An Architour of some of Tauranga’s older homes

 Recently, and in conjunction with Gerry Hodgson, a retired local architect, Tauranga Historical took a group of fifteen people on a most interesting trip around the northern end of Te Papa peninsula. We viewed houses from the roadside and learnt about the differing styles of home building in New Zealand from earliest European settlement to modern times.

The Elms Te Papa.  Image: Julie Green

Our first stop was of course the Georgian/Regency/Colonial example in Mission Street.  The Elms Te Papa was built predominantly by hand with local materials. Gerry pointed out its symmetrical design with a well-lit central foyer, matching twin dormer windows and the absence of a verandah —unusual for this style of house, so it may have been the personal preference of its first occupants, the Brown family. It was completed in 1847 by missionary carpenters, with doors and windows made on site, and hand- polished glass imported from Moravia for the many small window panes. The roof originally had kauri shakes but early in the 20th century they were covered with corrugated iron.

Gerry Hodgson on the front veranda at Brain Watkins House.  Image: Julie Green

Next we arrived at the front of Brain Watkins House at 233 Cameron Road — a Victorian Square Villa. This is still somewhat symmetrical in style with a central corridor and a wide verandah trimmed with ornate fretwork. Probably built to a standard plan from a sale catalogue, it was constructed by local shipwright and civic contractor Joseph Brain in 1881 for his wife and four daughters. The kauri used in its construction was transported here from Coromandel in one of his small scows.  The house was extended around 1900 as Joseph’s family had grown: a fifth girl was born in 1891. 

Edwardian house, Arundel Street.  Image: Julie Green

Gerry confessed to knowing little about the history of the next home we visited, in Arundel Street.  He called it an Edwardian house: the earlier fashion for symmetry having lessened in favour of a bay window on one side and a verandah extending around two sides or more. It was interesting, however, to note that the fretwork decorating the facade is almost identical to the 1880s Brain Watkins House, even though this one dates to 1910. It also features finials on the gable ends and little overlapping tiles above the bay window. 

“The Old White House” in Second Avenue. Image: Julie Green

Very close by in Second Avenue is the location of a Californian Bungalow or Ranch home, built in 1906 using large posts and beams. It has almost a Japanese flavour, and Gerry pointed out the presence of great ventilation features in the ceiling spaces included in the design. The present owners have chosen to replace the corrugated iron with textured malthoid tiles when reroofing.

The two aspects of 186 Devonport Road.  Images: Julie Green

A short walk around the corner and down a hedge-lined drive brought us to this 1932 English Revival stucco home off Devonport Road. The front and back facades are quite different.  The street side of the house features large Tudor-style beams. On the other side, facing the harbour and a large front lawn, a vestibular verandah is constructed within the main frame.

The street entrance, 186 Devonport Road.  Image: Julie Green

After a short break for a snack next to the WWII memorial at Memorial Park, we had to retreat to our vehicles due to heavy rain. Driving to the other end of the reserve, we parked next to the QEII sports pavilion and looked across to the rise where Fraser Street and Eleventh Avenue meet. There, in 1972, a Gerry Hodgson-designed-home, featuring a cantilevered verandah, was built with cedar and brick. It is presently owned by another architect who invited its designer over for a cup of tea not long after purchasing this truly NZ-style home.

Exterior and interior, 40 Fraser Street.  Images: Gerry Hodgson

A very independent woman

Yatton Park from above, 2026.  Mansel Street is at extreme top-left corner.  The site of the original homestead, above the bend of the Waimapu Stream, is entirely covered by trees. Image: Google Maps

During the Victorian era, intrepid female explorers defied strict societal expectations of domesticity, travelling the globe for adventure, scientific discovery, and personal freedom. Mary Kingsley explored west African jungles and swamps, Isabella Bird the explorer and travel writer rode 800 miles over the Rocky Mountains, while the artist Marianne North ventured to all of the continents and her collection of botanical art is housed at Kew Gardens in London. Another woman, this one Irish-born, Lucy Mansel travelled to New Zealand prepared to break in the land and farm, accompanied by six of her nephews.

As well as her sense of adventure, the family background may also have led to a desire to leave England as her brother and later her sister did, for their father Robert Mansel, who was the Lieutenant Colonel of the 6^th Inneskilling Dragoons, was the first of several illegitimate children fathered by General Robert Manners and his common-law wife Mary Ann Goodchild. Mary was the daughter of a coachman so not of the same class as her partner. Manners never married and died aged 65 in 1823 in London but had lived at Bloxham Hall in Lincolnshire.

Lucy Mansel heard of George Vesey Stewart’s Katikati settlement in New Zealand from a friend and decided to take a big step and emigrate. She was unmarried and, on the Northumberland in 1884, brought with her six nephews: Charles, Herbert, William and Harold Mansel, sons of her brother Robert, and Clement and Robert Dowell, sons of her sister Mary Dowell [1].  She had been caring for Herbert since he was five years old. On arrival in New Zealand, she decided against settling in Katikati with the other Stewart people and instead bought an established farm on the outskirts of Tauranga. It was Yatton, the 320-acre property formerly owned by John Chadwick [2].

Miss Lucy Mansel (centre, holding a dog) and her young relatives, October 1899. Herbert sits in front.

Image: Te Ao Marama Tauranga City Libraries 09-003

Miss Mansel, as she was known in those more formal days, extended the existing house at Yatton to one with eight bedrooms and also built a large barn that was used for balls and other social occasions.  The domestic buildings were built on a high point overlooking the estuary. She was a very strong supporter of the Anglican Church, helping to fund-raise for the new church of St George’s at Gate Pa, and was the only woman on the building committee. She donated the font for the new church. Lucy made the Methodist Sunday School children welcome each year for their annual picnic at her farm after their short voyage up the estuary from Tauranga to the landing at Yatton.  The barn provided shelter if there was poor weather. 

 Miss Lucy Mantel and her boating party on the Waimapu, October 1889.

Image: Te Ao Marama Tauranga City Libraries Photo 09-004

Lucy Mansel was also a committee member of a group of Tauranga women who organised the gift of a photograph album for Mary, Duchess of Cornwall, later George V’s Queen, on the occasion of the Royal Visit in 1905.  It was an album of Tauranga and district photographs by Tauranga’s leading photographer Mary Humphries.

As well as having her nephews working on the farm, she also accommodated farm cadets from England as G.V. Stewart and some of his Katikati settlers did. She never married and left the farm to her nephew Herbert Benbow Mansel, the five-year-old whom she had brought up. It was this legacy to Herbert that prompted Lucy’s niece, Mary Constance Dowell, to contest the will that Lucy had signed in 1910.  Her claims of her aunt’s fading mental facilities and encroaching blindness were disputed by George Maltby, lawyer; Reverend Eric Rice, vicar; Dr Budenell her doctor; Walter Baigent, accountant; and nephew Herbert Mansel.  In light of the information from these men Mary Constance withdrew her objection to the granting of probate.

It is from Herbert’s submission that the family stories are revealed. Robert Mansel and his wife, parents of Herbert and his brothers, retired from the Royal Navy where his rank was Commander, to farm in Africa where he died in 1872. When he married in Tauranga, Herbert built another house on Yatton for his future family, adjacent to Lucy’s. His parents had taken four of his siblings to Africa. Herbert was 17 when he arrived in Tauranga and totally dependent on his aunt. During her lifetime Lucy gave Herbert part of Yatton in trust for his children and helped him financially, including help with the education of his children. Lucy also told him she would leave him the remainder of the Yatton estate. By 1914 she had sold any remaining property in England and brought the money to New Zealand. Lucy’s eyesight did get worse but she lived until 1916. She died in Auckland and is buried in Tauranga’s Anglican cemetery [3].

Subdivisional map of Yatton, May 1919.  Image: Te Ao Marama Tauranga City Libraries Map 20-230

Lucy’s sister Mary Mansel married George Dare Dowell of the Royal Marines.  He won the Victoria Cross during the Crimean War. It was his sons who had travelled to Tauranga in 1884 with their Aunt Lucy. Following Dowell’s retirement, the couple moved to New Zealand until his death in August 1910. His wife died 6 weeks later.

Family military tradition emerged again when the First World War broke out and three sons of Robert Charles Mansel and his wife Beatrix enlisted.  George Victor and Robert Charles Mansel returned home after the war but Herbert Pengelly Mansel died in Palestine from malaria.  Although he is buried in the Jerusalem War Cemetery [4], his memorial can be found in St George’s Church, Gate Pa.

Both images: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections.  
At right: AWNS-19160727-45-25; at left, photo by Janes Bruce Ringer, 3003-2914

References

[1] Rorke, Jinty, entry in Dictionary of NZ Biography 1993: Lucy Mansel

[2] Bay of Plenty Times, 4 April 1941: see Papers Past, National Library. Viewed 16/05/2026.

[3] Will of Lucy Mansel, Archives NZ. Auckland Probates IE48341583. Viewed 17/05/2026.

[4] Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database.

 

The Stranding of the SS Penguin

Matakana Island’s 20 km-long, ocean-facing Panepane Beach - notorious among 19^th century Māori and  Pākehā seafarers - posed a serious risk to paddle, sail and steam powered vessels. The beach formed a featureless, deadly, surf-pounded lee shore. Some vessels that hove‑to offshore during northeasterly gales often dragged their anchors on the sandy bottom and were driven ashore there. Others, particularly smaller sailing vessels under 20 tons that missed the channel entrance, even by small margins during such gales, were swept sideways onto the beach, rolled and wrecked.

The 5km beach section extending north from Panepane Point opposite Mauao | Mount Maunganui continued to claim shipping well into the 1900s. Had their skeletons remained they would have stood as a stark warning to careless or drunken skippers and those new to the Bay of Plenty. However, the many vessels wrecked there soon disappeared from sight, as the beach sands quickly absorbed their hulls.

Matakana Island’s Panepane Point and beach from Mount Maunganui across the channel

Built and launched in Glasgow, Scotland in January 1864, the steamship Penguin was sold to the New Zealand Steamship Company in 1879. Some 220 feet in length, with a gross registered tonnage of 749, the steamer became a familiar sight in Tauranga Moana during 1879 and 1880, as it delivered passengers, freight and mail to and from the North and South Islands’ east coast ports [1].

On 16 January 1880, New Zealand newspapers reported that the SS Penguin (Captain Malcolm), had gone ashore while entering Tauranga Harbour close to where the SS Taupo had been wrecked in February the previous year. Ironically, the Penguin had been purchased specifically to replace that unfortunate vessel on the return coastal route from Auckland to Tauranga, Gisborne, Napier, Wellington, Lyttleton and Port Chalmers [2].

The SS Penguin at Port Chalmers

The SS Taupo had gone ashore on Stony Point Reef at the base of Mount Maunganui where the channel opened into the harbour (marked today by the statue of Tangaroa, the Polynesian sea god). It sustained significant damage to the hull in the process and although salvaged, later sank off Tūhua | Mayor Island. The Penguin, on the other hand, was driven to starboard while attempting to negotiate the channel during ‘a terrific gale’. It went aground on a sandbank close to Panepane Spit at the southern end of Matakana Island’s Panepane Beach [3].

The little SS Staffa (Captain Baker), was at once dispatched from the town to the Penguin's assistance. The mail and passengers were taken off and landed at the town. On 14 January the Auckland Star reported: 

The SS Penguin came off the sand hillock at eleven o'clock this morning, with the assistance of the steamer Staffa under the command of worthy Captain Baker. No damage was done. She had not even moved a pound of cargo or coal. Her light kedge came home, or else she would have got off when she first touched [the Penguin’s light kedge or emergency anchor had failed to hold and had been dragged across the channel with the ship] [4].

After reloading her passengers and mail at the town, the Penguin immediately resumed her voyage to the southern ports on her itinerary, one editor noting, ‘as the steamer is built of the best Lowmoor iron it would be almost impossible to injure her’ [5]. Despite again running aground during dense fog at Nelson in November 1895, and being refloated without damage, the SS Penguin was to prove as vulnerable to shipwreck as any other New Zealand coastal steamer. 

The SS Penguin ashore at Nelson in November 1895

On February 12, 1909, the SS Penguin (Captain Francis Naylor), struck Thoms Rock in Cook Strait while navigating during a severe storm. The women and children were loaded into the lifeboats, which were swamped by the heavy seas. Only one woman and a boy survived. All the other children drowned. Other survivors came ashore on rafts. As the Penguin sank, seawater flooded the engine room and, on reaching the boilers, caused a massive steam explosion. It was New Zealand's worst maritime disaster of the 20th century: 75 people lost their lives while only 30 survived [6].

A court of inquiry found that Captain Naylor did everything possible to save the lives of his passengers and crew once the disaster occurred. Ultimately blaming Naylor’s navigational errors for the disaster, the court suspended his certificate for 12 months. 

References

[1] Ingram, C.W.N. New Zealand Shipwrecks,1795-1975, A.H. and A.W. Reid, Wellington, 1977: 308.

[2] Bay of Plenty Times, 4 March 1880: 1.

[3] Evening Star, 13 January 1880: 2.

[4] Auckland Star, 14 January 1880: 2.

[5] Manawatu Herald, 16 January 1880: 2.

[6] Ingram, 1977: 308.

Images

Cousins, John, senior reporter, ‘Panepane Point to be Returned to Hapu’, in Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Post. 26 January, NZ Herald,https://www.nzherald.co.nz › Rotorua Daily Post.

De Maus, David Alexander, 1847-1925: ‘Steamship Penguin at Port Chalmers’. Ref: 1/1-003381-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22384677.

Auckland Weekly News, ‘The Grounding of the SS Penguin: The Vessel on the Rocks outside Nelson Harbour, April 28,1904’. Record ID AWNS-19040512-12-02. Auckland City Libraries Heritage Collection.

Sharing a verandah with ‘King Dick’

A large format print taken at Hillsdene the home of the Wrigley family recording the visit of Premier R.J. Seddon to Tauranga 18-19 March 1905. Image courtesy of Tauranga Museum, 0557/08. Photo by T.E. Price

Premier Richard Seddon’s visit to Tauranga on 18-19 March 1905 is immortalised in this posed group photograph.[i] Several notable citizens, wearing their finery, surround Seddon who is larger than life at just under six feet and nearly 20 stone. Canon Jordan, Mayor of Tauranga, appears on the path second from left and his wife Mrs Eleanor Jordan, the town’s matriarch, stands next to the Premier also on his left. Colonel Ward is wearing his Tauranga Mounted Rifles uniform, and handwriting on the image indicates that Mr T. E. Price (the photographer), Mr & Mrs Howell, Mr & Mrs Spooner, and Mr Asher are also present. The Honourable Mr William Herries, MP for the Bay of Plenty, looms at the back to the right of Seddon. Intriguingly, he appears to have been caught in a wry smile, perhaps revealing how he felt about sharing a verandah with ‘King Dick’.  

Above: A close-up of William Herries taken from the image above - 0557/08

Below: Herries ‘At Rotorua – On an election tour in the old days’
Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Photo 04-232

 
Seddon and Herries were well acquainted foes. By 1905 Seddon, the leader of the Liberal Party, was nearing the end of his 13-year reign as Premier or Prime Minister of New Zealand[ii]. Seddon’s nickname ‘King Dick’ speaks volumes about his personality and leadership style.[iii] Herries, as the Independent MP for the Bay of Plenty since 1896, built his reputation on campaigning against Seddon and the Liberal government, frequently calling into question the actions of the Premier.[iv] Both men were accustomed to verbally sparring with each other, as the run up to the 1899 General Election illustrates.

Above: The Late Rt. Hon. R. J. Seddon. Image: Tauranga Museum, 0075/23

Below: David Lundon the Liberal Party candidate for the Bay of Plenty for the 1899 election
Lundon was the Mayor of Tauranga from 15 December 1887 to 28 November 1888
Image: Te Ao Mārama, Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Photo 21-1855

In May 1899 Herries spoke at a public meeting held in the Theatre Royal, Harington Street, to an estimated crowd of 150 to 200 people.[v] At the gathering Herries described himself as an ‘Opposition man’ and Seddon as ‘the greatest autocrat that ever lived’.[vi] This was the opening salvo in what became a war of words between the two men.[vii] Herries’ election campaign officially began in November, with public meetings held in Katikati, Greerton and Tauranga.[viii] The Bay of Plenty Times reported that at the Tauranga meeting Herries questioned the legitimacy of Seddon’s salary and expense claims. He objected that Seddon would claim a travel allowance for his proposed visit to Tauranga at which Seddon would ‘endeavour to do as much damage as he could to his [Mr Herries] candidature.’[ix]

During Seddon’s visit to support David Lundon, the Liberal Party’s local candidate for Bay of Plenty electorate, as predicted he gave a speech to a large audience which attacked Herries’ reputation:

“He [Seddon] had been asked long ago to come to the district, even by Mr Herries himself, and he was glad to be able to meet them that night. It was said that wherever he went he helped the Opposition (laughter), and if that was so nobody could object to his travelling about. He believed he was the best abused man in the Colony; their present Member Mr Herries, had said a good many unpleasant things about him, if the newspaper reports of his speeches were correct. All he would say of Mr Herries was that he was a cultured gentleman but one whose utterances must not be taken too seriously.”[x]

These remarks did not go down well and two weeks later Herries doubled down on the claims of wasteful spending:

“He [Mr Herries] considered that an injustice was done not only to him but to the people of the Colony by the Premier thus travelling about at the country's expense for merely partisan purposes … The Premier had told his audience that their Member was a cultured gentleman but one whose utterances must not be taken too seriously. It was strange, if the Premier held this view himself that he took him, [Mr Herries] so seriously and thought it necessary to travel around the electorate to try and keep him from getting into the House again.”[i] 

A good view of the King’s esplanade which was essentially a concrete seawall with a grassed and paved area to walk along or in this case, to fish from
Tauranga Museum, 0026/10

The main reason for Seddon’s visit to Tauranga in 1905 was to celebrate the opening of the King’s esplanade – two years after completion. The excitement generated by the prospect of his visit saw the town go into planning hyperdrive. Seddon, who arrived in Tauranga with Herries in tow, found himself part of a military procession that travelled from the Star Hotel, along Willow Street and down Harington Street and along The Strand to the Town Wharf. Following speeches Seddon was returned to his carriage and was taken to Hillsdene for lunch.

“On arrival at Hillsdene Mr Seddon was met by Mrs Wrigley and sat down to a recherche [exquisite] luncheon with a party of friends, including the Mayor and Mayoress, at the conclusion of which a couple of group photographs were taken in the grounds.”[ii]

Clearly for the purposes of ensuring festivities were successful, both men put aside their differences and took part with good grace and humour.

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[i] Thank you to Steve Vergeest for supplying information that confirmed that this photo was taken at Hillsdene - the home of Mr and Mrs Ellis Wrigley. Steve was able to make the identification by examining the homestead’s architectural features with other images available online at Tauranga City Libraries Pae Koroki.

[ii] Seddon is New Zealand's longest-serving prime minister.

[iii] https://nzhistory.govt.nz/people/richard-seddon

[iv] Herries, William Herbert – Dictionary of New Zealand Biography – Te Ara

[v] The general election was held on Wednesday 6 December with the Maori electorates voting on Tuesday 19 December.

[vi] Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 3853, 31 May 1899, page 2.

[vii] Reports suggest neither Herries nor Lundon had much to say about each other. Herries preferred to attack the Liberal Party and Seddon directly. Lundon spoke at length about his party’s polices and challenged Herries’ misinformation. Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 3895, 6 September 1899, page 2.

[viii] Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 3921, 6 November 1899, page 2.

[ix] Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 3924, 13 November 1899, page 2.

[x] Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 3928, 22 November 1899, page 2.

[xi] Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 3934, 6 December 1899, page 2.

[xii] Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4725, 20 March 1905, page 2.