Painting of St Peter's Anglican Church by Ella Thompson

St Peter's Anglican Church by Ella Thompson
Photograph by Brett Payne

This painting of Katikati's St Peter's Anglican Church was done by Ella Thompson in 1984.  Missing for a while, it was rediscovered by Don Wallis in the ceiling of the church building. It had to be cut into two pieces to be removed, but was restored and has been on display in the Katikati Heritage Museum since it opened in 2000.  Although often described as a mural, this is not strictly accurate since it was painted on a large canvas rather than directly onto a permanent surface.

Painting of  on display at the Katikati Keritage Museum, June 2014
Photograph by Brett Payne

Early Settlement at Mount Maunganui

Mt. Maunganui, Tauranga (No. 17)
Postcard image from collection of Justine Neal

The earliest settlers of the narrow spit of land where today's bustling township stands were the people of the Ngamarama, followed by the Ngati Ranginui and lastly the Ngai Te Rangi, whose pa built on Mauao was impregnable until a successful attack by Ngapuhi in 1818. By 1830 visitors to the area found Mauao uninhabited and the surrounding land an almost deserted area of scrub and sandhills.

Tauranga. From Mt. Maunganui (Tourist Series. 249.)
Postcard image from collection of Justine Neal

In 1864 the first pilot house was built on the slopes of Mauao with a replacement cottage being built in 1874. Although it was a favourite spot for picnics and outings for the Tauranga settlers, permanent settlement of the area started slowly with people from Tauranga and Rotorua buying land and building holiday baches near the foot of Mauao on the sandhills. Many of these people later became residents.

Wood Rose, Dactylanthus taylorii

Specimens of Wood Rose, Dactylanthus taylorii
Katikati Heritage Museum collection, Photograph by Brett Payne

Tucked away in a dark corner of the Katikati Heritage Museum, volunteer Sue Sisley came across a case containing some strangely shaped pieces of wood with an intriguing label identifying them as Wood Roses, aka Dactylanthus taylorii.

Dactylanthus taylorii, as described by Hooker in 1859

Actually Dactylanthus taylorii is something of a misnomer, as all traces of this unusual parasitic plant have long since disappeared.  Otherwise known as pua o te reinga or Flower of Hades, it is endemic to New Zealand, having been first discovered and described from around the headwaters of the Whangaehu River on the slopes of Mount Raupehu by Reverend R. Taylor on 18 March 1845.

Short-tailed bat feeding on flowers of Dactylanthus taylori
(Click for short video)

The tuber attaches itself to the roots of a range of about 30 native hardwood trees and shrubs, from which it derives its nutrients, and in response, the host roots mould themselves into the characteristic shape of a fluted wooden rose.  It has no green leaves, but real flowering stalks protrude above the surface, and the inflorescences, filled with sweet-smelling nectar, are pollinated by short-tailed bats, rats and mice.

Dactylanthus taylorii covered with moss and protected by wire mesh cage, Whirinaki Forest, Te Urewera
Photograph by Brett Payne

In the past the large tubers were dug up, then boiled for several hours to soften the warty growth, which was carefully scraped off to reveal the "flowers."  They were then commonly dried and varnished.  Although formerly found throughout the North Island and northern South Island, there are now likely to be less than a few thousand left.  D. taylorii is listed as "Threatened - Nationally Vulnerable" by the Department of Conservation and ranked as high priority for conservation.  Collection is no longer permitted, and protection measures include both pest control and enclosure in wire mesh cages.

Specimens of Wood Rose, Dactylanthus taylorii
Private collection, Photograph by Brett Payne

The museum's former owner Nancy Merriman has revealed that the family used to visit Pyes Pa in the 1960s, where they found the two smaller ones, while the largest originated from the Goodwin Collection.  Further discussion with volunteers while this item was being photographed and packed for temporary storage turned up two further specimens in a private collection, gifted in the Taumarunui area during the 1970s.

References

Hooker, J.D. (1859) On a new Genus of Balanophoreae from New Zealand, and Two Species of Balanophora, Transactions of the Linnaean Society, Volume 22, p.425-428, from Botanicus

Hill, H. (1926) Dactylanthus taylori, Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, Vol 56, p. 87-90, pl. 14-17.


Scarrow, Eion (1993) Newspaper clipping about Dactylanthus taylorii, from the New Zealand Herald, 1 December 1993 (Courtesy of Peter Martin)

Ecroyd, Chris E. (1996) The ecology of Dactylanthus taylorii and threats to its survival, New Zealand Journal of Ecology, 20 (1): 81-200.

La Cock, G.D., Holzapfel, S., King, D. & Singers, N. (2005) Dactylanthus taylorii recovery plan, 2004-2014, Threatened Species Recovery Plan 56, Department of Conservation

Anon (2007) Dactylanthus taylorii fact sheet, August 2007, Department of Conservation

Dactylanthus taylorii, from Wikipedia

Native Plants: Dactylanthus, by Department of Conservation

Photographs of Dactylanthus by Rod Morris.

Matt McGlone. Evolution of plants and animals - Ecological influences, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 8-Jul-13

Dactylanthus taylorii, Photographs from the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Crabbe's Store

Bay of Plenty Times building, cnr 6th Ave/Cameron Rd
Photo courtesy of Fiona Kean

There used to be a really important store where this building is now on the corner of 6th Ave and Cameron Road.

Crabbe's Store, cnr 6th Ave/Cameron Rd
Photo courtesy of the Tauranga Heritage Collection

Crabbe’s Store sold lots of different things to people who lived around here. There were jars filled with lollies for kids. I would like to buy my lollies from this store.

Hillsdene/Crabbe's Store, Tauranga Boys' College, Cameron Rd
Photo courtesy of Fiona Kean

It is really good that they moved the Store and didn’t get rid of it. It is now at the Boys’ College.

Bottles by T.H. Hall, Cordial Manufacturer of Tauranga

 

 

T.H. Hall, Tauranga, clear glass codd-necked aerated water bottle and brown glass bottles
Katikati Heritage Museum collection

As regular readers of the Society's blog will have learnt last week, Katikati Heritage Museum's collection is going into temporary storage, in preparation for its eventual relocation in a new home, the former Katikati Fire Station. Over the next few weeks, the Society will have the privilege of featuring images of a small selection of items from the collection.  I am grateful to the Western Bay of Plenty District Council and the museum's manager, Paula Gaelic, and trustees for the opportunity to reproduce these photographs.

Bottle collection, displayed hanging in the Katikati Heritage Museum

The museum has a collection of several thousand bottles, many of which were previously displayed hanging on rails around both the ground floor and upper level of the museum.

T.H. Hall, Tauranga soda syphons
Katikati Heritage Museum collection

Among these are several examples from the firm of cordial manufacturer T.H. Hall, well known in Tauranga during the first half of the twentieth century.  Specimens include soda siphons, stoneware and brown glass ginger beer bottles, Codd-necked aerated water bottles and clear glass cordial bottles.

T.H. Hall, Tauranga, stoneware ink and ginger beer bottles
Ink bottle at left by Joseph Bourne, Denby Pottery (of Derbyshire, England)
Katikati Heritage Museum collection

In a previous article on this blog Jean Bennett wrote about the cordial manufacturer T.H. Hall who operated a business on a one acre section in Grey Street from around 1904 until his death in 1940.  Although owned by Innes Tartan Ltd, production continued under this name until 1972, when it moved to a new factory in Rotorua.

T.H. Hall, Tauranga, clear glass cordial bottles
Katikati Heritage Museum collection

All photographs by Brett Payne