Sunday, August 9, 2009

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.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

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 ...

Friday, August 7, 2009

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!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

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) :

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Good parental correction?

A guest bit from my friend Jack Dragicevich, who writes to say that the NZ Herald haven't published the following contribution from him, either in their letters column, or Sideswipe. Timespanner, however, will definitely publish heritage stuff.


While surfing the internet recently I came across a curious piece in an article entitled “Notabilia”, from the Observer, dated 26 March 1881, which seems to equate corporal punishment of children with the industrial process of making leather. It may have some bearing, albeit tongue in cheek, on the up coming anti-smacking referendum. It reads:

“Spare the rod and spoil the child.” A good old adage not believed in by the advocates for compulsory education. A good tanning does for a boy what good tanning does for leather, makes both good and durable. Look at the leather tanned by Messrs Garrett Bros, at their Tannery at Whau [the site of the old Star Flour Mill at the mouth of the Oakley Creek in Waterview, Auckland]. It is like a champion boxer, good durable, and cannot be beaten because well tanned.”

The Point Chevalier Hub

Have a look at the Point Chevalier Hub. The webmaster there has very kindly included links to the issues of the Pt Chevalier Times there (many thanks!), so -- I'll reciprocate by adding a link to the site from here. I'm glad to see sites like this springing up in Auckland. More local content can only be a good thing.

Jean Batten Building


Heading home last night, I ducked down Jean Batten Place, lifted the camera high, and took some shots of the remains of the Jean Batten Building.


History of the building here at the NZHPT site.


What the building used to look like.


This post inspired by Jayne's earlier one at the OGSL blog, about Lonsdale House in Melbourne. Pity about Lonsdale House -- they could at least keep the facade, as they've done with the Jean Batten Building.

Avondale Photo Exhibition

Click to enlarge.

This is a plug for the Avondale Photo Exhibition, to be held Saturday 19th September 9-5pm and Sunday 20th September noon to 5pm at St Jude's Church, Avondale. The Avondale-Waterview Historical Society are contributing by supplying photos from our collection, plus I'm taking folks around on a couple of walks through central Avondale, Saturday and Sunday, 1pm-3pm each day, starting and finishing at the church.

If there are no blog posts that weekend -- that'll be why!

The New Zealand Company in Auckland

Yet another trivia fact about Auckland: once, for a brief time, parts of our region were owned by the New Zealand Company, noted for their colonising practices in the southern North Island and the South Island.

In “Documents appended to the twelfth report of the directors, April 26, 1844”, known as “the fat book” (Appendix B), a copy available for viewing at Special Collections in the Auckland City Library, four letters are to be found which set up the New Zealand Company’s period of land ownership in Auckland.

In a letter dated 8 May 1843 from Joseph Somes to Lord Edward George Stanley, the proposal was made for the Company to purchase £50,000 worth of land in Auckland and the vicinity, made up of £10,000 in the town, £25,000 at least in the country, and £15,000 made up from a mix of town, suburban and country lots, provided that there weren’t more suburban lots than town lots. The town lots were to be purchased at auction, at the upset price of £100 per acre in parcels of 10 acres each. The Company stated that they intended the resale of all of their town lands thus bought “on the same day at any one time,” as part of their colonisation policy. The suburban lands were to be purchased in parcels of 100 acres or upwards, at £5 per acre, while the country lands purchases were to follow the rules of the Land Sales Act.

This was a measure for the Company to abandon their claim to 50,000 acres of land elsewhere in the colony, and “… it is also their wish to advertise and sell the lands here, according to their usual plan, without further delay, so as to be in time for the emigration season of the present year.”

In a letter dated 12 May 1843 to G. W. Hope, Lord Stanley assented to this proposal.

The Secretary of the Company John Ward wrote to the Commissioners of Colonial Land and Emigration on 7 July 1843:
“The Directors suppose that Lord Stanley may … be desirous of knowing what progress they have made into carrying into effect their intention to promote colonization in Auckland.”
Ward went on to outline some of the Company’s concerns with regard to the May 1843 agreement. There was a great difficulty as they were unable to give any description whatever of the lands or give assurance that the land offered will consist of the “most valuable portions.” They felt it was unwise to send labouring emigrants to Auckland until the capital in agricultural employment had increased in that area, or was even known. Before the Company’s name was inked in beside the land auction lots, they knew that a scheme of New Zealand Company settlement in Auckland might not work. So, they proposed a guarantee, in case the Company was left holding onto the unsold lands for a long time.

If after the expiration of three years from the date of the agreement the Company had no means to expend at least £40,000 on “objects of public utility in Auckland”, half at least to be on emigration, the remainder on public works (on their own lands), of a kind as agreed with Lord Stanley in June 1842, “then the Government shall be at liberty to resume the excess of land of Auckland beyond the quantity of which the value, less the discount (20%) has been so expended or pledged to be expended.” In return, the Company were to get back the claims for which they’d offered to swap for Auckland land in the first place. Lord Stanley agreed, and directed FitzRoy to carry out the exchange agreement, in a letter dated 26 June 1843.

The May 1843 purchase agreement with the Company was duly gazetted in New Zealand on 13 January 1844, just before the land sales in Auckland. The first auction took place on 30 January 1844, with the Company buying up:-

Town:
Sections 9 (Alten Road area)
Section 10 (west of Stanley Street)
Sections 32 to 36 (Wakefield, Rutland, Mount, Lyndock Street areas)

Suburbs:
Section 1 - 91 to 95 (Parnell area)
Section 2 - 9 to 12, 15 to 19, 21 and 22 (Parnell area)
Section 3 – 13 to 15, 17, 37 and 38 (Grafton area)
Section 4 – 1 to 3, 5 to 7, 9 to 16, 18 and 19, 21 to 23 (Parnell area)
Section 6 – 3 to 7, 15, and 24 (Epsom)

On 28 February 1844, they also purchased in the Parish of Takapuna:
Lots 1 to 20, 22
Lots 27 to 37
and Lots 39 to 70.

All up, a total value debited from their £50,000 account with the Government of £12,556 18s 8d. They may have made other purchases at other times to bring themselves up to the total – I haven’t had a chance to check out where else their name comes up, other than what is in the initial gazettes, and on the Roll 61 plan. The NZ Gazette & Wellington Spectator newspaper of 13 December 1843 reported (in turn, from the Auckland Times of 28 November), that the Company’s agent Francis Dillon Bell at that point had been visiting Papakura and Makatu districts, and that the Company were busily surveying and pegging out “streets and lines of frontages” at Mechanic’s Bay (which, in those days, also included much of today’s lower Parnell).

By early 1846, there had been little if any movement with regard to land sales to emigrants in Auckland by the New Zealand Company. Some of their misgivings expressed back in 1843 appeared to have come true – along with the depression of 1844-1845, and the bad publicity around the Northland War and evacuation of settlers from the Bay of Islands. The New Zealander was clear in its condemnation of the Company’s practices in Auckland. They called
“the attention of the local government, to the great injury inflicted on this district, by the retention by the company of so many town, suburban, and adjacent country allotments. It is well known, at least by those who understood the policy of the New Zealand Company, that when they selected land, at Auckland, and in its neighbourhood, to the value of £50,000, as part of the award of Mr. Pennington, it was solely with a view to mislead the government, with the idea that the company would send emigrants to Auckland; and it was also with an intent and hope, that by holding in their hands so much of the town and neighbourhood, the progress of Auckland would be retarded. It must be perfectly evident now, that Otago and the Wairarapa Valley will engross the whole attention of the company, and be the destination of all the emigrants that may come out under their auspices, for some years to come; therefore the Home government should revoke the sales of land to the company in this district, and order the local government to dispose of them immediately by public auction at the quarterly sales.“
(New Zealander, 17 January 1846)

Apparently, this came to pass, but a year later and for other reasons. The Company approached the Government for a loan and final claim, and one of the stipulations from the Government was “That the Company shall at once give up all claim to lands in the neighbourhood of Auckland, and take the whole amount awarded to it elsewhere.” (New Zealander, 6 October 1847) Essentially, this appears to have been just the final act of the 1843 guarantee agreement: the Company hadn’t sold the land, so the deal was off.

From 1848 through to 1850, the Crown then re-sold the allotments they had “sold” to the Company back in 1844, apart from any which appear to have been dealt with previously by either the Crown or the Company. A number of the endowment lands given over for the purposes of generating income for the hospital and grammar school in Auckland were part of this tidying up process. By 1858, the Company itself had finally ceased, and their brief impact on the history of Auckland became just a faded footnote.

All that’s left is the oddity of a map, Roll 61, showing Mechanic’s Bay as Some’s Bay (possibly in honour, on paper at least, of Joseph Somes of the Company), and the possibility today that Stanley Street was named not after Captain Owen Stanley who accompanied Felton Mathew – but perhaps after Lord Stanley, and so named by the Company who had so many dealings with him in the Colonial Office (and may have wanted to complement the man who had agreed to the Auckland deal in the first place). Stanley Street doesn’t appear to be named on any of Felton Mathew’s plans I’ve seen to date, and the earliest Paper’s Past reference I’ve found so far is 1849. That may be the last sign left of the New Zealand Company’s dabbling in our region’s history.

Sources:
The “fat book” of 12th report appendices (1844), Papers Past references, New Zealand Gazette, Roll 61 from LINZ records, Fatal Success by Patricia Burns (1989)


Monday, August 3, 2009

Avondale Historical Journal No. 49

Uploaded now to Scribd.

I can't believe that I'm just one issue away from the 50th. I can still remember looking at the newsletter for the committee of the Avondale History Society, the predecessors to the Avondale-Waterview Society, back in 2001. Thinking, "This might be a great idea to keep folks informed."

Nearly eight years later -- I'm just bringing out Issue 49 to over 200 on our mailing list. I have to think up something really good for that issue ... all suggestions welcome.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

The Domain's three Chinese gardens


Image: from the 1882 lease of land by Ah See and Chan Dar Chee. Most unusual to see anything other than European languages and symbols in 19th century Auckland land documents. D13.891, LINZ records, Crown Copyright.

In 2007, I read with interest the news that an archeological study was being undertaken at the former Carlaw Park, just to the north-east of Auckland's Domain. News that an 1882 mortgage had been located by the researchers, repeated in an article written by the Historic Places Trust for the Autumn 2008 issue of their magazine, interested me greatly. The name Ah Chee/Chan Dar Chee was, of course, of particular interest to me because of his land ownership of one of Avondale's early market gardens on Rosebank. However, when I enquired as to the chance of viewing the historic research report part of the study earlier this year, I was advised that it had not at that time been completed. I had no way of seeing just where the researchers got their information from with regard to Chan Dar Chee and the 1882 mortgage of the Carlaw Park land. I still haven't seen the archaeological report. I was told it might be completed later this year.

So, I embarked on some research of my own.

There were three Chinese market gardens in the immediate area of the Domain. A fourth was to the south, beside Khyber Pass in Newmarket, next to the Captain Cook Brewery from the 1870s at least (and connected with Chinese merchant James Ah Kew.)

Domain Gardens

One, on the Domain itself, close to the site of the kiosk and duck ponds today, started out as the fledgling Auckland Botanic Gardens in the 1850s, before it was superseded by the Acclimatisation Gardens from 1867, and from the early 1870s was leased to William Brighton, former curator for the Acclimatisation Society. From the early 1880s, it was leased to Chinese market gardeners. Ah Kong took out a lease of the "Domain Gardens" in 1884, provided the public had access across his ground in summer and winter according to set times.

Image: from SO 3933, LINZ records. A plan drawn by G. H. A. Purchas, for Auckland City Council, 1890.

In 1892, James Ah Kew & Co was renting the Upper Domain gardens (£70 10/- per annum, reduced to £50 pa for the balance of the lease). This probably disappeared shortly after the Domain was formally vested in the Auckland City Council.

Stanley Street Gardens

This ground may have been the one leased by Robert Baird, Victoria Street nurseryman and seedsman (see below), from the Domain Board in 1875 for five years (Auckland Star, 3 March 1875). However, he sold his business in 1878, so didn't see out all of his lease. (Update: 5 December 2013)

Between the Auckland Fibre Company along Stanley Street, and the Stanley Street entrance to the Domain, a patch of land now belonging to the Domain was leased out to Chinese market gardeners from 1879 to Ah Hung. He appears to have built a house on the site, and is the earliest known documented Chinese market gardener in Mechanics Bay. Others followed in the 1880s. (This section updated 15 September 2009).
"Thomas Rees and John James Searle were charged with stealing a quantity of carrots valued at 1s, the property of Wong Yank, on August 14. Searle pleaded guilty, and Rees admitted receiving the carrots. It seemed there had been frequent complaints of the lads employed at the Fibre Company's factory going into the vegetable gardens adjacent. The Chinese gardeners were absent in the afternoon, and raids were made upon the vegetables. The parents of the lads were in Court, and pleaded to have them dealt with leniently, as they had not been brought up before. Sergeant Pratt pointed out that the usual excuse of parents was that their boys were the best of lads till the police got hold of them. He suggested that a whipping with a birch rod would have some effect. The Bench cautioned the accused not to appear again, and dismissed the case on the parents paying the value of the vegetables."
(NZ Herald, 17 August 1886)

In July 1892, the Stanley Street gardens were leased by Hawk Yim Co, who asked for the fencing to be repaired by the Domain Board. Hawk Yim surrendered the lease in 1897. (NZ Herald, 22 October 1897, p. 3) Today, the ground is covered by commercial buildings.

Tanyard Gully Gardens

I call the third of the Domain area gardens after the name of the gully itself from the 1860s. Mainly because it wasn't known as Carlaw Park while Chan Dar Chee leased it, and in the future it is bound to have still another name.

The land use of that particular piece of land, which ended up sandwiched between bush-clad slopes of the Domain, the long thin Allotment 96 of the Rope Walk, and the Auckland to Drury railway line, is the most complex of the three.

Pre 1844 -- swampland. There is a possibility it was briefly owned, under agreement, by the New Zealand Company from 1844. By 1849, however, it had reverted to the Crown.

1844 Joseph Low and William Motion with their flour mill and mill race. The original mill building wasn't far from the line of the Strand and Parnell Rise. By the end of 1846, they had moved on, to Western Springs.

1850 the Crown finally declares title (as Hospital endowment), then

1851 leases the site to Hugh Coolahan the baker. (More on him in the Mechanics Bay timeline). After an attempt to have a former Low Motion employee extend and operate the flour mill, he leased the property to James Dawson and Roger Kay, two tanners. They officially sign lease documents in 1856, but chances are they were there before then.

1855 Briefly, Baron de Thierry operated a flax mill out of the old flour mill. (Section updated 5 December 2015)

1860 Dawson & Kay sell out first to a consortium of businessmen, and then (by August) to George and Barton Ireland. By October 1860, George Ireland was operating his tannery there, and it became known as Tanyard Gully.

1864 The Irelands begin their move to Panmure. They eventually complete the relocation in 1866.

1865 Railway construction

1866 Suggestion by a chap named Hunt to the Provincial Superintendent that he set up a wool scouring industry there. No record this was taken up.

1869 The Mason Brothers, at least William Mason, who had a nursery between Titoki Street and Parnell Road at the south-eastern corner of the Domain may also have been gardening in Mechanic's Bay at this time. In March 1869 Sections 98 and 99 were to be offered up for lease by public auction, for a term of 21 years. (Auckland Provincial Government Gazette, 22 March 1869, p. 204). The auction was to take place on 26 April that year. Then it was postponed to 6 May (NZ Herald 29 April 1869, p. 2[1]). Then, it was completely withdrawn. (Southern Cross, 10 May 1869, p.3).(Section updated 5 December 2015)

1870
By November 1870, the decision was made to offer a three-year lease of Tanyard Gully, and this went to William Mason. All primary documentation related to this transaction, the lease itself, the conditions, any correspondence related to it, are lost to history, due to the November 1872 fire which destroyed most of the Provincial Council's archives. However, in a later file dating from December 1873-July 1875 regarding a later lease of the site, a note exists which refers to this now missing agreement with Mason, and confirms the term length of the lease. (Hospital Endowment - Correspondence, AP2 34, ID 21118699, Archives New Zealand).(Section updated 5 December 2015)

Their lease expired towards the end of 1873. A number of interested parties contacted the Auckland Public Buildings Commission, a committee that was part of the Provincial Council, managing endowment properties and administering debentures offered, asking for leases of the property (and some just wanted the old cottage near the Domain). (Hospital Endowment - Correspondence, AP2 34, ID 21118699, Archives New Zealand). (Section updated 5 December 2015)

1874 Land transferred from Provincial Council to Crown.

In 1874 (Southern Cross, 18 August 1874) the new lease advertised was for 7 years. This was because the Board felt that brief leases to gardeners was preferable so that, later on, the land might be available for more lucrative development. "6 1/2 acres in Mechanic's Bay, rich alluvial soil, well watered, and late in occupation of Mason Bros., nurserymen, with large Dwelling House, beautifully situated, adjoining the Domain."   It was awarded to Robert Baird, a nurseryman and seedsman based in Victoria Street. (Hospital Endowment - Correspondence, AP2 34, ID 21118699, Archives New Zealand). He set up "Victoria Nurseries" there, and brought in Charles Walter Scott Purdie as a manager from c1876. In 1878, Baird sold his business to D Hay & Son, and they advertised briefly, until mid 1879, including the nursery. By 1880, the property was possibly vacant once again. (Section updated 5 December 2015)

1881 Lease begins in October with Chan Dar Chee and Ah See. Thomas Ah Quoi was the one who won the lease at auction for £95 per annum.

Image: from D13.891, LINZ records

On 24 October 1881, the Crown, in the form of the Public Buildings Commissioner of the City of Auckland, entered into a lease agreement with Chan Dar Chee and Ah Sec two market gardeners of Auckland. The lease was formalised on 28 August 1882. This was for 7-1-20 acres, just over 7 1/4 acres, "with all buildings thereon erected", for a term of 21 years, at the annual rental of £95, in advance, payable on the 24th of October and April each year. The lessees were not to carry on any noxious or offensive trade or business on the said premises (ironic, seeing as there had been a tannery there two decades before), and "in the event of the lessees cultivating the said premises or any part thereof they shall do so in a proper and husbandmanlike manner and so as not to unduly impoverish the soil."

The lease was signed by Sir John Prendergast, Wellington, for the government, and by "the said Ah Sec and Ah Chee after the same had been fully explained to them by the undersigned Thomas Quoi, in the presence of Thomas Quoi, Chinese interpreter."
“On a recent Monday afternoon Lady Glasgow sent a note to her greengrocer (Ah Chee) that she and her daughters would pay him a visit at his home at Mechanics' Bay Gardens on the following day. At the time appointed the ladies duly arrived, and were entertained by Mrs Ah Chee. The Ladies Boyle played and sang, partook of afternoon tea, fruit, etc., and the whole party (yellow and white) had a good time. Lady Glasgow requested a photo of the Chee family group for her album, and the delighted Chee immediately ordered a splendid enlarged photo. Ah Chee forwarded Lord Glasgow a present of half-a-dozen silk handkerchiefs from the Flowery Land. Aren't the opposition greengrocers just mad !”
(Observer, 31 March 1894)

1897 Ah See reassigns his share to Can Dar Chee. The latter's bank – National Bank of New Zealand – seeks the lease as collateral for repayment of his existing and expected business debts. By this time, he was already operating a fruiterer business in Queen Street.

On 29 April 1897, Ah See assigned his share of the lease over to Chan Dar Chee. That agreement was signed by Ah See in the presence of W. Ah Chang, Book keeper, Auckland, and by Chan Dar Chee in the presence of Joseph Sykes, solicitor, Auckland.

The following month, 18 May, Chan Dar Chee had to provide security to the National Bank of New Zealand. The document found during the Geometria research wasn't a mortgage so much as it was a promise of collateral, as Chan Dar Chee was "already indebted and may become further indebted." Also, the mortgage was dated 1897, not the 1882 date as had been stated by the Historic Places Trust. The amount he owed isn't recorded on the deed, but it was "for advances and business accommodation". Whatever it was, he had fully paid it off by 25 March 1901, and the lease was cleared.

1903 Second and last market garden lease begins

4 September 1903, Chan Dar Chee renewed his lease for a term of 14 years with the Public Trustee (the office now handling the Crown lease), again for £95 per annum. This would have brought him down to 1917, which was when the area was starting to be handed over to the Rugby League. This time, he only had just over 6 acres -- which meant he was paying more for the lease per acre than before. A year later, he began his Avondale purchases -- hardly surprising, as the news of the day was full of public debate over the hospital wanting more Domain land, and the possibility that Chan Dar Chee's Mechanic's Bay gardens might be swapped by the hospital board for that land.

Image from R91.481, LINZ records.

1916-1917 During this period, the lease ends, and construction on the grandstand begins for Carlaw Park.

I'm still looking forward to reading the Geometria report, if I get the chance, to see what further information had been found with regard to this, the longest lasting of the three Domain Chinese market gardens.

Sources:
DI 1A.733, LINZ records, NZ Herald, Auckland City Archives, Papers Past, subdivision plans via LINZ.

Mechanic's Bay timeline

The Timespanner blog is, first and foremost, a research lab of mine for history bits and pieces. The following is an example of that -- a not all-inclusive timeline of development at Mechanic's Bay from the 1840s. Pulled together mainly because I'm trying to get to grips with the wider heritage picture for the area including the Domain at the present time, and I'll be adding to it as things are discovered and corrections made.

The suburb known today as Parnell was, from Parnell Road to the deep gully and the railway line today, then north towards the point between St George's Bay and Mechanic's Bay, St Barnabas' Point -- called Mechanic's Bay. The name "Parnell" seems to have gained most usage from 1846, but up to the end of the 1850s, hotels such as the Windsor Castle were still said to have been in "Mechanics Bay" rather than in "Parnell".

Mechanic's Bay today has no relation to the original 19th century Mechanic's Bay. Today's is just a reclamation policy version of the original, far out to the north east of the original shoreline.

1841 September

In a letter to W Wakefield, Governor William Hobson seeks to clarify the issue of the New Zealand Company’s rights under the Crown’s policies regarding pre-emption of land in the colony. A schedule of lands in the southern North Island is listed for which the Company will receive title. (NZ Gazette & Wellington Spectator, 11 September 1841)

1842

At some point, a stone government building was erected at the bay – but by 1843, its use was unknown, and the building was crumbling. (Southern Cross, 30 September 1843) It was still standing in May 1844, but in need of major repair. (Southern Cross, 4 May 1844)

1843 May

James Robertson advertises completion of his rope walk at Mechanic’s Bay.

“AUCKLAND ROPE WALK. The Undersigned having now completed the erection of his extensive Rope Walk, in which the most powerful and the most approved modern machinery is used, begs leave to most respectfully to inform Shippers, Ship-owners, Masters of Vessels, and the Public in general, that he has commenced Rope Making in all its branches, and will be able to supply Cordage superior to any hitherto made in New Zealand or the other Colonies. Cables, Hawsers, Running and Standing Rigging, Fishing Lines, Net Twine, and Nets made to order. New Zealand Flax purchased.
JAMES ROBERTSON.
Mechanics' Bay, Auckland,
May 11, 1843.”
(Southern Cross, 13 May 1843)

Official crown grant to Robertson is only formalised in February 1847. (DI 1A.733, LINZ records) Before then, he may have had a lease.

1843 September

Announcement from the Colonial Secretary’s office of land exchange programme for claimants of areas around Auckland. (Southern Cross, 30 September 1843)

1843 November

Surveyors are reported in the Auckland Times as being busy pegging out streets and lines of frontages in Mechanic’s Bay, land purchased by the NZ Company “in that quarter.” Dillon Bell as Company agent was also inspecting Papakura and Maketu – all this as part of looking into part of the lands to make up their promised 50,000 acres from the Crown. (NZ Gazette & Wellington Spectator, 13 December 1843)

1843 December

Report of new immigrants seeking shelter in native huts at the bay, many falling sick and dying. (Southern Cross, 16 December 1843)

1844 January

The New Zealand Company, under agreement with the Crown, “purchase” sections in Parnell, Epsom, Grafton and North Shore. (NZ Gazettes) This agreement does not seem to have concluded with either formal Crown grants or other documentation. The NZ Company were accused of not living up to their end of the deal by newspapers commentators, in that they didn’t direct immigration to Auckland. The agreement appears to have been withdrawn by the Crown, and the land “bought” by the NZ Company reverted to the Crown.

1844 August

Low and Motion’s mill at Mechanic’s Bay in the process of being built. (Southern Cross, 17 August 1844) At that point, they may well have leased the property from the New Zealand Company, if this was part of the “reserved land” at the bay. Low & Motion were there until 1846, when their “New Mills” at Western Springs were built. (New Zealander, 19 September 1846)

1846 February

Allotments to the east of the bay, known as “Parnell”, being sold. (New Zealander, 28 February 1846)

1846 March

Reference made to lands at Mechanic’s Bay, reserved for the New Zealand Company. (New Zealander, 14 March 1846)

1846 April

Advertisement for George Darroch, shipwright, at Mechanic's Bay. (New Zealander, 25 April 1846). He was at Mechanic's Bay for a couple of years at least -- later shifted to Mahurangi by the mid 1850s. (Southern Cross, 28 November 1854)

1846 July

Sail and Tent Maker William Boyd commences work at the bay, at Robertson’s Rope Walk. (New Zealander, 4 July 1846)

1846 August

Archibald Sharp & Henry Niccol operating shipyard at Mechanic’s Bay. (New Zealander, 8 August 1846)

1847 October

A house on a hill overlooking Mechanic’s Bay is set aside by the government as a residence for Te Rauparaha, who greets local Maori there. (NZ Spectator and Cook’s Strait Guardian, 9 October 1847) Whether this was Te Wherowhero’s (also government sponsored) cottage at the Domain is unclear.

Reference to government stables at Mechanic’s Bay. (Advertisement, New Zealander, 27 October 1847)

1849 January

Building lots, fronting The Strand and Stanley Street (an early mention of the latter) up for auction. (Southern Cross, 20 January 1849)

1849 February

Archibald Sharp dies at the bay, aged 48 (Southern Cross, 3 February 1849). Henry Niccol continues the business. (New Zealander, 17 March 1849)

Government sale of lands east of Mechanic’s Bay, in what is now Parnell. Reference to a suggestion for the line of road from beside Presbyterian Church across Mechanic’s Bay to extend to the Epsom Road – Parnell Rise? “The line of road in question is a continuation of the present road nearly in a straight line from the Presbyterian church across the flat to the opposite bank immediately below the mill and to come on to the Epsom road at the termination of the Government lands advertised for sale.” (Letter by Thomas Cleghorn, New Zealander, 21 March 1849)

1849-1850 is when most of the lands "purchased" by the NZ Company in 1844 were put back up for sale by the Crown or converted to endowment reserve status, according Auckland City Library's database for central city crown grants, and LINZ records for the endowments (10D.57)

1849 May

The rope walk building laid out as a banqueting hall for 500 Maori in celebration of Queen Victoria’s birthday. (Southern Cross, 26 May 1849)

1849 August

Tenders open for building of “Native Hostelry” at Mechanic’s Bay. (New Zealander, 21 August 1849). It opened February 1850 (New Zealander, 27 February 1850)

1850 January

[An update, 4 August 2009] Found by Carolyn Cameron, a member of Parnell Heritage: On only two days (18 & 22, Southern Cross) did some intrepid gardener advertise his wares, grown in a market garden in Mechanic's Bay, "adjoining the Rope Walk". Even given the looseness with which the word "adjoining" was applied in those days (it didn't always mean "right next to", I'd say there is every chance that this was indeed next to the Rope Walk. Exactly where is a good question. Anywhere on the empty allotments around Number 96. Thanks, Carolyn.

1850 13 March

Auckland and New Ulster Agricultural and Horticultural Society hold their show at Robertson’s rope works at Mechanic’s Bay. (Southern Cross, 1 March 1850) Included a performance of the band of the 58th regiment. (New Zealander, 13 March).

1850 May

Annual dinner for Queen Victoria’s Birthday to be held at the rope walk. (Southern Cross, 24 May 1850)

1850 September

Declaration of hospital and grammar school endowment lands.

Section 31 of the Town of Auckland, Lot 1, a shipwright’s yard at Mechanic’s Bay (2 roods, 16 perches), for hospital reserve. (New Zealander, 7 September 1850)

1851 April

Hugh Coolahan, baker, takes lease on part of the hospital endowment land at Mechanic’s Bay, part of Carlaw Park site (DI 1A.733, LINZ records). He had dealings in the past with Low & Motion at their Western Springs mill, and seems to set up the Mechanic’s Bay mill again to run in opposition to them. George Ashby, an employee of Low & Motion, is employed by Coolahan to work the mill at Mechanic’s Bay. (Court case report, Southern Cross, 15 June 1852)

1852 April

Charles (George?) Ashby takes over the “Mechanic’s Bay Mills” (New Zealander, 14 April 1852). This probably in response to Coolahan obtaining contract to supply bread to the Commissariat Department that month, but the bread he supplied from Low & Motion’s flour being condemned for having too much adulteration with the flour. (court case report, Southern Cross, 15 June 1852)

1852 May

Ashby calls for tenders for building a dwelling house and water wheel at the mill. (New Zealander 12 May 1852)
“A CHALLENGE !
I, CHARLES ASHBY, late of the Parish of Yaxly, in the County of Huntingdon, England but now Shortland-street and Mechanic's Bay of Auckland: — Do hereby challenge any man in Australia, Van Diemen's Land, or New Zealand, to dress a Single or Pair of French Burr Millstones to time and neatness, for ONE HUNDRED GUINEAS. Umpires to be chosen on deposit of the Stakes. August 10th, 1852.”
(Southern Cross, 10 August 1852)

It is uncertain whether this second mill continued much beyond the end of 1852.

Description of Mechanic’s Bay:
“Mechanics' bay is as yet but little built upon; a large rope-walk, a shipbuilder's yard, a native hostelry, and a few small shops are the only buildings. This Bay is the principal place of encampment for the natives visiting Auckland in their canoes; here they land their native produce, in fine weather bivouacing in the open air, or under their sail-made tents ; and, in bad weather, seeking shelter in the neighbouring hostelry.” (New Zealander, 12 May 1852)

1853 June

Grammar School endowment land at top of Parnell Rise offered for lease. (Southern Cross 14 June 1853)

1854 September

Robertson leases his rope walk to John Hornby, Patent Rope Manufacturer. (DI 1A.733, LINZ records) It may have been him who enlarged Robertson’s original works. He sold all his household furniture and effects there in June 1857. (Southern Cross, 29 May 1857) The rope walk seems to have continued for a time under Lang & McCaul. (Southern Cross, 16 June 1857)

1855 January

Stanley Street building allotment sale at Mechanic’s Bay. (Southern Cross, 30 January 1855)

1855 August

Baron Charles de Thierry operated a flax mill at Mechanic's Bay from around this time. (Advertisement, Southern Cross, 21 August 1855) According to James Robertson, this didn't last long -- de Thierry next trying the enterprise at Freeman's Bay. (Southern Cross, 4 July 1867)

1856 April

Auckland Steam Saw Mills appears at Mechanic’s Bay. (Southern Cross, 4 April 1856) These may have become the Mechanic’s Bay Saw-Mills, under John Booth & Hodkinson, by 1859. (Southern Cross, 21 June 1859)

George Leech and his Shipwright’s Arms appears at Mechanic’s Bay. (Southern Cross, 4 April 1856) Later known as “Victory at Sebastopol”, the Swan, and the Strand Hotel.

1856 December

Hugh Coolahan leases the mill site to James Dawson (DI 1A.733, LINZ records) In partnership with Roger Kay, Dawson operates a tannery on the site. The partners assign the lease to a consortium in 1860: John Roberton, Alfred Buckland and William Hunter (Southern Cross, 21 August 1860). It would appear that George Ireland was operating the Ireland Brothers tannery business there by late August. (advertisement, Southern Cross, 24 August 1860). Coolahan formally leased the ground to George Ireland in May 1863. (DI 1A.733, LINZ records) It is known that Roger Kay went to work for the Ireland Brothers. The Ireland Brothers remained at Mechanics Bay until their new tannery at Penmure (from 1864) was fully set up. They had left by 1866.

1858 March

William Kinloch & Henry Allwright start the Mechanic’s Bay Foundry. (Southern Cross ad, 16 March 1858). The partnership ended on 28 June 1859. (Southern Cross, 1 July 1859) Another partnership, Kinloch and James Hill, dissolved in November that year. (Southern Cross, 28 November 1859). Kinloch appears on the 1860 Jury list as a founder in Parnell, so he may have kept the business going. In 1861, Kinloch was in partnership with Peter Birley (Southern Cross, 3 December 1861) and that dissolved as well, in April 1862. Birley then joined John Pettit and John Booth at the Mechanic's Bay timber yard. (Southern Cross, 25 April 1862)

1862 May

Fraser & Davidson's foundry at Mechanic's Bay -- possibly taking over from William Kinloch. (advertisement, Southern Cross, 30 May 1862) George Fraser entered into partnership with Theodore F. S. Tinne on 1 February 1865, to form Fraser & Tinne. (Southern Cross, 22 February 1865)

1863 February

Announcement of the proposed line of railway going through Mechanic’s Bay.

“The proposed Auckland terminus is outside Fort Britomart, where the line commences, skirting that point and winding round the bay, keeping about a chain outside Mrs. Shepherd's property. The line crosses the road between the Swan Inn and Mr. Niccol's yard, in Mechanics' Bay, and passing close by the corner of Mr. Boyd's sail loft, it strikes into the high ground beside the Parnell brick works, cuts the willows at the end of the tannery, and enters the demesne.” (Southern Cross, 28 February 1863)

1864 April

Henry Niccol considers shifting to the North Shore, purchasing 400 acres there. (Southern Cross, 11 April 1864)

1865 July

It appears the Mechanic's Bay Sawmills was taken over by the Union Door & Sash Company by this time. (advertisement, Southern Cross, 15 July 1865)

1866 March

Compensation claims for the Auckland-Drury railway:

"Union Steam Sash Moulding and Door Company (Limited), Strand, Mechanics' Bay, freehold, with right of water-way, 124 ft. 11 in. frontage by 112 ft 133 ft 4in. in rear. Price asked, £2,750 ; valuators award, £1,940; arbitrators' award, £2,600; fees, £4 4s. ; paid, £2,604 4s.

"William Boyd, Strand, Mechanics' Bay, leasehold of sail-loft. Price asked, £100 ; valuators' award, £97108.; paid, £97 10s.

"Fraser and Tinne, Strand, Mechanics' Bay, leasehold, Iron Foundry. Price asked, £4,000; valuators award, £1,740; paid, £1,740.

"James Robertson, Strand, Mechanics' Bay, freehold, with buildings thereon (except Kays), 137 links by 410. Price asked, £3,000; valuators award, £2,250 ; paid, £2,250.

"A. and K. Kay, Strand, Mechanics' Bay, small wooden building. Price asked, £12; valuators award, £12.

"K. Ridings, Tan-work Road, Parnell, freehold, 33ft. by 71ft. 6in. ; unimproved. Price asked, £100; valuators' award, £88; paid, £88.

"David Jackson, Tan-work Road, Parnell, 33ft. by 72ft.; unimproved. Price asked, £132; valuators' award, £88 ; paid, £88.

"Henry Berry, Tan-work Road, Parnell, freehold, 33ft. by 73ft., corner lot, unimproved. Price asked, £130 ; valuators' award, £110; paid, £110. "(Southern Cross, 2 March 1866)

Tan-work Road may have been today's Carlaw Park Road, or close to it.

1866 September

Another description:

" MECHANICS' BAY.

Few casual passers-by know the importance of this little district, in a manufacturing point of view. It now numbers, amongst its industrial commercial enterprises, a brewery ; iron foundry, perhaps as complete as need be met with, for all general machinery; saw mills and general sash and door manufactory, rope walk, brick yard, tannery, bone-crushing mill; besides sundry firewood and coal emporiums. Thus, it forms, on a small scale, quite a busy manufacturing district ; but we should yet be glad to see added to its useful works of enterprise and profit a paper manufactory, pottery works, bottle and glass works — it being, in so many respects, thoroughly well situated for such undertakings. — [Communicated.] " (Southern Cross, 4 September 1866)

1869

(Update, 25 August 2009): Reappearance of the Mechanic's Bay gardens -- a flood in 1869 damaged the gardens alongside the Ireland Brothers tanyard (Southern Cross, 12 February 1869).

(Update 26 August 2009): Mason Brothers advertised an acre of maize at Mechanic's Bay in 1866. 
(Southern Cross 15 February 1866) There may have been a connection with their later lease of the Tanyard Gully site 1870-1873, but at this point in time I'm not sure of the details.

(Update: 5 December 2015)
The Mason Brothers, at least William Mason, who had a nursery between Titoki Street and Parnell Road at the south-eastern corner of the Domain may also have been gardening in Mechanic's Bay at this time. In March 1869 Sections 98 and 99 were to be offered up for lease by public auction, for a term of 21 years. (Auckland Provincial Government Gazette, 22 March 1869, p. 204). The auction was to take place on 26 April that year. Then it was postponed to 6 May (NZ Herald 29 April 1869, p. 2[1]). Then, it was completely withdrawn. (Southern Cross, 10 May 1869, p.3).

1870 February

A woollen mill proprietor, Mr. Hunt, suggested to the Provincial Superintendent that Ireland's old tannery building at the bay would make a fine woollen mill. (Southern Cross, 28 February 1870) Nothing further seems to have come of it.

1870 November
(Update: 5 December 2015)
By November 1870, the decision was made to offer a three-year lease of Tanyard Gully, and this went to William Mason. All primary documentation related to this transaction, the lease itself, the conditions, any correspondence related to it, are lost to history, due to the November 1872 fire which destroyed most of the Provincial Council's archives. However, in a later file dating from December 1873-July 1875 regarding a later lease of the site, a note exists which refers to this now missing agreement with Mason, and confirms the term length of the lease. (Hospital Endowment - Correspondence, AP2 34, ID 21118699, Archives New Zealand).

Their lease expired towards the end of 1873. A number of interested parties contacted the Auckland Public Buildings Commission, a committee that was part of the Provincial Council, managing endowment properties and administering debentures offered, asking for leases of the property (and some just wanted the old cottage near the Domain). (Hospital Endowment - Correspondence, AP2 34, ID 21118699, Archives New Zealand).

August 1874
(Update: 5 December 2015)
In 1874 (Southern Cross, 18 August 1874) the new lease advertised was for 7 years. "6 1/2 acres in Mechanic's Bay, rich alluvial soil, well watered, and late in occupation of Mason Bros., nurserymen, with large Dwelling House, beautifully situated, adjoining the Domain."   It was awarded to Robert Baird, a nurseryman and seedsman based in Victoria Street. (Hospital Endowment - Correspondence, AP2 34, ID 21118699, Archives New Zealand). He set up "Victoria Nurseries" there, and brought in Charles Walter Scott Purdie as a manager from c1876. In 1878, Baird sold his business to D Hay & Son, and they advertised briefly, until mid 1879, including the nursery. By 1880, the property was possibly vacant once again.

1881
(Update: 5 December 2015)
On 24 October 1881, the site's lease was put up for auction yet again -- and Thomas Ah Quoi purchased it for £95 per annum. (NZ Herald 25 October 1881 p. 4). Quoi was likely acting as front man for Chan Dar Chee and Ah Sec, seeing as he acted as their interpreter when they signed the deed in 1882, and set up their garden in the area.