Meola Reef story carved in macrocarpa

In late May this year, a very special arch was erected on Pt Chevalier's Coyle Park. It was formally unveiled on 20 June.

The sculpture is by Tim Codyre, carved from macrocarpa wood originally from trees which grow on Coyle Park, at the tip of the Pt Chevalier peninsula. The trees are aging, and as they are exotics, they need to be removed. This sculpture has allowed part of them to return permanently. Cool thing is -- I saw this as a work-in-progress months ago, where it was being carved in a garage owned by a good friend of mine and a fellow local historian, Pam Burrell. Unfortunately, I was too crook with a head cold to make it out to the point for the unveiling (Pam took me along today so I could take these shots for the Pt. Chevalier Times.)

It tells the Maori legend of the formation of Meola Reef at the bottom of each piece of timber.

"Patupaiarehe, fairy people, lived in the darkness of Waitakere bush. One night, on the shores of the Waitemata Harbour, two opposing groups were doing battle. The weaker ones tried to escape by building a stone causeway."

"They laboured on unaware of the rising sun. The tree limbs sticking out of the lava flow of the reef, Te Toka Roa, are said to be the bones of the Patupaiarehe fairy people, petrified by the sun."

Pam told me that the installation was done in two parts. First they measured up the width of the base and the position of the metal braces relative to the wood. Then, they poured the concrete bases, and when that had set, brought back the sculpture. It slid in between the braces perfectly for bolting and securing.

More early traces of Auckland's Chinese

Updated 19 November 2017

Folks may wonder why a European-descended person like me should be so very interested and intrigued in the early history of the Chinese community in Auckland. Short answer -- because the history for that theme is so sparse, as wispy as a vapour, like only finding footsteps left behind in transformed stone, and trying to work out who those who left the footprints were, and how their lives entwined with the story of the city and region.

I had thought, at the time of an earlier post on the topic of the earliest Chinese here, that I'd found four likely candidates from around October 1865. Well, another bit of delving into Papers Past tonight has turned up three more people who were living in central Auckland a full three years prior to that date.

James Williams, described by the Southern Cross as "a native of the Celestial Empire" and in the New Zealander as a "Chinaman", was living in rented accommodation in Chancery Street in 1862. Up until October that year, he worked for James Palmer at the Royal Hotel in Official Bay (corner Eden Crescent and Short Street today). He left the Palmers at that time (around when Mrs Palmer advertised that a bag had gone missing from the hotel - 11 October 1862), and left Chancery Street as well, with unpaid rent due. He moved with his brother and wife to Barrack Street (now mainly part of Lorne Street). In early January, he got a job with Nathaniel Reed at the Royal Hotel in Onehunga, as a servant and cook (one report said he was a cooper), but in early February was charged with stealing a watch, money and cheques from the hotel.

Williams is intriguing; despite reports that the house at Barrack Street had no furniture in it, there were found a considerable quantity of new clothing, crockery and cutlery and over £38 in gold, and three £1 notes. He appears to have had regular contact with Sydney by steamer, yet sold up a bedstead for money, and owed his landlord rent.

After three court hearings, the charges were dismissed on 30 March 1863, his lawyer declaring the case to be only one of "suspicion" instead of clear evidence.

Sources:
Southern Cross and New Zealander, 4 February, 6 February and 31 March 1863.

James Williams may have been the James William James (also described as a Chinaman) who appeared in court in December 1864 over a matter of pigs at Panmure. Williams arranged for a man named Jackson (also Chinese, and a butcher) to be an intermediary, and through him ordered 13 pigs for £21 from farmer John Dunn. Dunn would have his dogs get the pigs in for him, and in a number of cases his dogs were too enthusiastic with the job; two were killed by the dogs, one Dunn put down himself because it was badly mauled, and another had a torn ear. Williams chose only to pay £9, Dunn took him to court but, in winning a judgement, was awarded only £6 with the cost of the three dead pigs deducted (Williams claimed he didn't want the pigs for food.) (New Zealander, 28 December 1864, p. 3; NZ Herald 23 December 1864 p 5)

On 12 July 1867, a "Mr Gensainiva (a Chinaman)" was on board Lord Ashley heading south to Nelson and Hokitika via Tauranga out of Auckland. (NZ Herald 13 July 1867, p. 4)

What you could, and couldn't, do on a Sunday

This, from the Wanganui Herald, 22 June 1905. The Curran Street property later became Ponsonby Primary School from 1922.

A Ponsonby constable who saw Ah Kin diligently hoeing among the rhubarb in his garden near Curran Street on a recent Sunday morning, charged the Celestial in the Auckland Police Court, before Mr Kettle, S.M., with a breach of the law, Ah Kin having worked at his calling on Sunday within public view.

Mr Kettle having heard defendant's plea of guilty, inflicted a fine of 5s, with costs, and gave an explanation of the law.

He said that tram-cars, ferry-boats, and hired vehicles could run on Sunday, but Chinese gardeners could not hoe their cabbages in view of people going to church. However, they could do so if it was not their calling. "But," added the Magistrate, for the benefit of the sorely puzzled Chinese, "it is very wrong if they do it for money. Keep a good high hedge between you and the road," was the final piece of Magisterial advice.

Update, 13 August 2009: Thanks for the comment below, Kuaka. I'll add the link to your blog entry on the law and Sunday cocksfoot harvesting for the readers. (Have a look at the New Zealand Journal, folks. Wonderful site.)

William P. Kirkwood and the first Domain Brewery

Those who have read Dinah Holman’s history of Newmarket, Newmarket Lost and Found (2001) will know about the Domain Brewery in that area. The site, on Victoria Crescent, going back to the days of Hobson’s Bridge, a flax-mill there in the 1840s, followed by one brewery in the 1850s, and replaced by a grander complex owned by Brown and Campbell in the 1880s, after they had regained freehold over the land. Whittombe and Stevenson took over that building in 1901 and made their pickles there, then it was a place where biscuits were baked, and finally, from the 1950s to 1970s, the Dawson Printing Co. Ltd operated there.

But – this was not the first Domain Brewery. There was another, earlier business which today is not marked on its site. Rather, a business which succeeded it has the monument there.

In 1855, the White Swan, a steamer built in Scotland, arrived in Australia. By 1856, she was to have a group of part-owners: amongst them, and leading the pack, was William Phippard Kirkwood (c.1800-1866). Kirkwood became the managing director, and in 1858 accepted an offer from the New Zealand Government to have the White Swan operate here between Auckland and the eastern coastal ports of the North Island. By March 1859, William P. Kirkwood was over here, acting as the White Swan’s agent, and advertising the steamer’s services to readers of the shipping columns of Auckland’s newspapers. Early in 1860, Kirkwood’s ads were also touting the employment opportunities to be found in Hawke’s Bay; he’d become a kind of employment agent, probably.

Southern Cross, 22 March 1859

The White Swan was a popular ship, and its manager shared that popularity. Aucklanders in the early 1860s knew him as “spirited” or “energetic”. He certainly seems to have left a dynamic impression on those who dealt with him. While he was still managing the White Swan in January 1860, he offered to get the Auckland cricket team to Wellington and back “on exceedingly liberal terms”. The managers of the team accepted the offer, and took up the opportunity to have a match with their Wellington equivalent.

In 1861, there was a change of management for the White Swan. Kirkwood stepped down as manager, the ship returned to Australia for a time, and Kirkwood started another venture, this time on property at the corner of Grafton Road and Stanley Street, in Mechanic’s Bay.

DP 368, LINZ records

In May 1861, Auckland lawyer and business mogul Thomas Russell had Crown Grant title over an acre and 27 perches – and by August that year Kirkwood had built his Domain Brewery (located opposite the Stanley Street entrance to the Domain, so definitely capitalising on the reserve’s popular name.) He advised the public at that point that he had already made barley malt, and was working on brown stout and ales as well. By September, he also offered grain for horse feed. He sold his products retail from the Domain Brewery Stores at Vulcan Lane by July 1862, later known as the Domain Brewery Vaults. By November 1862, he was exporting Kirkwood’s Ale to Australia, the first shipment of Auckland-brewed ale to the Sydney market. The Southern Cross congratulated him, and hoped it meant the start of “a new and extensive trade”. They were right about that – our local brewers right up to today have not only followed in Kirkwood’s footsteps, they’ve set up shop across the Tasman as well.

The brewery operated three times a week. Yeast production was such that Kirkwood was able to provide ample to local bakers, and yes, the horses were still well-fed on the leftovers. He deepened wells on the property in 1864, and in 1865 seemed to branch out a bit further, advertising for a boy to drive a horse, and be able to milk. By late October, Kirkwood is documented as having three Chinese men in his employ – possibly, the first employer in Auckland of some of the first Chinese in this area. (Update 13 August 2009: three years before this, Auckland's hotels employed Chinese.)

It all seemed to go so very well – until, suddenly, William Kirkwood felt ill on an August Saturday in 1866, went home to his Grafton Road house earlier than usual, became worse, then died. He was buried in Symonds Street cemetery, the funeral including a large number of mourners.

Hotel Keeper John Copland assisted the estate administrators by becoming sole agent for the Domain Brewery brands, including Auckland Ale and Porter. But, the estate sales began in March 1867. The main sale came in May 1867.

“IN THE ESTATE OF THE LATE W. P. KIRKWOOD AND SON.
IMPORTANT TO BREWERS, CAPITALISTS, AND OTHERS.
FIRST-CLASS BREWERY FOR SALE.
The undersigned has received instructions from the Trustees of the Estate of the late W. P. Kirkwood and Son to sell by auction, at the Stores of Messrs. Eaton and Dewolf, Auckland, on Tuesday, the 28th May, 1867, at 11 o'clock a.m.,

THE VALUABLE FREEHOLD PROPERTY known as the Domain Brewery.

In introducing this valuable property to the notice of brewers, capitalists, and others, the auctioneer desires to impress upon them its value as a safe and profitable investment. An extensive and highly remunerative business has been, and is now being, carried on at this brewery. The plant is new and in full working order. The business connection is extensive, and the purchaser would therefore be able to command an immediate and lucrative return for his outlay. The Brewery consists of substantial Buildings, with ample Cellarage, Steam-boiling Apparatus, Refrigerator, Steam Engine, Malt Mill, and all the appliances of a first-class Brewery establishment. The Plant is sufficient to brew 44 hogsheads, at one brewing per day. Water is laid on the premises, and there is always an abundant supply. The above valuable property is within the boundary of the city of Auckland, and is pleasantly situated, being close to the Government Domain. It has a large frontage to a principal thoroughfare (Stanley-street), and must rapidly increase in value as a business site. There is a large stock of malt and hops on hand, which (if not previously disposed of) can be taken at a valuation at the option of the purchaser of the Brewery.”

Southern Cross 7 May 1867

The stock sold, but the property and buildings were withdrawn from sale at the last moment. Another stepped in, one Henry Phippard Kirkwood (has to be a relative with that name), and he began to operate the brewery, endeavouring to keep it going. In June 1870, his luck ran out, as he faced bankruptcy. Provisional trustees stepped in to try to keep it running as a going concern. In March 1872, the Golden Crown Distillery bought the buildings and the site, and stated to the press that they would keep the brewery in operation themselves, under their own name. Finally, though, they too sold up, and the brewery closed for good in May 1875.

Eventually, it was purchased by George Fraser of the Phoenix Foundry, in conjunction with a John Buchanan (I have no idea if this was Avondale’s John Buchanan or not). The Phoenix Foundry expanded from the site it had adjacent and just down from Kirkwood and his brewery, and the first Domain Brewery faded into history.


At least one of the interpretive plaques beside the Phoenix Foundry monument alongside Grafton Road today, near where State Highway 16 has sliced through the top part of Kirkwood’s site, mentions a brewery was once there.

"c.1890
The Phoenix Foundry operated in Stanley Street
between 1866 and 1950. One of the foundry's furnaces
was unearthed in 2002 as part of the construction of a
stormwater treatment device for the
Transit New Zealand Grafton Gully Project.
The remains of the furnace consisted of four flues and
part of the casting floor onto which the molten metal
was poured. Foundry castings, slag, scrap metal and
slagged bricks were concentrated around the furnace
remains. Nearby were large industrial wells relating to a 19th century brewery and further north the remnants
from the early 20th century Waiwai bottling plant
were also uncovered.
A section of flue has been reconstructed and gifted by
the Grafton Gully Project Team."

According to 2001 aerial photos, it was a carpark; today, it seems to be a verdant grassy island surrounded by Stanley Street, Grafton Road, and the roar of the motorway.

Sources:
Newmarket Lost and Found
The White Swan Incident, Mike Warman (2002)
Southern Cross, Melbourne Argus
Land Information New Zealand records
NZ Map 18, Vercoe & Harding's 1866 plan of Auckland, Special Collections , Auckland City Library (shows the layout of the Domain Brewery beside Fraser's foundry).

Thomas Ah Quoi - a man between two cultures

Image: part of an Observer cartoon, 25 October 1895.

Updated: 20 November 2021

Someone who seems to have slipped through the cracks in terms of the history of Chinese in 19th century Auckland is Thomas “Tommy” Ah Quoi, a well-known restaurateur in his day and a man of some considerable influence. When did he arrive in Auckland? One clue is via the Auckland Library database for passenger arrivals. According to the list of addresses presented to Sir George Grey in 1886, Ah Quoi appears, arriving in New Zealand 22 May 1872, making him a reasonably early arrival in terms of the story of the Chinese community at least in the North Island. According to a statement he made to the Wanganui Herald in 1890, he'd worked as a cook at the Rutland and Provincial Hotels in that city around 1877. (Wanganui Herald, 24 June 1890, p. 2) But, according to his naturalisation application from 1882 (held at the Wellington office of Archives New Zealand), he had lived here at that point for 13 years -- meaning that he had arrived even earlier than all these dates, around 1869. His last record, namely the registration of his death, has that he was here 30 years before 1906, pointing to an arrival in 1876. Then, there is his age, which varied as well. He was born in Hong Kong, either in 1852 (according to his naturalisation file) or 1856 (later marriage and birth records). His father, according to his first marriage registration, was Lampak Hay, a "captain" (Ah Quoi's death registration added that his father was a Master Mariner, but didn't name him). His mother was recorded as Comyung.

Ah Quoi seems to have started his business career in Auckland with a oyster saloon "near Arthur's Mart," on Queen Street at some point before April 1880. (Auckland Star, 26 October 1880, p. 3) There, he was attacked with a stone thrown by a customer who refused to pay for his meal. He left the business a month or so later. (NZ Herald, 28 April 1880,  p.6) Certainly, it was reported that he had started using the services of Dr Richard Laishley as a solicitor around 1878-1879. (NZ Herald 17 May 1895 p.6) As at November 1880, he ran a "small store" somewhere in central Auckland, and may have used a hand-cart to convey whatever he sold at the time -- in that month, he was hit by stones again,  thrown at him by larrikins who ended up in court over the offence. He was certainly already known as an interpreter used in the courts. (Auckland Star 17 November 1880, p.2) As at 1896, he charged 1/2 guinea an hour, and in one case made £4 19s and 6d. (Thames Star 27 June 1896 p. 2)

In October 1881, Ah Quoi's name appears as the one who won a 21-year lease of the Mechanic's Bay garden later signed for in 1882 by Chan Dar Chee and his partner Ah Sec. For the first couple of years of the Ah Chee market garden at Mechanic's Bay, it appears Ah Quoi had connections with the area. Mechanics Bay was the address he gave on his application for natualisation in July 1882, and in April that year he approached the Parnell Borough Council for improvements to the "crossing near the railway arch," which sounds like the one at the Strand, just down from the gardens. (Auckland Star 26 April 1882 p.2). In September, he was attacked as he was heading from Symonds Street to Grafton Road, heading down towards Mechanics Bay, carrying his taking from his (by then) two establishments to his home there. He managed to escape the robbers, and ran down the hill, yelling "Police!" which put them off. (NZ Herald 6 September 1882, p. 4) One of these businesses would have been the dining rooms at the Thames Hotel, which he left in May 1883. (Auckland Star, 14 May 1883, p. 3)

There is a temptation to presume, as the name “Ah Chee” turns up in later directories in the 1880s as owning (for a few months) a restaurant in Customs Street East, that he may have had close business associations, at least to start off, with Ah Quoi. He and Ah Quoi were apparently seen together at various events around the city. He was present at Ah Chee's gardens when the latter was attacked by an assailant there in February 1885. (NZ Herald 9 February 1885, p. 3)

In January 1883, Ah Quoi took on the first of many collections for charity from amongst the Chinese community in Auckland, raising £34 1s. (Auckland Star 20 January 1883, p. 2) In May that year he left the Thames Hotel and set up in the dining rooms at "Gillander's Pacific Hotel" in Queen Street (opposite the entrance to the City Market). He touted supply of "everything in season and of first quality" which does lead me to suspect he had direct dealings with primary suppliers like Ah Chee and his partner.

Auckland Star, 16 June 1883, p.3

He also appears to have been connected as a proprietor with a Chinese garden somewhere at or near Arch Hill during this time -- there was a court case involving cattle which strayed into the gardens, damaging the crops. Stockley, a name that came up in the case, and Morrow, both had land in the Arch Hill area. If so, Ah Quoi at that stage, like Ah Chee in the future, employed a number of Chinese workers, supplying his restaurants as well as local markets. (NZ Herald 2 May 1883, p. 3)

In May 1884, his business shifted again, this time to 173 Queen Street, next to the British Hotel. He converted a former hairdressing shop into a restaurant with pot plants in the vestibule off Queen Street. (NZ Herald 17 May 1884 p. 4)

By March 1885, Ah Quoi and his future wife 18-year-old Annie, aka Mary Josephine O'Dowd (under the name Mary Jane Quoi) were living on Rokeby Street. (Auckland Star, 2 March 1885 p. 2; see also NZH 8 April 1885, p. 3) The Quoi family sheltered the women fleeing the fire which consumed Paddington Villa in March 1885. Even so, their own house was badly damaged by the blaze. (Te Aroha News, 7 March 1885)

View from Victoria Street West towards Victoria Street East and Albert Park, c.1886. Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 7-A12637 (589-263)

Perhaps with a de facto partner Ah Quoi felt he could expand his business further. In September 1885 Hesketh & Aitken had "a handsome brick building of two stories" in Victoria Street East built by McGuire & Currie, to the value of £2,200. The premises were leased by Ah Quoi. The ground floor had a 46-seat dining room, billiards room, apartment, sitting room, and one bedroom, plus kitchen  facilities capable of catering for 500, and conveniences. Upstairs were 18 bedrooms and a sitting room, with water and gas supplied. His Park House opened 17 September 1885, offering board and lodging from 17s 6d per week, and all meals 9d. (Auckland Star 18 September 1885, p. 4) It proved too small, however, and a third storey providing an extra 20 bedrooms was added from October 1885. (NZ Herald 2 October 1885, p. 4)

Detail from image above -- a rare case of Chinese business leaving its mark on 19th century Auckland: the sign on the side of Thomas Quoi's Park House, Victoria Street East (between Kitchener and Lorne Streets).

In March 1886, Ah Quoi expanded his business further, taking on the Star Boarding House in Albert Street. (Auck Star 13 March 1886, p.7) These rooms were apparently managed by his brother Samuel. (Christchurch Star, 11 January 1887) Thomas Ah Quoi left the dining rooms next to the British Hotel in the same month, (Star, 16 March 1886,  p. 3) and in July became manager of the Metropolitan Club at Park House. (NZH 5 July 1886)

He married Mary Josephine (Annie) O'Dowd at St Benedicts on 15 November 1886. They were to have just one son, Thomas Joseph Quoi, in the following August. During 1886 however, Ah Quoi got one of his waitresses, Ellen Moxon, pregnant, resulting in a daughter, Ethel Moxon. A later court case for maintenance failed in 1890 because although Moxon claimed she was fired for being pregnant, she failed to take up the case for maintenance sooner, and could provide no corroborating evidence that young Ethel was Ah Quoi's child. (Star, 19 November 1890, p.5)

In the midst of the Long Depression, Ah Quoi became known for his charity to Aucklanders down on their luck employment-wise.

“The distress prevailing in Auckland has had the effect of evoking a display of practical benevolence is at least one quarter, and one from which many people would not have expected it. Mr. Thomas Quoi, a well known Chinese restaurant keeper, has written to the three local newspapers offering to distribute 50 loaves of bread daily for a month provided that others will come forward and contribute a sufficient quantity to keep the unemployed poor provided with the staff of life for that time. The editor of the Bell remarks that "If this unsolicited deed of kindness has not the effect of softening the hostility of those who have nothing but hard words for Chinamen, then it only shows that there are Chinamen with more of Christianity in them than many so-called Christians." One of the local sergeants of police has also offered 25 loaves per day.”

(Evening Post, 18 August 1886)

“Thos. Quoi, the Auckland Chinaman who recently offered to supply bread to the unemployed, intends going among his countrymen to solicit vegetables and money contributions. Here is Celestial charity with a vengeance! Did any misfortune overtake the Chinamen in the colonies, or should they have any occasion to appeal for charity to their European fellow colonists, some of the gentlemen who now compose the unemployed would be the very first to hound them down as lazy, idle rascals, and hunt them out of the country. They would be relentlessly persecuted as a dangerous nuisance. Under the coat of John Chinaman beats as big a heart as ever graced the internal anatomy of an Englishman — but it is not for his vices that John is persecuted. His good qualities are mainly responsible for his unpopularity.”

(Tuapeka Times, 18 August 1886)

“Mr Thomas Quoi, the Celestial restaurant keeper of Auckland, who offered to supply 50 loaves of bread daily for a month to the needy and destitute, has got through his first week, his average issue of loaves being from 40 to 50 daily.”

(Wanganui Chronicle, 27 August 1886)

“Mr Thomas Quoi, the Chinese restaurant keeper of Auckland, who some time ago offered to supply 50 loaves daily for the relief of the destitute, has been strictly carrying out his promise. The charitable ladies of the city have, with one exception, held aloof from rendering the large-hearted Chinaman any assistance in the distribution of his bounty. Mr. Quoi has been discriminating enough to refuse bread to applicants under the influence of liquor.”

(Bruce Herald, 7 September 1886)

In July 1887, Ah Quoi attended the funeral of Wi Ying who died of fever in Wakefield Street.

“A young Chinaman named Wi Ying died of fever in his house in Wakefield Street on Sunday evening. He only arrived here four months since. He was taken ill about a fortnight ago, and death supervened. The interment took place yesterday, and was attended by some 22 of the dead man's compatriots. The ceremonial was of a very simple character: each of the mourners cast a handful of rice into the grave to support him on his journey to the "happy hunting ground” of his race and after the coffin had been lowered, those around the grave pronounced, after the Chinese custom panegyrics on the deceased. "What did you say, Tommy," a reporter enquired of Mr. Quoi, who supplied materials for this paragraph.

“Oh,” replied Quoi. “I said, ‘Farewell, old man; I wish you to go along to Heaven quick, without much trouble.’”

All the mourners wore white “weepers” on their hats, white being the Chinese symbol of mourning. It is expected there will be a "resurrection" and a transportation of the bones to the " Flowery Land."

(Wanganui Herald, 20 July 1887)

Anchor Hotel (left), near the corner of Greys  and Queen Street. This view from the 1890s, looking north along Queen Street. Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 4-282

In March 1887, he left the lease he had at Park House, and set up another restaurant, the "Anchor Cafe", attached to the Anchor Hotel, on the northern corner of Greys and Queen Street, near the City Market once again. (Star, 5 March 1887, p.7) Further down Queen Street, opposite the Wharf Hotel in September (between Shortland and Custom Streets), he moved into an establishment called Mutual Restaurant, offering meals worth 1s at 6d, "to meet the times". He also offered board and lodging for 13s 6d.

Auckland Star, 12 September 1887, p.4

From October 1888, through into the 1890s, Ah Quoi invested in the Te Aroha mines, in particular the Montezuma claim. (NZH 11 October 1888, p. 1) But his main enterprise was always hospitality. He was also something of a crack shot, scoring a number of bullseyes at a shooting competition held at W H Hazard's gallery, near the Anchor Hotel. (NZH 24 September 1888, p. 4) Always, though, he loved going to Ellerslie races; even, later in the century, owning a prize-winning thoroughbred briefly, called Partan Jeannie. (Auckland Star 30 January 1899, p. 5) Another of his passions seems to have been St Bernards by 1901, with his dog Spencer winning awards. (Auckland Star 16 August 1901, p. 3)

In 1888, the Auckland Star interviewed Thomas Quoi as to his thoughts on his fellow Chinese in Auckland at the time, and the effects of the depression. The Christchurch Star reproduced the piece.

“AUCKLAND, May 5.
A Star reporter has interviewed "Thomas" Quoi, a successful restaurateur who has married an Auckland girl, on the subject of the influx of his countrymen to the Colony. Quoi stated there were about one hundred Chinese in Auckland, chiefly employed in gardening. They need to earn an average of £2 to £3 a week; now they do not earn 10s, and new chums cannot get a living if they come out. The Chinese at Arch Hill are in a very bad state just now; they are not earning "tucker." They work from daylight to dark. They do not look at the clock to see when it is time to stop. You cannot get Europeans to work in gardens, they would rather loaf about the streets hungry. I know of it from my own business. Europeans come to me time after time and say they are starving, and they will work willingly for three meals a day, and their board. When I give them a show they work two days and then they are full up.

“A poll tax of £100 would not keep out the Chinese if they want to come here. In China they are a powerful people that come of a distinct race. If one Chinese is stronger than others, then the weaker must suffer. These weaker ones are so persecuted that they prefer to come to the Colonies and get greater liberty. A great many that come to Australia and New Zealand have heaps of money, and come out here to start business. People can raise money at home and pay it back after they come out. They have Clubs for that purpose. I know one set of naturalisation papers that went from here to China and back again three times. Every time I expected a new chum to be collared, but he got in safe enough, and nobody was more surprised than myself."

“Ah Quoi favours the complete prohibition of Chinese immigration in preference to a poll tax.”The people say," continued Ah Quoi, "that the Chinaman are no good; they say the Chinamen are dirty. Good heavens, I have seen some English families, and, by Jove, I was disgusted. I have seen such dirty people amongst Maoris and amongst Europeans that I could hardly credit. I have seen Europeans living in a house with the fowls in one corner and the pigs in another, and the people looked as if they did not wash themselves once in twelve months. One day I was out shooting in the country, and became very hungry. I went into a farmhouse, and the people were so dirty that I could not eat with them. I went out into the field, and made a meal on turnips. You'll find dirty people in all classes."

(Christchurch Star, 7 May 1888)

Whether Ah Quoi actually did favour complete immigration prohibition is debatable. He led a petition presented to Parliament later that month “praying that no discredit might rest upon [the Chinese in Auckland] on account of prejudice against their race,” regarding the pending Chinese Immigrants Bill. (Evening Post, 25 May 1888)

“A CHINESE VIEW OF THE CHINESE QUESTION.
A petition presented to the House sets forth the Chinese view of the Mongolian question. It is signed by some 30 Chinese residents, drawn up in legal phraseology, and duly countersigned by Thomas Quoi, interpreter. The petitioners say they view with alarm the provisions of the Chinese Immigrants Bill, and submit it is not competent for the Legislature to pass such a bill, seeing that the Chinese here and coming left China relying on treaties between the British and Chinese Governments; but that even if it were competent the bill would be very unjust until the Government of China has received due notice.

“They go on to say that the Chinese have never been guilty of crime or immorality in greater proportion than the British, but that on the contrary the proportion has always been less amongst them in all English speaking countries. They urge that the Chinese should be encouraged to come and settle here, on the ground that the main reason of the present distress in countries is the need of men willing to till the soil, work which Chinese are trained to from boyhood.

“It has been stated, they say, as one objection, that if the Chinese come they will cause prices of produce and manufactures to go down, and also wages. They reply that is a state of things which should be welcomed, not dreaded. Answering the argument that Chinese spend in China the money they make here, they say it is not true, but even if it were, British residents in China go there for the express purpose of making money, which they go Home to spend. With respect to the use of opium, it is urged that it was the British that forced opium in China, and they now derive a large revenue by importing it to the colonies. For these reasons, the petitioners pray that all restrictions and prohibitive enactments relating to Chinese be abolished; and second, that every facility be given to the arrival and residence of Chinese, provided they obey the laws of the colony.”

(Otago Witness, 1 June 1888)

When some (the numbers in the newspapers vary from 4 to 16) Chinese men were accused in 1889 of mutilating a cow belonging to William Frey of Kingsland, Ah Quoi served as interpreter at the Police Court – an attempt was made to stab him in Queen Street a month after the case. (Bay of Plenty Times, 14 March 1889; 28 March 1889; 18 April 1889) Fortunate for the would-be assailant, perhaps, that Ah Quoi wasn’t armed at the time; the Observer the year before had praised him for being a good shot. (10 November 1888)

When he travelled to Wanganui in mid 1890, the local newspaper immediately dispatched a reporter to interview him. He was acclaimed as the unofficial “leader” at the time of the Chinese in Auckland.

“The Chinese in the Colonies.
WHAT MR QUOI SAYS.
“Hearing that Mr Thomas Quoi, of Auckland, was in town, we despatched a representative yesterday to have a chat with him. For the sake of those not acquainted with him, we may explain that Mr Quoi is the unofficial head of the Chinese in Auckland, and is well-known, at least by name, all through New Zealand, as one who, by his charity, has earned the name of being "a regular white man." Recollecting that about two years ago Mr. Quoi's name came rather prominently before the public in connection with the Anti-Chinese agitation, and desiring to know how matters stood on the Chinese question generally, we sent round to Mr. Morrow's hotel, and our reporter was accorded an interview, as to which he writes : —

“I found Mr Quoi busily engaged studying a Bradshaw, his intention being to leave Wanganui to-day. He explained that he is down on a trip for the sake of his health, and having been in Wanganui some thirteen years ago, when he cooked at the Rutland and the Provincial Hotels, he thought he would like to see how the place was getting on. Having briefly explained to him who I was, and what I wanted, I put the question to him,

"WHY ARE THE CHINESE LEAVING THE COLONIES ?"

leading up to it by explaining that in the Australian papers I had seen statements to the effect that they were leaving in hundreds, and that none, or very few, were coming in, and the same thing was occurring in New Zealand.

"They are going," said Mr. Quoi, " from New Zealand because there's no money left in the colony." This was rather a shocker to one who had always been led to believe that the Chinese could live on the smell of an oil rag, and I shifted the ground a little. "Has their emigration anything to do with the edict which the Emperor of China is said to have issued, calling on all the Chinese to return ?"

Mr. Quoi said he did not know of any such edict. There had been much misapprehension on this point. It was true that the Governor of Canton had sent out such an order at the request of the Chinese merchants there, but so far as he knew, the Emperor was not responsible for it. This led, of course, to the question as to the probabilities of China coming to blows with England or the colonies over the matter, but of this Mr. Quoi thought there was no danger, although he does not seem to think that we have treated the Chinese fairly, considering the results of the Opium War, and the opening of the four free ports to English trade.

"But WHAT ABOUT CHINESE CHEAP LABOUR, Mr Quoi ?" I asked.

"Do you not see that there is a danger of our being flooded out by your people as they can live more cheaply than we?" To this his answer was that in New Zealand there was very little likelihood of anything of that sort happening, and for this reason our population is not large enough. For instance, he said, they cannot compete with you in trades, though in Melbourne they do compete in the cabinet making trade; here it would not pay them.

"They might wash our shirts though."

“Not at all, you have not enough people. Why, in 'Frisco it is nothing to see a thousand shirts out at a time, but where would you get the number here to make it pay? And mind you they can wash shirts, and put a glaze on them just like new ones. Europeans cannot do that (I owned it with a sad shake of the head)."

"Well, they will continue to compete with us in trade as grocers and fruiterers."

"Yes, I expect that will happen, and also in vegetables, though you may not believe me when I say that hundreds of Chinese now in New Zealand would be only too glad to leave it if they could raise the money. They can do better in China."

"You understand that the one great objection to your people is that they live too cheaply, do not marry, and take all their money away with them ?"

“Mr. Quoi (who by the way is married to an English lady) did a quiet smile at this, and pointed out that others than Chinamen did the same thing. He denied, however, that the higher class of Chinamen live less luxuriantly than their competitors. He says they are always having poultry and wine and like good things, though of course they do not all take to miscegenation like Mr. Quoi. As to their

LOWERING WAGES

this is another point on which he does not agree, at any rate as far as cooks are concerned. He says that in his restaurant in Auckland he keeps nine and not a Chinaman among them. "When I was cooking I never worked for less than £3 to £3 10s, and though times are not as good now as they used to be, whenever any of my country men come to me they want at least £3 a week. Now I can get European cooks at 35s to 40s a week, and they are contented, while my countrymen are always growling that wages are not high enough."

“After that I began to think the question of Chinese labour was getting about exhausted, so far as Mr. Quoi was concerned, and we branched off into several other matters of conversation, including

"WHAT THE CHINESE DO WITH FUNGUS

“This has always been a puzzler to me, and with the usual curiosity of a reporter I wanted to know, you know. It appears that it is sent to Hong Kong, and by the merchants disposed of (middleman's profit No. 2) to the plantation owners, who cut it up into shreds, put it through several refining processes and sell it to the retailers (which means four profits before it reaches the consumer) who sell it at 2s a lb. That is to say it is bought in New Zealand for 3d a lb and retailed in China at 2s. They use it to flavour poultry and meats and Mr. Quoi says he has on several occasions had some in Auckland and that the flavour when once the strangeness is overcome is rather nice. At this stage in comes Mrs. Quoi with his bitters (no sherry), and having got to the end of a rather nice cigar, and of my conversational powers on the Flowery Land, we part with mutual congratulations, and on my part, respect for the Auckland sample of the Heathen Chinee.”

(Wanganui Herald, 24 June 1890)

The good times seemed to be coming to an end for Ah Quoi, however. He sued for divorce from his wife Mary Josephine Quoi in 1892, on the grounds of her adultery with one Bertie Neal after she had attempted to divorce him the previous year on charges of cruelty that were not substantiated. The divorce was declared absolute in 1892. He married Elizabeth Davis 16 August 1892; they were to have seven children, six living to adulthood, amongst them four sons:

Henry William (1892-1918)
Frederick (born and died in 193)
Charles Alexander (1896-1922)
Elizabeth Jane (1898-1994)
Eda Mayse (b.1901)
Edward Ernest (b.1903)
Hilda Marion (b.1905)

The Wharf Hotel in the 1880s (second from the right, two storey), between Swanson Steet (left) and Customs Street, west side of Queen Street. Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 4-787

Ah Quoi had set up a Wharf Hotel restaurant (perhaps after disposing of the Mutual across the way) in January 1890 (between Swanson and Customs Streets), and tried to get a publican's license for it in May, but lost this establishment months later due to his bankruptcy (Star, 18 October 1890, p. 8). But, ever resilient, he took up business at the British Temperance Hotel in Queen Street in the same month. (Star, 25 October 1890, p. 2)

He seems to have worked out his bankruptcy woes, discharged in March 1891 (NZH 3 March 1891, p.4) although not everyone was happy. One John Martin, owed 30s by Ah Quoi which he didn't recover due to the bankruptcy, accosted Ah Quoi on the paddle steamer Eagle in February 1892. He later wrote an apology to Ah Quoi and charges of using insulting language were dropped. (Star, 16 February 1892, p.5)

Late in 1895, Ah Quoi took over, renovated and reopened (Auckland Star, 2 January 1896, p. 1) the Newton Baths and Billiard Rooms from 1883 in Upper Pitt street (later France Street, still later Mercury Lane), two up from Cross Street on the east side. Today the site is part of the George Court building complex, but in 1883 it included 18 baths, with a large wooden tank at the rear capable of holding 2500 gallons of water, a drying chamber, laundries, reading and social rooms, and cafe. (Auckland Star 10 February 1883, p.4) The Quois lived in Alexandra Street at this point (now Airedale Street. (Birth notice for their son Charles Alexander, Auckland Star, 24 February 1896, p.8)

In July 1898 Ah Quoi took over a boarding house and billiard saloon at the Old Shakespeare Temperance Hotel on Wyndham Street. (Auckland Star 30 July 1898, p. 1) This was raided for illegal gambling in October that year, and he was arrested along with eight Europeans.  (Christchurch Star, 17 October 1898)  Ah Quoi was fined £5 and ordered not to run a gambling den again. (Christchurch Star, 24 October 1898). He gave up on the hotel in April 1899, (Auckland Star 28 April 1899, p. 8) and returned to the Newton Baths the following month., the family living there.

In 1901, it was Thomas Ah Quoi who was the enumerator of the Chinese community in Auckland for the census. (Auckland Star, 28 March 1901, p. 5) He was still in business as a merchant in Auckland in 1903, apparently travelling to Wellington to interpret in a court case that year. (Evening Post, 5 December 1903)

Finally, the last entry in the colonial journey of Thomas “Tommy” Ah Quoi, when he died from "malignant disease of mouth", or cancer of the mouth, at the reported age of 47 years, 25 March 1906, there at his Upper Pitt Street baths.

Samoa and NZ: a Reading the Maps post

An excellent post from the Reading the Maps blog deserves a link here: a summarised history of the fatal interaction between New Zealand and Western Samoa in the first third of the 20th century.

Domain Stories - 1850s

1850 was the year when the Crown dealt with its list of lands held for pending sale but for various reasons hadn’t sold since the first auctions in the early 1840s (including parcels once held, by exchange agreement, by the New Zealand Company). In two lengthy deeds (found in volume 10D of the LINZ Deeds Index series for North Auckland, starting from page 57), a series of sections and parcels were assigned as endowment lands, either for the purposes of income for the hospital, or the grammar school. It was a good way to give both institutions a kick-start financially, and it cleared up some odds and ends on the real estate ledger. (Auckland also had asylum reserves, apart from the main asylum ground at Pt Chevalier-Mt Albert from the 1860s, for the same purpose). Part of the hospital endowment list was the lower part of the Hospital Stream as it flowed down across Stanley Street and over the area used for the rope walk and flour mill at Mechanics Bay, along with the land once used by Low & Motion for their mill. This area would once have been part of the Domain when it was just swampy, unproductive ground – now, with industries appearing all around it, it was valuable real estate. The Domain, although still not officially gazetted as to its true extent, had been given its northern boundary.

The Domain lost more potential land area, but it also gained a piece. 1850 was also when the Government started a public washing ground on the Domain. James Robertson conveyed the southern-most part of his Allotment 96, the Rope Walk, to the Crown in December 1849 (2D.1247, Deeds Indexes, LINZ) and this formed part of the Domain from that point. It was taken by the Crown as a piece of land meant for the benefit of the hospital, as part of the endowment lands, and ended up as part of the washing grounds. Tenders were called for the construction of sheds and tanks in October 1850 (New Zealander, 30 October 1850) and in November, 1 acre, 1 rood and 20 perches had been officially gazetted for “the erection of Public Baths, Wash Houses and Drying Grounds” on land “set apart near the Mill Race.” (Southern Cross, 22 November 1850)

How long were the washing grounds there? That’s still uncertain. They were vested in the (short-lived) 1851 Borough Corporation of Auckland (along with the Hospital, Wharf and Market-House) in August 1851 (New Zealander 3 September 1851). The sole description of any detail found of the site appeared in 1852 (from a report by the Charitable Trusts Committee to the Auckland Council):

“The Drying Grounds, Baths, and Washing House. This reserve consists of 1 acre 1 rood 20 perches, situate near the mill leet in Mechanic's Bay. A valuable stream of water flows through it from the Domain, and is conducted through brick channels into several circular reservoirs for the accommodation of the washerwomen who resort there. A wooden shed in good repair has also been erected on the ground, for the use of the same parties. The reserve was granted on the 18th October, 1850, to the above named official trustees, upon trust, to be "used as Drying Grounds, and as reserved lands for the purpose of constructing baths and washing houses for the use of the inhabitants of the town of Auckland." The supply of water is amply sufficient for all these purposes, and it will no doubt eventually prove a very valuable and important provision for the increasing population of [the town]”

(Southern Cross, 9 March 1852)

From that point, the next documentation is the 1860 plan drawn up in conjunction with the official gazetting of the Domain’s boundaries. I have yet to find any further references. The suggestion that a lunatic asylum could be part of the landscape of the Hospital Reserve, so near to the Domain, brought on much tut-tutting in 1850s Auckland’s media.

“With respect to the report that the building is about to be founded in Auckland Park, we can only suppose such a report to have originated with some hair-brained dreamer. A Lunatic Asylum planted in a domain set apart for public recreation, and for embellishment of a nascent city? Expose females and children to the freaks of some of its chance escaped inmates? Preposterous! The very idea is an insanity, and requires but a marked expression of public disapprobation to set the project at rest for ever.”

(Southern Cross, 8 August 1851)

By April 1852, however, Auckland’s first lunatic asylum was in place. (New Zealander, 24 April 1852) By 1851, J. Shepherd was Ranger in the Domain. He had some problems in July 1852 when it was gazetted that he had failed to render accounts, but he published a retraction that month made by the Governor’s private secretary that, yes indeed, he had rendered the accounts satisfactorily. (New Zealander, 17 July 1852) I don’t know what this was all about at this stage. He may have been the J. Shepherd who, from 1853, ran a boarding house on Shortland Crescent. (Southern Cross, 8 November 1853) Arthur Fennell, who arrived in Auckland in April 1852 on the ship John Phillips, may have been his successor by 1854. His son James Bromley Fennell died on 26 July 1854, and the funeral left from the Ranger’s house at the Domain. (Southern Cross, 28 July 1854) At that time, the Ranger’s wages were £72 per annum. (Southern Cross, 8 September 1854) 1852 saw a notice advertised regarding tenders for fencing (part of a process of enclosing the Domain begun the previous year) and the extension of a path through the Domain leading to the Epsom Road (Parnell Road – Southern Cross, 3 August 1852). The fencing was most likely in conjunction with the use of the Domain for official depasturing – in August 1851, the costs for horses on the Domain was 1s 6d, cows 1s, colts 1s and calves sixpence. (Southern Cross, 5 August 1851) Around the same time, fifteen acres of the Domain was set aside to be harrowed and ploughed four times and sowed. (Tender advertisement, New Zealander, 2 July 1851) In 1854, however, came a ban of cattle running in the Domain, for some reason. (Southern Cross, 24 January 1854) Trees were planted; some were in danger of being set alight by fires (NZ Gazette, 29 December 1857), some of these were sadly vandalised, “wantonly and maliciously broken down and injured” in December 1859. (Southern Cross, 16 December 1859) The Domain Gardens seem to have had their origins as an organised project in the late 1850s. John Lynch is listed on the 1857 Jury List as a gardener based at Auckland Park. (Southern Cross, 10 March 1857) On 24 June 1857, at the Exchange Hotel, a public meeting was called “to organise a committee of management of a Provincial Botanical Garden – a site in the Domain having been obtained for that purpose”. The organisers were H. Matson, C. Heaphy, W. Powditch, R. Curtis, J. Baber and Dr. S. J. Stratford. (Southern Cross, 19 June 1857) The meeting appears to have been successful. It may well have been that the formation of the gardens caused the first strife between the Crown and the provincial leaseholders of the Mechanics Bay sites – water was diverted by February 1858 (Southern Cross, 23 February 1858), and attracted the first claim, by Hugh Coolahan, who complained that his lease had been rendered useless (by then, he had subleased to Dawson and Kay, see the Mechanic’s Bay Timeline.) Still, a Mr. Brodie in the House of Representatives moved that the Government Gardens be thrown open to the public in May 1858 (Southern Cross, 4 May 1858). More diversion of the Domain’s spring waters was to come. In March 1858, C P O’Rafferty, CE, suggested in correspondence to the Southern Cross (2 March) that the supply from the Domain could be collected in a reservoir on the park, and then piped to Symonds Street. J. Williamson, the Provincial Superintendent, called for tenders in November that year “for the construction of Certain Works in the Government Domain, and for laying down Pipes for supplying a part of the City of Auckland with Water.” (Southern Cross, 5 November 1858). All well and good – but by December 1859, it was felt that the supply from the Domain springs was inadequate for the needs of the city. Other sources were explored, elsewhere. (Southern Cross, 2 December 1859) As the decade drew to a close, the Domain was enclosed by fences, the first of its pathways were appearing, it was being planted with trees (despite fires and vandals) and grass, and featured an early botanic garden. By now, its recreation value to the city was being recognised.

Parnell: the creative quarter

Another link sighting, this time on this website for Parnell: the Creative Quarter.

"Learn more on Parnell's history:
Auckland historian, Lisa Truttman's Timespanner blog includes a number of entries on Parnell : Domain Stories - 1840s , Mechanics Bay Timeline and The Domain's three Chinese Gardens."

Okay, looks like I'd better get moving with that Domain stuff ...

Auckland's railway -- the old and the new

I had cause to take a trip up to Glen Eden yesterday. No worries to me really that there was a bus stop-work meeting happening that day: there's rail as an alternative, and I always love that choice.

So, a bit of an opportunity for more railway shots. Above is the old station preserved at Glen Eden.

Going there, then coming back to head to the city for an afternoon appointment, I took some shots of part of the beginning of New Lynn's underground station, expected to be completed next year, or so.

Heading past the back of the old building which was the former Auckland Central Railway Station, I've often looked at these remnants of past days. The remains of the train platforms with some of their sweeping canopies. Now just another set of ruins in Auckland.

So, I dug out a set of photographs taken by a friend a long time ago of the central station when it was what it was, before it became student accommodation.

There is quite a bit about the old station on the web. These articles come from the New Zealand Railways Magazine:

The Development of Auckland's New Station (1 June 1927)

Auckland's New Railway Station - the Northern Portal of the N.Z.R. (1 October 1927)

Auckland's New Railway Station - A Masterpiece of Modern Building (1 July 1930)

Auckland's New Station - A Modern and Stately Railway Terminal (1 February 1931)

Sixty-seven years of Railway Progress - Brief History of Railway Development at Auckland
(1 May 1931)

Below, some more of my friend's photos.













It's a bit like seeing a part of a ghost town, these photos. Hardly a person to be seen.

Ah -- there's someone. Waiting patiently either for a train or a ride to elsewhere by car, I imagine.

Someone else waiting in the near distance.

At back, towards the harbour, the present-day rail line swings past part of the Strand rail area, with the Port of Auckland wharves and their cranes towering in the background. Amidst all this, I thought I spotted something, and took a shot.

Checking later, I realised I had spotted something -- a steam train powering along a painted set of lines, past Rangitoto. A solitary piece of railway art starting to be covered by the graffiti artists, whose handiwork is clearly visible all around it.

Limelight in Queen Street

The following, from the NZ Herald of 19 October 1882, reminded me of the Town Hall illuminations earlier this year.

"A somewhat dangerous practice has arisen in the city which, unless stopped in some way or other, will ultimately lead to a serious accident, or possibly loss of life. A Saturday night or two back limelight representations were exhibited from the roof of a place of business in Victoria-street East. Some of these were of a comical character, but the most of them were for trade advertising purposes.

"A crowd of some 2000 persons collected in the street in a few minutes. Fortunately the street is off the Saturday night traffic, and its other end closed through improvements going on, so that the traffic inconvenience in obstructing the thoroughfare was but slight, and the safety of pedestrians to nowise endangered.

"On last Saturday night, however, a bolder step was adopted. In the very centre of Queen-street (east side) a large white screen was erected between great poles, and limelight transparencies exhibited thereon of a similar character to those above referred to. As might be expected the street at that locality was blocked up in a few minutes by an immense crowd, to the suspension of traffic.

"The cabmen, as is their custom frequently, when a thoroughfare is blocked, only drive the harder up and down the street, and the result was that several children and three or four old men and ladies had a narrow escape of being being driven over in their vain attempts to get out of the road. The butcher boys galloped about more recklessly than ever, seeming rather to enjoy the narrow shaves some people had of being ridden down.

"The immense white sheet flapping in the night was well calculated to startle any spirited horse coming along, and in the crowded state of the Queen-street the consequences of a bolt would have been simply lamentable.

"It is said the idea of advertising in this way is quite novel, and it is doubtful whether any city by-law covers such acts and makes them punishable but if so legal steps should be taken to put a stop to such a dangerous practice."

At least Telecom didn't use a flapping white sheet!

The Mill at Mechanic's Bay

This comes from LINZ, reference SO 936 (Crown copyright). Not sure what the date is -- it includes the Auckland-to-Onehunga rail line, so that addition would be from the 1870s, but has the Domain Washing Ground which was only around from 1850-1855 at most. (More on that later once I get the Domain Stories 1850s done).

So, this may be showing the Mechanic's Bay Flour Mill post Low & Motion, but during the Ashby period (when Hugh Coolahan leased it from the Provincial Council, see the Mechanic's Bay timeline.) The map shows the entire mill race, from a mill pond up above the washing grounds, sweeping around the northern edge of the Domain to another alarger mill pond over by the railway line, then across to the mill (above), through Robertson's rope walk, and out under the Strand-Parnell Rose to the sea.

There is a lovely painting from c.1845 of Mechanic's Bay I have found, but can't reproduce here (at the moment) as the original is held by the Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. It shows Robertson's rope works, and the mill alongside, almost as the plan above shows. This will do for now, though.

Further note: Thanks to Phil for his comment: here's my best guess, based on the map, as to where the mill house was (red circle -- click on the image to enlarge) :