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

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

C.F Washer and Sons and Sam Snowden’s Spring Street Service Station (Part 2)

Guest article by John Green (continued from Part 1)

Sam Snowden felt there was room for another motor business in the downtown area and set up on the corner of Durham and Spring Streets (now the site of our first parking building). He was the agent for International and sold trucks and bulldozers as well as benzine (petrol) and other oil products.

Sam Snowden’s Spring St Service Station, 1940s
Collection of Te Ao Mārama Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 03-457

All service stations seemed to sell benzine from multiple manufacturers, eg. Big Tree, Plume, Shell, Texaco, Europa, Atlantic.

The modernised stuccoed Snowden Garage with flat, undated
Black-and-white silver gelatin print (92 x 148mm) by Alf Rendell, Tauranga
Tauranga Heritage Collection Ref. 0181/15, Tauranga Museum

Much later the workshop was extended and a second storey flat was added to the building.  Former employee Alan Jones remembers Sam coming into the workshop on cold days and lighting his forge to warm the place.  We believe the Snowdens (possibly the two sons) also had a car rental business across the road next to their tractor showroom and parts department.

Garage of C.F. Washer Ltd, Willow Street, 1937
Copy negative of mounted print, copied for Bay of Plenty Photo News, No 93, 7 Mar 1970
Collection of Te Ao Mārama Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. pn 6546

Washer’s Garage, Willow Street, c1950s
Black-and-white silver gelatin print (96 x 150mm) by Alf Rendell, Tauranga
Tauranga Heritage Collection Ref. 0186/15, Tauranga Museum

Meanwhile back at Washers expansion was underway, they now had the corner section for the sale of fuel and the side building was the service area. The name was changed to C.F. Washer and Sons and they became distributors for Vauxhall, Bedford and Chevrolet.

The final form of C. F. Washer and Sons, 1970
Black-and-white 35mm-format negative, published in Bay of Plenty Photo News, No 93, 7 Mar 1970
Collection of Te Ao Mārama Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. pn 6534

Their buildings covered many square yards and included a truck workshop on Hamilton Street, lube bay, parts department, showroom and another service centre in the original 1922 building facing Willow Street.

Washer’s Resale Cars, Cameron Road
Copy negative of loose print, copied for Bay of Plenty Photo News, No 93, 7 Mar 1970
Collection of Te Ao Mārama Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. pn 6548

Washers also dealt in used vehicles. If you look closely, you may recognise this building as part of present day Kale Print and a back corner of the Brain Watkins House is visible.

Charlie Washer, September 1964
Black-and-white 120-format negative, publ. Bay of Plenty Times, 30 Sep 1964
Collection of Te Ao Mārama Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. gca-7412

Over the decades a lot of car brands went out of production and many of the oil companies had amalgamated. Boron (additive) was a sales gimmick for Caltex.

Sources

Tauranga 1882-1982 —The Centennial of Gazetting Tauranga as a Borough, Edited by Alan Bellamy. Published by TCC, 1982

Personal memories of the writer and Alan Jones, a former employee of Sam Snowden.

Images

Thanks to Tauranga City Libraries for their amazing collection of images on Pae  Koroki, and to Fiona Kean and the team at the Tauranga Heritage Collection for permission to use two of their images, including those taken by the late Alf Rendell

C.F Washer and Sons and Sam Snowden’s Spring Street Service Station (Part 1)

Guest article by John Green

Main Street, Te Puke, with C.F. Washer’s sign on left, beyond hotel, c1910
Real photo postcard by unidentified photographer
Collection of Te Ao Mārama Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 99-975

At the beginning of the 20th Century there were many coach builders, wheelwrights and blacksmiths but they soon had to adapt to the appearance of the “horseless carriages” that were gaining popularity. Bay of Plenty residents, the Washers, and one of their early employees Sam Snowden managed to think outside the square and run successful motor garages in the central business district for many decades with their innovative ideas and entrepreneurial skills.

It is very difficult to find much written record of their activities but several images from different eras have been preserved in the Tauranga City Library Archives and the Tauranga Heritage Collection.

Main Street, Te Puke, 1919
Real photo postcard by Henry Winkelmann (Tourist Series 975)
Collection of Te Ao Mārama Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 99-045

It appears the C.F. Washer business had its origins in Te Puke where there was a ‘House Furnisher, Ironmonger and Coach Builder’ under the same name in 1910.

Tauranga Coach builders, c1909
Copy negative of mounted print, copied for Bay of Plenty Photo News, No 93, 7 Mar 1970
Collection of Te Ao Mārama Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. pn 6542

It is hard to date this Tauranga image and we can’t confirm it is Washers but maybe it was as early as 1909. Washer had been in business for 50 years in 1959.

[Editor’s Note: According to Electoral Rolls, Cecil Frederic Washer, coachbuilder, was living at Hamilton Street, Tauranga at least as early as 1911, but his father Alfred Washer had been farming in Tauranga and Te Puke since the 1880s.]

Charlie Haua’s Invitation to C.F. Washer’s Jubilee Buffet, 24 March 1959
Collection of Te Ao Mārama Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. Ms 81/3/2/1

Sometime before this image was recorded in 1922 Washer’s Empire Garage was established on Willow Street. They were agents for Hudson, Buick and Dort. This was one of the important early and long-standing businesses spanning six decades, the business closed in 1970. Charlie Haua (Tauranga’s last blacksmith, 1903-1980s?) and Sam Snowden were in the lineup of employees as blacksmiths, rather than mechanics.

Washer’s Empire Garage, 1922
(L to R) Unknown, Jack Wright, Charlie Haua, unknown, unknown, Sam Snowden, unknown, Fred Washer
Collection of Te Ao Mārama Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 99-1144

To be continued ... Part 2

Sources

Tauranga 1882-1982 —The Centennial of Gazetting Tauranga as a Borough, Edited by Alan Bellamy. Published by TCC, 1982

Personal memories of the writer and Alan Jones, a former employee of Sam Snowden.

Images
Thanks to Tauranga City Libraries for their amazing collection of images on Pae  Koroki, and to Fiona Kean and the team at the Tauranga Heritage Collection for permission to use two of their images, including the one taken by the late Alf Rendell