Heritage et AL

One of New Zealand’s most highly respected abstract artists, Milan Mrkusich , designed several large public artworks in Auckland in the 1950s-1960s. The most well-known existing ones include the mosaic mural on the B. J. Ball Building overlooking Fanshawe Street, and the stained glass windows at Grey Lynn’s St Joseph’s Catholic Church - the largest abstract work in the country at that time. Ref: Patrick Clearwater, BJ Ball mural, 31 May 2010. B. J. Ball (NZ) Ltd was a paper manufacturing company and Mrkusich’s mural for them highlights the paper-making process from the raw material of trees to the end product of stacks of reams. This mural is 7.6m high and 3.9m wide (25ft x13 ft.) and is made from thousands of glass and ceramic tiles. As Julian Dashper recounts in a 1995 article, Mrkusich made full size plan drawings “which he rolled up and posted to Italy, where a master tile maker made a complete mural on the floor, turned it upside down into hundreds of little boxes and ...

Now on in the J.T. Diamond Room, Waitakere Central Library is our Dalmatians out west exhibition. The exhibition features images from Auckland’s Dalmatian community and will run until 30 August 2016. This is the second in a series of blog posts based on the themes in the exhibition. Music, dance, social occasions and weddings Music and dance were mostly the domain of the two Yugoslav organisations , the Yugoslav Club Inc., and the Yugoslav Benevolent Society (The Croatian Benevolent Society).  Annual Ballroom competitions were conducted and cups were given out to the best foxtrot, waltz and tango dancers.  Ref:  Sisters Danica and Fleur Martinovich dressed for the ball in dresses they made themselves, 1946.  West Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries. DGHS Collection.

Now on in the J.T. Diamond Room, Waitakere Central Library is our Dalmatians out west exhibition. The exhibition features images from Auckland’s Dalmatian community and will run until 30 August 2016. This is the first in a series of blog posts based on the themes in the exhibition. Early Dalmatian settlers of West Auckland The first Yugoslavs to settle in New Zealand are thought to be sailors from the Frigate Novara which berthed in Auckland in 1858. There was then a small influx of Dalmatian migrants, mainly from Podgora, in the mid to late 1870s with many working in the gumfields around Dargaville, Ahipara and Riverhead. In 1903 the first vineyard in Oratia was established by Ivan and Katherine Vella, the first Dalmatians to arrive in the district, and by 1913 they had six acres of grapes. They also grew apples and peaches on the land. In 1904 Tony Borich, Mate Borich, Jack Sunde and Stanko and Lovre Marinovich bought 160 acres of land in Oratia. Ref:  Lov...

Currently on in the exhibition space on Level 2 of the Waitakere Central Library is ‘Holding the Line’, an exhibition celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Going West Books and Writers Festival featuring material from the Going West Festival archives . Every year a gathering of people with a passion for the written and spoken word takes place in the verdant setting of West Auckland.   Named after the Maurice Gee novel in which he vividly describes the train journey from Loomis (Henderson) to the city, writers and performers of all ages and backgrounds come together to participate in the Going West Books and Writers Festival. Since the festivals beginnings in 1996, guests and audiences alike have been attracted by the unique character of the location and the diversity of the programme. In 2015, Going West celebrates 20 years as a stalwart of the literary festival scene in New Zealand with ‘Holding the Line’, the theme for this year’s event that is an apt reference to t...

Currently on in the exhibition space on Level 2 of the Waitakere Central Library is an exhibition highlighting some of the stories of West Auckland contained in our collection of oral history recordings.   If you are interested in exploring any of these stories in more depth these and other recordings can be listened to in the J T Diamond Reading Room at the West Auckland Research Centre .  Ref: Picnic in Henderson, 1932, West Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries.

The Auckland Literary Trail has been updated and is available for download.The guide from Auckland Libraries and Auckland Council covers a selection of Auckland landmarks that have inspired many great writers and featured in their literary creations. The Auckland Literary Trail guide This includes Waiuku in the South, which was the setting for one of Elsie Locke’s well known children’s novels, 'The End of the Harbour'. The novel features locations such as the Kentish Hotel, which is still standing today. Copies of this novel along with reference notes are held in the heritage collections at Auckland Libraries. Ref: Footprints 04734, Kentish Hotel, 1911, photograph reproduced by courtesy of Waiuku Museum Society, 2621, South Auckland Research Centre

A Historypin Pin of the Day image showing Henry Thomas and his children seated on and standing beside a cow, recently caught my eye. The image is originally from the Wairarapa Spydus Archive and was pinned by the DairyNZ Time Capsule Project . The project is a nationwide initiative for NZ Year 5-8 students. The project aim is to create an online time capsule of the NZ Dairy Industry. Ref: Historypin 'Pin of the Day', 18.01.2013, Ref: 01-103/3.MD1111, Henry Thomas and family, Greytown New Zealand, 1900, Source: Wairarapa Spydus Archive, Pinned by: DairyNZ Time Capsule Project Auckland Libraries holds collections of  heritage photographs depicting cows and the dairy industry, including a similar image of a child sitting on a cow (see below). Many of these images can be accessed through Auckland Libraries' online heritage databases: Heritage Images , Footprints and Local History Online . Images depict locations from around the Auckland Region and further afield,...