Offending George Hunt

I spotted the following from the Evening Star of 6 July 1876, and wondered what lay behind George Hunt's offended ire:

We regret that our reporter made an error in stating Mr. Hunt, of Albertland, to be an "hotel-keeper" instead of an "undertaker"; but it is difficult sometimes to distinguish words of witnesses in the Supreme Court. Mr. Hunt writes:- "Sir, -- Had I been a Hunter, as you named me in your last night's issue, I should have hunted you up last night, and perhaps upset the manufacture of your next leader. The idea of calling a settler from Albertland an hotel-keeper is a monstrous slander. You might have gone a step lower, and called me an editor. Bad enough to be summoned to town by a miserable Government without funds, without being slandered. -- TRY AGAIN."

Actually, the mistake was a rather silly one to make. Right from 1863, when the Albertland settlement was first established (and Thomas George Hunt himself arrived at the beginning, it would appear, on board the Matilda Wattenbach on 8 September 1862), it was noted as being pro-temperance, with nary a hotel to be had.

George Hunt appears to have been a man of decidedly and strictly non-conformist principles. Even at the trial, he had problems with swearing an oath, having "conscientious scruples", and made an affirmation instead. The trial referred to was that of gum-digger Jeremiah Payne who got into a heated argument on 3 June 1876 with fellow digger John Hewson, who struck Payne in the face. Payne retaliated by sticking his gum-spear into Hewson's left side. Hunt was called to Hewson's whare to help do something about the wound (an undertaker probably as close to a doctor as could be found at that point), and outside the whare made Payne give up the gum-spear weapon.

I can't find any further mention of George Hunt, but if anyone out there has further information, I'd love to hear it.

The (first) Whau Hotel

Updated 6 May 2021.

Avondale’s hotels have proved confusing to many historians who have attempted to unravel the tangle of contemporary news reports, photographs, land history and local traditions. Peter Buffet in writing about the hotels thought Palmer had rebuilt his new hotel in 1873 out of brick, and described the photo we have of his wooden hotel as being that of the earlier one at Rosebank and Great North Roads (today, we know this photo is of Palmer’s 1873 hotel, because the early Avondale School is visible in the distance). Challenge of the Whau in 1994 repeated Buffet’s idea of an early brick hotel. While I did discover the 1888 fire which destroyed James Palmer’s hotel built in 1873 (leading to the building of the brick hotel known later as a post office and the Avoncourt until it was demolished in 1967), I was confused and perplexed by the associations between Palmer, his first hotel which burnt down in December 1872, and the earlier Whau Hotel built by John and Charles Priestley in 1862. I had thought that there had been four hotels – but, this wasn’t correct. There were three, and the hotel destroyed by fire in 1872 was the Priestley hotel from more than 10 years before. I should have paid more heed to an unknown writer who recorded what he or she could recall of the early days of Avondale’s history, called simply “Events in the Early History of Avondale”.

“The first hotel – a wooden building – was built in the early sixties at the corner of Great North Road and Rosebank Roads. It was destroyed by fire early in the seventies. The license was then transferred to a building at the corner where the present post office stands. A new hotel was afterwards built also of wood and that building was burnt down … An hotel was then erected in brick …”

This is almost spot-on. The Priestleys and their own interesting background are covered in another post. They purchased the site at the corner of Rosebank and Great North Roads in July 1861, and in April 1862 obtained a bush license for their two-storey, 10-roomed hotel, complete with stabling, paddocks and outhouses, all rooms painted and papered, and complete with kitchen, bar and meeting room. No images of this, the first hotel in the district, have yet been found, but it must have been quite a landmark. Only the Presbyterian Church at the five-roads intersection would have rivalled it, but no other buildings in the central area of Avondale at the time are known to have been so large. Mortgage problems led the Priestleys to sell the hotel and surrounding 4 acres to Samuel John Edmunds in October 1863. He was an Auckland merchant and shipping agent who had been in the colony since c.1833, so he testified in 1865. The Priestleys still held the hotel’s license, however, and appear to have employed temporary managers: Henry Denyer around October 1863, and possibly someone called George Saunders early in 1864. Finally in March 1864, the license was transferred to James Nugent Copland. He remained the licensee until sometime between June and December 1865. Meantime, however, Edmunds sold the property to one David Henderson in May 1864. At the time, however, David Henderson was the proprietor of the Prince Alfred Hotel.

Despite the fact that Copland had long left to run the Waitemata Hotel, Henderson only appears in Whau district references from November 1866, and even then only relinquishes his license for the Prince Alfred to one Caroline North the following month. Perhaps he followed the Priestleys’ example of temporary managers, but that remains unclear. From May 1866, the main mortgage on the hotel site was in default. David Henderson probably called for help to Thomas Henderson, of Henderson & MacFarlane, the owner of the saw mills which were to give the township of Henderson out in West Auckland its name. While David Henderson had purchased the site in May 1864, it is Thomas who kept the wolves at bay by making a payment to the sheriff’s bailiff and bankrupt estate assignee Henry Vernon. The mortgage, however, ground on. In September 1868, another rescuer, this time hotelier James Palmer who paid the full principle of the mortgage -- £500 – to Auckland merchant and share-broker John Peter du Moulin. David Henderson remained as licensee under Palmer’s ownership, somehow. During 1869, however, he appears to have gone into the flax milling trade, backed up again by Henderson & MacFarlane. Perhaps he also employed temporary managers, for it wasn’t until March 1870 that his license was transferred to Edward Thornton (it is likely Thornton had already arrived – a child of his was born at the hotel in February). Thornton moved on to the Royal George Hotel in Newmarket from July 1871 – there, he tried to commit suicide by slashing his throat in a fit of delirium tremens, and was sentenced to hard labour for six months. We now come to what was a broken link in the story, and here is where I made the wrong assumption about the fate of Priestley’s hotel.

Edward Thornton applied in June 1871 to transfer his license from himself to James Poppleton. (NZ Herald, 8 June 1871) Poppleton appears in the story in April 1872, his license renewed. I had thought that perhaps Palmer, who had purchased the other site in 1866, at the corner of today’s Wingate Street and Great North Road, had finally decided to build his own hotel as the other was fading. But, Thornton clearly transferred his license, so Poppleton took over the old hotel built for the Priestleys. This was the license renewed a year later, and the first hotel was the one which burned down in December 1872. While the Southern Cross confused Palmer’s mortgage repayment investment as “costs towards building the hotel”, the NZ Herald clearly termed the hotel as “old”, compared to the 1873 or “new” hotel. Later that year, Palmer sold the site of the first hotel to a local settler, William Henry Harper.

Why, if he owned such a prime site as that of the second hotel, did Palmer wait until 1873 to build there? One reason is probably space. In 1866, all he had for his hotel site. If he intended it to be so (and there’s no clues either for or against), two other sections he purchased from Adam through John Buchanan (who was pro-temperance and anti-hotels) was quite a distance down the unformed Wingate Street – inconvenient for travellers. A 7 ¾ acre paddock lay alongside his purchase – but this had been sold before the Windsor Estate official sales to Rev. Andrew Anderson of the Presbyterian Church. I have wondered why, as Rev. Anderson lived in a house on another section of land which would, from 1869, become part of the local school property. One answer could be investment opportunity for Rev Anderson, but another may have been to block the establishment of a paddock area which could serve a hotel.

If that was the case, unfortunately for Buchanan Rev Anderson left the colony in 1867. His property went into default of mortgage – and Palmer snapped the property up, c.1869-1872. Certainly, by 1875 when Palmer leased his new hotel to Henry Leon, the large paddock was part of the agreement. That purchase ensured not only the existence of Palmer’s hotel from 1873 until it burned in 1888, but was also a cornerstone for the establishment in 1890 of the Avondale racecourse (the paddock is today the 1600m straight, behind a 1957 retail development, carpark and the Avondale Central Reserve fronting Great North Road). If transferring the paddock to a minister of the Presbyterian Church was part of a greater plan by pro-temperance John Buchanan – it led, ultimately, to the establishment of a long-lasting hotel, and even longer-lasting racecourse, complete with gambling.

Buchanan can’t have been amused.

Ornament and pillar box

Outside Downtown shopping centre in the city just before the climax of all that Yuletide stuff, I spied the above. Now, I'm not a very Christmassy person myself, but I thought I'd include it because, well -- a big red ornament in the middle of the pavement is interesting (and a visible sign of my rates money at work, I suppose) plus: Santa's mailbox in front. Actually, this looks just like a mock-up Edwardian pillar box type of postbox. Looks much more interesting than the square things on a pole we have today.

More on early postboxes at Wiki.

Old Avondale Railway Station -- no more

No more platform, no more rails -- all pulled up and demolished over Christmas. For the first time probably since 1880, Avondale is cut off from the Auckland rail network.

Centre left are the remains, until removed like the rest, of the old walkway down to the now non-existent platform.

A shot of the debris. That was probably the last bit of the original 1913 railway bridge to go.

No more pedestrian access to the railway lines from the bridge. New metal marks where we used to head down a rough-tarsealed wooden walkway to a windswept platform.

Meanwhile, work is continuing apace on the Trent Street platform (city bound). Tait Street is to follow, and both are supposed to be complete by 19th January when the Western Line reopens for service, tracks relaid and all.

The Cows of Hokitika

I spotted the following today in a 23 December 1872 edition of the Evening Star. Couldn't resist it, just couldn't. Some places have problems with flies, others with possums: for Hokitika, it was cows. If cartoonist Gary Larsen had been around in the mid 19th century, he'd have had a field day with this ...

No one (says the Hokitika Star) will deny that cows, when confined to their proper sphere of action, are most useful animals, and a majority of our readers will very probably concede that they are very pleasant objects to contemplate -- in a picture; but when a legion of these interesting animals degenerate into "stray cattle", their glory has departed, and they immediately become a nuisance and a grievance, things to be reviled by men, pelted by boys, chased by dogs, and finally handed over to the Inspector of nuisances, and impounded.

It has been decided by competent authorities that there are more stray cattle in the town of Hokitika than there are in all the rest of the Municipalities of New Zealand put together, and it follows as a matter of course that there is a corresponding amount of dissatisfaction expressed at the ravages committed by day and night upon the gardens by the mild and inoffensive looking animals which are to be met with in droves in most of our streets. Some portions of the town, however, are specially favoured by the perpetual presence of mobs of cattle, and whole of Hampden street has long been a cattle station, and also appears to be used for mustering the cattle from the more remote parts of the district.

The cows of Hokitika are easily distinguishable from the cows of all other districts by the fact that they are strictly speaking omnivorous, greedily devouring any known substance which comes within their reach, although they are said to prefer sweet peas or honeysuckle to turnips or mangold wurzel. They combine the appetites of wolves, with the digestive powers of ostriches, and the trenchant dentition of Bengal tigers. Nothing comes amiss to them, and although as yet it cannot be proved that they have consumed any pile-driving or tip drays, it is darkly hinted that such feats are within their powers, if their inclination leads them in that direction.

Reading the Maps blog

I look, now and then, for blogs to do with NZ history, but they are either hard to find or haven't been updated for more than a year. One that is still in action is Reading the Maps. The views expressed there are political (I've seen one commentator describing the blogger's view as "barking marxist"), but -- the entries make you think and analyse what is being said and why. They do indeed challenge. I like that. It isn't all history and politics -- there's other stuff in there that may interest even the casual reader.

Anyway -- the Discovery of Limestone Country entry is both beautiful (gorgeous photography), extremely well-written and very informative. Have a read -- I would seriously love to see that part of the country some day myself.

Scandal at the Whau Hotel

Updated 26 December 2013.

David Henderson (senior) was hotelkeeper at the Whau from c.1864-1868. Backed up by Thomas Henderson of Henderson & MacFarlane and Henderson's Mill fame (his brother), he later became involved in the flax industry. The following concerns "criminal intimacy" between his son, also named David, (aged 14-15) and a servant girl 6-7 years his senior.

Evening Post, 19 May 1879

DIVORCE COURT. This Day. (Before their Honors the Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Johnston, and Mr. Justice Williams.) DECREES ABSOLUTE.

HENDERSON V. HENDERSON. This was an application for a rule nisi from Auckland. Mr. Bell, who appeared for the petitioner, stated that his client was married to the respondent at the Thames twelve years ago, he being then only 15 years of age. Petitioner was forced into the marriage owing to his having seduced the respondent, but he only lived with her for a night and a day after the marriage, and did not see her again until 1872, when he began to correspond with her. For some time past petitioner had been aware that respondent had been living with a man named Flynn, at Tairoa.

David Henderson deposed that he was a miner at the Thames, and was 26 years of age. In 1867 he was living at the Whau, Auckland, with his parents, who were hotelkeepers. He was then at school, and was between 14 and 15 years of age. The respondent at that time was a servant in his father's house. She was about 21 years of age. He had been criminally intimate with her before they were married, and she told him that in consequence of their connection she was enceinte. About five months after their intimacy respondent left Henderson's house, and went into service at the Red Lion Hotel at Auckland. He saw her there, and she said he was the father of her child, and asked him to marry her. The girl's aunt also asked him to marry the respondent, which he did on September 5, 1867, the Rev. Warlow Davies being the officiating minister. Witness had nothing to do with getting the marriage license, and the other parties looked after it. He did not tell his parents that he intended to get married, nor did he sign any certificate as to his age.

Mr. Justice Johnston — I cannot understand how any clergyman could go through the process of marriage between a boy of 15 and a girl of 21, without having a certificate of the date of the boy's birth.

Henderson's examination continued — A child was born three months after their marriage. He stayed with his wife on the night after they were married, but on the following day he went home to his parents at the Whau. He had had nothing to do with her since. He had no income when he married, and was only a school-boy at the time. About a week after the marriage he suspected that he had been "drawn into it." After the marriage the respondent went into service and maintained herself. His parents found out about the marriage three days after it had taken place, and condemned it. Respondent never claimed witness as her husband after they separated.

Mr. Bell submitted that the only object of the respondent in getting petitioner to marry her was to cover her shame, as she could not possibly expect to be supported by a boy 15 years old.

Henderson continued — He went to the Thames in 1869, and worked there as a miner until lately, but he was not in a position to support a wife until 1872. Witness further stated that he had heard that his wife had been married to Flynn. He made proposals to her in 1872 to go and live with him, but she declined to do so. He did not then know that she had misconducted herself. On 23rd September, 1872, he received a letter from the respondent, in which she said : — "I would not advise you to come down here, and I hope you will stay where you are and get steady work. Davy, I would like to see you very much, for I have a great lot to say to you which I cannot write as I am no scholar. I want to ask you one thing, Davy, and I hope you will answer me truthfully; I want to know whether you love me as you did before we were married or not, or if you have seen anyone else that you have liked better than me. If you have don't be afraid to say so, for you are but young yet, and you will see a great difference in me, for I am sure I look ten years older than I was when I was married. Remember I will be an old woman and you will be a young man, and, Davy, if you think you would change your mind in years to come, for God's sake do not let us go together, for no one knows but God and myself what I have gone through, and it was all for you. I would sooner work on my knees, and beg from door to door with my child all my life, than go through the same trouble that I have gone through these last three years. If you still love me as you did once, and it is God's will that we go together, I will do my duty to you as I would have done at first had you been true to me."

On the 20th of October, 1872, petitioner received another letter from the respondent. It was to the effect that since she had last written she had changed her mind, and had taken a solemn oath never to live with him again. She asked him never to trouble himself about her again, and if he wanted to marry anybody else she would never stand in his way. The last two years respondent and Flynn had been living together as man and wife, and they had two children living with them. Rule nisi granted, to be made absolute in three months.

The Village Smithy

"Blacksmiths played a very important role in Victorian times. Before the days of complex electrical machines the local blacksmith could mend most machinery. Farmers would bring their tools to the smithy to be mended, and many smiths were also farriers and would put horseshoes on the horses. With thousands of horses at work in the countryside this kept the blacksmith busy.

The wheelwright was the skilled man who made cart wheels. With horse-drawn carts and coaches providing most local transport this was an important trade."

From Powys History.

In early Auckland, the blacksmith was just as important as he was in the Old Country. The forge was the only place, for example, where the quality of coal could be determined by the fire it produced.

In the 1870s, a Mr John White appears to have been a local blacksmith, featuring in the accounts kept by John Bollard for his Whau Farm from 1871 to 1878. To date, he’s the first known in the district, appearing in Wise's Directory for 1878-1879. He may have started a forge up Blake’s Street (St Judes Street), just down hill from the later Myer’s smithy from the late 1890s.

In 1874 there is a record of a James Owen, “Engineer, Millwright and General Smith”. [Bollard papers, held at Auckland War Memorial Museum Library] In 1878, in Wises, he appears as a storekeeper.

By 1890, George Downing appears. He's also in the Village in 1896. His smithy was beside the Primary School on Great North Road, site of the later Salvation Army Hall and video store.

Perry’s Avondale Shoeing Forge on Great North Rd had an entrance at Geddes Tce [Avondale Road Board minutes, 5/4/16]. This could have become Trigg’s garage [by 1920s], later Avondale Auction House and Avondale Spiders.
Advertisement in The News, 11 November 1916

“Before you let your gig or trap go too far, run along to W.B. Perry. He’s the cheapest and the best – yes, by far – Wheelwright, Coachbuilder, Agricultural, Shoeing and General Smith.”

Thomas Myers (c.1881–1967), the blacksmith in Blake Street was the rival:

“Since we commenced business in Avondale we have built over one hundred carts and sulkies for the district.; We guarantee you better value than you can get elsewhere. Horse Shoeing, Ploughs made to order. All Kinds of Agricultural Implements Repaired.”

Advertisement in The News, November 1916, Challenge of the Whau, p. 73

His father William Myers came to New Zealand c.1895, starting up the family blacksmith business in Avondale, while living in Avondale South (according to William’s grandson, Roger Myers, the family were the first ones on what was to become Myers Rd, later Margate St).

Thomas Myers went into the business with his father in 1908, and remained in business there until 1962-63. During that time, the original building was cut down, and part leased.

“I started work with my father, the blacksmith William Myers, in 1908. I had served my apprenticeship with Hughes and Donger in Eden Terrace.

From Memories of early Avondale, by Tom Myers, Avondale Advance, 21 November 1960

“We did a lot of work then for Charlie Pooley, who was the contractor. There was always plenty of work at our smithy. I started work at 7.30 in the morning and we worked long hours especially in the summer.”

Myers’ was more than simply a farrier (Thomas wouldn’t do a lot of work for the Jockey Club, his son Roger told me, as he considered thoroughbreds as “too flighty, a young man’s job”) – he also did a lot of work for market gardeners, both in Avondale and as far afield as Oratia and Henderson. He’d do repairs to plows, disks, harrows. Farmers would bring up to the shed 3 or 4 spades at a time, to have handles repaired. Thomas Myers also made up wheelbarrows.

He also worked for Odlins timber at Karekare, a day’s work shoeing 8 to 10 horses. As a wheelwright, he would repair wagons, virtually anything that could be drawn by animals, so his son says, including drays and milk vendors carts. Roger Myers described to me how wheel rims were replaced. In the days of harsh roads, cart wheels were rimmed in steel, that was forged at the local blacksmith’s.

The wheel was first dismantled, leaving only the hub, then completely re-spoked. The wheel would then be dropped into a hole dug in the ground to lie flat. The steel rim was then made up, and dropped into the hole around the wheel while still hot, then could water was poured into the hole to shrink the metal snugly around the wheel, and to stop the wood burning.

His son would ask Thomas Myers how he knew that the steel rim would fit every time. The answer, with a tap to the head, was simply, “Ah, son …!”

[Conversation with Roger Myers, 28 June 2001]

Street Stories 6: Paper Roads

"Sir,
Might I point out to intending buyers of town sections in Avondale that they need to be very careful before doing so, or committing themselves by signing a contract, until they find out if the road mentioned is a legally dedicated road or street. There are several such supposed roads and streets, even shown on all maps, but they exist only on maps. Therefore, in these cases the owners cannot give a title. I think it is the duty of the Borough Council to let people know the actual position.

R. J. Burlton-Bennet"

(NZ Herald, 13 February 1923)

Over the course of development and subdivisions stretching back to the late 1850s in both Avondale and Blockhouse Bay, some streets grandly planned on paper for the auction sales never survived. Mr. Burlton-Bennet's gripe could have been about any number of the areas of Avondale's paper roads.


View Larger Map

In the late 1850s, a Mr. Stark drew up his grand scheme for an "East Whau" township (relative to the Whau South and Whau North townships already laid out -- on paper for the most part! -- by the Crown). What we now know as Blockhouse Bay Road from Terry Street down to Donovan Street had two names completely forgotten by the 1880s -- Commercial Road (to the Taylor Street intersection) and Sewell Street (to Donovan Street). Donovan Street itself was White Swan Road, but only from the roundabout area to around where Lewis Street is today (from that point on, it was "Auckland Road". Later, White Swan continued to include the long track up to Richardson Road by early in the 20th century, and then Donovan Street separated from it. Stories of White Swan Road being associated with a swan's neck may not therefore be correct.)

In the Google Maps image above, the only streets from Stark's design which have survived are: Blockhouse Bay Road, Donovan Street, Whitney Street (Whitaker), Terry Street (Thomas) and Exminster Street (Exeter). All others have either faded into the Blockhouse Bay reserve, or become stub access lanes. The vanished paper roads here are:

Gore Street, Browne Street, Steward Street, Ayr Street, Railway Road, Wynyard Street, Richmond Street, and Clifford Street.


Next came the planned township of Whau Bridge. Only Elm Street and possibly Racecourse Parade remain from that well-laid out township across the swamps leading to the river.


View Larger Map

The southern part of Layard Street is the obvious paper road in the above view. But, where we see St Judes Street, heading straight up the hill eastwards only to cut across in a diagonal towards New North Road -- before 1868, it continued straight up the steep climb towards Blockhouse Bay Road in a straight and unaltered line. The old Blake Street (as it was then, from 1863) track was used up to the early 20th century, as a shortcut for those who wanted to go to socials and meetings at the public hall. A dark and very slippery route in the winter, according to those who recall the journey.


View Larger Map

Directly linking the end of Chalmers Street with the Great North Road, there once was a road named Hamilton. Before the late 19th century, it may have been known as Melville, and was part of John Buchanan's estate subdivision from the early 1880s. Today, the road is just an angled boundary. On the other side of Great North Road, Pecan Place is, oddly enough, in the approximate location of another paper road, this one without a name so far as I know at present, which linked Wingate Street, angling to the south-east, with Great North Road, possibly for a subdivision either by John Potter or John Neale Bethell (who owned land on both sides of Great North Road leading to the bridge up to his death in the 1940s.)


View Larger Map

The above image shows the area which, to me, is where the oddest mystery still unsolved in Avondale's history continues -- why, in early references, does it seem that Taylor Street and St Georges Road were the same and linked together as one? The latest documentation I have is a letter from the Avondale Development Association (14 August 1931) suggesting street names changes in Avondale, "That the name of St Georges Road be deleted and that this highway be called Taylor Street for its full length." I look at old maps from that period, and still can't see just what they were getting at.

The Ambulance Station (misnamed New Lynn Station, although it's really in Avondale) sits right where the paper road part of Taylor Street once extended. Ulster Street to the bottom left also extended over present day Wolverton Street, meeting Taylor Street at an angle. Neither of them joined up with the line of St Georges Road, but a friend has suggested that old walking tracks between them, the most direct way between Blockhouse Bay and Avondale until the late 19th century, may have led people to think there was a connection. I don't know. But when you visit Olympic Park today (which includes the "Wolverton Esplanade") you're also visiting some of the now unseen paper roads of our past.

Highlander Condensed Milk

Image: Grey River Argus, 6 February 1919

While looking into what has become a more and more intriguing search for information on William Tullibardine Murray, formerly of 103 Avondale Road here in Avondale, one of the librarians at the Auckland Research Centre in the Central Library gave me a reference to a Weekly News piece from 1899 on the Auckland Exhibition and a display of condensed milk by W. T. Murray & Co. That led on (as always happens with me and diversions) to tracking down some information on one of New Zealand’s most well-known and enduring brands – Highlander condensed milk.

The beginnings – New Zealand versus the Swiss

In 1892, the main player of the New Zealand condensed milk market was the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company, the forerunner to Nestlé, under a number of brands including “Milkmaid”.

Image: Otago Witness, 1 September 1892

Image: Otago Witness, 25 July 1895

Later that year, Robert Blair started a new milk-preserving factory, based on the Swiss system, at Underwood, near Wallacetown. (Otago Witness, 24 November 1892) Unfortunately, he died on 27 January 1893.

Otago Witness, 9 February 1893

"The Southland Times gives some particulars of the death of the late Mr. Robert Blair, who will be widely remembered as the manager for some years of the New Zealand Meat Preserving Company's extensive works at Kakanui, Washdyke, and Woodlands. He subsequently erected on his own account large milk preserving works at Wallacetown, from which he has turned out an excellent article. Our contemporary says that on the morning of the 27th ult. Mr. Blair was in perfect health, and breakfasted heartily at 7 o'clock. He went immediately afterwards to his milk condensing works to superintend one of the many delicate operations in the process, and seemed to his foreman (Mr. McLeod) to be in excellent spirits. Suddenly he grew pale, complained of a pain in his head, and vomited, and Mr. McLeod was just in time to prevent his falling heavily. Mr. McLeod ran to the house, which is close by, for assistance, sending a man whom he met to look after Mr. Blair. The deceased's brother-in-law, the Hon. Mr. Wilson, of Queensland, who was sitting at breakfast, after procuring what he thought a suitable medicine, made for the works. Mr. Blair took the draught, and was placed in a chair, seeming to have got relief, though he again vomited. Suddenly he complained for the second time of severe pain in the head, lay back, and never spoke again. He was carried into the house, but it is thought probable that he died on the way. Dr Grigor had been in the meantime sent for, but on arrival found that all had been over for some time. Afterwards Dr Hunter, who also had been sent for, appeared. The cause of death was apoplexy. Mr. Blair's age was 44.

"The aspect of this event … from a public point of view … must be looked upon as calamitous. Mr. Blair had shown a spirit of patient enterprise that is exceedingly rare. His aim was to perfect a new industry, and for years he had been studying to this end. He had to master by persevering investigation the secrets of a very difficult process, and after much labour and some expensive failures was supposed to have succeeded. Mr. Blair had made a journey to Britain, and, we understand, to the Continent of Europe, in pursuit of his object, but was disappointed in his search after information, and was obliged finally to rely, as we have said, on his own efforts. …We repeat that his loss is not only irreparable to his family, but a public misfortune. Those whom he has left behind are a widow and three children."

It wasn’t the end of Blair’s factory, however. In October 1893, A. H. Highton, headmaster at the Southland Boys’ High School, resigned his position to take up the business of manufacturing condensed milk and butter. To that end, he purchased Blair’s factory. (North Otago Times, 27 October 1893) He launched the New Zealand Milk Preserving Company Limited, under the Maltese Cross Brand, producing 1000 tins of condensed milk per day, along with butter for the British market.

Image: Otago Witness, 26 April 1894

Otago Witness, 4 January 1894

“The premises are prettily and conveniently situated on a piece of cleared land alongside the road, about three-quarters of a mile from the Wallacetown station. Near by is the proprietor's residence, a large structure of handsome design in neatly laid-off grounds, and skirted by the native bush on three sides. The factory is a substantially built two-storeyed wooden erection, with iron roof and floor of concrete throughout. It contains quite a large number of apartments. On the ground floor there are the separating room, refrigerating room, two cool rooms, butter-making room, storeroom, and at the back a tinsmith's shop. In the upper storey the condenser is situated, and the other apartments are devoted to filling, soldering down, and storing the manufactured article. The machinery is all of the latest type and much of it very heavy and costly — the price of the condenser and appliances alone approaching £2000. … The tins used are made on the premises, five hands being employed in this department, turning out 1000 per day, and the neatness with which they are finished could not well be excelled. Water, which is an important factor in the business, is obtained from two large wells, as well as a dam, and is pumped up into tanks at about the same altitude as the building. “

The political climate in New Zealand for starting and operating a business condensing milk was a good one. The government had a tariff of 20% on imported tins, (Marlborough Express, 9 March 1894), Parliament even considered an incentive scheme for the local trade, and by late 1894, Highton’s business was so good he was seeking permission from the authorities in Victoria to establish a branch across the Tasman. (Hawera & Normanby Star, 29 October 1894)

Enter W. T. Murray and Co.

Meanwhile, at the Auckland Agricultural Show in November that year, the Zealandia Milk Condensing Company displayed their wares, “condensed milk of local manufacture and excellent quality.” (Observer, 24 November 1894) This was the trading name for the W. T. Murray & Company. Murray started this business near Auckland in 1893, initially making the standard condensed milk with refined sugar, then patenting a process for preserving milk without sugar, using pasteurisation to make unsweetened condensed milk, also known as Murray’s Concentrated Pasteurised Milk. (Weekly News supplement, 3 February 1899) From 1896, Murray’s company was to feature prominently in the “Highlander brand” story.

Image: Bay of Plenty Times, 2 June 1897

In March 1896, it seems that Highton’s plans had come to nought. W. R. Cook, an accountant from Auckland, arrived to find out from local farmers just how much milk they would be able to supply to make the factory a viable operation should he purchase it. Unfortunately, their figures didn’t match his, so the factory remained idle. (Otago Witness, 19 March 1896) Five months later, it was announced that W. T. Murray & Co had purchased the Wallacetown factory. (Otago Witness, 13 August 1896)

Timaru Herald, 22 October 1896

"Mr. W. T. Murray has successfully restarted the milk preserving factory near Wallacetown, Southland, which was established by a Mr. Blair three years ago, and was almost immediately closed owing to Mr. Blair's death. Mr. Murray already had two milk preserving factories m the Auckland district. He gave a Southland Times reporter some interesting facts concerning condensed milk, some of which we reproduce : — When I started, the condensed milk trade was entirely in the hands of the two well known brands. In Auckland nothing could be sold except Nestlé's Swiss milk, and in the South Island nothing but the Milkmaid brand. These practically held the market. Their imports into New Zealand are 500 cases per week, which amounts to 2000 dozen tins and represents nearly £30,000 a year which goes out of the country for this article. … I started another factory about 100 miles out of Auckland last year in order to try to get a winter supply of milk for both factories. At the end of last year I took up pasteurising or sterilising milk, and after three months' experimenting succeeded in so manipulating the milk that it would keep for almost any length of time, while still retaining the full flavour of new milk. However, I did not put it on the market until I had kept it for six months as a test of its keeping qualities. During that time it was placed just above the engine of the factory, so that the test was a thoroughly severe one, and at the end of the time it was as good as when I put it there. It immediately found public favour, and my own impression is that it will entirely cut out the condensed milk for household use, for the simple reason that it is not sweetened. Condensed milk consists of ordinary milk preserved with sugar. Pasteurised milk is simply pure milk so treated that it will keep good almost any length of time. … The capacity of the three factories is enormous. …”

Murray’s operation went from strength to strength. In 1898, W. T. Murray & Co became a limited liability company with a capital of £25,000, with the following directors: Colonel Henry Burton, Major. F. N. George, Messrs. Frank Jagger, James Macfarlane and C. V. Houghton. Murray remained as general manager, while H. N. Bell was secretary. (Weekly News, 3 February 1899) More dairy plants were purchased by the company. Business would have been boosted at the turn of the century due to two factors: an increasing public concern about purity and freedom from contamination in milk products, and the 2nd Boer War.

Image: Weekly News supplement, 3 February 1899

The “Highlander” brand was developed during the 2nd Boer War, appearing in advertising from c.1901.

Image: Otago Witness 22 May 1901

In 1904, Blair’s original 1892 factory burned down (Otago Witness, 27 April 1904), but “Highlander” condensed milk continued. In 1906, it was awarded a gold medal and special diploma at the Crystal Palace exhibition in London, (Otago Witness, 3 October 1906) and a silver medal in a 1909 exhibition also in London. (New Zealand Tablet, 11 February 1909)

In 1918, the W. T. Murray Company changed its name to New Zealand Milk Products Limited (Grey River Argus, 5 June 1918). Twenty years later, the company was taken over by Nestlé, with the factory at Underwood (apparently replaced after the 1904 fire) closing finally in the 1960s

Part of a new book called Made in New Zealand by Nicola McCloy goes into the story of Highlander condensed milk. Apart from the wrong date for the brand’s inception (she has 1890, while Robert Blair didn’t start his factory until 1892, and the brand itself appeared only c.1901), she does mention the theory as to who the Highlander on the ads and the tins was based on. She says that it is thought to have been based on Drum Major James Macgregor of the Invercargill Pipe Band. That is a possibility, certainly – the band was very prominent at the end of 1900, travelling to Sydney as part of the Commonwealth contingent to the Boer War.

Wanganui Herald, 21 December 1900

“A striking feature about the Invercargill Pipe Band, which has gone to Sydney with the Commonwealth Contingent is the fine physique of the members. One man (Drummer A. Thompson) stands 6ft 4in in his stockings, though only eighteen of age. All are of Scottish descent, but New Zealand born, except Bandmaster K. Cameron' and Drum-Major McGregor. The bandmaster came to the colony quite a youth, and learned all his pipeplaying out here. He holds ten gold and fifteen silver medals, one of the former being for the championship of New Zealand for pipe-playing, and another for the Championship Mile Race (open), the time being 4min 21sec. Some of the medals are for wrestling, rowing, running, and jumping. “

However, another contender is Peter Mackay, a former member of the 93rd regiment of Highlanders, who served in the Crimean War, India, and the New Zealand Land Wars. He died in Southland Hospital on 12 December 1900, and a subscription list was started up for a memorial stone in his honor. He was also a pipe band drummer. (Southland Times; Otago Witness, 2 January 1901)

What intrigues me

I’ll be checking two sources from here: an Archives New Zealand file (thankfully held in Auckland!) on the New Zealand Milk Products Limited, formerly W. T. Murray and Company, and the Cyclopedia of New Zealand, South Island editions. The latter I’ll see next time the libraries open up again (it’s Christmas, so things are shut up, of course), while the former will be part of my planned multi-topic trek to the wilds of Mangere’s farmland. (I’m building up a good list now of topics, so it will be well-worth the day’s trip). What has me scratching my head is this: is the “W. T. Murray” William Tullibardine Murray? I can see him being involved with the Avondale Supply Depot in 1891, but – milk processing? Then again, A. H. Highton was a schoolmaster who quit to own and operate Blair’s factory in Underwood. Avondale’s Mr. Murray may have done the same (but he still held his license to teach down to 1898).

If it isn’t one and the same man (and I wouldn’t mind if that was the case, I’ve quite enjoyed the trawl through Papers Past pulling together the Highlander milk story) – what about his son, Henry Lamont Murray? A Henry Lamont Murray was living in Epsom in Auckland during the 1930s, and taking out patents for dairy processing equipment and pasteurisation techniques not only here, but in Canada, the U.S. and Britain. One patent he’s particularly known for is the Vacreator Cream Processing Plant. If his father wasn’t the condensed milk businessman, then this is one heck of a coincidence.

More information and updates as they come to pass. (Update: 5 January 2009. W. T. Murray was William Tullibardine Murray, after all.)

More on William Tullibardine Murray

Image: Mt Taranaki, formerly Mt. Egmont, from Wikipedia.

Edit: 18 March 2019, further info on his education career, and adding in links to his Highlander Condensed Milk and other enterprises.

In January 1839, a ship named the Orleana arrived in South Australia. On board was Henry Dundas Murray, grandson of Sir Patrick Murray of Ochtertyre, Perthshire, Scotland. In the town of Gawler, near the Barossa Valley, the central square is named Orleana after the ship Henry Murray arrived on, as he and John Reid were the ones who conducted the Gawler Special Survey of 4000 acres. By the 1860s, Henry Dundas Murray was a stipendiary magistrate in Gawler.

Henry Dundas Murray's ancestry stretched back at least to the 1200s and the reign of King Alexander II of Scotland, during which time Sir John de Moravia served as sheriff of Perth. He came from a long background of Scottish landed gentry.

Henry Dundas' second son, born 11 January 1863, was named William Tullibardine Murray (his middle name literally meaning “look out hill”, from the Gaelic tulach = hill and bardainn = warning, and stemmed from back in the history of Clan Murray). Exactly when he arrived in New Zealand is unknown, but on 21 January 1886 at Ponsonby he married May Elizabeth Margaret Bell, daughter of James Bell, of Port Albert on the Kaipara who died in 1870 aged 34 of an “inflammation of the bowels” (possibly appendicitis). His daughter was one of eight children. By 1887, the Murrays lived at Avondale, and William T Murray appears to be the likeliest to have been the “W. T. Murray” behind the short-lived Avondale Fruit and Vegetable Supply Depot venture (1891). The Murrays had two children while at Avondale, Yoland (b. 1887) and Henry Lamont (b. 1891).

From 1886 and into the early years of the 20th century, William T Murray maintained a license as a teacher, E3 rank, in both Auckland and later Otago. In 1895, however, both he and his wife declared bankruptcy. From 1896 until 1918, with less of an active role, Murray had involvement with the milk preserving industry in general, and the establishment of the Highlander Condensed Milk brand in particular.

According to Robin Carlyon, commenting to this article on Murray:
"William T Murray started in 1903 at Rakaunui School near Pongaroawas at Opaki in 1905 and then at Pongaroa until 1915. Then he has a short spell at Manakau School and didn’t work for the Wellington Education Board again ... Pongaroa was 40 miles East of Pahiatua and over difficult roads At Rakanui School he had no certificates, When he started at Pongaroa he passed D2 Examinations and Passed his D1 examination in 1914 ... The Wellington Education Board took anyone who may teach for their back block schools. Horowhenua Chronicle 5th March 1914 Identified our W T Murray as William Tullibardine Murray He had no NZ qualifications at Rakunui. By 1909 he had a ... D2 qualification and in 1914 had a D1 qualification." (Many thanks for the info, Robin!)

From 1915, Murray became involved in the Presbyterian Home Mission, ordained a Home Missionary in 1917, and when he died in 1923 had the title of Reverend.

In January 1923, he was living in Normanby (since c.1919). Nearly three weeks after his 60th birthday, he and three companions (Rev. Mr. Orange from Eltham, R. Thomas from Wanganui, and G. Cook from Kaponga) started out on 30 January to make the ascent up Mt. Egmont/Taranaki from Dawson Falls House to the summit, then to descend on the other side to North Egmont House. At some point, there was a disagreement over which route to take, and it was reported that “Mr. Murray did not agree as to the route chosen and refused, in spite of argument, to listen to the appeals of the others. He insisted on traversing a dangerous gorge down which the others had perforce to follow, though to return the same way appeared impossible.”

Cook returned to Dawson House for assistance, while Orange and Thomas followed Murray, trying to keep in touch with him by shouting. After a short time, Murray no longer returned the shouts, and his followers lost his trail and couldn’t follow his tracks. Search parties went out to look for him. At one point Orange collapsed, but resumed searching with the others the next day. On 1 February, searchers followed his tracks down the mountainside, then up again to within a thousand feet of the summit. The remains of a small fire were found, and piece of cord tied to the scrub. In all, six separate search parties, over 100 people, scoured the mountainside looking for him. Three old skeletons were even located in a cave during the search.

The searchers were able to piece together part of Murray’s last journey.

“The search has resulted in the reconstruction of Mr. Murray’s earlier wanderings on the mountain. When Mr. Murray persisted in descending a precipitous gorge on the western side of the summit against the advice of his friends, they had great difficulty in getting clear from this point. The missing man travelled in a west by northerly direction for a little over a mile, until he struck the Kahui track to Bell’s Falls, just about where it crossed the “moss line”. Footprints show that he followed this track down to the 2940ft level, where the track divided, the northern one to Stony River.

“At this point he made his first night’s camp. Searchers who tracked him down this far found the remains of a huge fire and also a bed of tussocks bearing the i9mpression of a man having rested there.

“Next day, January 31, Mr. Murray apparently retraced his steps almost three-quarters of a mile along the track, and then struck off again toward the summit, holding more or less closely to a direct line until he came under the Turtle, over 6000ft. above sea-level. He then bore in an easterly direction for a little way, and then north-west again on a course almost parallel with that he had travelled. This last turn was a fatal one. Had he proceeded 30 yards in an easterly direction he would have passed round a bluff. From this point he would have seen the North Egmont hostel.

“Proceeding in a north-easterly direction, Mr. Murray apparently found himself between two small streams, and, at a point where these joined, he made his second camp. It was here that the heel of a boot was discovered, on which were scratched his initials – W.M. – and the date, 31/1/23.

“From this point, the tracks were subsequently followed down the river to where it reaches Bell’s Falls. The tracks here entered the river and they have not been discovered coming out. Stony River, above and below the falls, has been thoroughly searched in case the unfortunate man may have been washed down the river, and the tracks retraced along the route of the third day’s journey in the vain hope that he might have come back and deviated from his previous paths. Below the falls is a deep pool, and this has been sounded [with gelignite] for traces of the body.”

The search was abandoned on 16 February, and I’ve seen no sign that the remains of Rev. William Tullibardine Murray have ever been found.

Sources:
Genealogies published online by Sara Leonard Murray.
Southern Cross, NZ Herald, Auckland Star, NZ Gazettes
NZ Presbyterian Archives website
Manning Index of South Australia History
State Heritage Areas of South Australia

The unpopular toll gate at Kapuni River

I found this in the Auckland Star, 16 January 1923.

Toll gates have never been popular and when about fifteen years ago the Egmont County Council, in the Taranaki district, erected one near the Kapuni bridge on the Eltham-Opunake Road, the settlers paid their tolls sullenly, and vowed vegeance on the gates.

Just where the Kapuni bridge crosses the river, which flows from Mount Egmont, there is a big dark ravine where the water is very deep, enclosed on all sides by steepm rocky banks. One stormy night the old till gate keeper was lying in his bunk with his light in the window; he knew that there would be little traffic on such a night, and soon fell off to sleep.

At that time a coach left Opunake for Eltham in the very early hours of the morning, and got to the toll gate before daylight, but till this morning the old keeper had always been ready to receive it. The driver of the coach descended from his box to go and investigate, and to his astonishment he found the door of the hut securely fastened from the outside, and the man could not get out.

On further investigation he also saw that the gates were missing. A party of men had evidently removed them from their hinges and thrown them into the deep pool in the ravine. The ropes which held the old man in his hut and fastened the doorway were soon cut, and the council offered a big reward to anyone who would reveal the cuprits, but no one ever did.

Two visitors met recently at the bowling tournament in Auckland, and were discussing old times.

"When did we meet last?" said one.

"Oh, you remember it, don't you?" replied the other, "and I suppose we can talk about it now, but at one time a price was put on our heads, for it was the night that we bound up the door of the toll keeper's house at the Kapuni River, and threw the gates into the water over the clidff."

"Were those gates ever recovered?" was again asked.

"No, for all I know they are still at the bottom of that gully, but other ones were soon put in their place, and the toll is still there."

Maori voting, early 1920s

I found this interesting article in the Auckland Star of 17 January 1923 today.

"The lodging of a petition against the return of one of the Maori members of Parliament has given some prominence to the subject of Maori elections, says the "Dominion". Many New Zealanders no doubt assume without question that the system followed in the polling for native members is the same as that followed in the polling for European representatives. The fact is, however, that it differs considerably.

"First of all, there is no Maori roll. There is provision in the law for the compilation of such a roll, but so far none has been compiled. The reason is, probably, that a roll would be useless unless enrolment was compulsory. The native does not take readily to systems of registration, as many registrars of births and deaths have cause to know. If a roll were used it is likely that comparatively few natives would register voluntarily, and most of the voting would have to be "by declaration," so that things would be little better than they are now.

"When the Maori elector enters a polling booth on election-day he is required to state his full name, his iwi (tribe), his hapu (sub-tribe), and his kainga (place of abode.) These particulars are inscribed on the counterfoil of a voting paper. Then the elector is required to state the name of the candidate for whom he desires to vote, and the returning officer writes it upon the voting paper. The returning officer and a Maori associate are the only persons permitted to be present when a Maori elector votes. The officer, after recording the vote, puts his name or his initials on the paper and hands it to the associate, who similarly signs or initials it. The part of the paper on which the vote is noted is detachyable from that on which the particulars concerning the elector appear.

"No scrutineer is permitted to be present in the booth during voting. Secrecy has to be preserved concerning the native's vote, just as it has to be preserved concerning the European's. Immediately after the poll has closed scrutineers are admitted so that they may witness the counting of the votes."

The Aramoho Zoo (1908-1916)

The story of J. J. Boyd's Aramoho Zoo is part of The Zoo War (2008), but I thought I'd publish the chapter online as well, seeing as this year is the centenary year for New Zealand's first private zoo. The Onehunga/Royal Oak chapter could follow sometime next year (2011 is the centenary for that zoo).

The Cocoa Lady

Mrs Margaret Richardson, Avondale Primary School's "Cocoa Lady". Photo courtesy of Mrs Richardson's daughters, Mrs Gagen and Mrs Fleming.

I love this photo. This is the photo of Margaret Richardson, who may have only been noted in Heart of the Whau as the wife of Paul Richardson, former Avondale Borough Councillor from the 1920s.

But Mrs Richardson is much more than that to a generation of former pupils of Avondale Primary -- the ones who went to school during last century's Great Depression.

From out of the Depression Years come stories of community goodwill. One case in point is that of Mrs Margaret Francis Richardson (c.1882-1965), wife of former Avondale Borough Councillor Paul Richardson (c.1882-1961).

It came to her notice that some of the children attending Avondale Primary School were going to school without any lunch to eat. So, Mrs Richardson went around the local businesses, asking for donations of cocoa, sugar and milk, and then asked the School for the use of an old shed on site as a “cocoa shed”.

From there, she set up to provide cocoa drinks for the children, those who could afford it paying 1d a week, while those who couldn’t received cocoa free.

“The Cocoa Lady” became a feature of many childhood memories of the period. According to her daughters, Mrs Lorna Gagen and Mrs Shirley Fleming, Mrs Richardson was known for helping those boys a little late returning to class by hiding them under a shelf in the shed when their teacher came looking for them, then when the coast was clear saying to the boy “All right, go for your life!”

Her daughters told me that a man from Onehunga had written recently praising their mother, saying he was sure she kept him alive during the Depression.

Margaret Richardson (born in Glasgow, Scotland) was also a JP in Avondale.

A fatal fall: the death of Patrick Moran

When Patrick Moran of Kumeu died after falling off a train close to the JJ Craig brickyards in St Georges Road on 10 August 1900, it was a brief sensation in the newspaper, and then quickly forgotten. But the original article a day after the accident was reprinted by the NZ Herald in their 100 Years Ago column back in 2000, then the Friends of Waikumete republished it again in one of their recent newsletters in 2007.

People standing on the platform outside and to the rear of train passenger carriages seemed to have been an often-seen occurrence in the late 19th century. With trains such as the one on which Moran took his final fatal trip travelling at 20-25 miles per hour on the journey between Avondale and New Lynn stations, it must have seemed a breezier alternative to some who didn’t want to be cooped up in the carriages for the relatively long journeys. Others had earlier taken a tumble, however. One man near Rotorua just 5 years before was extremely fortunate to have escaped with only severe shock as the effects of his accident. A similar accident, near the same spot where Moran died, had happened about a year before, and again had no serious consequences.

But Moran was perhaps just unlucky. Not feeling well, complaining of heart attacks and that “someone was chasing him”, he got up from his seat beside his wife in the second-class carriage, and went out to the platform to have a smoke of his pipe, just before the train reached Avondale. Three boys had beaten him to the idea; he then walked across to the rear of the first-class carriage, and stood on the platform there, trying to light his pipe. The wind however was too strong, blowing the matches out, so he gave up. With his hands in his pockets, he leaned back against the door of the carriage. Had the three boys not been on that second-class carriage platform, Moran might have survived his tumble. But as the train sped down the incline from Avondale station towards St Georges Road and on to New Lynn at 20 miles per hour it approached, close to where Saintly Lane is today, the spur loop line put in place back in 1882 by Robert Hunt so that his bricks and pottery could be loaded onto the trains with swift efficiency. JJ Craig utilised the same system. The train jolted and made a sharp turn, just at the point where the main line met that loop line – Moran lost his balance and fell sideways, toward his right side, and tumbled from the train. Below, he hit his head against either a bolt from the loop line or one of the ballast rocks – the result, tragically, was the same.

Those who witnessed his fall were unable to raise the guard or the engine driver and advise them until the train had stopped in New Lynn. By the time the train reversed back, Moran was lying dead where he fell. The official inquest at the Avondale Hotel some days later ruled that “deceased met his death by accidentally falling off a train, and that no blame was attachable to anyone.”

William Tullibardine Murray vs. the Chinese Growers

The early 1890s for Auckland was a time of (European) people's real concerns over a perceived takeover of Auckland's fruit and vegetable supply market by Chinese gardeners and shop owners, amid jibes against the "Celestials" which we would regard today as racist and illegal. The cartoon above from the Observer of 6 August 1892 summed up much of the feeling then, where a mis-shapen and heavily-accented "John Chinaman" has won the right to ship his cheaper produce via the shipping company (represented by a "John Bull" type character) over the pleas of the clean-cut European grower with his suffering family at the rear. To further inflame public opinion, the cartoon was headed, "The Chinaman On Top Again." Even so, Aucklanders had a fascination for the exotic products imported by Chinese and displayed in their businesses in the city, the culture and customs so unusual to Europeans, and the Chinese-owned restaurants.

On 14 November 1891, the Avondale Fruit and Vegetable Supply Depot opened in the southern wing of the old Auckland Market building in the city (today, this is Aotea Square). A Mr. W. T. Murray from Avondale was the instigator.

"The southern wing of the Market was crowded yesterday afternoon by visitors and purchasers attending the Avondale Fruit and Vegetable Supply Depot. The tug of war has commenced between Mr. Murray and the Chinese, who, finding him encroaching on their domain have lowered the price of vegetables one-half to their best customers, and restaurants and boardinghouses. He is confident that he will hold his own with them, and yesterday small growers were at the depot with cart-loads of vegetables from Mount Albert, Epsom, Otahuhu etc., which he purchased, relying on a large turn over to compensate for the small profit. Mr. Murray intends to adopt the same principle as regards fruit, and will, by large purchases, give the citizens cheap fruit throughout the summer, his motto being "small profits and quick returns." This evening a band will discourse choice selections of music in the southern wing of the market, purchasers at the Avondale Depot getting a concert thrown in with their purchases."

(NZ Herald, 14 November 1891)

"Auckland is just now the scene of a labour competition between Europeans and Chinese in the supply of vegetables, and as it is to be "the survival of the fittest," we back the Europeans. Tho Avondale Vegetable Supply Company have now established a depot in the City Market, and have numbered vans patrolling the city, so that the war is being carried into John Chinaman's country. The Saturday night promenade concerts at the Market are also a great treat."

(Observer, 14 November 1891)

It was portrayed by newspapers like the Observer as a full-on war between two racial stereotypes: "John Chinaman" and "Jock Scotchman". William Tullibardine Murray, bearing as his middle name the place where the clan chiefs of the Murrays of Tullibardine had their funeral services, certainly appears to have represented the Scottish side of the feud.

"The vegetable war is still raging in our midst, and John Chinaman is viewing with chagrin the profitable trade being driven by the Avondale Depot representatives. John believing that competition is the life of trade has cut down the price, saying, "Allee lightee, me makee fight."

(Observer, 21 November 1891)

One last burst from Murray came on 16 December 1891 when he and Mr. A. Aitken organised "the inaugural show of fruit and flowers" at the Greenleaf section of the City Market. This was not a success, however. "The show," the NZ Herald reported, "was hardly so successful as the promoters anticipated, and there was not sufficient competition ... Mr. Murray informed us that it is proposed to hold another show at the end of March, principally for fruit exhibitions." I couldn't find any further reference to either the Supply Depot or any fruit shows organised by Murray. It would appear he lost the war.

William Tullbardine Murray wasn't a gardener by occupation, oddly enough: he was a teacher, living at Avondale from c.1887, in which year he purchased part of the Aickin family's Avondale estate, a 10-acre farmlet fronting onto Avondale Road itself. He sold this piece of land to Thomas Jackson in 1893, which is soon after the Supply Depot's disappearance from the records. Thomas and Elizabeth Jackson renamed the house there on Murray's land "Meliora", and went on to found the Victoria Hall church.

[Update, 6 March 2010: Historian John Adam, while working on a Rosebank horticultural history project for the Avondale-Waterview Historical Society, came across an interesting article published in the Bee and Poultry Journal, of December 1891. In it, Murray's 35-acre market garden is described in considerable detail. I wondered how Murray's 10-acres at 103 Avondale came to be 35 acres. Last night, in a quick search before LINZ shutdown for the evening, I discovered that he leased land on either side, around the same time, the total holdings coming up to just over 35 acres, including the site of Hayward Wright's nursery in the 20th century.]

Murray's career is so far only known from circumstantial bits and pieces. In October 1892, he tried, unsuccessfully, to run for a position on the Auckland Board of Education. The next possible appearance after he left Avondale is via the Presbyterian archives, where there is a reference to a Rev. William Tullibardine Murray, formerly a teacher, who was ordained as a Home Missionary in 1917, serving in Hanmer and Normanby before dying in 1923, losing his life while climbing Mt. Egmont.

I'll be looking for more information on this intriguing character, that's for certain.

The Attack on Miss Rose Thomas

An incident took place on a summer’s evening in Avondale over a hundred years ago, which led to a police line-up, an arrest, and not one but three court hearings.

In mid January 1905, Miss Rose Thomas took up employment as a servant for Charles Grey, director of the well-known Grey & Menzies firm of soft drink manufacturers, Avondale school committee member, and later mayor of Auckland City from 1909-1910. She worked at Grey’s Avondale home of Banwell, just off what was then known as Windsor Road (today’s Chalmers Street).

On the 28th of January, a week after she began her job at Banwell, Rose went to Arthur Page’s store to buy some groceries at a quarter to eight in the evening, and was served by Edward Qualtrough. From there, she headed to a baker’s shop, run by one of her cousins, stayed there for around five minutes, then headed for home at around 8.30 pm. From Page’s store, she headed across to Binsted’s corner and along St Georges Road, past the public hall and the Presbyterian Church on the other side. A short way past Binsted’s butcher’s shop, she later told the court, a man she didn’t know passed her on the footpath, kept ahead of her, then disappeared. 200 yards further on, she looked back, and saw a man following her. Rose then turned into another road.

A short way along that road, Rose felt a man catch her by the throat, throwing her to the ground, saying, “Not a murmur, or I will blow your brains out.” He bumped her face against the stones on the road, and she lost consciousness. When she came to, she was on her back in a ditch beside the road, the man there beside her, holding what appeared in the gloom to look like a revolver (although Rose later said it may simply have been a piece of stick). He made “some improper suggestions”; then told her to keep still as they both heard the sound of people walking along the road nearby. He told her to keep still, but once the people, Mrs. Ellen March, three other ladies and some children, came nearer, Rose let out a scream.

The man tried to put his hands around her throat to stop her screams, but she got free and started to scramble away. The man went over a hedge and disappeared into the dark. Rose screamed again, “Save me, he will kill me!”, and ran out of the ditch, her hat on one side and her hair disheveled. She clung to one of the ladies as they took her to Grey’s house up the hill.

Constable O’Grady was at Page’s Store himself until 8.45 pm. On his way home, he came upon the ladies and the distraught Rose Thomas. Hearing from them about that had taken place, he asked Rose to give him a description of the man who had attacked her. All she could say was that he wore a slouch hat, dark coat, and a collarless white shirt. O’Grady then headed back to Avondale, and said later that he recognised a man fitting the description Rose gave him, standing under the lamp of the Avondale Hotel and with dust on the knees of his trousers – John Hughes, a married local resident. He questioned Hughes as to his whereabouts at the time of the attack, and was told that Hughes had seen Rose Thomas at Pages Store earlier that evening, while he was buying a fishing line and a copy of the NZ Herald. He passed her on the way to his own house, and was there for around 10 minutes before he decided to head back out to the hotel. On his way there, he passed Mrs. March and her companions, just as one had struck a match and then sent one of the children with them back to the store. This was around 8.45 pm.

In Avondale, as he was making his way to the hotel from the footpath outside Page’s Store, he was spotted by William H. Scarlett from where the other man stood on the hotel’s verandah opposite the store, and invited by Scarlett to make up a four-handed game of cards at the hotel. At the door to the hotel, Hughes was stopped and questioned by Constable O’Grady, promised to turn up at the Police Station the next day, then went inside and played cards until 10 o’clock. Scarlett described Hughes as sober, and quite calm.

The following day, O’Grady organised a line-up at the station, and got Hughes to stand in line with some other men. O’Grady counselled Rose to be very careful and see if she could recognise the man who had attacked her. She picked out Hughes. Hearing his voice and seeing his hands, she said, made her feel more positive it was him. O’Grady then arrested Hughes, charging him with attempted rape. Hughes remarked, “I did not assault the girl, but if she says so I suppose I must put up with it.”

Hughes fronted up before the magistrate at the Police Court on 6 February, and over the course of two days the details of the case were laid before the public. Right from the start, Hughes’ lawyer raised the point that the prosecution of his client rested solely on identification – and that was prone to error. The lawyer, J. R. Lundon, questioned Rose as to whether her assailant had whiskers or not, and whether Hughes was the only man in the line-up with a white collarless shirt. The answer to both questions was no, but Rose wavered slightly in her certainty. It didn’t help that there was apparently another attempted attack on a young girl in the area a few days after Hughes’ arrest. Hughes was still committed for trial at the Supreme Court however, the magistrate feeling that there was a case to answer. Hughes was allowed bail in his personal recognisance of £200 and two others of £100 each.

Then came a long wait for the Supreme Court hearing. I trawled through the newspapers from February to May, looking for the hearing – the wait for Hughes must have been nerve-wracking. Whether he remained in Avondale while awaiting the verdict, even if he did post bail, is not known. If he did stay here, the gossips would have had a field day.

Finally and eventually, on 26 May 1905, his second trial took place. This also took two days (Friday and Saturday), but was abandoned for a retrial the following Tuesday. At his third trial, all over in a day, he was finally acquitted.

“In summing up yesterday evening in the case against John Hughes, charged with indecently assaulting a girl at Avondale, His Honor said it was plain to him that the evidence of identification was not strong enough. And the case depended entirely on identification, the fact that an assault was committed by somebody not having been disputed. No doubt there was strong suspicion about the matter, and it was unfortunate for the prisoner that he should have been about near the scene of the assault about that time, dressed in clothes which answered the description given by the girl to the police immediately after the occurrence. However, it was not sufficient that the clothing was identified, because there might reasonably have been other men about the district with slouch hats, dark coats and white shirts. There must be something more than that before they could convict … The case certainly looked very suspicious, but he did not think they could say that “beyond all reasonable doubt” the prisoner in the dock was the author of the outrage … Under all the circumstances he thought the jury would be quite safe in acquitting the accused.”

(Auckland Star, 31 May 1905)

Sheep in the Whau

Avondale isn't especially renowned as a sheep district -- but, along with cattle, sheep were the occupiers of many of the large farms in the area from the mid 1840s through to the end of the 19th century. The earliest sheep farm may have been that of John Kelly. Robert Chisholm from the 1860s through to the 1870s certainly ran sheep. Benjamin Gittos had one of the very few wool scouring operations as part of his tannery, and may well have cleaned fleece from local flocks.

The Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives is a goldmine of information collected by the government on various aspects of New Zealand life. One volume alone, Part H of 1895, published a detailed list of sheep owners in the the County of Eden (the Auckland isthmus). Such a list wasn't repeated -- probably because before 1894, there were a lot more sheep owners, and afterward, too few to bother with statistically.

Out of the list came the names, and flock totals, of three Avondale sheep owners as at 1894 and 1895.

H & J Binsted, the butchers, owned 24 sheep and lambs in 1894, and 20 the next year.
Alexander Blayney had 173 sheep in 1894, but zero in 1895.

And the number one sheep owner in Avondale? The Hon. Daniel Pollen, just before he died in 1896, with 291 (1894) and 290 (1895).