Heritage et AL

The South Auckland Research Centre has recently added 1142 photographs to our image database Footprints . To date this database now includes a selection of over 8000 photographs and other images relating to South Auckland, and adjoining areas. A sample of thirty-two photographs from the Beauty Pageant Photographic Collection , donated by beauty pageant organiser Val Lott , has been added covering the years 1990 – 2003. Ref: Val Lott, Beauty pageant, Māngere, 6 May 1990, photograph reproduced courtesy of Val Lott, South Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, Footprints 07210. Ref: Val Lott, Beauty pageant, Māngere, 6 May 1990, photograph reproduced courtesy of Val Lott, South Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, Footprints 07209. Ref: Beauty pageant, Pukekohe, 24 May 1992, photograph reproduced courtesy of Val Lott, South Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, Footprints 07223.

Inspired by a recent post on the New York Public Library's blog the team at the South Auckland Research Centre have chosen a selection of their favourite photographs from the collections there. Their choices span a century, from the 1890s through to the 1990s, and show a variety of places around South Auckland and the Counties Manukau area. Bruce Ringer The Auckland Libraries Footprints d atabase includes a wide range of captivating and illuminating photographs. It’s difficult to make a choice of favourites, but here are three that stand out in my memory. Ref: Racing boy, Pakuranga, c1905, photograph reproduced courtesy of Howick Historical Society, South Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, Footprints 39. This photograph looks straightforward but has an element of mystery. It’s a rare example from the time of a shot that captures a person in motion. But it leaves a few questions hanging in the air. Who is this boy? Why is he running? The obvious assumption i...

The outcome of the flag referendum on 30 March 2016 shows that many New Zealanders, by choosing to keep the current flag, are still happy to have the Union Jack on it. The voter turnout of 67.8 % may indicate that the third of the population who did not vote didn’t mind whether or not the Union Jack stayed or went. Ref: Auckland Weekly News, A guard of honour for the Governor at the hoisting of the flag, Devonport, May 30 1900,Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19000608-1-2. This was not the case a century ago when the ceremony of “unfurling the flag” became a popular event at schools across New Zealand during the late 1800’s and early twentieth century. These ceremonies were designed to instil national identity and pride in children, as well as make them appreciate the honour of the Union Jack, and by association, the country’s role in the British Empire. Ref: Flying the flag, Otahuhu, 11 August 1900, photograph reproduced courtesy of Otah...

Landscapes are important. You are born into a landscape, you walk through the landscape every day of your life, as a child and as an adult. It belongs to you, and you belong to it. Ref: Ephemera - Arts -  Māngere stories Part 1 and Māngere frequencies, 2015, South Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries.

Ref: Happy staff at Hurley Bendon, Papatoetoe, 1964, photograph reproduced courtesy of Fairfax Media, South Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, Footprints 00071. I was looking through the new publication Real modern : everyday New Zealand in the 1950s and 1960s  when I saw the tea towel. Memories came flooding back. My sister and I trapped in the small space of the dark décor in our 1970s kitchen. Doing the dishes. Who gets to dry? Who has to wash? Who decides? In 2013 our family moved into a house with no dishwasher. Great, I thought, now my teenagers can get to lead real lives, they will have to do the dishes. They will have to interact with their parents in a new and inventive way; they will have to talk to each other.  Ref: Souvenir tea towel of Mt Egmont (Mt Taranaki), c.1960, Maylin, Ireland, gift of Angela Lassig 2010. Image reproduced courtesy of Te Papa Press.  

Future soldiers The photograph below was taken on the opening day of Manurewa School, 3 September 1906. This group includes a number of boys who a few years later would see active service during the First World War. Those in the back row are Walter Burton (fourth from left), Bert Ralls (sixth), Ted Mills (eighth), George Coxhead (tenth), Walter Costar (eleventh), Henry Lupton (thirteenth) and Bert McAnnally (furthest right). In the second row are Sam Craig (third from left), Douglas Wood (fourth), Horace Slight (seventh), Jack Freshney (ninth), Laurie Mills (tenth) and Fred Lupton (eleventh). Bert Mills is in the front row (tenth from left). Ref: Opening day, Manurewa School, 3 September 1906, photograph reproduced courtesy of Manurewa Historical Society, South Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, Footprints 03723. Walter Costar, Bert McAnnally, Cecil Slight and Douglas Wood would all be killed or die of wounds. Walter’s younger brother, Reginald, absent...

The fine brick-and-tile Ōtāhuhu Methodist Memorial Sunday School is a rare but impressive example of a Methodist war memorial building. It stands behind the Ōtāhuhu Methodist church in Fairburn Road. Ref:  Bruce Ringer, Ōtāhuhu Methodist Memorial Sunday School, 2013. The foundation stone, inset into the footing of the building’s southern wall, reads: “Ōtāhuhu Methodist Memorial / Sunday School / - / This stone was laid / to the glory of God / by Revd. E. Drake, President of Conf. / on Feb. 28 th 1920 / - / Feed my lambs”.

It is 1964 and the world is your oyster. These young women are enjoying themselves at a friend’s 21 st birthday party in  Ōtāhuhu   in 1964. With the excitement and verve of the 1960s young women stepped out into the world with different expectations and hopes than previous generations. In the years to come the momentum for change increased, many women challenged the norm, dared to be different, and in doing so created a revolution. Ref: Lew's, Birthday Party, 1964, photograph reproduced courtesy of Val Lott, South Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, Footprints 06490. “I’m young and I love to be young I’m free and I love to be free To live my life the way that I want To say and do whatever I please”  You don’t own me , Lesley Gore, 1963 .

On the weekend of 25 and 26 July the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior III will be moored at Princes Wharf, Auckland. Its visit commemorates the thirtieth anniversary of the sinking of its predecessor at Marsden wharf on 10 July 1985 by agents of the French security intelligence service. Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira drowned on the sinking ship. The day after the act of sabotage Alton Francis snapped a shot of the half-submerged Rainbow Warrior .  Ref: Alton Francis, Rainbow Warrior, July 1985, South Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, Footprints 02431.

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 ...

At least nine of Auckland Libraries’ past or present community libraries are either war memorial buildings or have war memorial associations. The oldest of these is the Albany Memorial Library . On Peace Day 19 July 1919 a group of Albany residents resolved to build a library as their district’s war memorial. Architect Sholto Smith designed the building. Governor-General Lord Jellicoe opened the cottage-style, half-timbered structure on 21 December 1922. The library was approached via a stone arch with ‘1914-1918’ inscribed on the keystone. The words ‘Albany Memorial Library’ were displayed above the entrance. The east window commemorated the Great War. Inside, a brick fireplace incorporated a green marble memorial tablet listing the names of 23 local men who gave their lives during the First World War. (Another tablet was later added honouring seven dead from the Second World War.) The building functioned as a working library until 2004, and is still available for commun...

Looking through the Footprints database I was surprised how many images depicting official openings of bridges there were in South Auckland. In the good old days, and even in the not so early days these ceremonies were major events on the social calendar. Everyone turned up wearing their Sunday best. Ref: David Bryan, Opening ceremony, Clevedon wharf bridge, 1908, photograph reproduced courtesy of Clevedon and District Historical Society, South Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, Footprints 02585.

There is an interesting and rather beautiful little hall in Union Road, Mauku (a semi-rural locality between Waiuku and Pukekohe). Known as the Mauku Victory Hall, this was formally opened by Governor-General Viscount Jellicoe on 7 June 1922. Ref: Bruce Ringer, Mauku Victory Hall, August 2014.

On Sunday afternoon 26 April five armed and mounted men clattered down the main street of Waiuku. Ref: Bruce Ringer, Outside the Kentish Hotel, Waiuku, 2015. The occasion was not a bank robbery nor a gymkhana but a reenactment, 101 years after the event, of a locally famous photograph taken of the first volunteers to leave Waiuku for active service during the First World War. Ref: Volunteers, Waiuku, August 1914, photograph reproduced courtesy of Waiuku Museum Society, South Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, Footprints 04686. These five men posed on their horses outside the Kentish Hotel on 17 August 1914. Captain John Henry Herrold of the Waikato Mounted Rifles is on the far left. He is accompanied by, from left to right, Troopers Frank Knight , Robert William ('Bob') Hammond , Alexander Glass and Henry Eisenhut . If you would like to add to the records of these first five men, you can do so at the Online Cenotaph website or keep an eye out for ...

The origin of the cardboard album which holds Dorothy’s silk postcard collection is unknown. The date that it was made is not known either. Perhaps it was bought in the early 1900s, or perhaps at a later date when the owner wished to keep the cards protected from wear and tear. Dorothy may have purchased the album from a store, or maybe a family member bought it for her as a gift. This object was originally made to house photographs as can be seen from the embossed title on the front cover. It is made of heavy brown cardboard, the spine is bound with brown thread to match the colour of the cover and the leaves of the album. The condition of the album is very good. This sturdy photograph album has functioned very well as the object used to house these silk postcards which were sent to Dorothy Helen Facer. Please do take a look inside:  In August, Leanne blogged about some of the WW1 silks that we hold in the Ephemera Collections . Replicas of the silks in that post ...

South Auckland Research Centre has recently added almost 500 photographs and descriptions to its image database Footprints . The database already contains a selection 5000 of historical photographs and other images relating to South Auckland. The latest additions include a collection of black & white images from Southmall in Manurewa. The images cover the 1950s through to April 1972 and have been supplied courtesy of the Manurewa Historical Society. They include aerial shots of the shopping mall, but the bulk of the collection shows the variety of competitions and performances held at the newly opened Southmall centre during the late 1960s and early 70s, such as beauty pageants and baby competitions. Large crowds attended the jazz, pop-folk and other performance after the opening of the Southmall centre. In the photo below, well-known organist Reg Morgan demonstrates his skill to an admiring crowd on 24 February 1970. Ref: Footprints 05389, Reg Morgan on the organ, Southma...

In late 2012 the Mangere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board provided funding for a project to digitise the archival holdings of two local historical society collections. This included the Otahuhu Historical Society and the Mangere Historical Society which hold varied and interesting collections containing a wealth of local history interest. Both societies hold original archival manuscripts, letters, photographs, historical objects and scarce books, pamphlets and ephemera. I have undertaken this digitisation project as part of the staff of the South Auckland Research Centre team. It has been a great way to spend time working in the community and to gain an insight into the history of Auckland. eHive is a web based cataloguing system system on the Internet which gives small to medium sized cultural heritage organisations the opportunity to raise the profile of their holdings and share their collections with others. This enables researchers, specialist and general interest groups and in...

In recent years, a number of Auckland-based newspapers have sprung up to cater for local Pacific Island communities. The majority of these publications have been produced for the Samoan community.   The first such title was Samoana , a Samoan-language weekly tabloid which was established in Mangere in 1979. This initially offered mostly Samoan news, but over the years included an increasing amount of news about the New Zealand-based Samoaon community. It ceased publication in 2006. In 1997 the rival Otahuhu-based Weekly Samoa Post also began publication. This lasted until 2005, being succeeded by Le Samoa Post until 2007. Like Samoana , the Post included mostly Samoan language material.   Ref: Banner for Samoana newspaper, South Auckland Research Centre

Bruce Ringer, Team Leader South Auckland Research Centre, has just had a new book published on the history of Totara Park.