Edwardian Picnic -Tug of War - Auckland

Tug of War, Cycle Trades picnic, Auckland area, circa 1911?

Correspondent, Will, reports this is a photo he took at "our Cycle Trades picnic, of the single men, who won the tug of war." Will also writes that he took Katie & her sister to see the Coronation & Review at Spithead at the "Cinematograph pictures". "They were very good."

Will's reference to the coronation & review at the cinema suggests that the picnic may be dated to 1911 or early 1912, as George V's coronation was 22 June 1911. While Edward VII's coronation and review was in 1902, this likely was too early for regular cinema showings in New Zealand. Evidence suggesting it might be circa 1902 is the undivided back on the postcard, but this could simply be old stock from which the real photo postcard was produced.

Bungalow of Mt Albert, Auckand, 1906

The Bungalow, Mount Albert, Auckland, NZ, 1906.

Sent to an address in Headingley, Leeds, UK in 1906, this real photo postcard shows May, Marie, and Tom's "new cottage" that they had just moved into. Tom writes: "It is a nice place & I think we will be very comfortable." He continues that the owner privately produced these postcards and, as can be seen in the note in the margin on the photo side, the owner's wife and son are the people in the picture. The view suggests the house & property received a lot of sunshine.

Greetings from Ponsonby, postmarked 1907.

Will sent the above multi-view of the Auckland suburb of Ponsonby to the Headlingley, Leeds address in 1907. Click on the image for a larger view.

Bungalows of Avondale, Auckland: Pictures of Home

Well, actually, this is a tale of one bungalow in Avondale...

61 Roberton Road, Avondale, Auckland, NZ, May 1913. S Collins & Son, photo.

This real photograph postcard was sent to "all at home", perhaps in the UK, by Ethel and Frank to show their home at 61 Roberton Road, Avondale, Auckland on May 8th 1913. Perhaps it is their new home.

The house clearly needs some work. Although it has the basics, it clearly needs painting and to the proud homeowner it could do with some "improvements".

Curiously, Ethel & Frank do not comment on the house other than to include a postscript: "P.S. The white frames set in the windows are fly screens, grand things to keep flies out doors." For some curious reason, Kiwis did not widely adopt this innovation to limit bug life indoors. Perhaps this is because flying insects came to be a relatively minor problem - Kiwis wiped out flies like the Chinese did during the Cultural Revolution(!) - or the relative absence of infectious disease borne by insects or their biting behaviour - resulted in little use of insect screens.

61 Roberton Road, Avondale, Auckland, post May 1913. A E Woodall, photographer, Remuera.

Some time later, the above photo materialises. Clearly Ethel and Frank have been busy on the home improvement front. A more stylish (for the time) verandah has been added, window shades have been installed, as has a bay window on the side, and the house and roof have been painted. Some serious work has gone into upgrading the front lawn and flower beds, while a concrete path has been laid. The family "back home" would certainly have been impressed with Ethel and Frank's industriousness in taming the urban landscape.

The house at 61 Roberton Road still stands, with chimneys intact, but the verandah in the second photo has gone, perhaps long ago. It can be seen by loading in the address at Google Earth.

Bungalows of Devonport

A sampling of bungalows along Church Street, Devonport, Auckland, taken January 2009.

The house above and below are next door to one another, number 32 above and 34 below.

Pick Up Sticks... Stick Insects of New Zealand

Stick insect grabs a few rays - or is she just playing dead, Waiheke Island, Hauraki Gulf, 2009

"Stick insects are a group of plant-feeding insects characterised by a remarkable similarity to their host vegetation. S tick insects feed on vegetation and are usually active after dark. ...When disturbed, stick insects will often fall to the ground and 'play dead' for hours. Another bizarre behaviour is the 'dance', where the stick insect sways back and forwards for hours in a peculiar motion, the function of which is a mystery. Many stick insect species, including some New Zealand species, can reproduce without males, a mode of reproduction known as parthenogenesis."

from Landcare Research's The New Zealand Stick Insect Website. Much more there on New Zealand's stick insects.

A Wikipedia entry on stick insects suggests they may be kept as pets. Might be a bit difficult to take one for a walk - the collar would have to be awfully small, no neck after all. Knew a dog that used to play dead when it had had enough walking, imagine waiting hours for your pet "stickie" to decide it had had enough playing dead or dancing.

Stick with it...

Stick insect in the Amuri district, North Canterbury, 2009

Carlyle on Edward Gibbon Wakefield

Edward Gibbon Wakefield, circa 1850s.

Thomas Carlyle on Edward Gibbon Wakefield (1796-1862), best known in New Zealand as a colonial promoter and founder of the New Zealand Company:

"Gibbon Wakefield was there. I had seen Gibbon once before; he is the unlucky Theseus who attempted long since to steal Ariadne Turner, the young Chancery Ward; and, not prospering, had to lie in gaol,—and either rot, or become a political philosopher. He chose the latter; is head of the New Zealand and various other schemes: really a remarkable man.5 Ugly, fat; altogether without eyebrows, and with a pair of small crocodile eyes of sharp blue colour, much overlapped with their fat lids,—the face of him, sitting on its great thick neck, with its dirty snub nose, mouth silent yet half-open, expressive of lazy insolence, lazy violence, coarseness, strength and sensuality, is one of the most unloveable faces! But the man is of polite manners; taciturn-emphatic in speech; a fellow of infinite shift, decision, cunning: a kind of Mirabeau with the animal intellect only. I could heave [sic] learned something from him. But you cannot handle pitch and have your fingers clean! He has great practical sense; yet is of those fools who have said in their heart, There is no God!6 The greatest fools of all."

Thomas Carlyle to John A Carlyle, 1 August 1840 in The Collected Letters, Volume 12 of The Carlyle Letters On-line at Duke University.

That Wakefield aroused powerful emotions in friends & foe alike is not in much doubt. J. E. FitzGerald, a later political opponent in New Zealand, was to say that the only security against Wakefield was to hate him intensely.

One almost feels sorry for Wakefield as the object of such eviscerating dissections. And, then, maybe not.

A biography of Wakefield may be found at that site of great New Zealand public works in the Information Age, The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.

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In fairness to Wakefield, here are some portraits of Carlyle. Interested readers can write their own descriptions of Carlyle in the comments section to see if they can match his talent for description...

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881).

Devonport, Auckland - Past & Present #1 - Victoria Road

After taking a virtual tumble over the handlebars on the descent during the previous blog post (see previous entry), I'm back. (I really didn't experience any pain & suffering, however virtual; I just got very busy for awhile).

Breaking out of the Mainland - South Island - mindset, it's up to the land of the nastily & unfairly labeled Jaffas (Just Another F...g Aucklander, to the uninitiated), who apparently prefer to be called the Sons & Daughters of Maui: Auckland, with a past & present glimpse of Devonport.

Looking up Victoria Road, Devonport, in the early 1900s. Muir & Moodie.

Looking up Victoria Road, Devonport, in early 2009. Photo: Kuaka.

The Esplanade Hotel, corner of Queens Parade and Victoria Road. Photo: Kuaka, 2009.

Constructed on the site of the former Flagstaff Hotel, the Esplanade Hotel was modeled on the resort hotels of the English seaside resorts and named after the best known hotel in Brighton, England. It opened in 1903 and enjoyed popularity because of its harbour front location, just across the street from the Devonport ferry wharf.

Looking back down Victoria Road to the Esplanade Hotel & waterfront. Photo: Kuaka, 2009.