, 28 September 1987

... but somehow the house ended up at Western Springs, beside the Auckland Horticultural Society building, Great North Road. Almost opposite Motions Road. I still don't know how, or why, but I'm working on it. Any information gratefully appreciated.

Update 30 December 2011: I now know -- but too late for the fate of the cottage. See here.

The Oratia Stream, from the Alderman Drive bridge (built 1984).

Next, a point of contention still in Henderson's local history, although I'm not sure why there is still so much utterly mad misinformation floating around about it, after all this time: the Falls Hotel.

This was built, originally, in 1873, on Great North Road close to Railside Avenue. So says Ben Copedo, so says enough contemporary newspaper references to surely win the argument. But, while there is still strange bad history around like Graeme Murdoch's Field Guide to Auckland (giving an unexplained date of 1856)  and the website for The Falls itself (1854) -- folks will still think this is one of the oldest hotels around. And have the wrong information to boot. Why does the 1850s date refuse to die? In 1854 (early, and before Long John McLeod leased the mill from Henderson & Macfarlane), there was a survey done by Commander Drury on HMS Pandora of the Waitemata River and its tributaries (Ref. NZ Map 3909, Auckland City Libraries' Maps Online.) It showed some blotches on the Opanuku Stream, plus the word "Mill" beside a larger blotch. This couldn't be the saw mill, the historians said, because it's on the wrong side! Has to be an error. Hmm. Wonder what it might be. Oh, how about a hotel? Yes, it must be the Oratia Hotel, built 1854, by Long John McLeod who hadn't quite reached the place just then ...

Actually, there's nothing against the original saw-mill having been on the other side, as Drury has it, because McLeod had to build a new mill by bracing up the old one to cut the timber ... Ah, well. Heritage urban legends are hard to kill.

Some more shots of the hotel, altered greatly since 1873, and now shifted to Alderman Drive (since 1996). They may try to link the hotel to "Long" John McLeod, but it's "Shepherd" John McLeod who built it, was the first publican there, and now it's on the farm he ran from the 1860s, Mill Farm. Very apt.

A band rotunda was added to the hotel's landscape on Falls Park in 1999.

This is a sculpture by Roderick Burgess, installed 1998 at Falls Park, showing the history of primary and secondary industry in Henderson.

Gumdiggers.

Winemakers.

Click to see more detail. Email me if you'd like to see higher res shots. This sculpture is very detailed.

I couldn't find the Volunteer Camelia (hopefully, it hasn't been ripped out or vandalised).

But I did find the Rotary Peace Garden, dedicated in February 2000.

And then, going over a small wooden bridge ...

... I realised I'd found the subject of the search: McLeod's Crossing. The only way I knew was because of a small, circular bit of bronze set in the centre of the walkway. I nearly missed it.

A bit of a shame, as this is a crossing to the Mill Farm, closely linked with "Shepherd" John McLeod, hotelier, farmer, horse-breeder, Highway Board member, and one of the pioneers of the district.

The bridge was designed by Karekare artist John Edgar, and was reported at its opening in 2000 to reflect "elements of a kauri tree". Not sure how that reflects back on "Shepherd" John McLeod, but -- at least it does mark, in a way, the path to his farm. They probably didn't want to put anything more than the bit of brass in place with a name on, in case folks started arguing over this bit of Henderson's history as well ...

A plea for Queens Wharf

My friend Liz from Mad Bush Farm mentioned last night that she had a photo showing the Queens Wharf and the sheds/structures which, here in the City of Sails, has caused a lot of feathers to fly in political arenas. She has very kindly sent through the image. Thanks, Liz!

Anyway -- an article appeared in the NZ Herald written by Antony and Jane Matthews, two of this city's heritage architects. I've worked on their projects before now: heritage studies, heritages walks brochures, etc. In "Harbour Sheds Old -- Not 'Cheap and Nasty'", they make their case for the retention of a part of our industrial heritage. A facet of our overall urban heritage picture which, it would seem, is all too readily overlooked in favour of perhaps "prettier" things to save.

"The proposal to remove them seems to be made on an aesthetic evaluation based on their present condition. If this was the sole criterion to determine the retention of heritage buildings many important places would have been lost.

"And if they are not considered worthwhile saving for their cultural value, what of their economic value? How much would it cost to construct buildings of a similar scale with riveted steel columns, substantial Australian hardwood beams and floor joists and miles of 3-inch thick hardwood flooring and kauri roof sarking? Redevelopment of the buildings would be a sustainable approach. Can poorly considered demolition and replacement with a temporary tent structure, which will in turn be discarded, be sustainable? It is wasteful, illogical and costly."

Looking at Local History blog

The Looking at Local History blog author, stoneferrian, has been kind enough to say a few words about this blog (earlier this month):

"A few months ago, while seeking verification for information I wanted to put on the Linking Local History wiki, I was introduced to my first true local history blog – Timespanner. (Earlier, blogs posted to the lamentable but unlamented British Local History website had made me feel quite ill.) Lisa Truttman began her blog in September 2008 and, thank goodness, is still going strong. To date she has written over 1,200 posts and although I haven’t caught up with reading them all I have yet to find one that failed to inspire. Do take a look for yourselves and if Timespanner does nothing for you – check your pulse."

Many, many thanks, stoneferrian. This post is no. 905, according to the system (it feels like over 1,200, though!) Even if no new posts appear for a couple of weeks or so -- be assured, I'm still around. A lot of the time, I'm answering comments visitors make to earlier posts, answering queries, etc.

Great to see that both this blog and The New Zealand Journal (by Kuaka) has been included on the blog roll over there, so -- new link on the list at the left, folks.

Thine, O Lord, is the Victory

A good friend of mine, and fellow Avondale-Waterview Historical Society member, has just now published his completed research into the people behind the names on the Avondale Baptist Church World War II Roll of Honour.

Tony Goodwin's Thine, O Lord, is the Victory is not a dry-as-dust recounting of service dates, campaigns, etc -- it's a story about one slice of our local Avondale community, their lives, their loves, and both their successes and their tragedies. Tony has spent years gathering information and photographs, covering army, navy and airforce and all across the fields of conflict during the war.

I was very privileged to have been asked by Tony to help out with the layout and advice to him on some of the funding options. Apart from that -- this is all his own work, and I think he's done extremely well.

Total of 32 pages incl cover, illustrated throughout. If anyone's interested, let me know, and I'll pass the message along to Tony.

The wrong way to get hooked

This from the Ohinemuri Gazette, 10 October 1913, regarding John Mildenhall of Kitchener Hamlet (now the Holly Street, formerly Rifle Range Road, area) here in Avondale:

An old man named John Mildenhall, aged 64 years, residing at Rifle Range Road, Avondale, was the victim of a singular accident this week. Some time ago Mildenhall lost one of his hands, and has since used a steel hook  in its place. While he was trying to catch a young colt in a paddock the hook caught in the bridle of the running horse with the result that the old man was thrown violently to the ground and was dragged for some distance. The hook became detached from the bridle, but unfortunately again caught in the horse's cover, and the horse dragged Mildenhall along the ground for a further distance, until the straps on the hook broke. Dr Rossiter attended to the injured man, and ordered his removal to the Auckland Hospital, where he is now making as good progress as can be expected.

Despite the concerns to the contrary, he was certainly a tough cookie: I have found him still there on the hamlet down to 1926 according to the Wises directories.

A letter from Gallipoli

Too late for this year’s Anzac Day, I know, but I felt this was more than worth the post. 

Today a friend gave me a photographed copy of an issue of the very rare The News, Arthur Morrish’s Avondale local paper, and effectively the first West Auckland paper produced. It dates from 28 August 1915, and on one of the pages was printed a column “Our Boys at the Front.” The following was from a letter written by Sgt. Leslie Rotorua Darrow.

Another interesting letter has come to hand from Roto Darrow dated June 24th. He says:

“Things are very quiet here at present, and here we are not adopting a progressive policy at all for the time being, but merely keeping the Turks up this end busy while the offensive goes on down below. Whe(n) they get them on the run down there, we will have our share again.

“I had a very interesting trip round one of our posts, which is nearest the enemy’s lines. At one place we are within five feet of Turkish trenches and consequently had to keep our mouths shut. If they hear any talking at all, a bomb is the result. At this particular post all the trenches are very close, the distances ranging from five feet to forty yards. When we first took over these trenches you could not put a periscope or rifle up for a second without it being shot at, but now you can keep them up for hours. I think at first they had superiority over us in bomb throwing, but now I think we have them beaten. One kind of our trench mortars in particular is very deadly, and the Turks used to bolt when they heard the bomb coming down, yelling “Allah!”

“We had rather a lively time the other day. The Turks landed a number of 80-inch cannon shells round the Brigade headquarters. While about half a dozen of us were examining a piece of one, another came along and landed about six feet away from us. We couldn’t flop down on the ground quickly enough. Luckily they were very old shells (I heard they were English shells bearing the date 1897) and consequently do not have a high explosive.

“It is getting very hot here now and the flies have become unbearable. I thought they got pretty bad in Avondale at times, but here they almost stop you eating your meals. You can’t lie down during the day time for they pester the life out of you.”

Leslie Rotorua “Roto” Darrow was born in 1893. His next of kin, according to the Cenotaph database at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, was his brother Harry Alexander Darrow,headmaster at the time of Avondale School; Roto Darrow enlisted in 1914 at the school. He embarked 16 October 1914, headed for Suez and Egypt, and then on to Gallipoli. His last unit was the Headquarters of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade.

He was killed in action 10 August 1915, aged 22. The folks back home at Avondale, reading his letter in The News, would have had no idea that he had died two and a half weeks earlier.

 Memorial plaque at St Judes Church, Avondale

The Castles of Hokitika and Waterview

Hokitika township, ca 1870s Original print Reference No. PA7-51-05-1 Photographic Archive, Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand. Sourced via Wikipedia.

Back in August last year, I came across a report of the death of Ellen Castle in 1889, and posted it here.

True to the “research lab” aim of Timespanner, I now have further info on the family, and where they lived (in Waterview), thanks to a chance contact by someone who had an interest in the family.

Family tradition for the Castles apparently had it that George Castle (a) owned the farm at the back of the main Auckland Asylum buildings at Pt Chevalier, and (b) owned the first hotel in Avondale. Hence why I was contacted. Both memories passed down through the family were slightly distorted. I knew the owners of the farm at the back of the Asylum before the government bought it (see Wairaka’s Waters) and the name Castle didn’t feature. Neither was Castle the name of the first hoteliers – they were the Priestley Brothers. But, I was intrigued enough to look further.

George Castle arrived in New Zealand possibly in the mid to late 1860s. The first newspaper reference I found for him was as a store owner at Blue Spur, down near Hokitika on the South Island in 1868. The family apparently lived at Hau Hau. His wife was Ellen née Kershaw, and there were five children: Rose (1867-1883), May (1868-1949), Giles Alfred (1870-1939), Florence Victoria (b.1872, in Richmond, Victoria, the only one born in Australia), and Grace (b. 1874). In September 1869, George Castle purchased the Hau Hau Station Hotel for £90, also known as the Terminus Hotel (site for election meetings from 1870). Castle was a man of some means. In 1875, he was on a list of provisional directors of the Old Lead Sluicing Company, Hau Hau. We know that his Station Hotel was on a five-acre site, “securely fenced, including half-an-acre of Orchard in full profit,” by 1880, because Castle was attempting to either lease it out or sell it by then. By January 1881, he was trying to sell not just the Station Hotel, but another called the Marquis of Lorne Hotel, in Hampden Street, Hokitika – the reason given in his advertisements was “leaving on account of sickness in family.” He seems to have kept the Marquis of Lorne Hotel, renewing his licence in mid 1882, and adding onto his cottage in Hampden Street in March 1883. But in April, tragedy struck, when his daughter Rose died, aged 15 years and 10 months. The last sentence in the death notice, “Her end was peace,” gives us a clue that it may have been Rose’s illness which made her father try to move away from Hokitika a few years earlier.

In May 1886, the Marquis of Lorne Hotel was finally sold to a William Pearson, and the West Coast Times published this farewell in the 28th of that month:

“Another old resident, Mr George Castle, will shortly be taking his departure from amongst us. During the twenty years of his sojourn at Hau Hau, Blue Spur, and Hokitika he has been highly respected and esteemed and his loss will be greatly felt by friends scattered throughout the district. Mr Castle intends residing in Auckland, being attracted to the northern city by its mild sunny climate.”

They came to settle on a 3-acre property, set between Great North Road and the Oakley Creek (just across from the asylum farm), what equates today to 1582-1598 Great North Road, with their house likely to have been situated at 1594 Great North Road. All vastly changed now, of course – it was subdivided in the 1920s. George Castle formally obtained title on 16th February 1887, described as a gentleman, from Auckland. The house at Waterview was named Cheltenham Villa.

And then, in 1889, came the tragic death of his wife Ellen.

George Castle didn’t long outlive her. Less than a year after her death, George Castle, aged 65, died on 16 May 1890,

“somewhat suddenly owing to the bursting of a blood vessel. Dr. Bakewell was summoned by telephone when Mr Castle took ill, as he had known him for many years on the West Coast, but on arrival he found that death had taken place. Mr Castle leaves three daughters (one of whom is married) and a son. Dr. Bakewell stated that he would give a certificate of death as, although he had not been consulted by the deceased for many months, he knew that he was in a bad state of health.”

The Public Trustee administered the estate until January 1899, when the Waterview property was sold to James Neville Newbold.

So no, George Castle wasn’t Avondale's first hotelier –but he was definitely part of Hokitika’s heritage with not just one, but two hotels down there. And he didn’t own the asylum farm, but a much smaller landholding just across the creek. But, the family’s tragic story does belong as part of Waterview’s history.

Sources:

Rootsweb

West Coast Times via Papers Past

NZ Herald, Weekly News & Auckland Star

LINZ records: NA 36/36, and DP 20645

In search of Oliver Alfred Rayson

I received in the mail today a transcribed list of a 6 June 1863 Militia Roll for the 2nd Battalion Auckland (from the Blockhouse Bay Historical Society), showing, at that time, “residents of Whau” (which included a lot of West Auckland as well, because there was no differentiation those days.) One name sprang out – Oliver Rayson. I’d come across him before, on the list of those donating toward the establishment of an Anglican church at Avondale in the early 1860s (where he subscribed £5) . I looked into things a bit more …

Oliver Alfred Rayson (his initials are shown variously either as O C A Rayson, or O R Rayson, or O C R Rayson, as the 6 June 1863 Militia Roll shows) and his family sailed from Gravesend 3 December 1859, on the Shaw Savill ship Frenchman and arrived in Auckland 22 March 1860. Rayson was one of those attending the first proper school committee meeting at Avondale, held at St Ninian’s 17 October 1865. The Southern Cross of 18 March 1868 recorded that he gave a bundle of the Illustrated London News to the Auckland Asylum. By 1870, he was down on the Thames gold fields, and declared bankruptcy in February that year (he was apparently living at Waiotahi Creek). He appears to have survived financially – in December 1874, he transferred the licence he held for the Imperial Hotel at Thames to a Francis Amy. His New Zealand story seems to end there.

But …

Was he the O A Rayson who ended up as manager of the Sydney Tram and Omnibus Company by the late 1880s? That Mr Rayson died around early 1895 while he lived at 1 Lancaster Villas, Ocean Street, Woollahra (his will, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, 2 April 1895, attracted £485 in duty). A later advertisement inserted by his widow referred to a wandering cow, so he may have had a fair bit of property. There, though, the trail runs out.

I'd appreciate any further information.

An update.

Memorial to NZ Croatian immigrants

It's at the edge of the patterned brick frontage to SkyCity in central Auckland, overshadowed by the bulk of the Sky Tower, the landmark almost every tourist passing through my city wants to take a photo of, whether up close amongst the pillars and supports, in front of this period's version of a sanitised and commercialised "den of iniquity". I was invited to a lunch there by friends of mine -- I'm glad that things like pokies and casinos is fairly boring to me. There's other things for me to fling my money away on. Secondhand bookstores comes to mind ...

Anyway ... 

I nearly missed this plaque. It's the only one on some large square planters where cabbage trees grow at the corner of Federal and Victoria Streets. Set down low, I got onto a creaky knee and took a photo of the plaque itself.

It reads:

MEMORIAL

SPOMEN PLOČA

Between the years 1890 and 1980 this locality was the gateway and meeting place for many thousands of immigrants from the coastal regions of Croatia. The majority being from the province of Dalmatia. In this locality they had their homes, their shops, boarding houses, restaurants and clubs.

Here they paused briefly before moving on to establish themselves on the kauri gumfields, vineyards, orchards, farms, fisheries and quarries of the Auckland province. These streets were central to their social life where they enjoyed the company of family and friends. This was their village. They were a Croatian people proud of their origins and their Dalmatian heritage. For over 70 years in recent history they shared identity as Yugoslavs.

This memorial plaque, arranged by their descendants, commemorates their presence in this locality. It further commemorates their courage, their relentless toil, their commitment to their families and contribution to the making of New Zealand.

New Zealanders of their kin will remember them with respect and affection for generations to come.

This memorial was donated, and placed, courtesy of Sky City Ltd. by Fletcher Construction, Constructors of Sky City, August 1997.

I'll see if I can find out more details of what happened around the opening day for Sky City, 3 August 1997, to see if there's some more information on the plaque. At the moment, I can't find out anything else on the Internet, which is a bit of a shame, for such a piece of our ethnic history.

A mysterious box and its contents, 1892

In March 1892, a man named Frederick Deeming was convicted in England of the murder of his wife and children, and burying them in cement in the basement of a rented building. To cover his tracks, he sent away heavy luggage full of their blood-stained clothing. He was executed in May that year. The case was spread across the pages of NZ  newspapers for months.

This from the "Observer", 11 June 1892.

A HELENSVILLE SENSATION

ANOTHER DEEMING SCARE

A MYSTERIOUS BOX AND ITS CONTENTS

Considerable excitement was caused at Helensville on Thursday last when it became known that after the departure of the Wairoa steamer a very suspicious looking trunk and extraordinarily arrayed portmanteau had been left on the railway wharf without an owner claiming the property. The trunk was constructed of Baltic deal pasted over with common wall paper; the handles were of wire rope. The top and sides were completely dedaubed with luggage labels and parcel office tickets showing that the package, like the renowned R S Smyth, was 'much travelled,' especially in Victoria and New South Wales. Ballarat, Ararat, Wangaratta, Geelong, Melbourne and numerous other places figured largely on these tickets.

The portmanteau had, like the trunk, seen its best days, and to protect the leather or perhaps to keep it from utterly collapsing was carefully lashed with leather thongs within a 'Sarah Gamp' carpet bag worn thread-bare, with the sides slit down and thus disclosing a feather pillow tied to the inner package. These also had a number of Victorian luggage labels, but the only clue to be obtained as to the ownership was the discovery of a piece of dirty white paper gummed on the top of the portmanteau bearing the ominous name of …

F. Deeming.

Wharfinger Nightingale, who made this important discovery, without leaving his charge at once called to the spot the local newspaper man. The village auctioneer was attracted to the scene, and a committee of investigation of three was promptly formed (with power to add to their number). In the absence of the admiral of the fleet, the resident having the next biggest nose was sent for, in order to 'olfactorily  ascertain the contents of the suspicious-looking package. Although human hair could be discerned through the crevices of the time-honoured trunk, there appeared no odour of human remains, but the press representative, who had in days gone by once tasted South African port, declared that he could certainly smell South African earth, of a 'grave' character. The auctioneer at once jumped to the conclusion that the box contained, not a deceased wife, but the twenty thousand sovereigns supposed to have been concealed in a South African graveyard.

At this juncture, other local celebrities appeared on the scene, and the trunk was put on the goodshed scale, which it turned at 102lbs. Unfortunately, no one present had a sovereign on his clothes whereby to determine by calculation the nett weight of the hoped-for concealed bullion. There was a divided opinion as to the course to be pursued. The fellow who was known only to have laughed when his little nephew was run over wished the box broken open, so that if anything ‘ghastly' appeared it would give him an appetite for dinner. Others had a different idea, and wanted to leave the matter until the appearance of the police, in the hopes of getting an opportunity of a private inspection previous to his arrival, as it was well known that 'from information received' the constable was away on other duties.

Many suggestions were made, one of which was prompted from the fact that the baggage containing the feather pillow, together with the label 'Helensville' being torn, and thus deprived of its last two syllables it was probable that one of Deeming's undeceased wives, whom he had failed or forgotten to murder, had devotedly forwarded him some creature comforts to his last known residence and resting-place.

Finally, the strongest man of the party succeeded in raising a corner of the box lid, when a remarkable yet not altogether hideous sight presented itself. There lay, packed closely together, several small bodies, not clothed, and for all the world like dead Lilliputians, or inhabitants of Terra del Fuego. There were three or four little, diminutive women of various ages, strangely attired; a little man with a black mask on his face; and another with a terrible big nose, that fairly eclipsed the absent admiral, were also discovered. Then there was seen a diminutive coffin, and also a little model gallows and a big stick. The sight of all these caused a shudder amongst those concerned. The box lid was allowed to fall, and the party all left precipitately, but by a strange coincidence re-united at the nearest abiding hostelry, known by the name of the “Terminus”; but none dare return to make further discoveries until the policeman should arrive.

Towards nightfall, fortunately, the whole matter was cleared up by a telegram being received from Mr McMullens at Aratapu, complaining bitterly that his Punch and Judy show had been left behind, and directing it to be forwarded on instanter per “p.s. Osprey”.

Historic Cemeteries Conservation Trust

Sandy in her comments to my Fine Lines post earlier, added a link to a YouTube vid of part of the Close Up documentary series, this bit on Dunedin students finding out about how the study of cemeteries and their stories can be interesting. I heard during the vid playback that the walk was led by Stewart Harvey of the Historic Cemeteries Conservation Trust. Check out the website: the trust put out information on the conservation of historic cemeteries, which I find fascinating.

Thanks, Sandy! Another link for the list ...

Aspiration's bottles

Back in 2009, I posted about "Aspiration" on upper Lorne Street in the city, and photographed the statue with a beer bottle stuck up on one of the fingers.

Well, the bottle did get removed after my post -- but yesterday, there were three more.

Some very fit people, out there ...

Fine Lines

Today, I did a power point presentation at the Auckland Central Library, called Fine Lines. Seeing as I put a lot into it, I thought, hey -- why not Scribd it? So, here it is, online as a .pdf (commentary and full set of slides).

Had about thirty people listening, folks taking my business card to ask future questions. I never mind helping researchers among the family history / genealogy community to get over a hurdle or two. After all, I've have help from fellow researchers in the past. If things involve a fair bit of time, though, I do have to charge.

Next big presentation is in June, on Henderson's Mill before members of the West Auckland Historical Society, then another in August, back at Central Library on medical records.

No time to get bored around here ...

St Ninian's of Avondale newsletter - April 2010

Well, with a report from Council as to what's happening with Avondale's oldest building so far, I've brought out the first issue of St Ninian's of Avondale. Even slapped up a website. Hopefully, we'll be able to celebrate a reopening later this year.

A backwards wager through the Eastern Suburbs

This is from the NZ Herald, 17 October 1928.

LONG WALK BACKWARDS

REMUERA TO ST.HELIERS

UNUSUAL WAGER TAKEN UP

MIDNIGHT ROAD PROCESSION

An unusual wager was the explanation of a curious spectacle witnessed on the St Heliers Bay Road in the early hours of Sunday morning. A bet had been made that one of a party could not walk backwards from the Remuera train terminus to the St Heliers post office, and the hours after midnight were chosen for the test, when the road would be fairly free of traffic.

Carrying lanterns and electric torches to guide the feet of the man walking backwards, half a dozen persons set off from Remuera about midnight on their strange and slow pilgrimage. The man who took up the wager was clad in golf stockings and riding breeches for the occasion, and was addressed as William Henry, or, more often, as just Henry. He had apparently appointed an official navigator, who advised him as to his direction. The navigator would from time to time order Henry to keep more to the right or to the left, as the case demanded.

Fair progress was made and the Public Works camp at Purewa was reached at 2 a.m. But here a hitch arose as to whether the route required by the wager led through Kohimarama or direct to St Heliers. The procession came to a halt opposite the ruins of the old St Thomas' Church, and an impromptu debate sprang up. William Henry took advantage of the interval to refresh himself from a packet of sandwiches, although he complained bitterly that the ham was too salty and the eggs were over-peppery.

The route was finally settled and the procession with its fitful lights moved off into the drizzling rain. No doubt Henry reached his goal, because for a long time the voice of his navigator could be heard, "...to the right, Henry," or "...steady on, chum," or, "...bear a wee bit to the left."

The curiosity of casual spectators was naturally aroused by the procession, but those concerned would not reveal the amount or conditions of the wager. The speech of more than one, however, proclaimed them as cockneys.

Preserved fruit shop sign, Onehunga

The Hard to Find Secondhand Bookshop on Onehunga Mall is one of the places I try not to go near too much -- because invariably, I come away with more books I have no room for, and my bank account just that much lighter. Doesn't help that there's a direct bus link from Avondale to Onehunga and -- oh woe! -- a rail link is opening up there now, too.

Ah, well ...

To the business owners' great credit, they have preserved the original sign for the Gordon Sai Louie & Co fruit shop. The Sai Louie family, cousins to the Auckland Ah Chee clan, opened up the fruiterers in the 1940s, and operated there until the business was sold in 1988. According to the late Norine Borchard, in her wonderful book Untold Stories of Onehunga:

"The shop in Queen Street [now Onehunga Mall], Onehunga, still retains the name of Sai Louie, at the request of the new owners. Mr Sai Louie was a great social worker among his own people, he imported  foodstuffs for the convenience of his countrymen ... Mrs Sai Louie died in 1939, and Mr. Sai Louie died in 1946."

So Onehunga has a splendid, and rare, example of old advertising being retained above a new business.