Heritage on billboards

T'was a chilly, windy day on the Henderson rail platform this afternoon. Out of the corner of my eye, about to head toward the escalator, I spotted a billboard. I didn't really pay much attention to it, expecting it to be more advertising stuff.

But, my brain registered "HMS Orpheus". That was enough to make me stop, and take photos.

I'll not say much more. The billboards can speak for themselves (click on the thumbnails). Well done to Waitakere City Council for a very cool addition to the viewscape at the train station.

2010: Bicentenary year for Thomas Maxwell Henderson

You read it here first, folks.

I realised yesterday morning that, as Thomas Henderson, of Henderson's Mill fame, was born in 1810 (I'm still trying to sort out exactly when that year he was born, but so far the commentaries agree on the December month) then 2010 is the bicentenary year of his birth. Yes, I've let Trevor Pollard, President of West Auckland Society know. I'm hoping that some celebration could be organised to mark the occasion. Stay tuned.

I'm currently working on a history of the Henderson's Mill settlement, hopefully to publish same by either later this year or early next. Bringing it out next year would be more timely, I think. Above, by the way, is the Henderson family grave at Symonds Street Cemetery, Presbyterian Section. Waitakere City Council fixed a plaque to the side of the stone commemorating Thomas Henderson senior (and one of his sons, also named Thomas) in 1994.

Old Henderson Train Station

In the Western Leader of 16 October, an article described how the Henderson Heritage Trust had come to an agreement with NZ Rail Corp for a long-term lease of the old railway station buildings. Now, the Trust is putting together plans for restoration work, already in receipt of $50,000 from the Waitakere City Council for re-roofing work last year.

According to the article, the station ceased to operate as a station in 1987. It reopened as a cafe in 1993, then a furniture store until 2000. Since then, it's been a target for vandals -- and looked much worse up to a short time ago. More photos (I headed down to the end of the new island platform to take the shots last Monday):

 

This is what has replaced it -- the new Henderson Train Station (although the local council dearly wanted it called Waitakere Central Train Station, but lost out after the NZ Geographic Board stepped in, because of the location of the pretty green building just to the far left, the council offices.)

 

I don't mind the new station, it's actually a nifty piece of work -- but it just hasn't the same romance as the old buildings have.

Sean Millar's information from Railway Stations of Auckland's Western Line:

Main station building 1912. A 30-lever signal box was added in 1915, but sold in 1970 and has a current home somewhere on Atkinson Road in Titirangi. A large freight terminal planned in 1978 did not come to fruition.

Before the double tracking, and after the station's closure in 1987, I remember the quick scramble up the short tarsealed incline from Railside Avenue to the single side platform, where you waited at one end to head to the Auckland Central Railway Station (then at Beach Road, now at Britomart), and at the other to head west. Now it's a quick scramble up a lift, stairs or escalator, across the walkway, then down to the platform.

Motorway memorials

Back in the 19th century, Symonds Street Cemetery looked like the picture above (from the cemetery's interpretive sign). That was before the 1960s, and the development of the motorway system through Grafton and Newton Gullies.

 

Today, there are two areas in what remains of the cemetery where the remains which were removed for the motorway and were cremated at Waikumete Crematorium were then returned and reinterred. This is all that remains of the Catholic section.

The Catholic section used to look like this:

Today, it looks like the photo below. Everything from the fence to St Benedict's Church, is motorway.

The Anglicans were also losers to the motorway. Most of their section was carved away as well. The cremated remains are to be found beneath their own memorial wall.

 

 

 

 

It almost seems like a war memorial -- but, hence the title to this post, to me it's more a memorial to the effect a motorway had on our history.

The passage of time

Images I took today at Symonds Street Cemetery, Presbyterian section. Not all the graves look like this: it is actually a pretty remnant of the former extent of the cemetery. But it was the ruins which caught my attention. I was also getting used to the new camera.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karangahape Rocks in Pigeon Park

I've always just known this as the Pigeon Park sculpture -- but it does have a proper name: "Karangahape Rocks". Surprising fact (for me) number two: it's really a fountain., installed in 1968. The design, by Greer Twiss, features figures sitting amongst river stones smoothede by endless flows of water. Except, the water hasn't flowed for some time now. Some info here (scroll down).

 

 

The land was formerly an unused part of the Jewish section of the Symonds Street Cemetery, until it was vested in the Auckland City Council. Which is why I thought the sculpture was some sort of abstract Holocaust memorial. (This is why, these days, I like to try digging to find out more about things.)

Old occupations

This website listing names for old occupations might be of interest to those wondering what some of the terms found in the newspapers mean.

Taumarunui on the Main Trunk Line

A YouTube video of Taumarunui, with the famous NZ folksong as soundtrack.

St Judes Rail Crossing double-tracking

St Jude's Street rail crossing is closed for this Labour Weekend, so that Ontrack can get on with the double-tracking project on this part of the Avondale-New Lynn section.

Out with a friend this afternoon taking shots of the work at hand, and I learn something new -- about ballast tampers. Photos below:

 

 

There's even a video online of one in action, via YouTube.

Here's some more shots of the work happening today.

 

 

 

Mastheads

The Auckland Bell lasted only for a relatively brief time in the 1880s -- but its masthead, featuring progress images and even the royal standard flag, caught my eye on a trawl through some of the early newspapers at the Auckland Central Library.

The Weekly News in its own 1880s incarnation had the same idea -- sumptuous use of engraved illustration.

 

The Observer started out with, I suppose, a pantomime character in 1880 ...

... who grew up and developed a beard by halfway through the decade ...

 

... to be replaced altogether by a gent on a top hat and a shout-out to the more famous Punch magazine in the late 1890s.

Compared with all this, the New Zealand Illustrated magazine of 1899 looked rather anemic.