Coal in them thar Rosebank Flats!

In 1882, steps were taken by Avondale's community leaders, such as John Bollard and Francis Gittos, to become involved with investigating a possible coalfield in Avondale. It certainly, for a time, caught local imaginations.

A decade before, probably something that was keenly recalled, Walter McCaul stuck his neck out and put his finances on the line for the idea that coal existed beneath his Waikumete property. On 22 November 1872, he called a meeting of interested businessmen and investors at the British Hotel.

A meeting of gentlemen interested in prospecting for a coal mine at the Whau was held at the British Hotel, Queen-street, yesterday. There was a fair attendance. Mr. J. Buchanan occupied the chair. Mr. W. McCaul, the convenor of the meeting, read the report of Mr. Kelsall, the person engaged in testing the ground at the Whau, from which it appeared that after sinking 5ft. he came on a bed of fireclay. At 9ft. a blue shale and sandstone was cut, and at a depth of 28ft. a small seam of coal was met. The boring was down 47ft., and the report further stated that the strata from the top to the bottom were of a true coal indication. Some discussion took place as to the best mode of going to work to have the ground thoroughly tested, and whether it should be confined to the ground on which the boring was at present being carried on, or whether it should be extended to the surrounding district. It was proposed that a committee, consisting of Messrs. Rowe, Keesing, Gibbon, and Buchanan, be appointed to visit the district and to report at another meeting to be held within the next 14 days, as to the best place to commence operations upon. An amendment was made to the effect that a collector should be appointed to collect subscriptions to assist Mr. McCaul in the matter, and that he should continue the boring. The amendment was lost, and the original motion was carried. A vote of thanks to the Chairman.

(Southern Cross, 23 November 1872)

Unfortunately, by March the following year, McCaul's prospects as the owner of West Auckland's first coal mine were well and truly kiboshed.

On several occasions our readers have been made acquainted with the progress which is being made by Mr. Walter McCaul in his borings for coal in the Whau district. The boring was being satisfactorily proceeded with, and every indication existed to show that coal was near at hand. A depth of 292ft. had been reached, and in that distance several thin seams of coal had been cut through. The various strata gone through indicated underlying coal. A good seam of coal discovered within seven miles of the city, and at a point where vessels could sail up to and take on board a cargo of coal, and land it on the Queen-street Wharf within an hour, would most materially advance the commercial interests of Auckland. Coal found at that depth would likely have been of a more compact nature than any yet found in New Zealand, because it would have been subjected to a sufficient superincumbent weight to have produced a degree of solidification not otherwise attainable. The successful opening up of coal measures under such circumstances would have at least proved that there were exceptions even in that community which was maligned a few years ago as being wanting in public spirit. Unfortunately for the completion of Mr. McCaul's work, and the realisation of his expectations, he was under the necessity of borrowing the set of boring rods belonging to the province. A brief history of this work at this time will be interesting, and will show how the Provincial Government aids in the development of the resources of "our province."

For many years Mr. McCaul has been persuaded that a seam of coal underlies the whole of the Whau district. In August last year he heard that a vote had been taken in the previous session of the Provincial Council to aid in the development of coal seams within the province, and on the 8th of that month made application to the Provincial Government (Mr. Joseph May being then deputy-Superintendent, while Mr. Gillies was attending the General Assembly) for some aid, stating that coal existed on his ground at the Whau. On the 24th of that month Mr. May replied to the application, stating that there have no funds available out of which a money grant could be made for the purpose named, but expressed his willingness to place a set of boring-rods at Mr. McCaul's disposal, to be placed in the hands of a practical man to test the discovery. To this letter Mr. McCaul replied on the 26th of September, informing Mr. May that he had engaged Mr. Richard Kelsall to conduct the boring operations, who, along with four other practical and skilled mining engineers, had expressed an opinion that a good seam of coal would be found at the place indicated.

Mr. McCaul suggested that a grant of £50 should be made to aid in defraying the boring expenses, and proposed that such amount could be taken from the vote of General Contingencies if no other funds were available. The rods having been obtained were being employed under the direction of Mr. Kelsall, & gentlemen who had large experience in coal-mining. To Mr. McCaul's last letter Mr. H. H. Lusk replied on the 9th October, re-asserting the inability of the Government to give any pecuniary aid to the work of opening up the coal measured at the Whau. Meanwhile rapid progress was being made in boring operations, and, as one thin seam of coal after another was cut through, the hope of the workers brightened, and a sum of some £140 had been expended on the work. Mr. Gillies, however, had meantime returned from Wellington, and further progress is arrested. About the middle of February last Mr. McCaul got the first intimation of the " public-spiritedness " of his Honor's Government, by receiving the following letter :—

"Superintendent's Office, Auckland, May 15, 1873. Sir,— I have the honour to request that you will immediately return to Mr. Allright the boring-rods belonging to the Provincial Government, which have been in your possession for some time past. When those rods were lent to you, it was stipulated that they should be returned within a certain time; and, as that period has now long since elapsed, and many applications have boon received for the loan of the rods, Government cannot allow you any longer the use of them. Be good enough to give prompt attention to this request.—I have, &c., T. B. Gillies. Superintendent – Mr. W McCaul, High-street, Auckland”

To this letter Mr. McCaul replied as follows :— " Waikomiti, February 21, 1873 —Sir, I beg to acknowledge receipt of your Honor’s letter dated 15th instant, requesting the immediate return of the boring rods, and stating the stipulated time for which they were lent to me has long since expired, and that Government cannot allow me any longer the use of them. In reply, I beg to say that I got a portion of the rods, 239ft., until the 7th instant, a few days previous to which I discovered that the Government had 60ft. more, for which I applied first to Mr. Allright, who said he was perfectly willing if Mr. Lusk was. I immediately saw Mr. Lusk, who would not at the time say yes or no, but agreed, if I should send for the additional rods in the course of a few days, that, in the event of their being given to me, it would as a matter of course follow that I should have a reasonable extension of time to use them. The rods are now all down except 35ft., which I cannot make sure of putting down in less than three weeks, which I hope your Honor will be so kind as to grant; but if I accomplish it sooner, they shall be returned the moment I have done. — I am, &c, W. McCaul — T. B. Gillies, Esq., Superintendent."

Although it was manifest from the above letter that the rods were being made good use of, and that every additional foot put down was bringing the hidden object of their search so much nearer, the small privilege sought was refused in the following spirited terms: — "Superintendent’s Office, Auckland, 26th February, 1873. Sir,— In reply to your letter dated the 21st instant, I have the honour to inform you that you cannot any longer have the use of the boring rods, as there are other persons who have prior claims to the use of them in localities where they can with certainty be more usefully employed. You will, therefore, have the goodness to return the rods without delay. —I am, &c., Thomas B. Gillies, Superintendent. — Mr. W. McCaul, Waikomiti, Auckland."

The boring rods have been returned to the Provincial Government, and further progress in the work at the Whau is at an end. It is reported that the rods are to be, or have been, sent to Mangonui, to test the coal measures believed to exist in that locality. It is evident that a hardship has been inflicted upon Mr. McCaul by the action of his Honor’s Government. Expenses had not been incurred at Mangonui, as had been done at the Whau, and therefore there was no immediate urgency in the case. When Mr. McCaul was daily using the rods at considerable expense to himself it would have been but fair that he should have had their use while he was willing to work them, or at least for some time longer than was allowed. No one can calculate beforehand the length of time that will be required to reach by boring a certain depth, as progress in such operations depends so much upon the condition of the strata through which the rods must pass, and there does not seem to have been any unnecessary delay caused in the use of the rods at the Whau.

By the decision come to a large amount of money has been spent in vain, which there is reason to believe would not have been the case if the rods had not been so abruptly taken away. Again, his Honor appears to set himself up as a geological authority, for he tells Mr. McCaul that the rods are now to be used in a locality where they can “with certainty be more usefully employed." What his Honor's qualifications are to thus pronounce dogmatically upon the coal-prospecting operations at the Whau, which by inference he does, we are not informed. He will probably find that the community are not quite unanimous in pronouncing him a qualified judge to decide upon such a case as this, and certainly a promising venture has been for the present nipped in the bud by the exercise of what seems ill-timed caprice.

(Southern Cross, 28 March 1873)

Moving forward, to 1882. According to a history of Avondale written in 1952 by a Mrs. W. Ritchie, a quantity of fine peat was discovered on Dr. Daniel Pollen's vast holdings at the tip of Rosebank Peninsula, and this was what led to speculation that where there's peat, there's coal. A public meeting on 1 October 1882 at Avondale's public hall led to the settlers to apply to the Government for the use of boring rods so they could conduct the same tests McCaul worked on 10 years before, on the other side of the Whau River.

The Premier himself, Sir Frederick Whitaker, promised in early November to send the Government geologist, Mr. Cox, to examine the signs of coal deposits found. The Weekly News of 14 April 1883 reported what seems to be the final word on the carboniferous deposits in the Whau:

Mr. Cox, Government Geologist, has paid an official visit to the Avondale district to report as to the nature and character of the district re coal formation. He will report in due course to the committee appointed at the public meeting, but we have reason to believe that the report will be unfavorable, and that Mr. Cox, who has previously made an exploration of the district, does not anticipate the finding of coal seams in Avondale.

An update (7 August 2009): Mrs. Ritchie's 1952 history was incorrect, but only in that the discovery wasn't made on Pollen's land, but on Dr. Thomas Aickin's estate. In October 1882, his former farm was put up for sale in subdivisions.

"Dr. Aickin's Avondale estate will be sold to-day at noon by T. W. Hickson and Co. The district is a rising one, and bids fair not only to be the residence of a large suburban population, but the seat of a series of important industries owing to the fine clay deposits existing there for brick making as well as for the finer classes of pottery. The recent discovery of lignite coal must also have an important bearing on its commercial future. As the district is connected with the city both by road and rail the steady increase in the value of property there may be regarded as assured and certain."

(NZ Herald, 24 October 1882)

"The important discovery made within the last few days at Avondale, on the property of Dr. Aickin, of extensive beds of lignite exactly similar in character to that found overlying the Bay of Islands coal mines, is likely within a short time to lead to important results, as we learn that a movement is now on foot amongst owners of property in the neighbourhood to thoroughly test the substrata, in the belief that coal will be found to underlie the lignite seams at no great depth below them. An application will be made to the Government for the use of the diamond drill for the purpose. We are glad to see the matter so energetically taken up by those immediately interested, and should be pleased to see their efforts crowned with success. The importance to Auckland of a discovery of coal in such close proximity to the shipping and to the city is obvious. Large barges can be brought right up against the bank where the find has been made, and the coal delivered into them direct from the pit's mouth and delivered alongside any vessel in the harbour within an hour. A branch line of railway about a mile in length, and over perfectly level ground, could be taken from a little beyond the Avondale station right to the ground."

(NZ Herald, 24 October 1882)

I now also know that Benjamin Gittos was chairman of the committee of five gentlemen appointed at the district meeting on 31 October 1882 "to collect information as to the most practical and business-like way to set to work". He was too ill to attend the second district meeting in December. (NZ Herald, 9 December 1882) At that meeting, they decided to await the word back from Cox, the Government Geologist seen above, the word from him was negative.

Update 12 June 2011:
This from the Evening Post, 18 May 1928

Some excitement was caused in Avondale by a rumour that jets of steam were issuing from the ground on the property owned by the Avondale Jockey Club, and formerly the site of a brick works. It appears that some three months ago a fire was lighted in the locality to burn some rubbish and the heat had caused an outcrop of lignite to catch fire. This had been smouldering underneath the ground ever since. It had made such headway that a good deal of heat was generated and the heavy rain this week had evidently penetrated a fissure in the ground, coming into contact with the burning matter. Lignite will burn or smoulder for many months, as on a previous occasion a lignite seam on an adjoining property burned throughout the winter.

John Mason -- an early colonial stormy petrel

A "stormy petrel" is said to be one fond of strife, derived from the name of the seabird thought to be the harbinger of storms. James Mason, who sparked my curiosity after the Whau meeting report of 1875, appears to have been just such an aficionado of strife, of the political kind. Or simply, a man who liked to say his piece -- often in the most trollish ways possible. He was a forceful supporter of Sir Julius Vogel, and author of strange letters to the newspapers, and even odder telegrams to his hero.

(Southern Cross, 3 June 1874)

At a public meeting of the education tax at the Mechanic’s Institute …

Mr. John Mason said he simply asked the meeting as a favour to hear what he had to say, but the meeting declined to hear him …

[A little later …]

Mr. John Mason again essayed to speak, but the meeting would not listen to him, and he went through the operation known as " cocking a double lunar" at the audience.

[Still later …]

At this stage of the proceedings Mr. John Mason was forcibly ejected from the meeting by Sergeant O'Connor.

(Evening Post, 19 August 1874)

[At another Mechanic Institute meeting, where a Mr. Rees criticised Vogel’s policies …]

A man named John Mason created a disturbance which was soon suppressed.

(Otago Witness, 22 August 1874)

Many of your readers will remember John Mason, of the Dunedin Journal of Commerce, when that paper was first started. They will also remember the telegram from him read last session by the Premier, in favour of the substitution of the ad valorem duties. The Star says that Mr Mason yesterday telegraphed to the Premier again, and gives the telegram as follows : — " To Hon. J. Vogel — Pin flag to mast. Unity of Provinces North Island. General Government absorb all land revenues. Auckland with you. Stand or fall, otherwise dissolve. Support Von der Heyde." Upon my word, if I wrote columns I don't think I could give you a better indication of public opinion than this queer telegram conveys.

(Southern Cross, 24 August 1874)

To the Editor : Sir, — It appears to me that the tomfoolery of last night was cruelly initiated to introduce to public notice Williams's celebrated fire kindlers, During the magniloquent ceremonial there were two or three other fire kindlers on the spot, containing more gas than gum kauri. The ridicule some men bring upon themselves by attempting to be too smart — too eloquent, while breathing the breath of fury, or, rather, pouring out a phial of wrath, which might likewise be sermonised upon, is concealed, most especially with men of common sense. There can be no doubt that the working classes — and I am one of them — possess the last element and I am convinced that they are not such arrant ignoramuses as to be led by the nose or pulled by the nose by caterers for the public in any respective calling. The Premier of Now Zealand knows how to pull the strings, and the dunces of Auckland should be careful what they are about: fortunately they are very few. — I am, &c , John Mason.

(Evening Post, 19 August 1875)

The city is in a roar of merriment tonight at the publication of the following telegram despatched to-day by a well known eccentric individual whose message on ad valorem duties was read in the House by Sir J. Vogel, and became a standing joke: —"The Hon. Dr. Pollen, Wellington. All the meetings in Auckland were packed by people in favor of immediate abolition. Be firm and no surrender. Reserve forces for final charge. Up guards and at them. John Mason."

(Southern Cross, 9 September 1876)

HOW IT STRIKES MR. MASON.
To the Editor : Sir, — Contempt for one or other of Auckland members, representatives in the (General Assembly, is shared by me with gentlemen with whom I have the honour to be associated. I have lived long enough in the world to be able to probe individual feelings. To my mind, and it is comprehensive, I have never m my experience witnessed such blackguard treatment in the General Assembly. I recollect when Messrs. Francis and McCulloch raised £18,000,000 sterling to carry out Victoria's essentialities, which culminated its progress. These two gentlemen have everlastingly deserved praise, and now occupy a magnified position. The dignity of New Zealand is debased by such men as Messrs. Rees and Stout, and whatever my occupation may be, I am prepared with either to throw down the gauntlet — literary or otherwise. It is, in my opinion, simply a disgrace that we are so misrepresented. Education is debased is, in point of fact, degenerated into a morbid mind, which a few in Auckland never can accept. There are wise men left who can accept a difficulty, and conquer it too. I am one of them. — I am, &c, John Mason.

Nothing further, so far, is known about him.

Provincial Abolition debate at the Whau, 1875

The following is a lively account from the Southern Cross of a meeting held in the old Whau Public Hall on the night of 23 August 1875, when the topic of the day was the proposed (and eventual) abolition of the provincial government system. This system had been introduced during George Grey's first period as Governor of the colony -- at its end, he was a fervent anti-abolitionist.

The question divided community leaders across sharply-defined lines. This may have helped to fuel any future hostile feelings John Bollard (pro-abolition) and John Buchanan (anti-abolition) were later to show in public at the 1876 elections and over the Northern Omnibus Company in 1884.

It also provides us with more information on the public opinion on Dr. Daniel Pollen -- someone who makes his living from out of the public purse. Whether that's a fair judgment or not, it shows that he wasn't just the shadowy footnote to our colonial history we've come to see him as today.

I also feel sorry for Mr. Mason, mentioned throughout this article, who just couldn't get much of a chance to have his say.

A meeting of the electors of Eden and Waitemata, resident in the Whau district, was held last night in the Whau Hall to consider the Abolition and Local Self-Government Bills now before the General Assembly. Mr. John Bollard, the Chairman of the Highway Board, proposed that Mr. A. K. Taylor, M.P.C., should take the chair. The Chairman read the advertisement calling the meeting, and opened the proceedings, and asked for a fair and impartial hearing for any speaker who might come forward.

Mr. John Mason came forward, and said he never had had a fair opportunity of expressing his opinion before the public, and he would do so now. After paying a tribute of respect to Sir George Grey, the speaker went on to say, until he was interrupted, that he considered Sir George Grey had been set up as a god...

Mr. W. McCaul: You are not an elector, and we will not listen to you.

Mr. Mason requested to be allowed to speak, but met with continued interruption. He had a resolution to propose. (A voice: " Well, propose it, and have done with it.") A pause here occurred, during which Mr. Mason was repeatedly requested to sit down. In compliance with the Chairman's ruling, Mr. Mason sat down.

Mr. J. Buchanan thought it a good sign to see so much interest in political questions, and it would be well to watch the present measures now before the Assembly at Wellington. He moved, "That this meeting view with regret the hasty action of the Government in pushing through the Abolition and Local Government Bills in present circumstances, and are of opinion that these important constitutional changes should only be dealt with by a new Parliament." (Hear, hear.) It seemed to him remarkable to bring down so important a measure as the Abolition Bill at so short notice, and appeared to him very suspicious on the part of the Government. The word "hasty" in his resolution seemed to imply that the Government were very arbitrary in the matter. Sir Julius Vogel got the command of a few newspapers throughout the country, and he was astonished that the removal of the Judges should have been effected. He admired the system of public works of Sir Julius Vogel, but great men sometimes acted wrongly, and it was the great characteristic of that Ministry that it was a "one man's Ministry.” (Hear, hear.) What did the Government want by the passage of these bills? To bestow patronage, and in return to receive support. (Hear, hear.) The Ministry confessed that the country was not fully represented now, and that should be a strong reason for delay. If the Government refused to wait till a new Parliament, they would be unreasonable not to let this important measure stand for a little while. (Hear.) The bills have taken them all by surprise, and as yet they did not know what they might do for them. The legislation of New Zealand might be characterised as hasty, and this he thought was greatly to be deprecated. What was legal this year might be illegal next year, and vice versa. (Hear, hear.) Delay would probably give a much better measure. He concluded by again proposing the resolution he had read. (Cheers.)

Mr. John Bollard claimed to understand the bill, and said that it did not represent abolition. The provinces were not be[ing] done away with, but only by name. The only difference would be in the nominee. The mode of taxation in the Local Government Bill was very objectionable, and would, in fact, stop all settlement, inasmuch as the pioneer settler would have to pay all the expenses of road and bridge making, and the absentee would get off free. (Hear, hear.) He illustrated his case. He did not consider it an equitable taxation, because the improving settlers would have to improve the absentee's property by road making, &c. As ho had read the bill carefully, he held it to be a worse system of Government than Provincialism. (Cheers.) Until we had a separation from the Southern Island we should never have equitable taxation — (cheers)--and he hoped Sir George Grey would never rest till he got .separation. He would like to see a Federal Government to manage large affairs, such as postal affairs, &c. He had great pleasure in seconding the resolution. (Cheers.)'

Mr. Mason again rose, amid cries of "You've no vote,” "Sit down," "Are you an elector?' "You're paid to come here," &c, but again sat down, claiming a fair hearing.

Mr. McCaul would say a few words. In referring to the benefits conferred by Sir Julius Vogel in borrowing money, he could not give him credit for spending it. There were some thousands of pounds unaccounted for in the Estimates, and he wanted to know where they had gone to. Sir Julius Vogel might be a great political gambler, and for that reason he did not agree with him. (Cheers.) Another objection he had was, that the Government wanted to get the power of the Superintendents into their hands, and put nominees in their places. (A voice: “Pollen.") He had nothing to say against Dr. Pollen, except that while he shook with one hand he would rob with the other. Since he had known Dr. Pollen he had lived at the public expense. (Cheers.) Dr. Pollen was trying to deprive them of their rights. (Cheers.) The objection to the Local Government Bill was that it multiplied legislation and the number of officers to be employed. The value to let of the land was not worth that — (snapping his fingers) — and what was to become of the roads then ? It was enough to make the hair of his hood stand on end. He supported the resolution.

Mr. W. Edqcumbe, in, defence of Dr Pollen, as an absent man, highly commended him. His position was owing to his abilities. Mr. Edgcumbe was a strong Abolitionist. The Great North Road was a sad example of Provincial administration. Where was Mr. H. H. Lusk that night! The few of them there did not represent the two districts of Eden and Waitemata. He proposed, "That this meeting approves of the General Government proposals.”

Mr. Mason again essayed to speak, but was put down, amid tremendous uproar, in consequence of not being an elector of the district.

The Chairman then put the resolution to the meeting, and it was carried unanimously.

Mr. Eyre moved the following resolution. 1. "That this meeting denounces the present Government, with their Abolition and Local Government Bills, as corrupt, and supported by a demoralised majority, to subvert the present Constitution, and rob us of our free institutions, the better to enable them to participate in the profligate expenditure of borrowed millions, and establish for themselves an oligarchical Government, 2. That, as a means to secure our freedom and provide for the public creditor, this meeting requests that our representatives at Wellington will endeavour to obtain the cooperation of other members at Wellington, and bring about a political and financial separation of the Northern and Southern Islands, and equitable adjustment of the public burdens. Mr. McCaul seconded. He had never lived under a more venal Government; he seconded, the resolutions.

Mr. Buchanan considered the resolutions a work of supererogation, but would have no objection to the second resolution.

Mr. Bollard thought the resolutions did not bear upon the business of the meeting.

The Chairman ruled the resolutions out of order.

Mr. Owen proposed, and Mr. Archibald seconded, "That the chairman of the meeting be requested to telegraph the preceding resolution to the members for Eden and Waitemata, and request them to support it."

Mr. McCaul moved a vote of thanks to the chairman, and three cheers for Sir George Grey, which were given effect to.

Suffocation at the mouth of the Whau Creek

This from the Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser, 29 July 1880, via a brilliant website from across the Tasman, Australian Newspapers. It illustrates a danger still quite relevant today -- that of using carbon monoxide-producing fuel in an enclosed space. In this case, the cause was a charcoal burner on board a cutter.

Extraordinary case of Suffocation. On the afternoon of the 18th July, about 3 o'clock (says the N.Z. Herald), the cutter Tweed, manned by the master (Henry Johnson) and a Russian Finn, named John Beckerman, a sailor, who arrived by the ship British Empire some months ago, sailed up Thomas's Creek. When off the entrance to the Whau Creek anchor was dropped for the night. The master lay down on his bed and did not awake till next morning. His mate set about lighting a fire in a nail can, which served as a stove, in order to make coffee. When the master awoke in the morning his legs were benumbed and his throat was parched. He called to Beckerman, who was lying in his own bunk, requesting him to get up and give him some coffee to moisten his lips, but received no response. He then shouted again, "Why don't you get up? Are you dead?" but without effect. Mr. Johnson thereupon crawled across the floor as best he could, only to find his companion was no more. The pulse was stopped, and life completely extinct, although the body had not yet stiffened. The sole occupant of the boat then made his way to the deck, and tried to attract the attention of the Riverhead steamer, but without success. There was too much wind to admit of attempting to row to Auckland, with any likelihood of success, so he was compelled to remain there, ill as he was, a day and a night. On the 20th, the morning being calm, he succeeded in pulling to Freeman's Bay in the cutter's dinghy, and upon arrival was assisted to his home in Chapel-street. Information was speedily conveyed to the water police, and their boat started off early in the afternoon to where the cutter was lying. Matters were found to be just as Johnson had stated. Beckerman's body was lying in the bed, and on one of the arms was a large hole, probably the work of a rat.

At the time of the inquest, Johnson was still in his bed at home, quite ill.

Mt. Avon -- Avondale's new landmark

Thanks to the railway reconstruction work taking place right now -- Avondale has a new landmark: Mt. Avon, so dubbed by a good friend of mine, Duncan Macdonald, chairman of both the Avondale Community Board and Avondale Business Association. It's actually the largest of three new (and temporary) hills on the old 3 Guys site in the centre of the township, opposite the primary school. Mt. Avon is ballast, another is scoria and the third clay. The trucks between this site and the railway area run non-stop. Avondale township is now a haze of clay dust, covering roads, footpaths, shop fronts (and people if we don't move quick enough).

Could the below be a new postcard view for Avondale? "Come to Avondale, and see the ballast pyramids"? No? Oh, okay, then ...

New Avondale Railway Station earthworks

More photos today, this time of the southern end of the works at hand.

The view above is from the Chalmers Street crossing. The old clay bank is cut into (and this, folks, is the same seam of clay William Hunt used to kick-off his brickyard and potter works just to the south in 1882), likely for the second track to go in.

Compare with a shot from roughly the same position on 6 February this year. (below)

Then, I walked back up Chalmers street, and stepped onto the unformed part of Layard Street for the first time, and took a shot looking down at the St Judes crossing. (photo of this part of the road reserve from November this year at the link). Ontrack's contractors had used the old paper road as an accessway to the St Judes part of the construction -- to the chagrin of local residents who live alongside the once verdantly green reserve according to one who spoke to me today down in Avondale township). Deep vehicle tracks have been left, turning more than half the area into a bog. The residents there take enough pride in the reserve that they keep one strip mowed more often than the Council's mowing crews come out, so there's at least one manicured lawn section to the reserve.

Below, a close-up from distance of what's happening between St Judes Street and Crayford Street -- a general levelling and cutting into the clay bank to widen the line for the double track.


And what we have today as the crossing over the railway lines at Crayford Street -- but it is no longer a crossing (for the moment) while work continues. Bit of a pain in the rear having to detour either via Rosebank Road or St Judes Street to get to the central township area and the buses, but -- it has to be done.


And this, folks, is where the new station will ultimately be located. The "before" shot from late September this year is at the bottom.

New Year's Eve - 1858 & 1908

1858

THE NEW YEAR.
It is a good old custom to wish friends at the close of the old, a "happy new year" and in a young country like this, where year by year changes so important occur, the wish is both significant and suggestive. We wish this cordially to our old follow colonists, who long have sojoured and long intend to sojourn amongst us ; but no less cordially do we give those Stammverwandten who are visiting us, and who we only fear will leave us too soon, nach alt-vaterlœndischer Weise a hearty prosit neu Jahr.

(Southern Cross, 31 December 1858)

LINES FOR THE SEASON.

Oh, whither away, old year, old year,
So swift do thy footsteps flee;
Wilt thou not wait till the paling flowers
Of the autumn hours go with thee ?

What tho' the flowers, with their thousand dyes,
Earth's bosom still festoon o'er,
I may not linger for these, but haste
To my kin that have gone before.

Adown the waters of time I sweep,
Those waters for aye that flow ;
To the scenes of my youth I return no more,
I have gone where thou must go.

What hast thou left, old year, old year,
Mementoes that yet may be ;
Oh, what that oft in the after time
May speak to our hearts of thee ?

I have left a story to teach thy soul
How the sand in thy glass doth run —
How each year, as it cometh, away shall speed
As quickly as I have done.

Whence dost thou come, new year, new year,
With thy joyous smiles that greet,
With the ripe ear binding thy tresses brown,
And thy breath with the fresh fruits sweet ?

From the Mighty, the Gracious Hand I come,
From whence flows every good,
Whose seasons unswervingly round have rolled
Since the pillars of earth first stood.

What hast thou brought, new year, new year,
What gift on thy glittering wing ?
Heaven's richest blessings around thy steps,
Wherever they roam, I fling.

I have bow'd the plumes of the trees with wealth,
Made golden each mead and field ;
Thy heart is cheer'd and thy home made glad
With the fatness the earth doth yield.

With sunshine and dew I come, I come,
Of goodness a tale to bear ;
Then let, oh, mortal, the firstling fruits
Of thy spirit be praise and prayer.

Beth.

(Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, 1 January 1859)

1908

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1908. THE OLD YEAR OUT

With the perfection of the telegraphic system, which gathers its daily news from every part of the globe, the years appear to become more and more destitute of striking "landmarks." In the days when our fathers were young the receipt of a mail containing important information made a strong impression on the memory. Nowadays, be a crisis ever so far-reaching, so much detail comes to hand that the real principles involved are not infrequently obscured, and to a corresponding degree the force of the incident is lost. Thus, it happens that in mentally reviewing the past twelve months a year of great political and scientific significance may appear more or less colorless.

The year was entered upon with the commercial world shaken to its foundations by the American panic and the back-wash of that great money smash reached New Zealand at a later date. Whatever ill effects accrued it is pleasing to notice that they are practically removed now. There has been a recovery from the big drop in the price of wool and it fortunately happened that contemporaneously with the slump in wool and hemp, the values of butter and cheese rose to a high point of' profit and were splendidly maintained.

Throughout the year there has been a clatter of scabbards and the world has stood on the brink of calamitous war. Morocco (more especially over the Casablanca affair) and the Balkans, have been perilous storm-centres. In the former country a sanguinary and prolonged struggle has ended in Abdul Aziz surrendering his sceptre to his brother, Mulai Hafid. . The Moroccan embroglio was not merely a local affair; it held the elements which might at any moment have bathed Europe in blood. The clash between America and Japan for a long time threatened to end in an appeal to arms. First there was the alarm caused by the report in January of a new distribution of the Japanese fleet which was followed by the transference of the United States navy from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. Happily the clouds cleared away and now the great white fleet is making a triumphal return from what proved to be a mission of peace. Persia and Turkey have both passed through political crises of the first importance, while Venezuela, Hayti, Brazil, and other of the smaller republics have been engaged in sword sharpening. More serious than all other events likely to produce international complications was the action of Austria in annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Bulgaria's bid for independence. What the outcome of the situation will be cannot even now be indicated. But if danger threatens on some hands it is gratifying to remember that the foreign policy of the Imperial Government has been to strengthen friendship with France, Japan, and America, and that the King's visit to the Czar hastened the rapprochement with Russia. The ebullitions of the German Kaiser have kept the European atmosphere a-simmer but the outbursts have apparently harmed their author more than anybody else. The "danger incidental to the profession" has been emphasised by the assassination of the King and Crown Prince of Portugal and the attempts upon the lives of the King of Spain, the Shah of Persia, and the Sultan of Turkey. In India cold steel and explosives have been used as argument, and sedition has been preached from the house-tops.

At the close of the year, however, the prospects have brightened very considerably and influential natives have thrown in their lot on the side of reform and for the maintenance of law and order. The industrial world has borne witness that publicists and political economists have still before them some giant problems. Coming more directly, to New Zealand we must write 1908 down as a fat year. In January bush fires swept Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa, Manawatu, and parts of Southern Taranaki. but the immediateness is said to have ended in a substantial gain now. With the brighter outlook for wool and the record out-put of dairy produce the present benefits and future prospects are altogether satisfying. The country has passed through a general election and although the Government has been weakened we think it will be agreed that Parliament itself has been greatly strengthened. On the whole New Zealanders may enter upon the coming year with cheerful confidence. With a period of prosperity just ended and the outlook so bright there is justification for the pleasure we take in wishing our readers — A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

(Hawera & Normanby Star, 31 December 1908)

Carder Brothers' Waitemata Potteries, Hobsonville, 1872

An article from the Evening Star of 18 December 1872, which I've put up on Scribd.

Founders of the Avondale Jockey Club: The Philanthropist

Image: Auckland Star, 3 January 1933

You may think it quite odd that I call this post about Moss Davis “philanthropist” instead of “brewery owner” or “merchant”, but aside from the neat tying in with the previous two posts, The Promoter and The Publican with the same letter P – Moss Davis in death was known and lauded more in obituary for his philanthropy than any other facet of his career.

In terms of the Avondale Jockey Club's origins, he was the silent partner behind the two more public figures of Harry Hayr and Michael Foley. He knew both of them, considered them friends, and when it came to putting two players in a business deal in the right place at the right time, Davis knew exactly what he was doing. With the financial backing of Hancock & Co, of which he was effectively managing director in the increasing absence of the then-owner, Samuel Jagger, he first saw detailed agreements of trade made with John Murdock, the last publican in Palmer’s ill-fated hotel which burned to the ground in April 1888, then arranged the purchase of the hotel and valuable adjacent paddocks from Robert Dakin, and the building of a finer, grander brick hotel. Come 1889, all that was needed to give the Avondale Hotel an edge over, say, those at New Lynn or Henderson was to set up a fine and enviable racecourse – and another market for his company’s wares. This, with Hayr and Foley, he achieved in 1890.

Moss Davis was born in London on 3 April 1847, but taken as an infant with his parents to Australia, then returning to London with them in 1855. He returned to Sydney in 1861, and came out to New Zealand on the brig Wild Wave, landing at Wellington.

He then headed to Lyttleton, joining his uncle who was a merchant there. The already well-travelled Davis returned to Australia in 1870 to marry his wife in 1871, before crossing the Tasman again to live in Nelson, and then Auckland. After taking over his father’s own merchant business, he was able to retire in comfort by the age of 36 – but, instead, he joined the firm of Hancock & Co in 1885.

Image: Cyclopedia of New Zealand, Vol II

The firm was an old one, founded originally in 1859 when Thomas Hancock purchased the Captain Cook Inn in Khyber Pass Road from Thomas Roche. The site had a plentiful supply of spring water, with which Hancock made his brews. A substantial brewery was built in 1862, and in 1868 Hancock took his son-in-law Samuel Jagger in partnership. Hancock retired in 1876, and sold his interest completely over to Jagger. Hancock died in 1885, Moss Davis entered the picture, and became a partner. Then Jagger died in 1890, Moss Davis completed a buy-out of Jagger’s shares from Charles Spooner, the executor of Jagger’s estate, and Hancock & Co was entirely in Davis family ownership.

Davis left New Zealand to live permanently in England in 1910, but every so often he’d come back to visit, and also every so often he’d buy up cultural and artistic treasures and ship them back to Auckland as gifts to her citizens. The Auckland Art Gallery apparently abounds with the proof of his generosity. He died in London , 2 January 1933.

His son Eliot, in his memoir A Link With The Past, recalls how his father died.

It so happened that it was my turn to be in London with him when he passed away on the 2nd of January, 1933. All the details of his illness are too harrowing for me to recount. I would just like to mention the fact that I was with him on the afternoon of the 10th of November, when he was taken ill. He had an appointment with his tailor at 4 p.m. He left at 3 p.m. to go to his hairdresser in Bond Street. He had a haircut and shave every Friday afternoon for as long as I can remember. While having his haircut on this occasion he was also being manicured. As he got out of the chair he turned around in his usual jocular manner, and said to the girl, “that ought to fetch them.” He hardly had his hat on when he was seized with severe pains and groaned in agony. With assistance I got him into the car which was outside and we reached home. Evans, the butler, and I carried him upstairs and got him into bed, where he suffered intense pain for seven weeks. We had all the medical advice possible, and Dr. Horder, one of London’s best physicians, told me after his first visit that afternoon, that it would be as much as we could expect for him to survive the night. Other doctors agreed, but, as I have said, he lived for seven weeks after that … He was just 86 years of age when he passed away.

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand had this to say in 1902:

Mr. Moss Davis … is one of Auckland’s most popular and highly-esteemed citizens. Though he is a prominent figure in business circles, he has not yet taken any active part in public life. He is an assiduous worker, and, having the responsibilities of a large concern on his shoulders, is necessarily a very busy man. Mr. Davis has assisted in improving the hotels in Auckland, and has also done much to raise the status of the trade by getting a good class of licensed victuallers into the houses, and securing a close observance of the licensing laws. He is assisted in the management of the business by two of his sons, Messrs Ernest and Eliot Davis, both of whom are popular in business circles.

Founders of the Avondale Jockey Club: The Publican

Michael Foley comes into the picture as effectively an employee of Hancock & Co, and therefore closely associated with its managing director, Moss Davis. Second publican of the new (1888) Avondale Hotel (after, briefly, Daniel Arkell), Foley was to be a signatory to land transfers from both Hancock & Co (1899) and Charles Burke's estate (1904) which saw the still-new Avondale Jockey Club gain much of its land for the racecourse. He was overshadowed, I feel, by the more flamboyant Harry Hayr. Still, he had four mentions in Eliot R. Davis' memoirs, A Link With the Past:

Mick Foley of the Avondale Hotel was the first man to form the Avondale Jockey Club. He was a great friend of the Dad [Moss Davis] and myself. I remember him teaching me to inhale when smoking cigarettes. He was a really good sort and after a Prohibition vote had closed the Avondale Hotel we sold him the Tuakau Hotel, very much to his advantage.

From his obituary, NZ Herald, 3 October 1922:

Mr. Michael Foley, who died on Sunday evening at his residence, Ardmore Road, at the age of 68, was well known throughout New Zealand. For some time he was the licensee of the old Avondale Hotel, and in more recent years of the Tuakau Hotel. Mr. Foley, who retired from business some years ago, was formerly a member of the New Zealand Armed Constbulary, and was present at the taking of Parihaka in 1881. He took an active interest in all forms of sport, excelling in his earlier days at tennis and cricket. He was the founder of the Avondale Jockey Club, and was its president at the time of his death. He also helped to found the Northern Boxing Association, of which he was one of the first presidents. Mr. Foley is survived by his widow and nine children.

He was buried, after Requiem Mass at Sacred Heart Church, at Waikaraka Cemetery.

Back in the late 1990s, when a large part of the former racecourse land was sold off and subdivided, a couple of new roads were formed. A member of the local community board at the time asked me for some options to forward to Auckland City Council for names for the new roads at the end of Wingate Street, and amongst the list I provided, with highest rank as far as associations with the racecourse was concerned, was Michael Foley. Michael Foley Place was formally so-named in 1998.

I didn't realise then that Foley had dual associations with both the New Zealand Armed Constabulary and what was basically the last major event of the Land Wars, the attack on Parihaka. We've since lost the names of other streets which had associations back to the Taranaki and Waikato wars of the 1860s (Cracroft, Blake, Browne, etc.) -- how odd that in 1998, we unknowingly name a street after a veteran from the 1880s conflict.

Updated: 1 June 2011.

Founders of the Avondale Jockey Club: The Promoter

Henry Henwood Hayr was born in Auckland 18 June 1859, his father probably James Henry Hayr, a farmer and stockowner on the isthmus. He was educated at Auckland College, and by the time he was 19 he was serving on the Union Steamship Company’s ship Taranaki when it struck off the coast of Karewa Island between Katikati and Tauranga, and sank (without loss of life) on 29 November 1878. He was next on the Wanaka as a purser in 1879. In 1881, he returned to Auckland, and then took up a position early in 1882 as a freight clerk on the RMS Zealandia, a name he’d use later in his career for his own land-based enterprises. He wasn’t with the RMS Zealandia long – in December 1882, he opened up his goods agency business in High Street, importing such items as cigars and lager, working in conjunction with W. J. Cawkwell of the Auckland Distillery. He called his firm the Zealandia Company, and was under this name that he advertised the taking of bets on the 1883 Melbourne Cup.

Alsoin 1883, he had a brief and loose association with the Avondale Athletic Sports Day, as one of the receivers of entries for the day.

By 1885, he added the business of tourist agent to his repertoire, organising trips to the Hot Lakes District. Another client, the American Burlington Railway Company, employed him to tout for rail trips across America.

In August, he had a major coup in terms of his own self-promotion – noted companies of the day, such as Hellabys, Masefield & Sons of the Kaipara, Bycroft & Co, and E. Levett Stonemasons employed him to be their agent at the Wellington Exhibition. On his company’s own behalf, he displayed honey combs and “honey extracting machinery.” His name appeared everywhere in the press. He had another interesting American client as well:

The Auckland firm of Hayr & Co., acting as agents for the maker, Professor Merritt Gally, of New York, have just unpacked a novelty in the shape of an “Orchestrone," a musical instrument of attractive appearance, in form and tone like an American organ. There are no keys to the instrument, and a child can play it, if sufficiently grown to reach the wind pedals. A handle is then turned, as in a barrel organ, and this causes a roll of perforated parchment to pass over the mouths of the reeds, which are then kept closed or opened according to the perforations, which represent the notes of music. It is a superior invention of its kind, and a novelty out here in that it has both handle and pedals. Either sacred or secular music can be performed upon it by changing the perforated sheets, and any music required can be obtained from the depot in New York on application. As Mr. Hayr, the representative of the firm here, intends to perform on the orchestrone, so as to display its qualities to visitors, it may confidently be asserted that the exhibit will receive a considerable share of public attention.

(Evening Post, 18 August 1885)

From 1888, Hayr re-entered into the field of the Sport of Kings, buying and then racing horses at venues such as Ellerslie. In January 1889, he was appointed secretary of Auckland Tattersall’s Club. Hunting dogs were also an interest – in May 1889 he became Secretary of the Auckland Coursing Club, a move which later (for a time) would bring the Auckland Plumpton Course to Avondale.

In June 1889, he was involved with his Zealandia cinder track for holding athletic matches at Mechanics Bay on Stanley Street. This venture didn’t seem to respond to his golden touch as well as others had, and seems to have been abandoned sometime after September that year. In October however, he became secretary of the Pakuranga Hunt Club races (they were later able to give him an honorarium of 10 guineas).

At some point, he must have been approached by those planning a new racecourse in Auckland, at Avondale. He was friends with Moss Davis, the director of Hancock & Co brewery, so this may have been how he became involved. He was appointed secretary, as he would be for a number of clubs in the region, and remained as Secretary until his death. He had purchased the printing press of Cecil Gardner & Co, and started to crank out the Sporting Review from 1890-1894 (selling it in turn to the Observer), so his opportunities to promote racing meetings and associated advertising increased.

In 1897, he ceased his horse-owning interests to go in for a more profitable enterprise – totalisator operation. His company H. Hayr & Co was to become a dominant force over much of the North Island, even after 1907 when new morals-based legislation limiting the numbers of totalisators on racecourses came into effect, and he was obliged in 1913 to leave the business on the Avondale racecourse to his son Henry James to manage (although on other racecourses where he wasn’t a secretary as well, he still ran the equipment and managed the staff. Still, from 1900 the Avondale Jockey Club paid him £150 honorarium.

He died two days short of his 64th birthday at his home in Ponsonby, and was buried at Waikaraka Cemetery. Among his proud possessions up to his death was a trophy he had won for a mile race at Robert Graham’s Ellerslie Gardens in 1877. Another may have been a certain gold watch:

If you want to know the time, don't ask but just step round the corner and gently breathe your inquiry into the shell-like aural appendage of Harry Hayr. For Harry has lately come into the possession of a gold watch, of which he is pardonably proud. The said watch was presented to him by a very large number of local sports, who have always looked upon the genial and debonair Mr. Hayr as their particular guide, philosopher and friend. And this is no empty phrase, for Mr. Hayr has always been an indefatigable worker in the interests of true and clean sport. Moreover, he is the soul of hospitality, as many a visiting sportsman to this city has found. It was in order to mark, in some tangible form, their appreciation of his many sterling qualities, that Mr. Hayr's friends, whose name is legion, last Friday mysteriously invited him to step round as far as Tom Markwick's Queen's Ferry Hotel. And Mr. Hayr, marveling muchly at the summons, complied with the request.

At the Ferry he found a mighty multitude of beaming faces awaiting him. The only trouble was that the available space was insufficient to accommodate all the throng that coveted participation in the proceeding. However, they crowded in as many as the room would hold. Mr. Hayr was still wondering what all these jubilant symptoms portended, when Mr. H. T. Gorrie enlightened him per medium of a neat piece of oratory. Mr. Gorrie's remarks cannot be reproduced in toto, but the gist of them was that they were proud of their Harry H. Hayr, and that, as an outward and visible sign of their inward and spiritual pride, they desired him to accept a gold watch, bearing the inscription:

“Presented to Harry H. Hayr by his Friends. October 29, 1909."

After the presentation, Mr. Hayr's health was drunk with an enthusiasm that caused passing pedestrians in Queen-street to wonder whether Mr. Wragg was unpacking a consignment of extra strong earthquakes in Vulcan Lane.
There were other orators who held forth in style ecstatic and eulogistic. Among them were Messrs Bob Duder, R. A. Bodle, " Charlie " Mark, F. D. Yonge, and, of course, the ubiquitous Mr. C. Brockway-Rogers. No shivoo would be complete unless it was blessed with the benign presence of Mr. Brockway- Rogers. Mr. Hayr had been so completely taken by surprise, and so overwhelmed by the prevailing enthusiasm, that he experienced some difficulty in returning thanks. But the donors of the gift weren't looking for any thanks. They reckoned that they were under obligations to Mr. Hayr that no number of auriferous "tickers " could repay. But, under the circumstances, Mr. Hayr replied eloquently enough for any thing. Several other toasts were honoured with acclamation and musical additions, and the function was marked throughout with the utmost enthusiasm. So, if you want to bask in Harry's sweet smile, ask him the time.

(Observer, 6 November 1909)

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.