Captain Alexander Turner Jnr. and the Scow 'Margaret' 1892-1914

Part I 

Alexander (Sandy) Turner sailed from Ireland to Auckland with his family on the immigrant ship Carisbrooke Castle in 1875. Travelling on to Tauranga by steamer, he established himself as a 27 year old freehold farmer on Katikati’s Uretara River. After farming for some years, he commenced running coastal sailing vessels and cargoes between the Bay of Plenty, Auckland and intermediate ports. 

Captain Alexander Turner Snr. 

Image: The Pioneers: Settlers and Famulies of Katikati and District. Christine Clement, 2012, p.327.

On 13 February 1892, his son Alexander Jnr., known locally as Alec or Alick, sailed into Tauranga harbour with his new purchase, the Margaret, a bluff bowed, flat bottomed, two-masted scow. With a gross weight of 31-tons, it was powered solely by sail [1].

The scow Margaret c. 1890s.

Sitting level in low tide Tauranga  harbour, the crew are offloading posts and sawn timber onto two drays. While scows were often crude and ungainly in appearance, the Margaret has pleasing lines with a nice lift to the capping rail fore and aft. Image: Photographer unknown. Photo 04-572, Te Ao Mārama.

Built at Auckland for its first owner Mrs M. Andrew in late 1884, and described as ‘a small coaster’, the bluff-bowed Margaret was initially engaged in carrying kauri logs, baulk kauri and sawn timber to Auckland, from locations as diverse as Great Barrier Island, Ōrewa, Pūhoi, Pākiri and the Coromandel mill ports at Mercury and Kennedy’s Bay[2]. Between February 1892 and 1906, Captain Alec Turner and the Margaret regularly transported sawn kauri timber from Auckland and Coromandel sawmills to Tauranga, and on to Maketū and Katikati where it was needed for the construction of houses, schools, retail stores, hotels and churches for George Vesey Stewart’s immigrant settlers [3].

The large-scale timber felling and milling operations at Katikati, Whakāmarama, Omanawa and the Ōropi Bush which required numerous scows (most assisted by steam engines) to transport lumber by sea, did not commence in earnest until the early 20th century. During the depression of the 1890s, entrepreneurial local scow owner-captains like Alec Turner took every opportunity to acquire cargoes and ensure that their vessels turned a profit. On St Patrick’s Day 17 March 1892, for instance, he took a party of 30 people on a fishing excursion out into the Bay of Plenty, having sold tickets at 10 shillings per head. Turner continued his fishing excursions as far afield as Tūhua-Mayor Island and picnic excursions from Tauranga to the Mount throughout the 1890s [4].

When not delivering timber to Tauranga on contract, Turner disposed of his own cargoes of sawn timber and posts ‘at unusually cheap prices’, directly to local builders and timber merchants. Soon after purchasing the Margaret he sold off a cargo of sawn timber from Tairua at the Victoria Wharf in Tauranga at just 5 shillings and sixpence per hundred feet, yet was still able to return a profit [5].

The scow Lena Gladys on Katikati’s Uretara River, 1920

Like Captain Turner’s Margaret, the shallow draught Lena Gladys regularly sailed up the Uretara River to deliver and collect freight from Katikati. The Lena Gladys operated in Bay of Plenty waters until the Taneatua branch railway line opened in 1928. Image: Photographer unknown. Western Bay of Plenty District Council Community Archives.

Uplifting their purchases from the Margaret as it lay at Victoria Wharf or as it sat level at low tide locations around the harbour, Turner’s customers transported their purchases away by horse and cart.

Ever the entrepreneur, in October 1893, Turner returned from Mount Maunganui in October 1893 with a cargo of beach shells, before departing to sell them in Auckland for roading and road fill[6]. Turner continued this lucrative sideline into the late 1890s, supplying the Tauranga Borough Council with much needed ‘Mount shell’, as it was called, for local roading [7]. According to the Bay of Plenty Times:

"In those days there were tremendous quantities of marine shell deposited in the locality of the North Rock Light at the Mount. This was shovelled into drays, carted across the isthmus, and loaded into a large scow, the Margaret, in Pilot Bay. The unloading of the boat took place into drays at a point off the eastern end of Spring Street, but unloading periods were restricted to the times when the water was low enough to permit the draught horses to draw the loads. The pulling was heavy too, but nevertheless Cameron Road, the Strand, Devonport Road, and other streets in the business area carried surfaces up to four inches in thickness, when dressed with this material. Those road tops were well maintained. Half-a-century ago practically no metal was used [8]."

View of the Opopoti, Maungatapu Marae and the Rangataua Estuary on 2nd October 1958.

Captain Alec Turner and the Margaret once negotiated the estuary’s shallow inner harbour waters to bring a cargo of raupō (bulrush) for thatching the walls and roof of a new wharenui (meeting house). Image: Bronwyn Taikato. Ref 00-127. Te Ao Mārama.

Again, during April 1899, Turner and the Margaret arrived in Tauranga from an unidentified location with a cargo of raupō for Māori at Matapihi who were constructing a large wharenui. At that time there was also considerable demand for raupō by Ngāi Te Rangi hapu who were repairing their wharenui at Wharēroa Marae (near the present site of the harbour bridge on the Mount Maunganui side), at Karikari Marae (on the inner harbour near modern-day Bay Park Stadium) and at Maungatapu, where the Ngāti He hapū were constructing a new wharenui [9].

References

[1] Clement, Christine and Ellen McCormack, The Pioneer Settlers and Families of Katikati and District, Ellen McCormack, Katikati, 2012, p. 328; Bay of Plenty Times, 20 August 1936, p. 2.

[2] Auckland Star, 6 December 1884, p.2.

[3] Bay of Plenty Times, 1 February 1893, p. 2; 14 December 1898, p. 2; 14 May 1900, p. 2; Auckland Star, 25 March, 1898, p.2.

[4] Bay of Plenty Times, 15 February 1892, p. 2; 27 December 1945, p.4; 21 January 1948, p.2.

[5] Ibid:May 1892, p.2.

[6] Ibid: 30 October, 1893, p.2.

[7] Ibid:15 December 1897: 2; 25 August 1897, p.2.

[8] Ibid: 5 January 1839, p.5.

[9] Ibid:5 April, 1899, p.2.

The Mōtiti Road Rail Ferry

 

Two maps of Mōtiti.  Neither is contemporaneous with Brain’s work on the island, but the coloured image shows the settlement pattern of the island’s residents in 1929; the black and white sketch map shows the route (dashed line) of the tramline that once led to Orangatea Bay.  Images: (left) Western Bay of Plenty District Libraries, SAK 34A, digital only; and (right) Te Ara, An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, ed. A. H. McLintock, 1966

I first began researching the people who lived in the Brain Watkins House back in the early 2000s  when I was working for NZ Historic Places Trust (now Heritage New Zealand).  Among the listed achievements of Joseph Brain was “a tramway on Mōtiti Island to transfer cattle to a ship waiting off shore”.

George Alexander Douglas, An Irishman, originally from Derry, moved down from Auckland to Tauranga and received a Crown Grant of a piece of land in 1867. He became a successful storekeeper when he arrived in Tauranga.

He had begun working in Auckland as a commissariat contractor supplying the military forces in the country and was elected a member of the Auckland Provincial Council from 1869 to 1873. G A Douglas leased a portion of Mōtiti Island from a local chief Tupaea, probably commencing in 1867 but he did not move there to live until 1870. He improved the breeding of cattle and Clydesdale horses on Mōtiti. He was also responsible for the introduction of the Bumble Bees that were essential for the fertilization of the Red Clover flowers. The clover had been introduced to boost the quality of the stock food but could not flourish without the bees. The soil on Mōtiti was fertile, water was abundant from numerous springs, but it lacked a natural harbour. 

S.S.Staffa   Image: Te Ao Māramā – Tauranga City Libraries Photo 04-593

To ensure transporting stock and goods, Douglas bought a small coastal steamer S.S. Tauranga in 1870. From 1876 to 1881 he had the S.S.Rowena and S.S.Staffa. The difficulty created by the lack of a harbour was loading the stock onto his ship before he could send the cargo to Tauranga.

In Orangatea Bay Douglas built a system of stock yards, and tramline. The late local historian Alister Matheson, in his book Motiti[1], tongue in cheek, named the project “The Motiti Road Rail Ferry”. The stock yards held the stock until they were loaded on a punt that could hold twenty cattle. The punt sat on a cradle or bogie that ran down the tramline, gaining speed, and was attached by a rope on a winch on land. When the punt reached the steamer it was secured and the rope wound back by the winch. The cattle were individually lifted by slings on to the steamer, which then sailed to Tauranga.  Douglas was helped in the construction of the tramline system by Joseph Brain, the experienced ship and bridge builder of Tauranga.

Hoisting fat cattle from the wharf to a steamer for shipping from Auckland to Sydney, Australia, 1902. 

Image: Supplement to the Auckland Weekly News, 14 August 1902, p. 10

In an interview with Mrs Elva Brain Watkins, the youngest daughter of Joseph, Matheson learned that Brain’s practice was to row across the harbour to Mount Maunganui then walk along the ocean beach until he was opposite Mōtiti Island where he would signal his arrival.  A boat from Mōtiti would then pick him up from the beach. In his boatyard on The Strand Brain employed Māori men from Mōtiti who would stay at the Mōtiti Hostel across the street.

J. D. Brain, Brain Watkins House Collection.  Image: Shirley Arabin

At the time that Matheson wrote the book the only remnants of the Mōtiti Road Rail Ferry were decaying puriri posts at the site, so it is unlikely that there will be any evidence left of this project today.

When George Douglas visited Napier in 1892 to purchase sheep he fell ill and died there.  He had not married and in his will the beneficiaries of his estate were his nieces and nephews.

 [1] Matheson A.H.,Motiti,pub. Whakatane & District Historical Society P O Box 203, Whakatane 1979.

 

Editorial note: Readers may be interested in finding an extended photo-essay on Mōtiti Island life in the 1960’s by Tony Ahern, editor of Tauranga Photo News, Issue No. 34, April 3 1965:

https://paekoroki.tauranga.govt.nz/nodes/view/101354 

The White House in Ōtūmoetai

 

The 75-year old home today.  Image: Julie Green

Last year I was privileged to meet the occupants of this wonderful home, constructed in 1950 and sited a little back from the road, near Ōtūmoetai Primary School. They had a diesel-powered central heating system which no longer functioned well.  After considering their options they offered their vintage technology to the Tauranga Heritage Collection. This was not a suitable home for such an item so help was instead sought from Tauranga’s Vintage Farm Machinery Club. Through the kind efforts of one of their members the problems with the heater were overcome and it fired up once again.

 The family was very grateful to be able to use the heater last winter and is preparing to light it again as the cold weather closes in this year. I have enjoyed several visits to their lovely home and have permission to share with you this recent picture and a few older images in their possession.

William Barnard’s home and orchard in 1954. Photographer unknown

The home was built for Labour MP for Napier William( Bill ) Barnard after he retired from politics and moved to Tauranga to join his son-in-law in legal practice in 1948. He was Mayor here from 1950-52 and very involved in community affairs. One of the rooms upstairs was designated as a library and even though the shelving is long gone there are obvious lines on the walls where the shelves were attached.  Bill and his family had less than a decade of living there before he passed away in Auckland in 1958 at the age of 72.

The framed photograph below hangs on the wall of the upstairs landing.  It gives us a great idea of the topography in Ōtūmoetai prior to the development of the whole Bellevue area. You can make out the entrance of the Wairoa River, the curve of the railway line around the perimeter of  Bethlehem and the Matua Saltmarsh, and the farms which became the college in 1965 and, in 1967, the intermediate school.

Bellevue and Bethlehem in their agricultural days. Photographer unknown

The primary school is nestled in behind the row of dark trees to the left of centre. The area across the road, that now includes a fuel station, housing and the telephone exchange, appears to have been just a rough field when this photograph was taken. 

There has been a succession of owners over the home’s 75-year history. Not much is presently known about them but there have been several extensions at the back and side, dormer windows have been added to the attic space and the kitchen/dining area has been refurbished. There is now another home built in what was the front yard and of course the old orchard has become covered in dwellings also. But the old homestead stands tall and proud and is much loved by its present owners.

Very recently a former occupant arrived on their doorstep with an unframed painting and asked if they would like it. Of course the present owners agreed - it was very welcome. They intend to frame and hang it as part of the growing record of the story of their home.

“THE WHITE HOUSE,  Otumoetai”. Artist unknown

All images in this post were taken by Julie Green, courtesy of the owners.

No Deed Goes Unpunished: Forging Title at Lot 202

From Tauranga City Library’s archives

A monthly blog about interesting items in our collection

Lot 202, Section 1, Town of Tauranga: a century-long ownership anomaly

Lot 202, Section 1, on the corner of Grey and Elizabeth Streets, originated as part of the Te Papa lands purchased in 1838–1839 from Ngāi Te Rangi by the Church Missionary Society to be held in trust, and was transferred to the Crown under post-war pressure in 1867 for the creation of the Tauranga township. At that time it was one of the sections that Governor Grey had promised to Crown aligned Arawa and Ngāi Te Rangi chiefs to receive in recognition of their service during the New Zealand Wars. Twenty-six sections were selected for this purpose, and Crown grants were eventually issued for twenty-five of them. Strangely, and despite later being occupied, Lot 202 was never officially granted, remaining on paper at least, in Crown ownership.

This went unnoticed for decades.

From 1871, it had been occupied and used by Anaru Haua and later by his descendants. Although the family lived primarily on the sections next door, Lot 202 was fenced, cultivated as a garden, and used as a horse paddock. After the road level was raised in 1920 the section was re-fenced, with a gated and padlocked entrance at the corner. Rates were paid on the land from at least 1910, and it was widely known locally as Haua’s paddock. In 1950 Charles William Haua, who had been operating at the Spring Street end of Grey Street, built a blacksmith’s shop on the section and continued to operate his business there.

Charlie Haua's blacksmith's shop, cnr Grey and Elizabeth Streets
Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Photo 02-156

By the 1920s, when the Crown reviewed lands that were “looked on as Crown lands subject to Native claims,” the mistake came to light.  Competing claims were raised by hapū who had originally been intended recipients of township sections in 1867, and in 1955 the Māori Land Court made an order vesting the land in Tamihana Tikitere of Ngāti Uenukukōpako. It looked like the Haua's might loose access to Lot 202 and the new blacksmith's shop would need to move.

Charlie Haua was not making his claim to the proprety through the Māori Land Court however, but under the Land Transfer Act, on the grounds that the land had been clearly and unambiguously in his family’s complete possession for several generations. In legal speak this is a principle known as adverse possession; and it meant that he could not make his case to the Māori Land Court, even though their decision directly affected the same land. Instead, he brought proceedings in the Supreme Court (A.122/59), heard in 1960 before Justice Hardie Boys. The Court examined the full history of the section and found as a matter of fact that Haua and his ancestors had occupied Lot 202 openly, continuously, exclusively, and notoriously (in the legal sense) from the nineteenth century onward. Lot 202’s ambiguous status, caused by administrative failure, was finally resolved by judicial decision after nearly a century.

Charlie Haua's blacksmith's shop, Grey Street, Tauranga c. 1940s.
Mollie Hardy, Charlie Haua, Pat Holloway.
Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Photo 99-1161

Charlie operated his blacksmith business from the corner of Grey and Elizabeth Streets until 1969 when we finally retired. His blacksmithing operation was transferred to the Tauranga Museum / Historic Village, where it was preserved as a working exhibit. There, he continued to demonstrate blacksmithing for school groups and visitors, keeping the craft alive as a public heritage activity for many years. 

The judgement is part of Ms 81, the Papers of Charlie Haua within the archives at Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, which have been digitised at made available on Pae Korokī Tauranga Archives Online. 

Sources

Lot 202 Section 1 Town of Tauranga, Judgement of Hardie Boys, J. (Journal of the Tauranga Historical Society Number 57, page 11)

Lot 202 Part II (Journal of the Tauranga Historical Society Number 58, page 19)

Lot 202, Section 1 in Tile 4: Survey Office map 55557

Judgement of Hardie Boys, J. for Haua v Tamihana and the District Land Registrar (Ms 81/2/1)

Tile 4: Survey Office map 55557

Papers relating to post war land tenure in the Western Bay of Plenty and other related material (Ams 270/1)

---

 

Written by Harley Couper, Heritage Specialist at Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries

 

A to Z of Tauranga Museum: C is for Cameras

 

Bay of Plenty Times staff photographer, 1977. Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Photo gca-22569

As a holiday destination known for its stunning scenery and photogenic landmarks like Mauao, it’s fitting that Tauranga Museum holds a varied and interesting camera collection. Our town has also been home to several notable photographers, yet it is the camera of amateur photographer and longtime resident William Poole that tells a story reaching far beyond our rohe.

An WW1 album page capturing candid moments at the front. Hauraki Association Collection, Tauranga Museum.

Historians have often described the First World War as the photographic event of the 20th century. The Vest Pocket Kodak became the soldier’s camera of choice, favoured for its small size and affordability. Although military authorities banned cameras at the front - concerned that sensitive information could fall into enemy hands or that confronting images might damage morale at home - Kodak continued to encourage soldiers to create their own ‘picture record of the war’. Many did, ignoring the ban, and the photographs they captured now form an important visual record of their experiences. 

Kodak Vest Pocket Autographic that belonged to Lieutenant William Poole. Tauranga Museum 0610/03

This Vest Pocket Kodak Autographic camera belonged to William Poole. Before enlisting, William ran a dental surgery on The Strand, located above A. J. Mirrielees, Chemist and Optician. Mirrielees was the town's Kodak dealer and throughout the war he placed regular advertisements in the Bay of Plenty Times promoting the Vest Pocket as the “ideal gift for a soldier.” William's camera and leather case were donated with a handwritten note: "This Vest Pocket Kodak camera was used by Capt. W. H. J. Poole 40684, NZ Dental Corps during WW1. See the stylus which was used via the little flap to give a title to each photograph." 

A pre‑WW1  photograph of The Strand shows William Poole’s surgery in the top left‑hand corner. Tauranga Museum 0614/08

Frustratingly, none of the photographs William may have taken with this camera during his two and a half years with the New Zealand Dental Corps was included in the donation to the Museum. His war record shows that he spent most of this time treating soldiers’ teeth in New Zealand.  He served just 96 days overseas before being returned home, due to ill health. 

TT in Te Puna, 1961

 

Motorcycle road race, 24 January 1961, group on truck

Image: Te Ao Marama Photo gca-523

On Te Puna’s busy roads of today, it is hard to believe that for a Saturday afternoon in January 1961, two of its most important thoroughfares were closed.  And not for the first time – the Tauranga Motorcycle Club had been able to do this since 1955, just before my family arrived in Te Puna.  The family in the photo above is still to be identified, but the image shows the cheerful interest that was taken in these races, described in combative terms: “thrilling duel”, “battle”, “challenger”, “desperate effort”.  Road races, on real roads, were the stuff of drama.

By 1961, Te Puna Road had been tar sealed but was significantly narrower than it is today.  Its long, flattish stretch from the main highway provided starting and finishing straights for a series of motorcycle races, “conducted under ideal conditions [and] watched by a good crowd”. [1]

You can find the starting line today.  It was at the entryway to number 78, Te Puna Road.

"Competitors in the 500 c.c. race at the Tauranga Motorcycle Club's Road race meeting at Te Puna at the weekend being briefed while lined up on the grid awaiting the start.  The winner, F. Cardon (Auckland) is nearest camera, No. 5."

Image: Te Ao Marama Photo gca540

This was probably not the only start-point, however.  The NZ Lightweight TT race ran over 20 miles, which by my calculation of the route used meant a half-lap had to be accommodated somewhere.  The TT (standing for “Tourist Trophy”, a term of art in the motorcycling world) probably began at the corner of Borell and Snodgrass Roads, where there still is a short straight to roar off on, then down over the railway bridge and uphill for a mild left turn into Armstrong Road before its chicanes taxed the riders’ skills.  After that, they went for five further laps before the finish line outside number 78 on Te Puna Road.

All the other roads, in 1961, were surfaced with metal from the Te Puna Quarry.  Pink/grey rhyolite, ready to crumble and turn to dust, but in “ideal conditions” skiddy, slidy fun stuff to zoom along on - as long as you were ahead of the pack.  But not even then. In 1961, the leading contender in the 350 cc race, F. Cardon, had to retire when “a stone dropped down the venturi mouth of his carburettor.”

The longer, 32-mile races, took seven circuits for the 350 cc and 500 cc racing bikes.  In 1961, the winner of the 350 cc class, J. Farnsworth, set “a new lap record of 3.29s” over the 3.7 mile circuit.  Less than a mile a minute on average: given the twists and turns of the route, this must have meant some crazy speeds on the straights.

It also meant a thrilling afternoon for the “good crowd”.  Haybales lined the corner of Borell Road, just after the other, Te Puna Road, railway bridge; at George and Bubbles Waterman’s chook farm on Snodgrass Road; and at Armstrong Road, where Alistair Clark’s house still stands.  This was a counter-clockwise circuit, with left-hand turns all the way.

F. Cardon, winner of the 500 cc race at Te Puna in 1961, negotiates the transition from loose metal back to tar seal at the corner of Armstrong and Te Puna Roads

Image: Te Ao Marama, Photo gca541

Spectators lined the route, and I imagine (I was always at the start/finish line) that another landmark Te Puna property, Rex Williams’ farm, famous for Rex’s collection of machinery and variously-powered engines, provided a vantage point for knowledgeable enthusiasts, later to be known as petrol-heads.

Motorcycle road racing seems not to have lasted in Tauranga much beyond 1961.  Images in the Photo News, which came to Tauranga in 1962, show cross-country races on the Papamoa Hills and the startup of Bay Park.  Its editor would surely have included a road-race story if one had happened.  These days, the Tauranga Motorcycle Club does its racing off-road, at the TECT Park.  A very different landscape to the placid pastorale of 1950’s Te Puna, which tolerated – on the evidence, actively enjoyed – having its peace and rights of way destroyed for a summer afternoon’s excitement.

"THRILLING DUEL. F Cardon (No. 5) and J Farnsworth (No. 27) battle for the lead in the 350 c.c. racing class at the Tauranga motorcycle club's road race meeting at Te Puna on Saturday.  Farnsworth won the race, Cardon retiring after a stone lodged in his carburettor venturi."

Image: Te Ao Marama, Photo gca524

Notes

[1] Bay of Plenty Times, Monday January 23 1961, p. 3.  All quotes used are taken from this article and accompanying photograph captions.

The Mount Maunganui Channel and the Wrecking of the Cutter Waterlily, 1873

 

Tauranga Harbour, its main entrance and outer waters witnessed the wreckings of many waka Māori, sailing ships and steamers, both large and small during the course of the 1800s.

The narrow Maunganui Channel particularly, with its outer southern reef, shifting winds, strong currents, rocky southern shore (under Mauao) and Stony Point Reef continued to claim vessels well into the 1900s.

In 1829, the Mount’s channel rocks almost wrecked the Australian whaling ship Vittoria. Fortunately, the whalers Guide and Prince of Denmark were also in the harbour seeking provisions from local iwi. The combined tools and efforts of all three crews repaired the Vittoria sufficiently for it to sail clear before the weather turned.[1]

Marked today by the statue of the sea god Tangaroa, the Maunganui Channel’s Stony Point Reef nearly claimed immigrant visionary George Vesey Stuart’s newly arrived Te Puke and Katikati settlers. Clearing the channel and emerging into the harbour under full sail in January and December 1881 respectively, the 2000-ton Lady Jocelyn and 733-ton May Queen lost way and began drifting back towards the reef. Fortunately, there were steamships at the Town and Victoria wharves, whose skippers steamed to the rescue and towed both vessels to the safety of the old Man O’ War Anchorage.[2], [3]

In January 1881, the 2000-ton immigrant clipper Lady Jocelyn narrowly avoided going aground at Stony Point.

Maurice Forester, ‘Painting of the ship Lady Jocelyn’, Pae Koroki, Tauranga City Libraries Photo 06-197

While the two great ocean-going immigrant ships escaped the reef, a variety of smaller European-built sailing vessels under 20 tons were wrecked from the 1840s, particularly when their Māori and Pākehā skippers sailed too close to the Mount while entering and exiting Pilot Bay. Among them was the Waterlily.

Described as ‘a fine little cutter’ the Auckland based ten-ton Waterlily (not to be confused with the 17-ton schooner Waterlily which was also active at the time), was wrecked at Stony Point in June 1873. A versatile, single masted, fore-and-aft rigged sailboat with two gaff mainsails and a long bowsprit, the Waterlily had previously traded between Auckland and the Bay of Plenty ports for several years without mishap.[4]     

Having left Port Charles at the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula and bound for Tauranga, Captain Eggerton and his crew of three experienced strong northerlies and ‘thickening weather’ off Tauranga Harbour’s Katikati entrance around 9 p.m. Entering the Maunganui Channel and driven through by the wind and tide ‘at full force’, the Waterlily crashed onto Stony Point reef around 11 p.m. where ‘the sea commenced to break over her immediately’.

Tangaroa statue, Frank Szirmay ‘Tangaroa’ (1976), Port of Tauranga 

Photo: Bronwyn Holloway Smith, Public Art Heritage, Aotearoa New Zealand, Tauranga City Council Art Collection.

Stony Point Reef extends from the beach below Mount Maunganui to the plinth and statue of the Māori sea god Tangaroa. The Waterlily struck the reef to the statue’s right (i.e., on the left of this picture).

The concussion unshipped the rudder, which drifted away and was lost, depriving the crew of all control over the cutter. Prior to the wrecking, the captain, who could barely distinguish the nearby Mount in the deteriorating conditions, reported later that no channel buoys were to be seen.[5]

An anchor was dropped in an attempt to keep the cutter off the rocks, but it would not hold. The captain and crew were forced to abandon the Waterlily, but not before saving most of their personal effects and the jibsail which they got aboard the vessel’s dinghy. Managing, with difficulty, to clear the point they rowed into the shelter of Pilot Bay where they passed a miserable night on the beach.

The following morning Captain Eggerton, who was the son of the Waterlily’s owner, and the three sailors were collected and taken across the harbour and into town by a boat dispatched from the Tauranga ketch Isabella. Captain Eggerton immediately telegraphed Auckland to inform his father of the wrecking. The Waterlily, which was insured, had been loaded with 45 tons of firewood (uninsured), intended for Mr. Piercy, a Tauranga merchant.[6], [7]

A small sailing vessel on the rocks in heavy seas. The crew are attempting to salvage what they can 

from the wreck.

Image: Johan Christian Dohl, ‘Stranded Ship’- Strandet Skip - KODE Art Museums and Composer Homes, BB.B  Public domain.

Later that morning, local identities Captain Thomas Moller and Charles Hopkins returned to the wreck with the Waterlily’s crew on the lifeboat of the steamer Southern Cross. Landing on the beach below the Mount at low tide, they made their way along the reef through heavy surf to retrieve the cutter’s remaining sails and tackle. The following day Mr. Fullerton, another Tauranga resident, twice took his cutter down to the Mount, where he and his crew took away the Waterlily’s cargo of firewood for Mr. Piercy.[8]     

Evaluating the cause of the Waterlily wreck, the New Zealand Herald reported on I July 1873:

The casualty is entirely attributable to the neglected condition of the harbour, the channel of which some eight years ago was properly buoyed out and marked with beacons, and a harbourmaster appointed to see that these were kept in repair. Three years ago the harbourmaster, who was also the pilot, was removed at the suggestion of the sitting member of the Provincial Council for Tauranga… The removal of the pilot station acts prejudicially on the district because it prevents the entry into the harbour of men-o'-war, of which there have been not a few in Tauranga.[9]   

Tauranga remained a high-risk port for all types and sizes of vessels in the 1870s, due to its poorly marked and charted channels and ever-shifting sandbars. The harbour beacon that Captain Eggerton and the crew of the Waterlily had so desperately hoped to sight when passing through the channel had been swept away some weeks previously. To this day, knowledgeable mariners, aware of the risks of the Maunganui Channel and hoping for safe passage, make small offerings as they pass the statue of Tangaroa and the Te Kuia and Kurī Rocks further around the rock-strewn base of Mauao-Mount Maunganui.

Twice the tonnage of the 10-ton Waterlily, the cutter Lee was built at Henry Nicol’s shipyard in Auckland’s Mechanic’s Bay in 1864. The Lee also undertook trading voyages to Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty 

trading ports.

Image: Auckland Weekly News, ‘The cutter Lee, winner of the trading cutters’ race’. 4 February 1909. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collection Record ID AWNS-19090204-07-04.

References

[1] Collin, David R.; Kirkudbright’s Prince of Denmark and Her Voyages in the South Seas, Whittles, Dunedin, 2013: p 4.

[2] Brett, Henry, White Wings Vol. 1: Fifty Years of Sail in the New Zealand Trade, 1850-1900, Brett, Auckland, 1924: 42.

[3] Bay of Plenty Times, 4 January 1881: 2. Also see Bay of Plenty Times, 
13 January 1881: 2.

[4] Bay of Plenty Times, 25 June 1873: 3.

[5] New Zealand Herald, 1 July 1873: 2.                    

[6] Daily Southern Cross, 28 June 1873: 2.

[7] Bay of Plenty Times, 25 June 1873: 3.

[8] New Zealand Herald, 1 July 1873: 2

[9] ibid.

Tauranga in 1934: G. Duncan’s City Centre Plans

From Tauranga City Library’s archives

A monthly blog about interesting items in our collection

If you’ve ever wondered what Tauranga’s 'CBD' looked like nearly a century ago, G. Duncan’s 1934 survey drawings are a fascinating window into the past. These two maps - accessible in Pae Korokī as Map 21‑001 and Map 21‑002 - capture a city in transition, balancing its small-town roots with the ambitions of modern planning.

Tauranga properties in the city centre - sheet 1. Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Map 21-001

We don’t know much about G. Duncan himself, but his work speaks volumes. His detailed survey of Tauranga’s CBD shows a bustling hub concentrated along The Strand, especially between Spring Street and Hamilton Street. This was the commercial core, lined with shops, fruiterers, bootmakers, drapers, clothiers, furniture makers, paint shops, loan and mercantile offices, garages—and, of course, hotels, tea rooms, and billiard rooms.  Even noted is the Gasometer on Grey Street and the banks on the corners of streets.

Tauranga properties in the city centre - sheet 2. Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Map 21-002

Duncan’s plans captured an extraordinary level of detail, showing not only the footprint of every building, but also sheds, garages and outdoor lavatories. It documented each structure’s size, level of completion and storeys, and the materials used for walls and roofs. Even infrastructure like water reticulation, with pipe diameters, pressure levels, and parapet heights, is noted. This level of precision would have made the maps useful planning tools for the city to respond effectively to fires, to prioritise areas for growth and determine how Tauranga could balance practical needs with new planning laws.

Screenshot showing key to Tauranga properties in the city centre - sheet 2, Map 21-002

Sadly, you have to look very hard to see many of these buildings still standing, although there are a handful, particularly near the lower end of Devonport Road. When used in conjunction with other local resources, we are able to cross-reference and determine where previous owners had their premises.  Following, is an image, outlining names of business owners and their premises in 1934, on the corner of Wharf Street and The Strand:

Screenshot of part Map 21-001

We can only guess why these maps were made, however, the Central Tauranga Heritage Study (April, 2008, p 33-34) mentions that the Town Planning Act 1926 required all boroughs with populations over 1,000 to prepare a planning scheme by 1930. Tauranga’s first operative town plan didn’t arrive until 1969, but Duncan’s 1934 survey was almost certainly part of the groundwork for that process. 

Central Tauranga Heritage Study: part one, April 2008, p16

Next time you need to link a name to a location in central Tauranga, download G. Duncan's maps and you may be surprised at the connections you can make.

Sources

Duncan, G. (1934). Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Map 21-001 Tauranga properties in the city centre - sheet 1 | Pae Korokī

Duncan, G. (1934). Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Map 21-002: Tauranga properties in the city centre - sheet 2 | Pae Korokī

 

Gainsford, Jennie, Matthews & Matthews Architects Ltd, R. A. Skidmore & Associates, Rorke, Jean Euphemia Finlayson, Trutman, Lisa. (2008, April). Central Tauranga Heritage Study : part one, April 2008 Tauranga City Council & Bay of Plenty Regional Council. https://paekoroki.tauranga.govt.nz/nodes/view/109864

Palmer, Kenneth, Waitangi Tribunal: Te Rōpu Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi (2006). Legislation governing town and country planning in Tauranga Moana 1953-1990. Wai 215 - Waitangi Tribunal Tauranga Moana Claims https://paekoroki.tauranga.govt.nz/nodes/view/27713

 

New Zealand Legislation: https://www.legislation.govt.nz/

 

Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Map 24-371. (1963). City of Tauranga – District Planning Scheme https://paekoroki.tauranga.govt.nz/nodes/view/115677

---

 

Written by Jody Smart, Heritage Specialist at Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries

 

A to Z of Tauranga Museum: B is for Bathing Suits

 

Image courtesy of Tauranga Museum, Robert Gale Collection, 0005/20/539

As the Bay of Plenty summer continues to be hot and locals and visitors alike flock to the coast, it’s hard to miss how deeply beach culture is woven into our identity. From sun-soaked days on Mount Maunganui beaches to the salty breeze off Te Awanui, these experiences have shaped our city’s character for generations. The Tauranga Museum holds a treasure trove of artifacts that tell this story.

Gifted by Tauranga Historical Society, Tauranga Museum, 0230/11

Its collection captures the essence of seaside leisure: beach umbrellas for shade, surf boards for thrill-seekers, picnic baskets for family outings, and even a bottle of Q-tol – the once-popular lotion that soothed sunburn long before we understood the importance of sunscreen.

                                1930s swimsuit, made in England.               Early 1980s Expozay, made in Tauranga.
                                       Tauranga Museum, 0151/16                           Tauranga Museum, 0032/14

But the real stars of the collection might be the bathing suits. With 83 suits spanning more than a century, this collection charts the evolution of beachwear - from modest woollen costumes to sleek Lycra designs. Many of the suits reflect not only innovation in materials and design but also changing attitudes toward fashion and freedom of expression.

For example, the museum holds two Jantzen swimsuits that were manufactured in Wellington by A.J. Coleman Ltd under licence from the American brand.  They were the height of style in their respective decades. During the 1930s and 40s, new fabrics emerged, sleeves vanished, and bold colours became the norm – as seen in a striking bright blue swimsuit:

1930s-1940s Jantzen swimsuit. Tauranga Museum, 0019/00

 Moving forward to the 1970s, and designers were embracing Lycra, a revolutionary fabric that allowed for greater flexibility and comfort. This floral swimsuit illustrates the shift toward vibrant patterns and figure-hugging styles that defined the decade:

1970s Jantzen swimsuit. Tauranga Museum, 0266/11