Brought to Life

Miss Alice Maxwell walks quickly across the front lawn and confidently looks towards the camera. Although she is in her eighties there is no sign of a walking stick or any need of assistance. The ‘Old Mission House’ is seen behind her, past several large trees. In these opening frames of Norman Blackie’s 1940s film we are given a new and unique glimpse of Miss Maxwell (9 October 1860 – 24 July 1949), the woman who played such a pivotal role in the preservation of The Elms for over 60 years. https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3m48/maxwell-alice-heron

Alice Maxwell at “The Old Mission House”. A screen shot from Norman Blackie’s 8mm film
Courtesy of The Elms Foundation

A note found with the recently rediscovered and digitised 8mm film, records that it was taken on Alice’s eightieth birthday. If correct, this dates the film to October 1940. However, according to the Tauranga City Libraries Tauranga Memories page, amateur film maker Norman Blackie arrived in Tauranga in 1942, nearly two years after the date suggested by the note. The film also appears to show Alice on three separate occasions, with the final two and half minutes focusing on a large gathering at The Elms - perhaps this is her birthday celebration?

A search of Papers Past reveals that only Alice’s eighty-seventh birthday in 1947 receives any publicity in the Bay of Plenty Times. The article outlines the history of The Elms and Alice’s association with it. While the paper asserted that Miss Maxwell and The Elms ‘are part of Tauranga’s historical tradition’, no birthday party is mentioned.

A commemoration did take place at The Elms in November 1947 in the form of a church service to mark the hundred and eighteenth anniversary of Archdeacon Brown’s arrival at Paihia. 

Bay of Plenty Times, 25 November 1947
Courtesy of Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand

The well-attended service included the ringing of the mission bell and several hymns. In the film the bell is featured, as are choir members heading down the path towards the bell. A church minister briefly appears in frame. Perhaps this is the occasion captured by Blackie?


The Old Mission House, Tauranga, a film by Norman Blackie, c.1940
Courtesy of The Elms Foundation Collection: 2009.0126
One last curious aspect of the film are titles that read ‘Miss Maxwell’ and ‘A Head Sea.’ A head sea is a formation of waves running against the course of a ship. The selection of this phrase suggests that Blackie may have viewed Alice as someone whose ‘course’ was running against the direction of time or perhaps he simply saw her as a force of nature?

Keystone Model A-7 16mm camera used by Norman Blackie. Thanks to Hugh Whitehead, who met Blackie in the 1970s, the camera is now part of the Tauranga Heritage Collection.
Image: Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. 0007/19

UPDATE
Margaret McClymont, Norman Blackie’s daughter, has confirmed that the second half of the film was recorded in the later part of the 1940s. Margaret remembers meeting Miss Alice Maxwell at that time and has a vivid memory of the white parasol which features in the film.