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 In her unpublished manuscript which was a ‘fictional’ account of running an orchard Ena wrote: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.

Gardenhurst, aka Mullanee

by Shirley Arabin and Julie Green

Mullanee (formerly Gardenhurst), Photograph by Shirley Arabin

Recently I visited the house known as Mullanee and earlier as Gardenhurst.  It stands empty among long grass, and the trunks of old exotic trees that have been chopped down to make way for a new highway.  The doors and windows are boarded up as it awaits its fate of demolition or removal.

The house is a single storied weatherboard building with an iron roof.  It began as a cottage with a single gable and ridge line, with a brick chimney that has survived for at least 140 years. An addition with a matching gable was added at some point and then in the twentieth century further additions provided a kitchen dining area on the west side and a large living room on the east. The complete interior has been modernised, probably in the 1960s, with the interior walls lined with wall board and wallpapered. The only interior features that may have remained unchanged are the interior wooden doors. As well as additions to the house, rooms were also removed and used for other purposes. 

A member of the last family to own the land believed it began its European occupation as a Crown Grant to a militia veteran, but that is an item for further research. This house could well be one of the earliest European houses extant in Tauranga.

Richard Henry Farrar, c.1863-1864, Dublin
Image courtesy of the family

The first mention of Gardenhurst in the newspaper occurred when R H Farrer wrote to the editor concerning the supply of town milk from his dairy farm of that name. He also supplied vegetables to the town. Farrer’s occupancy ended not long after for he died in September 1883 aged 60 years. An Irishman from Queen’s County (since 1922 known as County Laois), who served with the 18^th Royal Irish Regiment, Farrer arrived in New Zealand on the Lady Jocelyn in 1878 with the George Vesey Stewart settlers. Mrs Farrer still resided in Gardenhurst in January 1884 as the newspaper acknowledged that she donated two books to the Mechanics Institute.

By 1885 William V and Charles F Tuthill and J P Whelan were partners in Gardenhurst Farm until William Tuthill withdrew from the partnership the following year.  In June 1889 R C Jordan rented 300 acres from Mr Tuthill, on 150 of which the Maori were to grow wheat. Several stock auctions were held on the property including one of Mr Jordan’s “live and dead stock” in June 1891 when he proposed to move closer to town to live and carry on his businesses. R C Jordan had a varied career in Tauranga as contractor, engineer, surveyor, founder of the Judea saleyards, and Mayor of Tauranga twice.

Plan from Title Deed

In July 1892 Gardenhurst lots 78 and 83 Te Papa comprising 300 acres with an eight-room dwelling went under the hammer of D Lundon, Auctioneer at the Haymarket in Devonport Road. The purchasers were the sons of Mr John Thomas Bull the postmaster who had recently bought Topcroft.  

In 1897 the property changed hands again to a Mr Howard, formerly of Johannesburg and was described as in Omanawa Road. It was during his time that an extensive garden was planted including the exotic trees that have recently been felled. There were oaks, chestnut, cypress, the ginko, camellia, a plum tree, and a huge persimmon.

Photograph by Julie Green

Howard sold the property in 1901 to Charles Turner Wallis previously of Hokianga who called for tenders for alterations to the house immediately. In 1908 Wallis died of typhoid fever at the age of forty-eight, leaving a wife and eight children under fourteen. Mrs Wallis and her sons Roland (Roy) aged fourteen when his father died and Marshall aged nine worked the farm.  Mrs Wallis suffered a significant loss when her milking shed and equipment were destroyed by fire and she was uninsured.  The Council had engaged with Mrs Wallis concerning land to be taken for a road but when she saw the agreement did not include matters verbally suggested she withdrew from the arrangement. Mrs Margaret Wallis died aged 96 in 1957 but after being farmed by Roy and Marshall for many years the property was sold.

Photograph by Julie Green

As a returned soldier from WW2 Samuel William Gilmer, a shepherd from Gisborne qualified for a rehabilitation loan and with that he bought the farm from the Wallis family. Sam and his brother Hugh farmed the land and brought their father, also Hugh up from Gisborne. Marshall Wallis continued to live in the house and the Gilmers lived in a tent for some years. The Gilmers called the property Mullanee after the place in Ireland Mullahanee from where the family originated. In 1967 they built a brick house nearer the road for Hugh senior and that later became the home of his grandson David Gilmer and his family and their horticultural business. Later Sam and David Gilmer swapped houses with the last occupant being Sam’s grandson and his family. After Sam Gilmer gave up dairying Richard (Dick) Smith took over the farm and subdivided parcels of land that have become Westridge Views, Takitimu Toll Road, and New Zealand Transit Agency Waka Kotahi property for highway extension.

Sources:

Bay of Plenty Times through Papers Past. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/

Tauranga 1882-1982 The Centennial of the Gazetting Tauranga as a Borough. Edit. A C Bellamy. TCC 1982

Interview with David Gilmer by Julie Green

Early Tauranga Photographers: Charles Moeller, c.1870-1872

“Artillery Detachment of Armed Constabulary. Command of Capt. Crapp. Tauranga 1870”
Glass half-plate negative, 120 x 165mm, A.J. Mirrielees (attribd.), after “Bartlett Photo (from a Copy),” after Charles Moeller (attribd.)
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Library, Ref. 01-128

An article about the road-making exploits of the Armed Constabulary by Stephanie Smith published on this blog in December 2018 (Armed Constabulary Roads) was illustrated with a photograph from the Tauranga Library collection. The print (original Ref. 1504) was created from one of a number of glass plate negatives donated to the library by Tauranga chemist Leslie Woods. The negatives were almost certainly originally created by Woods’ predecessor, Alick J. Mirrielees, who operated a chemist shop on the Strand from 1910 to 1929.  This particular negative appears to have been copied photographically from a framed image which, as evidence by the inscription “BARTLETT PHOTO. From a Copy” at lower left, was in turn copied by Auckland photographer Robert Henry Bartlett from an earlier image. Bartlett was based in Queen Street, Auckland from 1865 until 1888, but he did pay a visit to Tauranga to take carte de visite portraits in the autumn of 1876, when it’s possible the copy may have been made.

Plan of attack on the Maori position at Gate Pah … reproduced from an old plan, (author unknown), by Lt. Col. G.A. Ward, 4th (Waikato) Mounted Rifles and Capt. A.J. Mirrielees, 6th (Hauraki) Regt., Tauranga, 1913
Glass half-plate negative, 165 x 120mm, Attributed to A.J. Mirrielees
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Library

In December 1911, a year after Mirrielees’ arrival in Tauranga, and shortly after he had taken command of the newly formed G Company of the Sixth (Hauraki) Volunteer Infantry Regiment, he mounted a display in the window of his chemist shop in The Strand, as described in the Bay of Plenty Times of 13 December.

“THE PAST REVIVED. PHOTOS OF IMPERIAL TROOPS. There are at present on view in the pharmacy of Mr Mirrielees, Tauranga: a number of photos, which give to the present generation an excellent idea of the dangers and hardships passed through by those who pioneered this territory … The photos above referred to include 'Colonel and officers of the 68th light infantry, 1864,' taken in the Redoubt, 'A group of Imperial and Colonial soldiers awaiting orders to advance,' and 'The Militia at work forming Chadwick's cutting, 1869.' The whole of the features in the photographs are very distinct. Included are those of Captains Crapp Davoren and Kerr, R.N., and many privates, a few of whom are still resident in Tauranga."

The glass plate negatives corresponding to the abovementioned prints “Colonel and officers of the 68th …” and “Awaiting the order to advance …” are also in the group donated by Woods. This suggests that Captain Mirrileees, his involvement with the militia extending to an interest in Tauranga’s military heritage, made the copies from prints which were probably owned by local residents, such as Captain Crapp. Likewise in 1913 he collaborated in the copying and reproduction of an old plan of the attack at Gate Pa, shown above.

Armed Constabulary Parade in front of redoubt, Tauranga. Samuel Crowther seated in front of Armstrong gun wheel at far left
Copy albumen print mounted on card, attributed to Charles Moeller, 1870
Collection and courtesy of Suzanne Johnston

Bartlett made the first copy, but seems unlikely to have taken the original photograph, or he would presumably have printed it directly from the negative. So who did take the photograph? A significant clue was provided by Bruce Crowther who got in touch after the original image was published on this blog. He is descended from former Armed Constabulary member Samuel Crowther, and the extended family own another copy of this photograph, pictured above. Crowther served first as a private with the Wellington Rangers against Riwha Tītokowaru at Te Ngutu o Te Manu, South Taranaki for 3 months around August-September 1868, during which time the notorious Von Tempsky was killed. He then joined the Armed Constabulary No. 8 Division in March 1869 as a corporal and took part in the infamous invasions into Urewera Country, with attacks on Te Whāiti and Ruatāhuna in May 1869, and further incursions in 1870.

This too is a copy print, as evidenced by the detailed retouching visible on the men’s faces and on the profile of trees against the skyline. A letter written by Samuel Crowther in July 1913 to Captain Henry Crapp (pictured in the right foreground) in support of a NZ War Medal application, not only gives the identities of all the men pictured, but also provides a year and asserts that it was:

“… taken by Moeller or Muller the old German photographer in 1870 on the Parade in front of the redoubt at Tauranga, Bay of Plenty.”

After travelling widely in the North Island the late 1860s and early 1870s, producing landscape views of the Rotorua and Taupo districts and portraits of its inhabitants, the first record of Charles Moeller in Tauranga was his advertisements in the Bay of Plenty Times in September and October 1872. He didn’t last long here, and it seems very likely that he sold his photographic equipment to James Bodell, who opened his studio towards the end of November that year. Little further is known about Mr Moeller, although it is possible that he is the same Charles Moeller (c1826-1923) who is recorded as having arrived from Holland in the early 1860s, was engaged on active service throughout the Land Wars, including at Gate Pa, in the Waikato, Poverty Bay and Taranaki, present in the action at Te Ngutu o te Manu in 1869, and later worked in the lighthouse service until his retirement.

Tauranga Militia roadmaking at Chadwick’s Cutting, May 1870
Albumen print (185 x 238mm) on card (208 x 263mm), attributed to Charles Moeller
Collection of Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref. PAColl-3386

Few of Moeller’s photographs seem to have survived, at least not with his name on them – perhaps his output was so small that he didn’t have printed cardstock. Given his connection with the militia, a print in the Alexander Turnbull Library collection depicting members of the Tauranga militia engaged in roadmaking at Chadwick’s Cutting, Tauranga in May 1870 (see BOPT article above), seems to be another potential candidate, since there weren’t many other photographers working in the Bay of Plenty at the time.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Bruce Crowther and Suzanne Johnston for sharing photographs, documents and family stories. I’m also grateful to staff at Ngā Wāhi Rangahau, Tauranga City Library, including former archivist Stephanie Smith, for their ongoing assistance with research.

References

The Bay of Plenty Times on Papers Past, http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/

Obituary of Charles Moeller in Personal Items, Hawera & Normanby Star, 14 August 1923, Courtesy of Papers Past, http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=HNS19230814.2.20

Auckland Libraries Photographers Database, http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/photographers/basic_search.htm

Colonial troops invade the Urewera, 6 May 1869, https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/colonial-troops-invade-urewera, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 14-Dec-2016

Te Ngutu o te Manu memorial, https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/te-ngutu-o-te-manu-memorial, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 2-Aug-2017

MacDonald, D R, active 1965?. MacDonald, D R :One mounted photograph of Tauranga Militia roadmaking at Chadwicks Cutting. Ref: PAColl-3386. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22656876

Payne, Brett (2015) Tauranga Photographers: James Bodell, Tauranga Historical Society blog, https://taurangahistorical.blogspot.com/2015/08/tauranga-photographers-james-bodell.html, accessed 14 May 2020

Rackstraw, Tony (2012) BARTLETT, Robert Henry, on Early New Zealand Photographers, http://canterburyphotography.blogspot.com/2012/01/bartlett.html, accessed 14 May 2020

Smith, Stephanie (2018) Armed Constabulary Roads, Tauranga Historical Society blog, https://taurangahistorical.blogspot.com/2018/12/armed-constabulary-roads.html, accessed 14 May 2020