Ena Thompson, horticulturalist, writer and independent woman

A Chinese Gooseberries label advertising E. R. Thompson’s ‘Tropical Acres’ farm in Ōtūmoetai
Tauranga Heritage Collection, 0020/87, Tauranga Museum

My introduction to horticulturalist, writer and independent woman, Ena Thompson, came through a pair of print blocks and several corresponding advertising labels that are part of the Tauranga Museum collection. These ‘Tropical Acres’ labels were used on the end of trays carrying Chinese gooseberries grown, packed and transported from Ena’s family orchard in Ōtūmoetai in the 1950s.

Ena Thompson with her father John Shaw Thompson outside their Ōtūmoetai home early to mid-1920s. Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī, Photo 04-681

John and Isabella Thompson, 11-year-old Ena and her younger brother Alwyn arrived in Tauranga in 1920 to settle on a 53-acre farm at the top of the Ōtūmoetai ridge that was purchased from Walter Bent.[i] Their home, a white weatherboard villa, was part of the deal and still stands in Longwood Lane.[ii] Less than twenty years earlier their farm had been part of a 180-acre property owned by Edward Howell and was known as ‘Willowbank Orchard’. The orchard was widely recognized for its ‘wonderful variety of fruits’ including peaches, nectarines, plums, and apples.[iii]

Thompson house, Longwood Lane, Ōtūmoetai, painted by family friend Ethel Macmillan
Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī, Ams 80/11/55

While Ena’s father was a farmer’s son, at heart he was a journalist and editor. John continued to manage and own newspapers while orcharding, although this may have been a financial necessity as parts of the farm, then called ‘Viewpoint’, were sold in 1923 and 1936.[iv]  By the late 1920s, John was spending extended time away from Tauranga and in May 1929 was taken to court for failing to register the orchard as a commercial entity – the charge was later dropped.[v] The 30s and 40s were plagued with health issues for the Thompson family and during this period Ena managed the orchard. Her love of the country and farming is recorded in papers given to the Tauranga City Libraries archive in 1992. In her unpublished manuscript which was a ‘fictional’ account of running an orchard Ena wrote:

“The countryman learns to listen for country sounds which mark the day and measure the hours; the tui which calls at a certain hour each morning, an owl at dusk, the tame thrushes which cheep – cheep in the same spots day by day, the little mother-thrush which returns the second season and looks in the self-same spot for food for her nestlings. These are his friends, and such sounds chime and charm the hour on his clocks.”[vi]

As the farm shrank Ena diversified and it is for her venture into Chinese gooseberries (kiwifruit) that she is best known. In 1951 she contracted a Wellington firm to test the impact of cool storage on gooseberries and their findings led to Ena becoming the first person to send the chilled fruit to markets around New Zealand paving the way for overseas export. [vii]

A report completed by Townsend & Paul Ltd. in 1951 that showed the ‘Effect of Temperature on Chinese Gooseberries in Cool Store’

By the 1960s Ena’s focus was on flowers, growing daffodils and irises for the Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch markets. At the same time the remaining orchard was subdivided, and sections were sold one by one. Ena was also engaged in a legal battle with the Tauranga County Council who wanted land for development on Hinewa and Ōtūmoetai Roads – an area that was known locally as Thompson’s Corner. As the city encroached and the last sections were sold, life in the country ended. Life was different but not quiet. Having many interests and friends beyond horticulture, Ena remained an active member of many Tauranga communities.

The corner of Ōtūmoetai Road and Hinewa Road can be seen towards the centre of this photograph. Longwood Lane is yet to be formed. The house that is circled is likely to have been Alwyn’s home next door to the family home that is obscured by trees. This photo was taken by Alf Rendell. He identified it as having been taken in 1950
Alf Rendell Collection RA031

References

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[i] Tauranga was known to the family. John’s father, Robert Thompson, settled in Tauranga in 1866. He purchased land in Gate Pa and, as part of the Militia, received confiscated land. He eventually settled in Opotiki, becoming a major land holder in that district.

[ii] 8 June 1920, Bay of Plenty Times.

[iii] 16 February 1806, Bay of Plenty Times. Howell advertised the sale of his farm in 1907 stating that it would be subdivided to suit purchases.

[iv] Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Ms Ams 215. John started up the Thames Courier in 1933 and was the owner editor until it folded in 1942. John’s son, Alwyn, was employed as the paper’s advertising salesman. 30 July 1923 and 11 January 1936, Bay of Plenty Times.

[v] 8 May 1929, Bay of Plenty Times.

[vi] Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Ms Ams 215.

[vii] Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Ms Ams 215.

The Bickers Family (Fencible) Cottage — Third Avenue Tauranga

Front of the Bickers cottage with some younger family members, c. 1890s

Henry Bickers and Maria (née Proud) came to New Zealand from the goldfields of Victoria, Australia in response to a call for more troops in the 1860s. He was a corporal at the Battle of Pukehinahina and was afterwards allotted 60 acres of land and a town section of one acre. However, it took about seven years for that to come into their possession and they had Henry John (always known as “Our Henry”) in 1866 whilst still housed in the Panmure Barracks, Auckland. By 1869 they had moved to a whare on the corner of Elizabeth and Grey streets in Tauranga, and their first daughter (also Maria) was born there in 1869. One evening Maria (senior) was told to go to the blockhouse at the Monmouth Redoubt for their safety but she refused. Hearing movements outside, after dark, she spent an uncomfortable night in the ditch with little ones. In the light of morning, it was discovered they had been hiding from the family goat.

In 1871 their long-awaited cottage arrived by boat from Onehunga in four parts and was assembled in Third Avenue, close to where the Inland Revenue building is now. The kitchen was a rectangular room at the back and a bedroom led off this. The two front rooms, a sitting room and a bedroom for the parents, were separated by an entrance hallway. A verandah across the front completed their new home, but as the family grew extra accommodation was built at the back. In 1872 Elizabeth (Lizzie) arrived, Emma in 1874, then William in 1877, and lastly Alice on a cool winter’s day in 1879.

Henry had been a plumber but by now had taken up painting and paperhanging. He was ill for three years before his death in 1885, when their youngest child was only six years of age. Maria continued living in the cottage and managing to make ends meet, providing for her family of six, by using her many domestic skills to earn an income.

Rear view of the home, probably in the mid-20th century

“Our Henry” married an Auckland girl and they settled on part of the land. Maria junior became an apprentice dressmaker and later stitched garments for my great-great-grandmother Euphemia Maxwell and her daughters Alice and Edith at The Elms. Elizabeth and Emma became governesses and William a journalist with the Bay of Plenty Times. Eventually granddaughter Una Pennell (Emma’s girl) inherited the cottage and it was occupied by their family until 1960 after which it was sold to the Intellectually Handicapped Children Society as a ‘sheltered workshop’.

Finally in 1970 the site was to be redeveloped as a medical centre and arrangements were made by Les Dickson with my grandfather Duff Maxwell for it to be relocated to The Elms. As a 12-year-old I remember it arriving there on a large transporter. The veranda had been removed but was not reinstated and sometime later members of the Elms Trust built a very small kitchenette onto the back. It continues to be a valuable resource and is currently used for Devonshire teas, and other occasions and meetings involving the serving of food. This lovely old building was repainted a few years ago in what is hoped to be closer to its original colours.

Present day cottage at The Elms (Te Papa)
Photographed by Bob Tulloch

My sincere thanks to Alison Howarth, a Bickers descendant and Tauranga Historical Society member, for this story. She lent me copies of a series of articles written by a cousin Colleen Sullivan for the BOP Times in 1977 and also the old images of the Bickers-Pennell Family homestead.

The Mystery of the Monmouth Cannons Part 3: The Return of Captain Black

From Tauranga City Library’s archives

A monthly blog about interesting items in our collections.

This post follows on from The Mystery of the Monmouth Cannons Part 1 and Part 2, so be sure to check them out for the full backstory.

Te Tapihana cannon, Monmouth Redoubt, 2024.
Private Collection, Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries.

While transcribing Private George Crabbe's manuscript (see August's blog post on George Crabbe) we uncovered a crucial missing puzzle piece concerning the history of the Te Tapihana cannon, and its connection to the early Danish trader Phillip (Hans) Tapsell. 

George A Crabbe, (1840 - 1905).
Image courtesy of N. Wilson, Crabbe Collection, Tauranga Heritage Collection.

According to Crabbe's account, in early January of 1868, a schooner named Fortune arrived in Ōpōtiki carrying one of the old cannons belonging to Hans Tapsell of Maketū. The militia promptly got their hands on the gun and brought it ashore, where it was used for many years. Later, the gun was taken to Tauranga by a Captain Turner, though Crabbe does not provide a date for this.

Excerpt from Scrapbook compiled by Crabbe family (p. 21). George Alfred Crabbe, date unknown.
Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, ref Ms 112/3.

This story accords with what we already know of Te Tapihana’s history, in which Captain Archibald Campbell Turner had acquired the cannon from a military officer in Ōpōtiki during the New Zealand Wars (BOPT, April 6th, 1914, p. 4). But Crabbe’s account provides us with more than just the connection to Captain Turner.

Captain A. C. Turner N.Z.M.. c. 1900.
Puke Ariki Heritage Collection, ref PHO2011-2311.

In Part 2 we talked about the sale of two Tapsell cannons by Retreat Tapsell to a ‘Mr. Black’ of Tauranga (likely early trader Thomas Black), in early May of 1864. As it happens, the name of Black’s vessel was the Fortune (DSC, 12 May 1864, p. 4).

Could this be the same Fortune that arrived in Ōpōtiki with the Tapsell gun nearly four years later? It certainly seems so, as shipping records place Captain Black onboard the schooner Fortune in Ōpōtiki at the time (NZ Herald, Jan 18th, 1868, p. 2). 

View, Waioeka River and Wharves, Ōpōtiki. Creator and date unknown.
Te Whare Taonga ō Taketake, Whakatāne Museum Collections and Research, ref 42434. 

Since Black had reportedly purchased the cannons as ballast for his vessel, it is very plausible that Te Tapihana had remained onboard the Fortune from the time of it's purchase in 1864, until it's reappearance in Ōpōtiki in 1868. If our theory is correct, it would support the long-held belief that Te Tapihana was part of Phillip Tapsell's battery of 'big guns' at Maketū Pā.

Maketū Pā, Bay of Plenty. Watercolour by Major General Horatio Robley, 1865.
Collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, ref 1992-0035-826.

To learn more about Tapsell's battery of big guns, click here.

For more about George Crabbe and his first-hand account of the New Zealand Wars, click here.

Sources:   

 'Local and General'. (1914, 6 April). Bay of Plenty Times, 42(6097), p. 4.

'Maketū. (From our own Correspondent.) May 5'. (published 1864, 12 May). Daily Southern Cross, p. 4.

'Shipping Intelligence'. (1868, 18 January). New Zealand Herald, 5(1303), p. 2.

Crabbe, George Alfred. (n.d.). Scrapbook relating to Aotearoa land wars history, Māori culture, fauna/ flora/ reptiles, and sketch of Orākau pā. Collection of Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, ref Ms 112/3, pp. 21-22.