St Jude's Church features in The Aucklander

I've only just caught up with chasing this article from The Aucklander, on the restoration need for our local Anglican church. I remember giving the paper the quote, included, via mobile phone on the footpath while I was headed out to the bus stop. I think it turned out okay, despite my despite scramble for the right words to say.

Land Uprooted High

One of the best $2 purchases I've ever made (this was bought on Saturday just outside the antiques fair at the racecourse), this book Land Uprooted High, subtitled "New Zealand's Rise to International Insignificance", is a hoot. Written by A. K. Grant and K. P. Gabara, in 1971 it is EnZed's version of the classic 1066 And All That.

A couple of excerpts:

"Hobson's next action was to choose the site of the new colony's capital. Running his fingers down an alphabetical list of New Zealand towns he came first to Auckland and chose that conurbation as the site of the seat of Government. The decision caused much bitterness among the New Zealand Company settlers at Wellington and in a last-minute bid for selection they tried to secure alphabetical pre-eminence for their settlement by changing its name to Aardvarksville. Hobson was not impressed by this chicanery, ordered the original name to be restored, and wrote to the Duke of Wellington apologising for the colonist's discourtesy.

The victor of Waterloo was typically gracious. "They can call the place what they damned well like, for all I care," he remarked to his secretary, "provided they don't name it after my wife's nephew, the young whelp."

And ...

Gold was one of New Zealand's main exports during the latter half of the century, especially after the advent of refrigerated shipping enabled it to be transported to England without going bad in the tropics. The first refrigerated consignment to arrive was declared by Treasury and Bank of England officials to be quite as delicious as foreign varieties, though their enthusiuasm was slightly moderated by the discovery of a dead rat in one of the bars.

The book was later updated and reissued as The Paua and the Glory in 1982, but this version is the original. Surprisingly hard to find at a price below $10, at that.

Waitemata County's Rock'n'roll steam road roller

Having a bit of a look around MOTAT before all the Heritage Festival closing formalities yesterday, I spotted a road roller with an interesting nickname: "Rock'n'roll". According to the interpretive sign, it dated from 1925 and was used by the Waitemata County Council (only error I spotted on the sign. Waitemata was a county, not a city) from 1928 up until 1964, when it was driven from Massey to Western Springs and donated to the museum.

 

They named it Rock'n'roll in the 1950s. Naturally.

Now, the last shot isn't meant to be pointing out that ol' Rock'n'roll needs a bit of sprucing up. I reckon the extra addition was added not too long ago -- but I do like taking photos of spider webs in damp weather. This one seems to have come out all right (and no, there are no visible spiders, for those with the aversion. I try to keep Timespanner a spider-free zone, for the sake of those readers. You know who you are!)

Of Heritage Festivals, and chocolate cake

The Auckland City Heritage Festival ended yesterday with a bit of a bash at MOTAT in Western Springs. MOTAT being one of my favourite places, I was delighted to accept an invitation to go along. It was a great evening, I got to chat to wonderful people I know in the heritage community, won a high tea for two at Cornwall Park in a business card draw (yes, I already have a friend lined up to share the treat), and eat a couple of pork buns.

Capping it all off nicely was the chocolate cake. Which was superb, by the way. Even the icing. Don't worry, I was good and only cut a small piece.

A couple more images of those who helped set the atmosphere. I'd love to have a photo of myself taken in period dress. That might just happen next year (Onehunga & Fencible Society folk at the do last night said they might lend some gear. I said it would have to be something fairly matronly, given the state of my hips alone ...) so, stay tuned. If it comes to pass, I'll post the results on Timespanner.

 

Update on the MOTAT headstones

Further to previous post. Another visit to MOTAT today -- I took the opportunity of taking better shots of the headstones lineup.

Evelyn Florence Gunthorpe, who died in 1913. I haven't been able to track down anything further on her yet.

 

Clara Bethell, whose headstone sparked all this off. She died during the 1918 influenza epidemic, poor soul.

 

A beautiful set of ornamentations.

 

The two Frazer boys, Raymond and Willie, appear to have been interred at Purewa Cemetery over at Meadowbank, as James Raymond Frazer and  William Harold Frazer. Dates of death and ages match those on the Purewa database.

 

Another mystery, Phoebe Haslam. Haslam is an Avondale name -- the hunt is still on.

 

 The answer from MOTAT so far is that it is believed these stones came from "Newton Cemetery" (that is, Symonds Street Cemetery, when the Grafton Gully motorway project in the 1960s cleared out the Catholic and most of the Anglican sections. So far, this is the only headstone at MOTAT that is confirmed as having come from the Anglican section at Symonds Street Cemetery. It's the oldest here by definite date, 1877.

 

Catherine De Silva is buried at Waikaraka Cemetery in Onehunga.

How they got there, by the church at MOTAT, is still unanswered. For the moment.

Ten second slides, and an old school badge

A friend of mine asked if I'd go with her to the Antiques & Collectibles Market at Avondale Racecourse today -- I'm glad she did. I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone nearby who'd like to have a bit of a browse. Not everything was high-end price either -- I was able to buy things there for less than $10 per item, most way less.

The booty I brought back home includes these two screen advertising plates. Screens Advertising Limited was a company tasken over by Kerridge Odeon as their firm for obtaining ads and preparing the plates, which are a 3 1/4 inch square slide. According to Wayne Brittenden in The Celluloid Circus, these took some weeks to produce, with the finished product a tinted transparency sandwiched between two sealed sheets of glass. Per cinema show, there could be around 40 or so of these slides, all manually projected from a carbon-arc slide projector.

Each screening per plate was around ten seconds -- any longer would crack the glass.

Come the 1970s, these slides were replaced by advertising films. My own moviegoing only began in the late 1960s at the earliest, so I would have missed seeing the ten-second slides.

Also found was this 50 year old pin badge for Sandringham's Edendale School 50th celebration. This year, the school (vastly different) celebrates its century. Cool to find this, though.

Timespanner in Glen Eden

Glen Eden in West Auckland is another one of those places I always seem to just pass through, on the way to somewhere else. I was just saying to someone this earlier this week: "One day, I'll stop, and take a good look around at the township." Today was that day and that opportunity.

The old Glen Eden Station is now Pumped Cafe -- but it still has many features intact inside. I loved sitting in there today, having a coffee and lunch and looking at the old timbers, doors, and window frames. The staff there are friendly, the coffee and the food is great, and I'll be headed back there as soon as I get another chance to do so.

Just outside is an interpretive sign for Glen Eden's history, 19th and 20th centuries. Wonderful stuff. Waitakere City Council are to be commended for a beautiful piece of heritage celebration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the older-style shops still survive. This one though just caught my eye because it is so different.

 

The mural at the side of the shop.

 

I struck up against very friendly and helpful folk at Glen Eden today. Popping into the library, where this carving stands, I asked a libraian what it's called. She gives me a brochure which not only explains the carving, but other works elsewhere in the complex. And they still have their own local history file collection! Wonderful news, considering my earlier bleat on Waitakere City Library policy.

 

The carving's name is "Pou Whenua", by John Collins and Sunnah Thompson, Matarikin Carvers -- Te Kawerau A Maki. It is from a single piece of kauri, standing 6 metres tall. The top figure is in haka pose, representing "the time when power to hold life and land was mostly physical". Middle and bottom figures are modern times. (Source: Glen Eden Library brochure)

 

Glen Eden's Playhouse Theatre. That distinctive brickwork has always attracted my attention as the bus passes it by. Originally the Glen Eden Town Hall, that part of its life still shows today by the retaining of the small sign "Public Library" above a side door.

The 99-year-old former Glen Eden Methodist Church, now used as the church hall. The foundation stone was laid by Andrew C. Caughey, of Smith & Caughey fame.

 

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my brief visit today. There's more exploring to do here -- I might even take up the local library's offer to have a look at their local history collection next time (I have a soft spot for that library. In their former premises, they were one of the first libraries in New Zealand to have a copy of my Heart of the Whau on their shelves.)

Any shopping centre with a trickling stream in the middle, artificial water feature or otherwise, is definitely worth more than just a "passing through".

Heritage Mural at Ash Street, Avondale

 My friend the Phantom Westie Photographer (he'll know who I'm talking about when he reads this post. He doesn't want his name mentioned, but I believe in due credit -- he did, after all, succeed with the Rosebank Carpark Mural Challenge) gave this very, very, very long mural a shot or two on a wet and rainy Sunday recently. That time, the cars going to the Sunday Market got in the way.

Today, I thought I'd give it a burl. Basically, I stood on the other side of Rosebank Road, camera in hand, lens primed, and waited for the traffic lights to shift the vehicles away from the line of sight. Bit by bit.

 

 

The images were all taken from Challenge of the Whau, and are part of the same ongoing Avondale Community Board project as other murals in Avondale. And local control box art.

This one (above) came originally from the NZ Herald.

They're a bit out date-wise -- not "1905" but rather "1910." And Edward Wood's children are missing from the far right.

There's a horse and rider missing from this shot, and it may not be from the 1920s -- but those are just quibbles.

The Ash Street murals are the most visible in Avondale, and the most talked-about. They've certainly done their bit to keep our local heritage at the forefront.

Avondale Control Box Art: Two Survivors

Update 4 May 2013: Both of these boxes have been removed, and only bland greenish plain boxes remain.

Yes, some control box murals have survived in Avondale. Here are two examples. The first can be found at the "Peace Garden" apex of the intersection of Ash Street and Great North Road.

I'm still not entirely sure what it's supposed to represent. A steamy tropical in some place historical, with a glass jar? It looks cool, anyway.

The other is chipped, tagged and faded an intersection away, this one where Ash Street meets Rosebank Road. The dogs' eyes look somewhat spooky ...

I suspect the dogs and the men are based roughly on this part of a photo of the old Avondale Hotel (ref. A4024, Special Collections, Auckland City Library, published in Challenge of the Whau.)