Avondale Historical Journal No. 46

March—April 2009

Volume 8 Issue 46

The Avondale Historical Journal Official Publication of the Avondale-Waterview Historical Society Incorporated

Avondale’s old train station site … going ...

… going ...

… gone. From late last year until mid January this year, Ontrack have steadily demolished the old platforms dating from 1913 to the 1920s, as well as the goods shed. Temporary platforms are in place at Trent and Tait Streets, pending completion of the new station at Crayford Street. I’ll continue to follow progress on the work, due for completion (last I heard) in the middle of this year. — Editor

Next meeting of the Avondale-Waterview Historical Society: Saturday, 4 April 2009, 2.30 pm Lion’s Hall, corner Blockhouse Bay Road and Great North Road ,

Please contact the Society for details.

Volume 8 Issue 46

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Page 2

Whatever happened to Nesbitt Avenue? by Jack Dragicevich While researching the origin of certain street names in the Waterview area, I came across a mysteriously named “Nesbitt Street.” This was supposedly a former name for Hadfield Avenue, that as far as I can ascertain, was never actually used. Hadfield Avenue in Waterview was originally named Hillcrest Avenue, and first appears as such in the Wise’s Auckland Street Directories circa 1928/9. At this stage there were only three residences located along its length. On one side of the street was a farm belonging to a Mr Gordon D. Milne and on the other side were two houses occupied by attendants of the mental hospital (the old Whau/Avondale Lunatic Asylum which later became known as Carrington & Oakley Mental Hospital). In 1937, Hillcrest Avenue was described (on the Auckland City Street searches website) as being 300 yards long with 5 residences. However, it was not until the 8 June 1939 that Hillcrest Avenue changed to “Hadfield” to avoid confusion with a street of the same name in Northcote. There are two major theories as to the derivation of this street name. Firstly, that it is named to honour either Albert or Thomas Hadfield who were long serving councillors (and also an ex-mayor) of the Birkenhead Borough Council in the early part of the 20th century. Alternatively, the street may have been named after Bishop Octavius Hadfield, the third Anglican Primate of New Zealand (1814-1904). Neither choice provides a totally satisfactory explanation, as the aforementioned bishop had no known connections with the Waterview area and the Hadfield brothers were involved with local body politics a long way away from Avondale, in the Birkdale/ Beachhaven area of the North Shore, where there is already a street named after them- Hadfield Street. However, there appears to be no other well known local figure in the Avondale/ Waterview area, who fits the bill and it was common practice for councils to name streets after well known figures of local or national significance. However by the mid to late 1960s, there was a move to change the name of this Avondale/Waterview street yet again. The Auckland Scrap book collection (page 177) in a report published in the Auckland Star records the Auckland City Council’s intention of renaming Hadfield Avenue, Avondale as “Nesbitt Avenue”, and that this was to come into effect in 1967.

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Information available in Auckland City Archives reveals that at a full council meeting in March 1967, the Mayor of Auckland, Dr R.G. McElroy moved that “ the council was resolved by the way of special order to alter the name of Hadfield Ave, Avondale to Nesbitt Ave”. This was seconded by Councillor A.J.R. Dreaver and this matter was then referred back to the city works committee for a report and recommendation on the feasibility of this proposal at a future council meeting. The name “Nesbitt” was presumably chosen to honour the memory of the former Avondale Road’s Board Committee member (and chairman from 1918-19), Mr R.B. Nesbitt, who resided in Victoria Ave (the future Victor Street), Avondale. In a report of the Auckland City Council Works Committee tabled at a full council meeting relating to this matter it was noted that there had been strong lobbying on behalf of the Birkenhead Borough Council in support of the name change. The reasons cited for supporting such a change noted that a street with a similar name already existed on the North Shore (Hadfield Street), that was so named in 1905 in memory of an exmayor of the borough and that it wished the Avondale street be renamed to avoid any confusion with its own street. However, the Director of Works and Auckland City Engineer, AJ Dickson in his report to the Auckland City Council recommended that Avondale/Waterview’s Hadfield Avenue (name) should be left unchanged noting that although the (street) names were duplicated they were on opposite sides of the harbour, and the residents have never encountered any confusion because of the duplication. Furthermore he cited that many more people would be affected by such a change in the city (only 7 dwellings were to be found on the Birkenhead street in 1966 while 29 dwellings were to be found on the Avondale street), and that it was impractical and probably unnecessary because of the previous reason to change the name of the street. His recommendation was to reject the Birkenhead Borough Council’s call for the street name to change. This is precisely what the Auckland City Council did, hence Hadfield Avenue in the Avondale/ Waterview area still retains its current name and very few people even remember that it was supposed to be renamed “Nesbitt Ave”.

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Volume 8 Issue 46 Page 3

A letter home from a farmer somewhere near Avondale, July 1884 … My thanks to Society member Jack Dragicevich for pointing me in the direction of the searchable British Library newspapers database via the Auckland City Library website (under “Digital Library”). I felt inquisitive enough one Sunday to search for Avondale and Auckland — and found the following. This appeared in the Glasgow Herald on 17 November 1884, Issue 275, and I have received very kind permission from the British Library to reproduce the letter here. You’ll note the reference to the farm being 1½ miles from the Avondale township, along with the writer referring to a “burn” or creek where there is a waterfall underneath which he sits for his daily bath. The writer’s identity remains unknown, but my guess at this point is that he was either a purchaser of land close to the Sansom property in Waterview, or perhaps purchased land once part of the Chisholm estate. If anyone has any ideas as to who this person was, I’d be keen to know. — Editor

Farming Life in New Zealand The following account of a farmer’s life in New Zealand is taken from a letter, dated July 12, of a gentleman who lately purchased a farm near the town of Auckland: “One reason that made me resolve to settle near Auckland is the difference of climate from Dunedin. This is 700 miles farther north, and therefore warmer. You must remember that here the north wind is warm, and the south cold, we being on the opposite side of the equator from you. Dunedin is nearer our home climate than Auckland. I should say it resembles the south of England, while this is more like France or Italy. This is mid-winter here, and I read that there has been severe weather around Dunedin, and skating and curling going on. No such thing here. Occasionally we have frosty nights, with ice the thickness of a penny formed in a pail, but that is the most extreme cold we have had as yet. “The one thing open for any man here in unlimited quantity is land; but I could not fancy that at my age I would be likely to succeed in Otago at raising wheat, which requires an establishment and capital, besides a large farm to work. Auckland, on the other hand, from its climate, is better adapted for fruits of all kinds, which are quite as dear as in Glasgow, strange to say. I

have therefore followed up this idea, and have planted about 150 trees – apples, pears, plums, quinces, figs, &c., in addition to gooseberries, currants, blackberries, rhubarb, &c. I have divided the land into three parks or paddocks, as we call them, and about an acre of orchard and half an acre of garden. I have two horses for ploughing and harrowing, and a spring cart, with which I drive to Auckland once a week on market day. I shall have to get a cart or dray, with which to take my crops to market when they are ready, but that cannot be for some months yet. “We have also two cows and eighteen hens. Eggs are bringing in 1s 6d per dozen just now, and that is the only revenue I am as yet deriving. I expect one of the cows to calve in a month, however, and we shall be able to sell butter. ------ , I am glad to say, is greatly better; she is able to appear at breakfast, and she cooks the dinner and tea. -------- is the henwife, and a capital one she makes; she is also very active in the garden. -------- is the milkmaid, and is also very diligent. ------ goes daily to Auckland; she is employed by the same firm as she served in Dunedin. They are getting up the ‘Post Office Directory,’ and her occupation is to get the names of firms and householders to form it. It appears to me that she will have some months of it yet. ----- takes care of the horses, and works them in the harrows. &c.; he also milks the cows when required. He is very active and useful. “There is plenty of occupation for us all, and we have scarcely an idle moment the whole day. We go to bed at 9 to 9.30, and rise at 7, and time seems to me to fly. My fingers are so stiff with work that I cannot close my hands, and my back aches. Still, these are small troubles compared to mental ones. We sleep sound, and eat heartily, and if I only saw my way clearer I would be content. Of course, I have had incessant outlay, and no returns; and if I can only turn the corner I may be able to keep the place. I am satisfied now, however, that I bought it cheap enough, and if I have to sell it (which God forbid) it will bring more than I paid for it. “We all like the place, and the climate is delightful. It may be more pleasant just now than in the heat of summer, but the finest day in May with you is but a shadow of what to-day has been here. The air has a peculiarly exhilarating feeling, and is so clear that distant objects seem near. As a rule, there is less dubiety as regards the weather. When the sky is cloudy the clouds are generally black and heavy, and rain comes down as a rule in torrents; then all is over, and the atmosphere clears up like magic. We occasionally have a day or two’s rain together, but this is rare, and I have yet to see weeks of it as at home. I used often at home to read of and hear foreigners speak of our climate, and the superiority of

The Avondale Historical Journal

some countries over ours, and there is no denying that climate makes a wonderful difference. Here, anything and everything grows, and grows well. “In addition to all our home fruits, I have seen figs, oranges, grapes, peaches, hops, tobacco, &c., all growing in the open air. I mean to grow hops and tobacco myself; but I do not wish to start too many things at one time, as I have not capital. Oats are sown here nearly all the year over, and are cut green and given to horses and cows. Potatoes are much grown, and I am told that two, or even three, crops have been taken off the same ground in the same season, and one crop of potatoes and one of oats in succession is quite common. “I was reading a seedsman’s list the other day, and he recommends that peas should be planted each month in the year. We have peas six inches high, and I planted early potatoes the other day – fancy that in the very middle of winter. I have been fortunate in having a good neighbour, who not only did some necessary ploughing for me at first, but taught me to plough, and told me all he knew, so that I hope to be able very soon to do all our own labour of every kind. “I go down to the burn every day, where there is a waterfall, and have a bath, sitting under the fall for a minute or two – this in mid-winter. We are one and a-half miles from the village of Avondale, where there is a post office, a capital school, and a Presbyterian church, which we attend, under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Somerville, the son of a Scotch U.P. minister. It is a wooden church, and but poorly attended, only about forty to fifty of a congregation. “Many of the people belong to the Church of England, and some are Roman Catholics, &c. The Scotch are in a minority in Auckland and district – not as in Dunedin,

Volume 8 Issue 46 Page 4 which is a Scotch settlement. I used when living in Auckland to go on Sunday to hear the Rev. Thomas Spurgeon, a son of the celebrated preacher in London. Although only 25 years of age, he promises to equal, and perhaps surpass his sire. He is at present on the way to London on a visit, and there is being built for him a Tabernacle of brick, to hold I do not know how many thousand people. It is not so much what he says that constitutes the attraction, as his thorough earnestness and perfect elocution. I do not think I missed one syllable in all the discourses I have heard from him. Of course he is a Baptist like his father. All our Scotch Presbyterian denominations are amalgamated into one Presbyterian Church, and with great benefit. I only wish that I could with a sledge hammer amalgamate our numerous sects into one. I would go home with the hammer and do it. It is the only thing would take me home; and I should feel that I had done some good in life after all … “We get on quite well with the people here, and have a few fairly good neighbours. One blessing that New Zealand has beyond Australia and other parts on the Pacific is fresh water. Springs are very numerous indeed over all the country, and there are also many fine rivers and burns, or creeks as they are called here. We have two circular iron (galvanized sheet) tanks at the house, and use nothing but rain water, as the creek is a bit away, but the water is very good. There is a much greater occasion and necessity for cold water here than at home, and in summer especially one must drink to live, the thirst is so clamant – it is therefore of the peculiar advantages of New Zealand which we cannot too highly prize. I never enjoyed cold water so much in my life before, and I never take a drink of it without feeling thankful for it.” (c) British Library Board.

The Avondale Historical Journal Published by: the Avondale-Waterview Historical Society Inc. Editor: Lisa J. Truttman Society contact: 19 Methuen Road, Avondale, Auckland 0600 Phone: (09) 828-8494, 027 4040 804 email: [email protected] Society information: Subscriptions: $10 individual $15 couple/family $30 corporate Website: www.geocities.com/avondalehistory/index

Copies of Avondale Historical Journal and AWHS Newsletter produced for us by Words Incorporated, 557 Blockhouse Bay Road, Blockhouse Bay. The Society and AHJ editorial staff thank

Avondale Business Association for their continued support and sponsorship of this publication.