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

 

The imagination of Michael Hodgkins

The imagination of Michael Hodgkins

 From Tauranga City Library’s archives

A monthly blog about interesting items in our collection

This month is the 60th anniversary of Michael Hodgkin's death, at his hut on the salt water marshes of Ōtūmoetai.

Headstone unveiled in 2009 at the Tauranga Anglican Cemetery, following fundraising by Tauranga Historical Society. 

Tauranga City Council cemeteries. B3691

The nephew of New Zealand artist Frances Hodgkins, and grandson of the founder of Aotearoa's first art gallery, Michael followed his parents to Tauranga in 1937 and was well known in the district, walking long distances to gather botanical samples.

Alister Matheson and Jinty Rorke wrote in his 'Dictionary of New Zealand Biography' entry:

Local teachers, aware of Hodgkins’s immense knowledge of nature, encouraged him to visit their schools so that children could ask him questions. They also used him in lessons to foster a tolerance of eccentrics. Seated under a tree in the playground with his black Aberdeen terrier, Angus, Hodgkins held children spellbound with the tales he told of natural history.  

 One of these students was David Saric, who collected pencil sketches and notes made by Michael and donated them to Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Archives (Ams 285). A delightful collection that showcases a broad range of topics.

Peacock. Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Ams 285/1/38

Motorbike. Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Ams 285/1/42

David recalled Michael's 'sparkling blue eyes', and how his ability to sketch and write notes, perhaps from a photographic memory 'inspired many kids - sowed seeds of thought'.

In the era of the first moon landing, Michael's tales of satellites in the sky and how and why they worked, must have been spellbinding for young minds.

Sketch of a satellite (not to be confused with a water cannister with spikes).

Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Ams 285/1/1/1

First page of Satellite notes. Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Ams 285/1/1/2

The accompanying seven pages of Michael's note that the satellite

...with the dog would be more a ball shaped container fitted with an air supply food supply and means of warming the dog also a parachute to bring the dog down when the Satellite has descended to near to earth...if the dog can be got back alive...

Writing on scraps of paper that were available, Michael's fifth page of satellite notes is penciled across typed columns of people notes, such as B.R. Shakes from Tauranga was previously with Downer & Co, and Palmer from Tauranga had spent five years with the Auckland Harbour Board and had nearly completed their Accountancy Proficiency.

 

Fifth page of Satellite notes. Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Ams 285/1/1/2

 

The value of archives can be measured in many ways, one of the almost intangible is how they connect and delight the viewer. Enjoy exploring the collection, and imagine yourself as a child in 1950s-60s Tauranga, sitting under a tree, as a man (who later inspired characters in the writings of Frank Sargeson, Ian Mune and the TV film 'The Mad Dog Gang meets Rotten Fred & Ratsguts'), sketches in pencil and tells you about tigers, turtles, koala, Robin Hood, Māori warriors, aircraft carriers and more.

 

Thanks to David Saric, and others who have shared their memories of Michael 'Spring Heel Jack'.

 

Sources

 

Kean, Fiona. (2014, June 6). Michael Hodgkins, a gentleman and a scholar. Tauranga Historical Society. taurangahistorical.blogspot.com/2014/06/michael-hodgkins-gentleman-and-scholar.html

 

Matheson, Alister and Rorke, Jinty. (2000). Biography: Hodgkins, Geoffrey Michael William. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5h25/hodgkins-geoffrey-michael-william

 

Saric, David. (2009). Portfolio. Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, Ams 285/2. paekoroki.tauranga.govt.nz/nodes/view/113206

 

Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries. (n.d.). Who was Michael Hodgkins? paekoroki.tauranga.govt.nz/nodes/view/118696

---

 

Written by Kate Charteris, Heritage Specialist at Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries

Family History Month 2025

From Tauranga City Library’s archives

A monthly blog about interesting items in our collection

This month libraries and archives across the motu (country) will be hosting events and displays for Family History Month, including Tauranga, Rotorua and Whakatāne. For those searching online, Pae Korokī has some great resources to add social context and images to family stories.

You can search Pae Korokī by name, street, organisation, iwi and more. It is good to start broad e.g. just the surname, and then add more keywords depending on the results (the how to guides have some good search tips). You can browse through the results, or use the filters to refine your selection.

Some of the collections that will show in your results include:

Tauranga Photo News. Described by a librarian as 'the Instagram of that generation', between 1962 and 1970 Renwood Studios and other contractors would capture local events, celebrations, weddings, arts, theatre and sports events, and people at work for.  

Front cover of Tauranga Photo News No. 17, October 1963.

Although the covers were brightly covered the pages inside were black and white newsprint, now with a slight yellow tinge (print copies are viewable in the reference section at He Puna Manawa - Tauranga City Library). Gatherings of all sizes were shared, including these photos of Tauranga Rovers basketball team celebrating the end-of-season at Mrs M. Scott's Ōtūmoetai home.

Page 58 of Tauranga Photo News No. 17, October 1963.

For those looking for people photographed between February 1969 and September 1979, Tony A'Hern, local editor and photographer, donated a set of Photo News negatives. Logan Publishing Tauranga and Bay of Plenty Photo News Collection Many of these weren't published and don't yet have names in the metadata. If you recognise anyone do let the Heritage & Research Team know.

Audience at Western Music, December 1969.

Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, Logan Publishing, Tauranga and Bay of Plenty Photo News Collection Photo pn-5558

Gifford-Cross Photographic Collection is another wonderful source of high-quality images of local people, places and events. Donated by the owners of the Bay of Plenty Times in 1992, there is an ongoing project to share online the approximately 140,000 - 180,000 images.

Sometimes family research involves looking through lots of items to find the few that are of your family. The image below is one that there are no names associated with the photograph, but someone might recognise a parent or aunt or uncle or tīpuna.

Children on board Japanese ship, July 1966.

Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Photo gcc-14892

You might also see relations in our Audio visual  collections. Particularly in footage of city events captured by local film-makers such as Norman Blackie, Roy Pilkington and Jack and Rene Fenn. Maybe someone in your family was on an Orange Festival float or competing in an apple eating contest in the 1960s and 70s, or at the opening of Taurua Marae in Rotoiti (1960)?

Or perhaps you can hear their voice sharing memories in an early 2000s oral history recording, a project by Max Avery,  Jinty Rorke  and others.

The archive collections are a treasure trove, containing all sorts of items and ephemera, including family scrapbooks, like Ms 102, compiled by Annette Tootell, whose mother Gertrude Hunt, was the accompanist for renown singer Te Rangi Pai (Fanny Rose Porter, Poata):

Page 1 from the scrapbook of photographs and copies of newspaper articles about Te Rangi Pai's career as a singer.

Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Ms 102/3

Minute books from local organisations can contain comments from an ancestor, and a snaphot of their interests, hobbies and public service. They may test your manuscript reading skills, but like Papers Past, can quickly go from seemingly dry text to fascinating glimpses of societal values and conversations.

Snippet from the Tauranga Combined Māori Women's Welfare League discussion in November 1972 about possible sponsorship of a contestant for the Tauranga Orange Festival Queen.

Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Ams 35/3/1

If you know of a business a relation was employed by, there may be a relevant collection in the archives, like this record of Miss Bunker receiving a gold watch for 10 years' service at Rainster House.

Page from the Rainster House Album, part of Rainster House papers and photographs, 1945-2005.

Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Ams 308

Maps can help determine old streets that might have since changed name or numbering or even location. Aerial photographs 'maps' allow you to zoom in from above and trace paths previously walked.

Tauranga City Centre from Matapihi Rail Bridge, by Aero Surveys (NZ) Ltd, June 1965.

Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Map 23-136

If you use the 'Zoom to 100%' icon in Pae Korokī (from the tools menu on the left of the image), you will see the detail much clearer and crisper, than just 'zooming' in with your mouse or fingers on the screen.

Tales of the streets and clubs and people, are also told in local history publications, such as the early issues of the Journal of the Tauranga Historical Society.

There is a lot to explore in Pae Korokī to help provide context and detail to your family tree, and maybe one day you can publish it in a book, like local historian Robert Craig Scott, or share as a story in Pae Korokī.

National Library have an online guide for family researchers, and Te Ao Mārama Tauranga Library hosts drop-in genealogy sessions the second Tuesday of the month between 10am and 12noon.

 

Enjoy exploring online, or in person at He Puna Wānanga, the Heritage & Research room in Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Library, discovering and adding colourful leaves and story branches to your family tree.

 

---

 

Written by Kate Charteris, Heritage Specialist at Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries

The Hewlett Legacy: From Aviation to Viticulture in Tauranga - Ms 67

From Tauranga City Library’s archives

A monthly blog about interesting items in our collection:

Next time you find yourself sipping a glass of wine or port, spare a thought for an individual who, by all accounts, established the first commercial vineyard in Tauranga, Air Commodore Francis Esme Theodore Hewlett.

Ms 67/15 - Photograph of Totara Casks

Hewletts – Mother and Son: 

Hilda Hewlett interpretation panel - Fourth Avenue, Tauranga

Much has been written previously in the Journals of the Tauranga Historical Society about the aviation exploits of Hilda Beatrice Hewlett (HR 41:Vol 2, p76-82 by HL Whitehead) and her son F.E.T. Hewlett (Journal of the Tauranga Historical Society No. 8:1957 and No. 35:1968). This blog will, therefore, focus on a recently digitised collection in Tauranga Library’s archive: Ms 67 - Papers relating to Maungatapu Vineyard and their creator, Air Commodore Francis Hewlett.

Hilda Hewlett, 1911 flying licence and picture, with awesome hat - Women Who Meant Business

In 1926, Hilda, the first English woman to gain a pilot's licence, relocated to Tauranga, as did her daughter Pia Richards and Pia’s family.  Hilda bought various sections, including property on the corner of Eleventh Avenue and Edgecumbe Road - as well as a section at Devonport Road in Tauranga.  Tauranga rate book, 1937-1938 shows us Hilda owned property at Lots 231/2 Sec. 1 and 485/7 & 489 Sec. 2.

Map 24-047 - Section 2 - Tauranga

It must have been an idyllic location, overlooking the Waikareao tidal estuary, which had served as the town's flying field for eight years. 

Air Commodore F.E.T. Hewlett - Auckland War Memorial Museum

F.E.T. (Francis) Hewlett, following in his mother’s footsteps as a pilot, had a distinguished military career. During WWI he earned a Distinguished Service Order in 1915 and rose to the rank of Group Captain.  He retired from the Royal Air Force in 1934 and followed his mother and sister to live in Tauranga.  

The rate books show Hilda Hewlett owning lot 231/2 on Devonport road and this is where Francis Hewlett first set up business with a motor garage.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 13056, 26 January 1943, Page 3 Papers Past

The rate book 1937-1938 also shows that Francis Hewlett owned a section next to Hilda’s, on the edge of the Waikareao Estuary, lot 874, Section 2. (See above image: Map 24-047).

Ams 463/1/38 - Rate book, 1937-1938

In an address to the THS years later (1957) he talks of having “…a small house overlooking the Waikareao Estuary, we had a bank and half an acre of swampy land covered with gorse, blackberry and weeds. This was such an eyesore that we determined to tame it and drain the swamp; but we should have to cultivate it and plant something more interesting than the existing rubbish. Someone suggested grapes, so we set about finding how and why and where grapes were grown in New Zealand."

Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries - 2025

We do not have any images of this property, however, a present-day photograph has been taken of the area, above the current archery field, that gives a very good idea of where the first vines were cultivated.  The work involved to continuously clear the weeds eventually became too much and the Hewletts searched for a site more suitable for grape growing commercially.

The Hewletts moved to Maungatapu, where they bought 12 acres of land and transported the vines from Waikareao to the new site. Current day Vine Street in Maungatapu is one of the streets originally part of this farm and was named after the Hewletts' vineyard.

Ms 67/18 - Maungatapu Vineyard - looking south-east towards Welcome Bay

When WWII broke out, Francis (F.E.T.) Hewlett enlisted as Wing Commander in the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF).  He progressed his military career and became Air Commodore, January 1945. Whilst he was away, not much progress was made with the winemaking, however, Francis Hewlett picked up from where he left off when he returned.

F.E.T. (Francis) Hewlett on his spraying tractor - Ms 67/18

The Papers relating to the Maungatapu Vineyard (Ms 67) contain the original speech delivered to the THS in 1957, photographs, wine labels, prize certificates and an essay titled "The suitability of Tauranga for outdoor grapes for wine making".  This must have been like a vintner's handbook back in 1957, but still provides interesting insight for today.  Some interesting points he makes are:

• Henderson and Hawkes Bay identified as specialty grape-growing regions
• The "American Invasion" during the war influenced the market for selling cheap, inferior wines where the main factor was the “kick” it gave
• When men and women returned from WWII they had more of a discerning taste for quality wine and this in turn increased the demand for higher quality winemaking
• Tauranga has the same climate as the northern Germany region of “Rotor Traminer”, and can grow exact replica Moselle vines
• Some of the preferred winemaking grapes for Tauranga are Siebel varieties, which produce dry wines, sherries, port and Rosē.

Wine Bottle Label - Ms 67/7

Further reading...

For those interested in delving deeper into their stories, the Pae Korokī collection offers a treasure trove of resources, including the Papers relating to Maungatapu Vineyard (Ms 67) and the Journals of the Tauranga Historical Society The reference section has a biography of Hilda Hewlett, written by F.E.T. Hewlett’s daughter-in-law, Gail Hewlett: "Old Bird: the irrepressible Mrs Hewlett".

Sources

Hewlett, Gail. (c.2010). Old Bird - The irrepressible Mrs Hewlett. Leicester : Matador.

Journal of the Tauranga Historical Society, no. 35 (December 1968)

Journal of the Tauranga Historical Society, no. 8 (October 1958)

Women Who Mean Business website: https://womenwhomeantbusiness.com/2021/05/27/hilda-hewlett-1864-1943/

Auckland War Memorial Museum - Online Cenotaph 

Ms 67 - Papers relating to Maungatapu Vineyard, Pae Korokī

Ams 463 - Tauranga Borough Council rate books, valuation rolls and related material

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 13056, 26 January 1943, Page 3 - Papers Past - https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/ 

Robert Falla in the Bay of Plenty and the Sladden Collection

 From Tauranga City Library’s archives

A monthly blog about interesting items in our collection

1930 portrait of Robert Alexander Falla (1901-1979) while assistant zoologist with the British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition.

Head-and-shoulders portrait of Robert Alexander Falla, assistant zoologist on Antarctic expedition aboard the Discovery; inscribed "With regards R.A.F. June 1930"  (Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Ms 33/5/52)

When Robert Falla retired in 1966 he had been Director of the Dominion Museum (now the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa) for nearly 20 years. He was born in Palmerston North. His father was a railway clerk. He matriculated from Auckland Grammar School in 1918, after winning a scholarship in 1915, and wanted to go to sea. Several attempts to get work on a ship were not successful. However, he managed by determination and hard work to turn his childhood exposure to ‘natural history’ from an interest – particularly in birds - into a successful and prolific career as a zoologist, which also got him on several lengthy sea voyages.

He worked his way into academic study by getting a Bachelor of Arts with a Senior Scholarship in education in 1924, working as a primary teacher, then becoming a lecturer in general science at the Training College. In 1927 he graduated as a Master of Arts with a thesis on the teaching of nature study and biology in New Zealand.

At the same time as this work and study he was doing scientific fieldwork and publishing the results. Falla established his reputation as an ornithologist with the 1924 publication of “Discovery of a breeding place of Buller’s Shearwater, Poor Knights Island, N.Z.” in Emu Vol. 24, No. 1 pp 37-43. This is among the at least 16 books and offprints (pamphlet versions of academic papers for distribution to collaborators and colleagues) he had written that Falla sent to Sladden “With the authors’ compliments” during the 1920s and 1930s, and now in the Library’s Sladden Collection.

In 1928 Bernard Sladden was the lead author of an article written with Falla - “Alderman Islands: a general description, with notes on the flora and fauna”, published over two issues of the New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology (Vol. 9, No.’s 4-5, November 1927 (pp 193-205) and February 1928 (pp 282-290). Sladden had his copy bound with other offprints – including his own 1924 article about Karewa and 1926 article about Tūhua – reporting on the fauna, flora and geology of the islands of the Bay of Plenty.

 

 

Bernard Sladden's binding of scientific papers on Bay of Plenty offshore islands

 

This shows how integral amateur researchers like Sladden were in building the body of scientific knowledge of New Zealand’s natural history. He hadn’t just provided the boat to get to the Alderman Islands, he had been an active participant in the collection and formal publication of the data. Sladden could also by letter and sample keep the professionals informed of new discoveries and developments in the part of the country where he lived, expanding their geographic range.

Falla’s scientific career flourished – “In 1929 he was appointed assistant zoologist to the British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) under the leadership of Sir Douglas Mawson”[1]. Prints of photos taken by Falla on the expedition made their way into Sladden’s papers – e.g. Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Ms 33/5/311

However, the lengthy absences this work required eventually led to Falla’s resignation from the Training College. He had already mentioned in a 1930 letter to Sladden, kept in our archive, that he could only process his work from the expedition in his spare time [2]. This is in response to what must have been a comment from Bernard’s letter to him that managing the farm was keeping him from his own researches.

“In 1931 [Falla] was appointed ornithologist and education officer at the Auckland War Memorial Museum” where in 1937 he completed the publication of the BANZARE report on birds, “still considered a classic work on the birds of the southern ocean[3].” The Sladden Collection has the copy Falla inscribed and sent to “B. Sladden with compliments & regards. R.A.F. Jan 1938”.

 

By this time Falla had been appointed director of the Canterbury Museum, where amongst other work he instigated the investigation into moa remains at Pyramid Valley. Again, Falla sent an offprint to Bernard Sladden “with compliments”.

 

Falla was a Carnegie Scholar in 1939, touring and studying museums and their displays in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe (until interrupted by the outbreak of war). During the war he participated in coastwatching expeditions to the sub-Antarctic islands (ensuring German, and later Japanese ships didn’t try and use them as bases for commerce raiding), but also fitting in some geological and ornithological observations.

He was made Director of the Dominion Museum in 1947, and according to his obituaries was always unhappy that the administrative work of this role was keeping him from the kind of fieldwork and publishing he had enjoyed in the 1920s and 1930s with colleagues like Bernard Sladden.

 

1. Falla 's entry in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography accessed 14 March 2025
2. Falla, Robert Alexander, 1901-1979, Letter from Robert Alexander Falla to Bernard Sladden, 25 Jun 1930). Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Ms 33/3/1/6
3. Falla 's entry in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography accessed 14 March 2025

Sources:

Falla in Europe as a Carnegie scholar in 1939

Unpublished Falla papers at Alexander Turnbull Library related to several expeditions, including BANZARE and the Cape expedition.

Section from Coastwatchers in Vol. 2 of Episodes and Studies on the Cape expedition to the Auckland Islands.

Coastwatchers Chapter 8 in The Pacific volume of the Official History.

Forest & Bird Obituary 1979

Obituary and bibliography from Notornis Volume 27 Part 2, June 1980, pp 179-195

Written by Leslie Goodliffe, Information Access Specialist at Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries

Bunka embroidery and a book by Rata Roden

From Tauranga City Library’s archives

A monthly blog about interesting items in our collection

One of the items recently digitised by the Heritage & Research Team is this framed embroidery mountain scene, worked by Rata Roden when she was 84.

'Japanese Punch' embroidery by Rata Roden, 1992  (Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Ams 457/4/9)

Japanese punch embroidery, or bunka embroidery, bunka shishu, uses a specialised hollow needle to weave rayon thread from the front of the fabric, through to the back. The effect is often likened to oil paintings or watercolours. As finished pieces tend to be fragile, they tend to be displayed as art, rather than onto clothing.

 

Rata was born 'Bessie Rata Lever', and the Lever family papers in our archives include her workbox and pincushions.

Workbox and contents (Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Ams 406/1)

 

Also in the workbox was a copy of her autobiography 'Here, there and most places'. Published in Tauranga in 1973, Rata acknowledged the assistance of Miss Joan Mirrielees, Kathleen Stratford and Gaye Rendell. The jacket blurb describes her story:

 

...Rata Roden has made an interesting record of her experiences in a variety of occupations in a variety of countries. It is the biography of a New Zealander, a farmer’s daughter, who, through dogged persistence realised her two main ambitions – to become a nurse, and to travel to foreign places. It is an absorbing account covering backblock farming days, nursing in the slums of London, living in many parts of Africa, the World War II in Egypt and England, travel to Japan, the Orient, Iceland, Greenland, Russia and Scandinavia. Altogether Mrs Roden has made eleven trips out of New Zealand and in her story she takes us with her."

 

Inside dust jacket and back cover of 'Here There and Most Places', published 1973.

 

Writing was in the family, as it's Rata's cousin Arthur Gray who wrote 'An Ulster Plantation'. Copies of both books are in the reference collection at Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Library.

  

Sources

Clasper-Torch, Micah. (2021, April 27). The history of punch needle. Sister Magazine, (61). sister-mag.com/en/magazine/sistermag-no-61-may-2021/the-history-of-punch-needle

Roden, Rata. (1973). Here, there and most places. Ashford-Kent Ltd.

Tokyo Bunka Art. (2007, May). Japanese Bunka Embroidery - The art of thread. tokyo-bunka-art.blogspot.com/2007/05

Victoria's Custom Framing & Stitchery. (2024, December 3). Bunka embroidery. facebook.com/story.php

---

 

Written by Kate Charteris, Heritage Specialist at Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries

April Fool's Day and the Tauranga Ladies Rest Room

April Fool's Day and the Tauranga Ladies Rest Room

 From Tauranga City Library’s archives

A monthly blog about interesting items in our collection

An April Fools Day prank reported by the Bay of Plenty Times in 1964 was flour footprints leading to Tauranga's Ladies' Rest Rooms in Spring Street...

April Fool's Day Prank (Ladies Rest Room) (Photo gca-6426)

Although the joke isn't readily apparent sixty-one years later, the front of the Ladies' Rest Rooms were clearly visible, which caused some excitement when this negative was discovered as part of the ongoing Gifford-Cross project to re-house and digitise approximately 140,000-180,000 negatives contributed by local photographers to the Bay of Plenty Times.

There is another view of the building, tucked between Hayman Sharplin's Real Estate Agents and the New Zealand Insurance Company, in the 1965 Bay of Plenty Times photograph of members from the Australian Salvation Army Youth Congress...

Aust. Salvation Army Youth Congress - Wellington (Photo gcc-11226)

The rest rooms visitor's book is in our archives (Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Ams 106), unfortunately in very poor condition, it is still possible to carefully turn the pages and read entries from Mrs' and Misses noting the date, where they were visiting from, and what they thought of the facilities.

 

Detail from the first page of Ams 106 - Ladies’ Rest Room visitors' book, Tauranga, 1937-1946, showing comments from 2-5 February 1938.

 

Not an April Fools Day prank was the first meeting of the Tauranga Women's Representative Committee on 1 April 1935, where those present agreed to draft a letter to the Borough Council along the lines of...

 

"We the undersigned, being residents in and near the borough of Tauranga, emphatically protest against the action taken by the Borough Council, in deciding to build the Ladie's [sic] Rest Room on the Town Wharf, believing that such a position would be dangerous to life and limb, and detrimental to health; and urge that further investigation be made before the work is proceeded with."

excerpt from Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Ams 22

 

Eighteen months later "the rest room scheme provided another animated controversy at the Borough Council meeting", with the Bay of Plenty Times describing the debate where Councillor McKinnon opposed 'anything being erected on the waterfront

 

They had a waterfront that was unequalled in the Dominion. It could not be measured in pounds, shillings and pence. In the waterfront they had glorious nature and nothing should be erected that was detrimental to it'

Bay of Plenty Times, 15 October 1936, p. 3.

 

After over two years of debate, discussion and public petitions, the rest rooms were finally constructed in Spring Street in 1937. Stephanie Smith's blog and Abby Wharne's talk, provide more of the history.

 

The Strand retaining green park spaces for people to walk and play.

 

 

The Strand, Tauranga, from the Taumatakahawai (Monmouth Redoubt). 1939 or 1940. Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Photo 02-346

 

Sources:

Bay of Plenty Times. (1936, October 15). Ladies' Rest Room. Waterfront site. Vetoed by Council. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19361015.2.30

Smith, Stephanie. (2015, December 25).  Friday, 25 December 2015 The Spring Street Ladies’ Rest Room. Tauranga Historical Society Blog. taurangahistorical.blogspot.com/2015/12/

Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries. (2021, March 3). Women’s Organisations in Tauranga: The Past and the Curious - talk by Abby Wharne. [Video]. Pae Korokī. AV 21-003/2. paekoroki.tauranga.govt.nz/nodes/view/42917

---

 

Written by Kate Charteris, Heritage Specialist at Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries

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

From Tauranga City Library’s archives

A monthly blog about interesting items in our collections.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:   

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

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

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

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