Heritage et AL

Earlier this week the National Library announced that the latest batch of newspapers has just gone live on Papers Past . Auckland Libraries have contributed two newspapers from our collections to the project: the Pukekohe and Waikuku Times from 1921-1924 and the New Zealander from 1853-1866. The Pukekohe & Waiuku Times (later known as the Franklin Times), one of South Auckland’s longest-lasting local newspapers, was published in Pukekohe from 1912 to 1971. On 8 March 1912 Pukekohe businessmen Richard Eames and William Cargill brought out the first issue of the Pukekohe & Waiuku Times. The new tabloid was just four pages long and came out once a week. As demand grew it increased in size and frequency, becoming bi-weekly from 1 October 1912 and tri-weekly from 5 July 1915. Ref: excerpt from The Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 1, Issue 1, 8 March 1912, page 1. For a more in-depth look at the Pukekohe & Waiuku Times have a look at our blog post on Franklin ...

During August 1901 Aucklanders were being terrorised by a ghost. It haunted the central Auckland areas of Grafton, Eden Terrace, Newton and Western Park. The apparent apparition was heavily reported on in the newspapers and the cartoonists of the day all had a take on it as well. Even an advertising copywriter got in on the fun. Ref: New Zealand Graphic,  The white-sheeted ghost has again made its appearance in Auckland, 24 August 1901, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, NZG-19010824-367-2.

New Lynn’s First World War memorial was not erected until some years after the war. A proposal first made in 1920 to erect a soldiers’ memorial on the Triangle Reserve in the centre of town came to nothing. Eventually, Reverend W.P. Rankin, the minister at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church Hall, took matters literally into his own hands, and erected a substantial brick ‘Gateway of Remembrance' on the corner of Matai Street and Margan Avenue outside his church. The Reverend Rankin was no stranger to bricklaying, having previously built the church hall himself. Ref: excerpt from the New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21638, 2 November 1933, page 6.

Over the years, many people have claimed to have a copy of the very first New Zealand Herald .   As there are only two known full copies, one with the publishers and the other with the National Library in Wellington, any other copy would be extremely valuable. Ref: excerpt from New Zealand Herald website, 27 February 2015. How then, can they be sure if the copy is indeed an original from 1863?

The declaration of war was greeted so enthusiastically in NZ that many anti-militarist groups lowered their profile. This included the National Peace Council, whom in 1914 suspended all public work, saying “the war fever is too acute to allow of any meetings being held” (Hutching, M., 2007, see full reference below). Most NZ women supported the war effort, but some were bold enough to agitate for international arbitration and an end to war. The Canterbury Women’s Institute , the Women’s International League and The Housewives Union formed part of the nucleus of the anti-war movement in NZ. Ref: Front cover of Women for Peace & Freedom by Betty Holt (1985) 

Ref: James D Richardson, Steamship Maheno used as First World War hospital ship, no date, no location, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 4-1624 During the First World War not all women saw their role as the person to keep the home fires burning. Those armed with nursing qualifications and the spirit of adventure enrolled to serve their country overseas. These dedicated professionals included nurses from the South Auckland area, who served in the New Zealand Army Nursing Service with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Ref: Auckland Weekly News, NZ and Aus soldiers on board a hospital ship, on the way from Lemnos Island to Alexandria, Eyqpt, 1915, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19150701-47-2 This post is dedicated to some of these nurses who trained in Auckland between 1912 and 1916, with the exception of Ethelwyn Carruth who trained in Thames in 1914.

My nine year old son Thomas has recently started playing for the Ponsonby-Kelston junior division of the Ponsonby Rugby Club , colloquially known as the ‘Ponies’. The Club celebrated its 140th anniversary at the end of May, so I thought that provided a good opportunity to explore the club’s history. Ref: Andre Elliot, Thomas in full flight for the try-line, by kind permission of the photographer, 2014 Founded in 1874, Ponsonby is one of the oldest rugby clubs in New Zealand, and is the last surviving founder member of the Auckland Rugby Union , which was formed in 1883. Ponsonby is well known as a ‘feeder’ club, with hundreds of its players having gone on to represent Auckland, an impressive 53 players are on its Honours Board for wearing the All Black jersey, and 21 for representing NZ Māori. Ref: Ephemera from Ponsonby Rugby Club, 140th Queen's Birthday weekend commemorative badge, 1874-2014 Early All Black legends from the Club include Dave Gallaher and George ...

The New Zealand Herald  is now available from 1863 up to 1945 on Papers Past ! This is the culmination of a collaborative project  between Auckland Libraries , the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga O Aotearoa and APN (the publishers of the New Zealand Herald ) to fully digitise 82 years of the New Zealand Herald from 1863-1945. Prior to this latest release, content for this newspaper was available up to 1924. Ref: excerpt from New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23680, 12 June 1940, page 12 All of this wonderful content is now available and fully searchable through Papers Past , an online newspaper database run by the National Library. Papers Past contains more than 3 million pages of digitised New Zealand newspapers and periodicals from between 1839 and 1945, including 83 separate newspaper titles. For the Auckland region, Papers Past now includes the archived issues of eight newspaper titles. The essential morning and evening papers...

Meola Creek is called Waititiko by local Maori, meaning 'water of the periwinkles'. It was subsequently named Meola Creek by settler Allan Taylor, possibly after Meola Glacier (or Athasi-Balati Glacier) near where he was born in Seringapatam, India, in 1832. Ref: 580-A5338, aerial view ooking north east over Western Springs towards Point Chevalier showing Western Springs Road (left to centre foreground) with Meola Rd (left to right distance) Meola Creek (left of centre distance) and Motions Creek (centre distance), 1965, Sir George Grey Special Collections Allan Taylor (1832-1890) arrived in New Zealand aged 16 and soon after began buying land that would become the Alberton estate. In the 1890s he became known as Allan Kerr Taylor . Ref: 856-9319, two people taking out a dinghy possibly at Meola Creek, c. 1890s, Sir George Grey Special Collections

Papers Past contains the digitised content from key New Zealand newspapers and periodicals. It's a veritable treasure trove! Overall content in Papers Past covers the years from 1839 to 1945 and includes 77 publications from all regions of New Zealand. And all of this content is fully searchable using a basic keyword search or a more advanced search option, which allows you to narrow your search down using dates and content type (e.g. articles, adverts). Papers Past have recently added 40 years worth of the New Zealand Herald , covering the period from 1885 to1924. Content on the system starts in 1863, when the paper was established. Previous installments of digitised content, (as mentioned in blog post on 8 August 2013), took the reader up to 1864, so it is great to have to have the start of the 20th century added. Ref: 1-W625, Looking west from Queen Street up Wyndham Street showing the premises of the NZ Herald, 1925, Sir George Grey Special Collections

Working at  Research Central , one does tend to fancy oneself as a bit of a Nancy Drew at times. As we locate missing relatives and solve mysteries, we hope don’t start too many world wars in unsuspecting families. Whilst scrolling through microfilms on a job for a customer, I came across an interesting photo in a 1948 copy of the Auckland Star. The caption reads: “Juliet Hulme and William Brown make a colourful picture in their bright tartan slacks when they arrived at Whenuapai this morning.” The issue was dated Tuesday 23 March 1948.  Could it be .... I wondered. Was this the murderess Juliet Hulme, aka Anne Perry, aka Kate Winslet in ‘Heavenly Creatures’? And why was Juliet and the boy, who appeared not to be related, wearing matching tartan slacks? Juliet did have a younger brother called Jonathan but it seems he arrived in New Zealand much later in the year with their parents. Naturally, I went ahead and sleuthed.  Ref: Auckland Star, cutting from 23 ...