Monday, 25 November 2019

Historic Kopu Bridge - Firsts and Records


The  historic Kopu Bridge was opened on 11 May 1928.  Since then it has been a very relevant part of our New Zealand history. Back in October 1926, the Auckland Weekly News reported the first pile of the Kopu Bridge being driven. The then Minister of Public Works, K.S. Williams, is attributed with driving the first pile of this  bridge.


WATCHING THE FIRST PILE BEING DRIVEN HOME : A STUDY IN EXPRESSION AT THE KOPU GATHERING. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19261014-4

From the first day the bridge opened it was a first for this bridge's span across the waters of  Te Waihou River at Kopu. 

A RED – LETTER DAY FOR THE THAMES DISTRICT: FURTHER SCENES AT THE OPENING OF THE NEW HAURAKI BRIDGE – YESTERDAY* Left: The first cars to cross the splendid concrete structure.New Zealand Herald,  12 May 1928 Courtesy Papers Past NZ National Library

 Until the opening of a new Kopu Bridge in 2011,  the historic Kopu Bridge was part of State Highway 25 - the total length of the single-lane bridge being  463 metres (m) - made up of  made up of twenty-three 18.2 metre plate girder spans, with a central swing span of 42.6 metres.  Significant for this bridge was the central swing span to allow shipping vessels on the Waihou through. The first of these was S.S.Taniwha in March 1928. It was reported by the Thames Star that the "local maori felt the Kopu Bridge was going to be a very lucky one". Not so lucky for the S.S. Taniwha, a Northern Steamship vessel  which sunk at moorings , after hitting a snag near Puriri Beacon , in  September 1930

 This central span drew the attention of a number of " parliamentary  dignitaries:" of that era- amongst them R A Wright - the then minister of education. Another first for this area of the Coromandel Peninsula.

The 11 October 1928 saw the first 11,000 volt cable across the Waihou River into service  at the Kopu Bridge - of benefit to the Thames Borough.


Historic Kopu Bridge March 2019 looking toward wheel house - photo courtesy Chris Ball
Captain Cook Obelisk


About 200 people, attended the unveiling of a memorial on a November  Saturday, 1941. This was a 10ft stone obelisk, unveiled  by Mr. J. Thorn, M.P., at a spot at Kopu near the Kopu Bridge, on the eastern bank  Waihou River . The memorial  took the form of a rock obelisk, triangular in shape, with 2ft sides and rising to a height of 9 feet from ground level. Goral stone from a quarry on the Kauaeranga Valley road was used, and  the pile carried  a bronze plaque, suitably inscribed  -  "Near this spot James Cook, with the naturalists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, landed while exploring the River Thames in the ship's boats of HMS Endeavour, 21 November, 1769."

Here this memorial rock obelisk sat for some 40 years on the road reserve at the eastern end of the Kopu Bridge. That was until the early 1980's when it was moved, as a result of some roading renovations, to a site in front of the Kopu Hall, adjacent to the Kopu Station Hotel. Since then the obelisk has moved again and is said to be returning some time in the future.



Into a new century and 2011 saw a new bridge adjacent, opened. Along with ownership of the historic Kopu Bridge,  passing on 18 March, 2018, from NZTA to the Kopu Bridge and Community Trust, via a MOU signed between the two parties. It would seem that with this change, has come some breaking of records with a different sort of traffic using the bridge and enjoying the natural surroundings of the Te Waihou River and its banks.

Last Saturday  fortnight ( 9th November 2019 ) another world record was broken on the historic Kopu Bridge - a category 1 Heritage NZ structure at Thames, New Zealand. This was  Steampunk  the Thames attempt to break the Guinness  World Record for the largest Steampunks' gathering. The organisers of the Steampunk Festival and historic Kopu Bridge think they may have just achieved this with   252  steampunks in one place, on the  heritage bridge.


Steampunk Festival 2018 Thames NZ - photo courtesy Chris Ball

Back on 15 February 2019, the well known Brits at the Beach festival, celebrating all things British, held a fundraiser for Kopu Bridge and Community Bridge Trust for bridge repairs. Also part of this fund raiser was a world record attempt - the most British cars on a single lane bridge -  they achieved this with 60 cars.

Collage for Brits on the Bridge


Thus the historic Kopu Bridge - this iconic and significant category 1 heritage structure which is a tribute to the engineers who built it - remains a relevant part of our New Zealand history with many stories yet to be told.

Historic Kopu Bridge adjacent to new Kopu Bridge - photo courtesy Chris Ball

Reference  Source:

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Monday, 4 November 2019

Unlocking their Story - glimpses Coromandel family history - Part II


























Unlocking Their Story - glimpses Coromandel family history- Part II 
to see part I   go to 
Gold was discovered at Coromandel in 1852 by Charles  Ring. This was followed in August 1869 with the discovery of gold on the Thames goldfield.  The gold rush was on as miners found their way to Thames  - then called Shortland  and Grahamstown. Along with these miners came scrip sellers ( scrip - where prices of the mining shares were called out), stock brokers and bankers ( who bought,  assayed and shipped the gold.)




















Scrip corner at Thames was located close to  the Bank of  New Zealand Grahamstown - on the corner of Brown and Albert Streets. To Thames Goldfields came  four of the  Frater Brothers -   John, Robert, James and William. They soon discovered that there was more money to be made, selling scrip, so gave up mining for gold. In 1872, wanting to look more professional than standing on a street corner calling out scrip, Robert set up a stock broker's office in Auckland and the other three brothers, at Thames.

The year of 1869 was also one that saw the establishment of stock exchanges at Thames and Auckland. Thames adopted rules based on those of the Melbourne stock exchange - Australia's first in 1859. 

This provided a set of rules that set the behaviour of brokers, provided company listing requirements and trading procedures and processes - bringing stock and share broking and selling into a more professional mode and helped to remove the reputation gained on the Thames Goldfields of " unscrupulous" scrip sellers. By 1877 the Thames Stock Exchange was well established - John Salmon, Chairman, John Frater as treasurer. Also a member, was George Alfred Buttle. Buttle arrived in the Thames in early gold mining days where initially acted as agent and correspondent of the Herald.

 Joseph Newman, Buttle's uncle, established a share broking business at Thames in 1869 - Buttle became connected with this, left the Thames the 1880's and became owner of the chair on the stock exchange when Newman retired. For several years Buttle was chair of the Auckland Stock Exchange.

  
As said stock broking was closely linked  to  Thames goldmining, giving would be investors the opportunity of being successful shareholders in one or more of the goldmines on the goldfields.

 By the beginning of the 1900's there were a number of goldfields across the Coromandel Peninsula. The Ohinemuri Goldfields where the cyanide process in gold extraction processing was first trialed at the Crown Mines, Karangahake opened 1875.  and  Tairua Goldfields opened up in the mid 1870's. The Waihi Goldfields saw the very lucrative and giant industrial complex of the Waihi Gold Mining Company well in operation by the beginning of the 1900's.


The Auckland Chamber of Mines was established in August 1895 with Henry Thomson Gorrie, being amongst a number, being elected to a committee to draw up a constitution for this group. 

The Auckland Chamber of Mines, headed by president Seymour Thorne George, soon had the constitution rules in hand. A meeting to formalise the membership and rules which was felt to be of great benefit to investors in gold mining companies of that era, saw William Gorrie  ( brother of Henry Thomson Gorrie, appointed to the statistical committee.)   

Both William Gorrie and Henry Thomson Gorrie invested, as many did in the late 1890's in gold mining companies across the Coromandel Peninsula - including the New May Queen gold mining company in Thames. Both brothers were also elected to the Thames Drainage Board during the first decade of the 1900's. 

The Big Pump used to dewater mines  was managed by a Drainage Board headed by Chairman H.A. Gordon - a person well versed in mining operations." The funds necessary for the continuance of pumping operations were  contributed by various surrounding companies, including the New Moanataiari, Kuranui, Caledonian, Waiotahi, Victoria and May Queen-Hauraki." ( Cyclopaedia NZ 1902)


William Gorrie's son - Morton Gorrie - was to settle at Coromandel in the first decade of the 1900's. Coming from a farm near Maungatautari, Morton Gorrie was to be  involved in dairy farming at Coromandel, seeing the opening of the first dairy factory in 1911, as Chairmen of Directors. Following in his  father's footsteps with a love of the game, Morton Gorrie also played bowls. A  part of the community, opening the new green at Coromandel, in capacity as president of the club. 


Morton's sister Mary Morton Gorrie married Harold Carleton Bagnall - eldest son of Lemuel Bagnall of sawmilling fame at Turua. Lemuel moving towards dairying from sawmilling saw a future in dairy factories. In 1902 Bagnall Brothers had built on their property a radiator dairy factory by  Messrs John Burns and Co. of Auckland. Separating cream for milk this was a first despite some sceptism from other farmers that it would not work. 

The Bagnall family had also been versatile in timber and were renown for their beehives, exported worldwide - Harold Carleton Bagnall had been involved with these in the box factory.

The first decade of the 1900's also saw the development  and use of Portland Cement in gold mining processes , railway bridge piles, wharves and cowshed floors and other buildings  - all places exposed to water. The Coromandel Peninsular with a huge industrial type gold mining company at Waihi shipped tons of Portland Cement to their plants at Victoria Battery and for the pump house at Waihi . See its all in the mix - Cement, Gold and Railways ( National Library NZ. 


Two brands were bought in to Karangahake and Waihi - the Star Brand and the Crown Brand of New Zealand Portland Cement Co.- their plant at Limestone Island, Whangarei. John Buchanan Macfarlane , a merchant and shipper, with a warehouse in Fort Street, Auckland, was among the directors of this company.

Both James and his wife Edith Mary Macfarlane were involved in war effort activities during and after WW1 - fundraising for convalescent hospitals, the hospital ships and Red Cross Society. Edith continued this work also during WWII.

As with many families ours came to the Coromandel Peninsula - some settled, some moved on. Hard work and effort were expended by them all - involved with railway survey and construction, gold mining, kauri logging, gum digging and farming.  These families also left their mark in the communities they lived, helping to establish churches, sports organisations and other community activities - a very relevant part of the past New Zealand history.

References: 
  •  The Cyclopaedia New Zealand Limited ( Auckland Province ) 1902, Christchurch
  • Grant, David. Bulls, bears and elephants: a history of the New Zealand Stock Exchange Wellington: Victoria University Press 1997
  • Papers Past National Library NZ New Zealand Herald 16 June 1925 Page 10
  • New Zealand Herald  16 August 1895  Page 6
  • New Zealand Herald  3 October 1895  Page 6
  • Auckland Star  24 January 1907  Page 3
  • Auckland Star  10 April 1907  Page 7
  • Observer  8 January 1910  Page 22
  • Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate.  18 November 1902  Page 4  
  • Kathleen Anderson. 'Macfarlane, Edith Mary', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1996. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3m7/macfarlane-edith-mary (accessed 5 November 2019)




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Monday, 23 September 2019

Unlocking Their Story - glimpses Coromandel family history- Part I


Compiled 2014 for a lecture Heritage Week Thames  - Unlocking Their Story - glimpses Coromandel family history- Part I
Unlocking Their Story - glimpses Coromandel family history- Part II



Many families came to the Coromandel Peninsula for many reasons. Some for gold mining, timber processing or kauri gum digging. Some for farming. Then there were other occupations born out of those industries -  to provide machinery, goods  or services. Banking, stock broking, journalism, book selling, shipping, railway and tramway construction, cement, providing of food stuffs, tools for extracting gold , timber or gum, hardware merchants.


Family members came - some for a short time; some settled in what are small towns or places around the Coromandel Peninsula. Their occupations very much a part of the community they lived in - whether it be the timber milling of  Tairua and Whitianga, the gold mining and banking at Thames, or the farming at Coromandel. Today relics of those occupations remind us of a history of our past and provide an attraction for tourists the world over. Also including our own domestic tourists. 

Typical of any family history are those members who died of illness, accident or just plain old age. Typical are the cemeteries where they were buried. The local council - Thames Coromandel District Council  has an online cemetery search which includes the cemeteries of the Coromandel Peninsula.  The Treasury ( The Coromandel Heritage Trust ) - a purpose built Archive in a former Carnegie Library - also has very extensive written photographs and stories. The blog spot  Thames NZ Genealogy and History  also provides a wealth of information and photographs of the Thames cemeteries.

All these databases are  well used by those around the world doing their family history and genealogy. Genealogy tourism bring a number to the Coromandel - genealogy tourists travel to the land of their ancestors to reconnect with their past and "walk in the footsteps of their ancestors “

Two such records I searched for in cemetery records were the sons of Thomas Leitch Murray and his wife Sophia Hooper ( nee Holmden) - buried at Tararu cemetery.




Thomas Leith Murray was sent to Thames, not long after the Thames Goldfields opened in 1869, as a bank agent.  In February 1869 the Grahamstown Branch of Bank New Zealand   was opened. This branch became very busy, being near many of the lucrative goldmines - amongst them the Caledonian Goldmining Company ( Thomas Russell, a director of this goldmine was also a provisional founding trustee of the Bank New Zealand in 1861) The Grahamstown branch was involved with gold buying, assaying and arranging shipments of gold from Thames. Henry Thomson Gorrie spent a short time at the bank AKA BNZ in the early 1870s as a clerk, learning the trade of gold buying, before being sent to the Westland Goldfields on the West Coast South Island.

 In early 1870's ( about 1871)  a new bank building was opened on the corner of Brown and Albert Street in Grahamstown and known as the Bank of New Zealand, Thames. Typical of bank managers of the era, Murray and his family lived on the premises and were an integral part of the Thames community via church, school and the volunteer militia.  Thomas Leitch Murray was manager of this branch of the BNZ for almost twenty five years, before being transferred to Dunedin and then Auckland.



The volunteer militia was the other passion of Thomas Leitch Murray. Rising to Captain of the Thames Scottish rifles in 1872; he progressed to major and on to Lieutenant Colonel.




Sophia was a founding member of the Thames Baptist Church in 1869, putting much energy into the fund raising activities. 




Sophia and Thomas Leitch Murray saw the marriage of their daughter Jessie to 
John William Stewart at the Thames Baptist Church where they had long worshipped.

The occasion of this wedding marked a connection for four families and the marriage of the eldest son of the late Andrew Stewart – John W Stewart to Jessie M Murray – daughter of Thomas Leitch Murray “ A large wedding party ” us cousins of 2011 , noted as we poured over the newspaper article which listed the six bridesmaids in all and familiar family names – the two Annies - Murray and Stewart, Effie Murray and sisters of the groom – Florence, Nellie and Beta (Agnes Beatrice ) Family name connections in the four groomsmen Messrs William F Stewart, Robert L  Stewart, William H  Didsbury and Leslie G  Murray. Yes this Thames wedding must have been an exciting and a fun family occasion. One that had Andrew Stewart still been alive would have been a definite on his list to be there.

Typical of the many marriages held in the various Thames and other Coromandel Peninsula  churches. Ones where families of the communities were linked together by the weddings held. 

Jessie Murray a former and foundation pupil of Thames Highschool, learned singing from Dr. Payne's wife and took part in many musical events which raised money for the Thames charities. Jessie continued singing throughout her life and returned to Thames from time to time to share her music skills .



Andrew Stewart, father of John W Stewart, died in 1889 - just two years before the marriage of his son to Jessie M Murray.  Although Andrew Stewart lived in Auckland and not the Coromandel, there were regular visits, amongst them a steamer trip - Rotomahana -  with his brother James to the starting of the new Mercury Bay sawmill at Whitianga in 1883. This enterprise was the project of the Mercury Bay Timber Company - one of the provisional directors being John Buchanan who had been in partnership on Queens Wharf - Buchanan and Stewart - January 1962 to September 1869. Merchants, shipping agents and brokers, all manner of goods and products were imported , exported and negotiated . 

 Stewart was to continue as a merchant and broker  forming  a partnership with Richard Garlick - Messrs Stewart and Garlick -  who were negotiating brokers for the giant Kauri Timber Company Limited in 1888 - not many months before Andrew died. The Kauri Timber Company acquired the sawmills at Port Charles, Kennedy's Bay, Whangapoua , Tairua, Whitianga - Mercury Bay Sawmill Company and Schappe and Ansenne's - along with the Shortland Sawmill at Thames.

Andrew Stewart's nephew, William John Gorrie, also worked in the timber industry. Gorrie was firstly clerk of the mill from 1883, then bush manager in 1887 for the Union Steam Saw, Moulding ,Sash and Door Company, Tairua.There followed a short spell as temporary manager in 1888 just before the giant NZ Kauri Timber Company took over and William John went on to live in Australia.

 It was reported by newspapers in 1887  that W J Gorrie of Tairua County, Thames, was appointed a Justice of Peace, one of the first at Tairua, The newspapers of Papers Past also recorded that a coroner’s inquiry into a death, noted that there were no Justices of the Peace in the Tairua area.

 Several months before Gorrie left for Melbourne permanently, a meeting was held at the then Tairua Public Hall - the purpose to set up a football club ( in 2019  called rugby). W J Gorrie  appears amongst the elected officers as one of the Vice Presidents, the other being a C J Winder. The Auckland Star of 5th  April 1888 also reported that " some 30 members have joined".  Today in 2019, the Tairua Rugby Club is still there - one of the oldest rugby clubs in New Zealand - celebrated 125 years in 2012 


 John Henry Upton also had links with the timber companies, including the Union Steam Saw Moulding Sash and Door Company. Upton was director and auditor of several companies along with partnership in the booksellers and stationers Upton and Co.  
William Brown Upton died suddenly in 1870. His brother John Henry Upton was joined in partnership with  his brother - in-law William Gorrie jnr to run the book sellers and stationers. This company also went into publishing. Tony Millett's Website Upton and Co. History and Bibliography carries a bibliography of Upton and Company's publications.

Approval was read to the Thames Borough Council in 1880, from the Board of  Education for purchase of a list of books for the Thames Free Library ( handed to Upton and Co). ( Thames Advertiser 27/08/1880 )This would have been the first official free library established in the goldfields town of Thames.

Upton, a shareholder of the Union Steam Saw Moulding Sash and Door Company, was appointed onto a company committee "  to inquire into the company's position" ( NZ Herald 02/02/1886) 

Courtesy Papers Past National Library NZ 


 The early 1880's proved unfortunate for the Union Steam Moulding Sash and Door Company with its head office in Mechanics Bay, Auckland, sawmills at Aratapu, Wairoa and Tairua. Along with bush contracts at Tairua, Whangamata,  Hikutaia and Northland. The depression of the '80's strike, fire, bush fires, flood along with  over valuing of timber and logs was impacting on the company's balance sheet.

The committee reported back, Upton and McLaughlan were nominated directors and the directorship with Chairman of directors, W.M. Ware,  continued to apply  solutions to turn the company around.
To no avail - Upton and Boardman were elected auditors at the Annual  General Meeting in February 1887.  A heavy loss was recorded at the 1888 Annual General Meeting, with lower prices for kauri exported to Australia noted ( NZ Herald 01/02/1988) Towards the end of May, saw mortgaged operations of Union Steam Moulding Sash and Door Company for sale by auction. Mid July of the same year the  giant Kauri Timber Company ( base Melbourne) was floated and some of the Union Steam Moulding Sash and Door Company mills and operations sold to this new timber giant. For those at Tairua, there were difficult times of uncertainty, the mill ceasing operations for a short time until the Kauri Timber Company commenced their operations in the Tairua area - headed by new manager Thomas J Edwards.
   
The former owner of the Tairua mill and bush contracts " limped on." A meeting in November 1888  proposed winding the company up, calling in debts and liquidating.

( New Zealand Herald  14/11/ 1888). It was not until well into 1890 that final steps were taken - thus ending an era of a company that had been to the fore of the business world, employer of many and a long history of operations in the Tairua area.

Footnote:

More of glimpses of Coromandel family history -  go to web link  Unlocking Their Story - glimpses Coromandel family history- Part II

Reference Source:
  • Papers Past National Library NZ New Zealand Herald 17 March 1886 Page 4
  • Papers Past National Library NZ  New Zealand Herald  1 February 1887  Page 6
  • Papers Past National Library NZ New Zealand Herald  8 July 1887  Page 5
  • Paper Past National Library NZ Auckland Star 5 April 1888 Page 5
  • Papers Past National Library NZ Auckland Star 15 February 1900 Page 10
  • Papers Past National Library NZ Auckland Star 30 July 1934 Page 9
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