Heritage et AL

We have to announce that the Merrilands Garden Suburb, Auckland’s most glorious heritage, situated on the green, grassy slopes of One Tree Hill is at last thrown open to the public and the choice of this, the finest and largest subdivision, ever offered in Auckland is now to be yours.” (Advertisement, Auckland Star, 7 December 1923) Merrilands! It was the name given to a 500-section subdivision on the slopes of Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill, that ran down towards Mt Smart Road, and was promoted by its developers as a Garden Suburb. With visions of green spaces and healthy living it would have tapped into the awareness of overcrowding and unsatisfactory housing conditions that were ripe not only in Auckland but in other parts of the country, too.  Image: Backyard of the same houses at the head of Blind Lane, Wellington, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections NZG-19110719-0021-02 In the 1920s, Merrilands wasn’t the only new subdivision to be promoted as a garden suburb. In 1922 adverti...

It is hardly surprising that Charles Heaphy (1820-81) excelled from an early age at painting and cartography, since he came from an artistic, well-connected, London family. His father was a professional watercolour painter and miniaturist attached to the staff of the Duke of Wellington. At 15, Charles began his working life as a draughtsman for the London and Birmingham Railway Company. Two years later, he joined Edward Gibbon Wakefield’s New Zealand Company as an assistant surveyor. He was part of the company’s first exploratory team, arriving in Marlborough Sound, aboard the Tory , in August 1839. He travelled around a lot during his early years in New Zealand, including gruelling expeditions across the South Island wilderness into regions never before seen by Europeans. During his travels, Heaphy painted a series of watercolour scenes that rank among the finest art from New Zealand’s early colonial period. The Heaphy Track in Kahurangi National Park is also named in his honour ...