Changing Tauranga Part 5: 108 Devonport Road

Buildings which have been part of our cityscape for many years continue to disappear without fanfare. A prime example is 108 Devonport Road, an unremarkable structure without any architectural merit that most Tauranga residents are likely to have forgotten already.[i] Regardless, its departure in January-February of this year (2024) is worth noting and, at the eleventh hour, perhaps it has an interesting story or two left to tell?

108 Devonport Road in the process of being demolished, late January 2024
Image courtesy of Fiona Kean, private collection

While 108 Devonport Road is listed in the 2008 Central Tauranga Heritage Study, frustratingly the document gives no further details. In the hopes of narrowing down the building’s age, I consulted G. Duncan’s CBD plan completed in April 1934 and immediately found a candidate – circled below.[ii] However, on closer inspection, these two shops with dwellings upstairs appear too far from the corner of Devonport Road and Elizabeth Street and too close to the Tauranga Club.[iii]

Plan of Tauranga CBD completed by G. Duncan, April 1934
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. tcl-map-21-002

A photograph taken of roadworks at the corner of Elizabeth Street and Devonport Road, published in the Bay of Plenty Times in November 1963, offers a glimpse of 108. At the time, the building was occupied by Camerons Appliances who, according to their sign, sold ‘Electrical’, ‘Prams’, ‘Toys’ and ‘TV’. A second image reveals that the property was auctioned by Dalgety Real Estate in 1969. The owner, Charles Cameron, was a qualified electrician operating in Tauranga in the early 1940s.[iv] On his return from the war, Charles established Camerons Appliances and in the early 1950s, as his business grew, the building was extended.[v]

Road works – Eastern corner Elizabeth Street & Devonport Road. Published BOPT 20 November 1963
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. gcc-5114

Premises to be auctioned by Dalgety Real Estate. Published BOPT 8 December 1969
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. gca-18838

Happily, this information narrows the building’s construction date to between April 1934 and 1946. A search of the Bay of Plenty Times was now manageable. Using the terms ‘Devonport Road’ and ‘Lot 244’ approximately two thousand results were generated in PapersPast.[vi] In June 1936 the subdivision of Lot 244, Section 1 was debated by Borough Councillors, the issue being what, if anything, should be built on the ‘nice corner section’.[vii] The owner of the section was Miss Ruby Norris - a member of the well-known Tauranga family who were in the land trade. In June 1938 Norris & Bell advertised they had a corner section in Devonport Road available for sale which was ‘ideal for shops or flats.’[viii] Sadly, having scrolled through the results, this was the only information possibly relating to 108 Devonport Road that I could find. Perhaps a future researcher will have better luck, or this blog will inspire a knowledgeable resident to come forward and share that hoped-for story.

Lot 244 (circled) was subdivided, and 106-108 Devonport Road is identified with a star
Image courtesy of the Tauranga Heritage Collection

References

---

[i] The address is 106-108 Devonport Road. For simplicity I will refer to it as 108 in this article.

[ii] Tauranga City Libraries Map 21-002. https://paekoroki.tauranga.govt.nz/nodes/view/58684?keywords=Duncan+plan

[iii] Currently the site of Devonport Towers – January 2024.

[iv] His war record states his enlistment address as Devonport Road, Tauranga. https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/search?n=charles+cameron&plc=tauranga

[v] Bay of Plenty Times, 11 July 1946, p.5.

[vi] PapersPast https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers

[vii] Bay of Plenty Times, 12 June 1936, p.3.

[viii] Bay of Plenty Times, 25 June 1938, p.2.

Changing Tauranga Part 4: Devonport Road Supermarket

Demolition of 176 Devonport Road underway January 2024
Image courtesy of Fiona Kean, private collection

Another 20^th Century Tauranga CBD building met its end over the past few weeks (January 2024). Fortunately, thanks to a post on Tauranga History Online, memories of 176 Devonport Road have been shared, particularly about its time as a supermarket [i]:

“… it was a Shoprite Food Store, not Four Square (that was halfway up Devonport Rd). I got my first retail job at sixteen filling shelves and as a checkout operator.”

“I remember going there when it was a supermarket and my mum buying me a drink, and the bottle was in the shape of an astronaut. I thought it was so cool and always wanted to go back there.”

“It was a grocery wholesaler in one of its earlier reincarnations. I worked there in 1970. There was a small section at the front that sold damaged grocery items and the back was a warehouse. An order world come in from the smaller shops in Tauranga and The Mount and we would gather the items from the shelves and put them on a truck for delivery. I do remember the Christmas period was very busy and one time doing a lap of Bay Park Raceway to deliver to the kiosk there!”

“In the late 70s I used to call there with the Anchor cheese truck to sort an order for butter and cheese, I think it was Shop Right, there were three shops, that one, another on Cameron Road just past Chadwick Road and one near Banks Ave at The Mount.”

I have my own recollections of it as a supermarket, including walking on patinaed floorboards as mum filled her cane basket with groceries. There was a wide ramp and a loading bay at the back that always seemed a hive of activity. And, like the person who recalled going there with their mum, it was a treat if I got to tag along. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find any photographs of the building as a supermarket, later when it was Scallywags Toy Shop, or even when it was the first Warehouse in Tauranga. At least we have our memories.

A 1950s aerial view of the CBD looking north
The Devonport Road, First Avenue and Second Avenue block is at the bottom of the image with the roof of 176 Devonport Road visible in the bottom left corner
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 03-226

References

---

[i] https://www.facebook.com/groups/Tauranga.history.online

Tauranga Photographers: Vyvian Tindall and "Studio Vivian"

Photographed by Studio Vivian, Tauranga, c. 1962
Private collection

By 1963, when Tauranga became a city, the population of the urban area had almost reached 25,000. It had trebled since the end of the war, was still growing rapidly, was therefore able to support a vibrant range of services, including a burgeoning professional photography scene.  Apart from the stalwarts - Renwood Studios, Carters Photo Service, Bay of Plenty Photo Laboratories, the Tauranga Photo News and Candid Camera Craft - there were several smaller businesses including Studio Vivian, which first appeared under the "Portrait Photographer" heading in phone directory listings in 1964.

Extract from Tauranga Telephone Directory, 1964

The proprietor of the Studio Vivian was Vyvian Tindall (note the difference in spelling), who operated out of her home on Cameron Road. Although the electoral roll for 1963 shows both her and her husband William Ernest Tindall, whom she had married in 1956, as photographers, records after 1966 suggest that she later ran the business on her own. Her husband otherwise worked as a fitter and turner. Initially settling in Pillans Road, Otumoetai after her marriage, she had two daughters and they had moved to Cameron Road by 1963.

Family at The Elms, c. 1969
Photographed by Studio Vivian, Tauranga
Private collection

Apart from the bare bones of her career laid out in the impersonal lists of public records, little further information about her career has been uncovered. Most of her photographs no doubt lie in personal and family collections, from one of which the two images above are derived. Julie Green recalls:

My memories of Vivian Tindall are of an elegant tallish blonde (with the sixties eye make-up) and her two daughters, the younger of whom was in my class at school. They lived on the same side of Cameron Road as Brain Watkins House, but about two blocks towards the domain. The house was pale stucco, split-level. The family lived upstairs and the studio/workroom was in the basement.  There seemed to be long theatre-type curtains in the studio and I remember watching a young woman employee sitting in good light by the north window colouring and creating white lines for what may have been a fence. I was horrified she was scratching the image with a craft knife.

Charlie Haua at the Blacksmith’s Shop, Tauranga Historic Village, 1978
Photograph by Studio Vivian, Tauranga
Collection and courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 02-095

That she did outside commissions as well as within the confines of a studio environment is evidenced by the images of Charlie Haua working in his Blacksmithy at the Historic Village in 1978. Although she appears to have maintained a relatively low profile, phone directory listings for Studio Vivian Home Portraits continued to appear regularly at the same address until 1979. By 1981, although still working as a photographer, Vyvian Tindall had moved to Remuera, Auckland.

Ted Morris, c.1976
Photograph by Studio Vivian, Tauranga
Collection and courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 02-098

References

The New Zealand Official Year-Book, 1964, Department of Statistics, Wellington, https://www3.stats.govt.nz/New_Zealand_Official_Yearbooks/1964/NZOYB_1964.html

1964 Telephone Directory, courtesy of John and Julie Green

Electoral Rolls and Telephone Directories, 1954-1982, Nga Wahi Rangahau, Tauranga City Library

Email correspondence with Julie Green, 21 May 2022

Recollections of Dennis George Marsh - Part 4

Fourth part of a series contributed by guest author Dennis Marsh
(continued from Part 3)

Calf Club Day, Te Puke Primary School, c. October 1961
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Library, Bay of Plenty Times Collection, Pae Korokī Ref. gca-2362

While I was going to primary school in Te Puke, I made friends with David Cannell. David’s father kept pigs. To feed them he used to buy old or unwanted horses, slaughter them and cook the meat up in big drums. It used to stink something awful and, as they lived on the outskirts of the shops, the cooking smell used to waft over the town and many people used to say derogatory things about the Cannell's. One weekend when I was staying with David, his father had been given an old thoroughbred. David’s dad said I should take it home as a horse to ride. I spoke to Dad on the phone and he was adamant that I was not to bring it home, but relented over the weekend and I rode it home on the Sunday afternoon. It was my first long ride on a horse and with no saddle – and by the time I got home I hurt in places no self-respecting person could mention. Dad laughed and called them “half-crowns”. Later Dad used to ride Captain, the name he was given, with Ron Brown when they went to muster the sheep. He was a ‘bugger’ of a horse to ride and the racehorse in him meant he did not like any other horse getting in front of him and he would bite down on the bit so that we had no control over him. Boy could he run !!!!

Dell at First Farm, Te Puke
Photograph collection of Dennis Marsh

We went to school on the bus leaving about 7:30 in the morning and getting home about 4:15. My job was to get dressed as quick as I could and get over to the shed to help Dad. Most of the time when I got there the cows had been milked and I had either to take them to the paddock, wash the shed and the yard or watch the separator to make sure the whey was going into the correct drum and the pig sty. We usually got finished at 5:00 and could then go back to the house and get ready for tea or maybe even do my homework.

My teacher was Jack Gemming. Jack taught us in standard 4 and 5. He then got promoted to secondary school. So when I went to college, I had Jack as my form teacher all through High School. I was part of the first batch of third formers to attend the Te Puke High School, as previously it had been a District High School.

Te Puke School bus, c. 1930s
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Library, Pae Korokī Ref. 07-073

The school bus was owned by the Te Puke Bus Company, Bill and Con Buckley, and most of the time our driver was Naera someone. Norrie Williams was the cream run driver and used to deliver all the stuff Mum ordered from town: groceries, bread, medicines and the stuff Dad ordered form the factory shop. Sometime if I was late to catch the bus, I would have to get a ride to school with Norrie who would drop me off at the factory corner and I walked up the hill to school. Sometimes there would be other kids on the cream truck for the same reason.

“Dennis and George Marsh with 1939 Ford V8 truck at first farm”
Photograph collection of Dennis Marsh

Dad and Mum bought a 1939 Ford V8 small truck- what would be called a ute in today’s language. It had a metal tray on the back and metal sides about 600mm high. Dad made a wooden crate to fit on the back so that he could take animals to the sale yards and back again. Going to “Town” was something special. Mum and Dad in the front and the three kids on the back – under a cow cover if it was raining. The road was only metalled so in the summer we had to contend with the dust and mud in the winter.

Capitol Theatre, Te Puke, c. 1960s
Postcard, Image courtesy of Pae Korokī, Ref. 99-046

Nevertheless, town day was something great. We could meet our friends, especially the girls, and if we had been very good at home, Dad might take us to the picture in the Capitol Theatre – always downstairs as it cost less. I only went upstairs after I started to get pocket money and I could afford to pay the difference myself.

Lolly dispenser, Capitol Theatre, Collection of Te Puke Museum
Photograph by Sandra Haigh, Courtesy of Western Bay Community Archives (Ref)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 New Zealand License

Dennis Marsh, Stewart St, Te Puke, 1961
Photograph collection of Dennis Marsh

Around this time the Post Office put new telephone lines up No. 1 and No. 2 Road. Dad got the job of taking down some of the old poles and wires. He wanted to use the poles for posts and the wire for fencing. I went with him on weekends to help. One Saturday when we were picking up the wire on the back of the truck, Dad said “Hop in and drive to the next heap”. I had driven different makes of tractors but never the truck. But youthful bravado rose to the fore. “OK” I said. Staring the motor and getting the truck moving was OK but then a car came down the road as I was driving to the next heap. What to do ???  PANIC. Dad saw what was happening and called out “Just keep going, You’re OK” and that was my first experience of driving the truck on the road.

(To be continued)

Recollections of Dennis George Marsh - Part 2

Second part of a series contributed by guest author Dennis Marsh
(continued from Part 1)

Dennis Marsh, 2 years old, c1941, Photograph by Rupert Connell
Image collection of Dennis Marsh

Some of my earliest recollections of our family was when we were living on an orchard on Moffat Road where Decor Greenworld is now located. Dad was away at the Second World War and stationed at Guadalcanal. Our neighbours across the road were Clarrie and Edith Kiddie and alongside the orchard towards the Kaimais were the Sheeley family.

Dennis Marsh at Bell’s Farm, Cambridge Road
Image collection of Dennis Marsh

Dad was manpowered out of the army to take up a sharemilking contract on Mrs. Kathrine McAlister Bell’s property on Cambridge Road right opposite the old family farm. We had a brand-new house to live in (it cost the Bells £600 to build) and Mum and Dad used to milk about 100 cows and send the cream in to the Tauranga Dairy Factory located on the corner of 12th Avenue and Devonport Road. Later they were founding members of the Town Milk Supply Association. The raw milk was sent for processing and redistribution to the consumers via the milkmen. During the later war years the Government subsidised farm labour with land girls and Mrs. Bell’s daughter Margaret worked for Dad. Our neighbours were Tom Ridder and family on the Judea side and Mrs Pruden on the Kaimai side. Mrs. Pruden had a daughter who lived with her but there seemed to be no Mr. Pruden.

George Marsh, Cambridge Road
Image collection of Dennis Marsh

Dad worked the farm with horses named Molly and Dell most of the time he was on the farm.  I remember when the first tractor arrived – a Farmall – and the fuss the neighbours made when they came to see it. At this time the old family farm had been taken over by Tom Fowler who had married Dad’s sister Mavis. Both the Fowlers and the Ridders had tractors but not as new as Dad’s.

Pop Marsh used to come out and help on the farm with things like haymaking and the young calves when he was needed and I remember one time when he was using the horse sweep when we were haymaking and he caught a wasp nest in the sweep. Boy, it wasn’t just the horses that were jumping around! Pop was a great stack maker. This was an art learnt over the years. How to stack loose hay and finish it off with a gable roof and how to make it rain proof by having all the hay lying in a line from top to bottom. We used to make covers out of old ‘super’(phosphate) sacks. We would split the sacks so that they were opened in to a single piece and we would hand sew with twine and sack needles all the many sacks until we had a cover big enough to cover the haystack. This went over the top of the haystack to hold the hay in place. Over the next months, until it was time to feed out, the cover would rot. By the time that had happened, the hay had settled in to place and the stacks seldom got wet. This is probably why the rats and mice were found when we opened the stacks in the winter.

Dad at Main Road Farm
Image collection of Dennis Marsh

I contracted Scarlet Fever and was hospitalised in isolation for a time. I don’t know how long, but it seemed a long time to a young child. Mum and Dad were not allowed to visit until the risk of spreading had passed. When they did visit, they used to buy me an ice cream from the dairy by the hospital. An old guy called Eddie Christmas used to bring ice creams but Mum and Dad frowned upon it– he may have been an unsavoury character but his ice creams were great!

Anything out past the hospital was considered to be in the country. Cambridge Road was metalled, not sealed. I remember going to visit Cyril Doidge and family who lived at Tauriko but on the other side of the Wairoa River. Driving up to the old mill wharf was like going for a major ride in the car. When we got there, Dad would whistle out to the Doidge family and one of them would row across the river in the boat and take us all over to visit. The Kaimai Rd was also just all metal.

(to be continued)

Recollections of Dennis George Marsh

Part 1 of a series contributed by guest author Dennis Marsh

“Bill Rolfe and George Marsh”
Image collection of Dennis Marsh

My Dad George Ascot Marsh was born in Tauranga, as was his father, as was I. He lived on the Cambridge Road farm - located where the water tanks now stand – and from an early age was required by his parents to help milk morning and night, along with other members of the family as they became old enough.

“George's School Photo, Old Otumoetai School, top of hill where current school is located”
Image collection of Dennis Marsh

He did his schooling at the Otumoetai Primary School that was situated not far from its present day location.

Image collection of Dennis Marsh

To get to school, they used a horse and in later years the family had a bike. One child would go to a pre-arranged point leave the bike and start to walk. Two of the other kids would ride the horse form home to where the bike had been left, and they would leave the horse and ride the bike to the next pre-arranged point passing the walking kids on their way. They other kids would start walking from home, get to where the horse was and ride it to where the bike had been left – the second stop. The kids on the horse at the second stop would then walk to school, the kids on the bike would bike to school and the kids on the horse rode the horse to school and tied him up in a paddock provided for the purpose. After school they did the whole thing in reverse.

“Cot Marsh (Pop), Tom Tanner, Ron Brown, Dad, Ted Tammel, First Farm”
Image collection of Dennis Marsh

Dad did all his schooling there, I do not know how old he was when he left. He started working as a drover with a couple of his mates Cyril Griffiths and Sam Sherman.

“Mum and Dad”
Image collection of Dennis Marsh

He met my Mum, Nola Morine, while she was working in a milk bar on the corner of McLean Street and The Strand  — owned by the Harrison family. It was a large shop for its time and was like a corner dairy which specialised in ice creams and milk shakes. Mum and Dad used to attend dances that were sometimes held in the Town Hall in Wharf Street between Durham and Willow Street. They also used to go to the weekly dances held in Hayman’s Hall opposite the Boys College on Cameron Road. Mum’s family had a dance band and they used to provide the music for the dances at Hayman’s Hall.

“Dennis and George Marsh with 1939 Ford V8 truck at first farm”
Image collection of Dennis Marsh

I can recall going to the dances on a Saturday night, Mum and Dad would put us to sleep on the back seat of the Ford V8 that they owned at that time.

(To be continued)