The Brain Watkins Garden Flora: Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea, Brain Watkins House, c.1966
Image from the Brain Watkins House Collection

The bougainvillea needs little introduction in Tauranga as it grows well in our temperate climate. Its brightly coloured branches scramble through many an archway, trellis and fence throughout the city.

A fine old specimen of bougainvillea grows in the backyard at Brain Watkins House. It has a multi-leadered trunk and the ever lengthening stems are kept under control by an annual trim. The date of planting is unknown but a photograph taken in 1966, when Elva Brain was in residence, shows it as a mature specimen with flowering stems arching over the now demolished outside laundry. The shrub has a similar appearance today, some 53 years later.

Photograph by Anne Marquand

The distinguishing brightly coloured ‘flower’ is not a petal but a modified leaf or bract. The Treasury of Botany published 1876 by Longmans, Green and Co. provides a description rich in floriferous Victorian prose….. ‘The flowers are almost concealed by large membranous or leafy bracts, which grow in triplets and form magnificent masses of paniculate inflorescence. The bracts are large and of a rich rose colour ; hence the inflorescence is singularly handsome.’

Bougainvillea was first collected in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil by the French botanist Dr. Philibert Commerson (1727 - 1773) during his voyage of circumnavigation (1766-1769) on board the frigate La Boudeuse. He named the plant for his friend and commander of the ship, Louis Antoine de Bougainville (1729-1811). Introduction to gardens in France and England quickly followed its discovery and by 1834 bougainvillea was growing in the large conservatory in Chatsworth, England, the home of plant collector the Duke of Devonshire. The species further migrated to Asia and Australia and by the mid nineteenth century it was available for sale in New Zealand. The Mason Bros of  Auckland listed the plant in their 1873 nursery catalogue. At 2/6d it was amongst the more expensive plants on sale.

Photograph by Anne Marquand

Growing near the Elizabeth Street gate, our bougainvillea certainly is the ‘right plant in the right place’ as in days gone by it was often planted by an entrance way as a sign of welcome to visitors.

Tauranga Boy Scouts

Tauranga Boy Scouts, Harington Street, 1910
Postcard, Image courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. 0143/19

The first Tauranga Boy Scout Troop was formed on 27 May 1909 at a meeting that was led by Mayor Canon Jordan and Methodist Minister Rev. A.B. Chappell.  However, according to Alan Bellamy in Tauranga 1882-1982 almost immediately a difference in opinion led to the emergence of rival groups. The split appears to have been short lived as Mr. Pascoe who formed one of the groups left town a few months later.

It is recorded that this photograph, printed as a postcard, was taken in 1910 in Harrington Street. While the name of the Scout Master, just visible to the right, is not noted it seems likely to be Mr Seddon Hills, the leader of second troop.

Charles Spencer (1854-1933) – Part III – Serving the Community

S.S. Taupo, as she lies on the Rocks at Stoney Point, Tauranga Harbour
Photographed at low water on the afternoon of April 9th [1879], by Charles Spencer
Albumen print mounted on printed card, Tauranga City Library, Ref. 05-445

The s.s. Taupo ran aground on Stoney Point Reef in the entrance to Tauranga Harbour on 18 February 1879. Several attempts were made to raise her off the rocks over the next two years, eventually succeeding on 2 March 1881, although she sank a few weeks later off Tuhua while being towed to Auckland. This large format photograph by Charles Spencer was supposedly taken on 9 April – although the year wasn’t specified, it is likely to have been in 1879, three weeks after the accident, and only a week after Spencer’s arrival in Tauranga.

Portrait of (back row) Edward Ker Mulgan and Everard F. Buckworth,
(front row) William Tuthill and George Noble Gair
Carte de visite by Charles Spencer, Tauranga, April-June 1879, with annotations on verso
Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref. PA2-1686

G.N. Gair arrived from Wellington on 25 May 1878 to take up the position of manager of the local Bank of New Zealand branch. Having purchased a farm and an allotment in the Quarter Acres, he quickly became involved in the local scene, being appointed to several committees, engaging in amateur dramatics, and endearing himself by playing a prominent role in fighting a fire which broke out in a shed on the Town Wharf in late September. He was Treasurer of the Tauranga Cricket Club, and no doubt a frequent player. He participated in Tauranga’s annual St Patrick’s Day Regatta in March 1879. Sadly, he took his own life on 26 June 1879. The names of Mulgan, Buckworth and Tuthill appear frequently in the newspapers of that period in connection with cricket, boating and horse racing, and it seems likely that the carte de visite above celebrates one such event. It was taken by Spencer soon after his arrival in Tauranga, probably in his tent adjacent to Wrigley’s Brewery. Other carte de visite portraits in an identical format by Spencer held at the Alexander Turnbull Library depict other Tauranga personalities, including John E Grace and Fred Clarke, and were probably also taken c.1879-1880.

Lake at White Island, partially dry, c.1882-1884
Glass plate positive by Charles Spencer (Series # 107)
Auckland Library Sir George Grey Collection, Ref. 1285_09999

In November 1882, March 1883 and again in February 1884 Spencer made trips to Whakaari (White Island), partly to take photographs, but also to evaluate the prospects of extracting sulphur, to be used in the manufacture of fertilizer and sulphuric acid. In May 1883 he accompanied a survey party to Karewa Island, and brought back not only some exposed glass plates but some specimens of tuatara which he displayed in his shop window.

Children at a Maypole Dance, probably at the Temperance Hall, Tauranga
Cabinet card albumen print attributed to Charles Spencer, 25 February 1886
Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. 0569-08

In March 1884, when the Governor visited, he captured both the reception given him at Whareroa Marae and the subsequent speeches celebrations along the Strand from an upstairs window. During a Maypole Dance conducted on 25 February 1886:

“Mr Charles Spencer succeeded in taking a couple of photographs of the group, which we doubt not will appear in due course with the impress of this gentleman’s well known finish and prove to many a pleasant souvenir of the Wesleyan Gift Auction.”

It is almost certain that the cabinet card illustrated above is one of these photographs, even though it does not have Spencer’s name on it. At the same event there was a magic lantern show, “at which will be shewn a number of well-known views,” probably also conducted by Spencer.

Sailing Regatta in Tauranga Harbour, c. mid- to late 1880s
Carte de visite albumen print attributed to Charles Spencer
Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. 0572-08

Likewise this carte visite photograph of small yachts competing in a regatta on Tauranga Harbour, with the Papamoa Hills visible on the skyline, was almost certainly by Spencer. A regatta was held annually in Tauranga in mid-March, although there were smaller meets as well. Spencer donated prizes for the regatta comprising sets of his photographs of the Hot Lakes in 1887 and 1889, and it is possible that the above view was taken on one of those two occasions.

Charles Spencer was elected to the Borough Council in May 1887, but failed in his bid for the Mayoralty in December that year.

(to be continued)

Taipororo

John C. Adams, September 4 1923
Mounted silver gelatin print by Elliott and Fry, Baker Street, London
Image courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. 25560

This large house lies on the east side of the Te Papa peninsular at the end of Fifth Avenue. There had been a Maori pa in the area called Taiparoro, but it was long gone before John Cuthbert Adams built his house. He was born in Kettering in Northamptonshire the son of John Watts Adams, a merchant and his wife Sarah (nee Cocker) and arrived in New Zealand in September 1874 on the City of Auckland, with his first wife who unfortunately died within a year.

He married Helen Edwards the daughter of John Edwards, an English storekeeper in Raglan in 1882 the year he built the house. Her mother was Rakapa Ngawai of Te Awamutu. This marriage produced ten children. Agnes Graham, who married John Cuthbert Adams’ brother in law John H Edwards, was the sister of Margaret Graham, Mrs. Henry Brabant, linking the Adams and Brabant families and the historic places Taiparoro (Heritage NZ register no.4564, the Adams Cottage (register no.4570), Maungawhare (register no.4571), and Woodhill (register no. 795). John Adam’s interests in Maori artefacts and culture were expressed in his collection which is now part of the Tauranga Museum collection, and included paintings by Horatio Gordon Robley. Adams and Robley corresponded for many years after the latter’s return to England.

Taipororo, undated photograph
Courtesy of Tauranga City Library, Ref. 02-515

The Carpenter Gothic house is built of kauri in a gabled style with verandahs on two sides. Due to the size of his family Adams added extra bedrooms and extended the living room to thirty feet, and the kitchen was enlarged. By 1905 corrugated iron had replaced the original shingle roof. On the right was a small sitting room and to the left were two bedrooms and a short straight staircase to the small upstairs rooms with their sloping ceilings and dormer windows. Next to the sitting room was the big living room with a parquet floor made of native timbers, with two more bedrooms at the far end. Curtains hung from brass rods over the doors and the wallpaper had a bold Victorian pattern. The original kitchen design included a kauri bench top and a wood burning stove. The original holding was of two acres which included gardens with kauri, titoki, karaka, and a copper beech tree, a tennis court, and a horse and cow paddock. The stables had a fodder loft and accommodation for a gig and a spring cart. Ownership of the house by a well off family was obvious by the quality of the decorative fittings of the house with coloured glass windows and doors, a rose fretwork centre piece in the sitting room ceiling, finely decorated barge boards on the gable ends, and the trusses in the hall archway. Etched into the transom light above the front door is the name ‘Taiparoro.’

Taipororo, 1997
Courtesy of Tauranga City Library, Ref. 00-587

The house was busy with the activities and social life of the large Adams family who held tennis parties, and dances in the long living room. Taiparoro provided an example of the way social life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century revolved around the homes of the people rather than in community provided facilities. The living room was large enough for the wedding reception for Evelyn Alberta (Eva) Adams to Archibald Ernest Clark in 1911. The last members of the family to live in the house were Miss Bertha Adams and her brother Lionel who had returned to join her after retiring from his teaching career. Family ownership ended in 1973. Since then Taiparoro has provided bed and breakfast accommodation.

Bodell’s Bellevue Private Hotel

Belle Vue House, opposite the Town Wharf, Tauranga, New Zealand. Superior Accommodation. Suites of Rooms. Baths. Stables. Royal Mail Coach leaves daily for Hot Lakes and Terraces. Telegrams attended to. J. Bodell, Proprietor.
Photograph attributed to Charles Spencer, c. 1882
Image courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. 0134/10

The Bellevue Private Hotel was established in 1882 by James Bodell on the corner of Wharf Street and Cameron Road. It was a temperance hotel which, according to newspaper advertisements, offered commodious accommodation to tourists, visitors, boarders and the travelling public. Baths and pianos were available on the first floor and good stabling was offered. Guests could enjoy extensive views of the sea, harbour and surrounding country from upstairs rooms and balcony.

Bodell was quite the entrepreneur and in this photograph one of his other businesses an Auction Mart is visible on the opposite side of Cameron Road. However, more importantly, Bodell himself can be seen standing outside his establishment – Bodell is the taller of the two men with very distinctive pork chop sideburns.