Welcome Every One and Best Wishes for 2016. It Is Promising to Be Another Busy Year. More

Chronicle February 2016

Welcome every one and best wishes for 2016. It is promising to be another busy year. More and more people are becoming interested in Petone Heritage and we get a number of queries about places and people who used to live here.

By now most will have had the opportunity to see and hopefully buy the book of memories of older Petone-ites. We started collecting these in 1990 in the hope of publishing them for the new century. For many reasons this was not possible mainly because of lack of photographs. Eighteen Months ago one of our new and much younger committee members offered to edit the stories and produce the Book. Barbara Scott has done a fabulous job in creating “SUN, SAND and SWEAT” which gives a great idea of what life in Petone was like in the early part of the 20th century written by the people who lived it and she has managed to gather many home photos that I have never seen before. It is still available for purchase for $25 plus $2.90 for postage if it is required.

WE are also very grateful to Anne Taylor, editor of “ Heritage Today,” who did a great design of the book. It looks great.

Barbara has two school age children and lives in Richmond street. She found it particularly stressful in editing the book because of of getting a new job and returning to study as well as

looking after husband and amilychildren. Family. We very grateful that she was able to follow through with the project which is being very well received and would make a great present for people with Petone Roots. 1

THE OLD JAIL MUSEUM was again transformed into a spectacular SANTAS GROTTO FOR Christmas month, I believe that the number of visitors and children lined up every day to visit Santa were more than ever. I hope you didn’t miss it.. The J.S.P. has made Christmas a real event in Jackson Street with the great Christmas Parade and even in the wet hundreds turned up As usual the major task for us is to get the jail back to its museum look and build some new exhibits.

COMING EVENTS.....

1. The Historical Society is holdings its first committee meeting for 2016 on Wednesday 17th February at the Old Police Station/JSP Office. Starting at 7 p.m If you are thinking about joining the committee come along and see what it is all about. We need people with skills and interests as well as an enthusiasm for Petone History. The committee meets every two months, so it is not onerous.

2. Next is the A.G.M. where I hope some members will put their name forward to be on the committee. The date is Monday 11 April at 7 p.m in the Community House Room 3. The speaker will be David Watt from Heritage New Zealand.

3. Petone has changed greatly over the years as Bob Howitt the celebrated Rugby journalist found out. He lived the first 21 years of his life Bolton Street Petone Bob has written 18 books on rugby and has edited several rugby magazines over a 26 year period.

. Bob wrote a piece in Petone Rugby “Memoirs of a Villager” when he returned for a HVMTC reunion. I quote a piece from his story. He attended a flagstaff Club Luncheon in Wellington when he heard a fellow say the Petone was a trendy place

“” My gulp echoed around the room. Petone trendy!... When this individual assured me that Petone had indeed undergone a remarkable metamorphosis I obviously had to check out this village where I had spent the first 21 years of my life.

That opportunity came when I was in Wellington for the national bowls championships. My brother Nolan another Petone boy (he was a speedy winger in the late 1940’s) and I drove down from the Woburn Bowling Club to put a lie to these exaggerated claims.

To our astonishment there were all these cafes, restaurants and bars and smart looking shops. Miracles were possible, And not only had the Esplanade developed a charming character but dear old Bolton Street where I grew up was unrecognisable with swish attractive two storey houses having replaced many of the old cottages.”

Publicity. You may have seen my history column in Petone Street Scene which is published by ID Media at the beginning of each season Autumn;Winter,Spring and Summer. The next couple of issues will be about the 1977 local council election and the development of The Petone Planning Action Group. This will be a combined effort by Sylvia Allan and me. Keep an eye out for the free Petone Scene it contains a lot about Jackson Street.

What follows is the first part of an article written by Charles Heaphy It was given to me by Reg Cotter

NOTES ON PORT NICHOLSON AND THE NATIVES 1839

BY MAJOR CHARLES HEAPHY, V.C.

Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 11 October 1879 (note the spelling)

Having been in Port Nicholson before the arrival of the settlers, I have put together the following notes on the physical aspect of the place, and the condition of the native inhabitants at that time.

In September, 1889 when I arrived here in the ‘Tory’, with the expedition to select a fitting site for the New Zealand Company’s first settlement, no ship had been in the harbour for a considerable time, probably three or four years. The place lay out of the track of whaling ships, and there was but little flax-trading to be done at it. Large, and for a time prosperous, whaling-stations existed at Port Underwood, Tory Channel and Kapiti. The tide turning past the heads on into those harbours, whale-ships lay at anchor there, with their boats in readiness and numerous shore-parties watched throughout the winter months for whales that, coming inshore during the breeding season, were entangled or swept by the tide into the bays, where they could be attacked with advantage and when killed, towed, with the aid of the flood or ebb tide, alongside the ship or under sheers of the shore establishment. At Port Nicholson heads, the tide was not so strong as to draw in the “fish”, as they were termed and as a consequence the place was unfrequented and remained with its people in a more primitive condition than any of the surrounding harbours.

The forest was more undisturbed. Along the eastern shore, from the mouth of the Hutt River to outside of Ward Island, the forest was uninterrupted and the trees overhung the water, giving shelter to great numbers of wild fowl.

About Kaiwhara, Ngahauranga and the Korokoro, the earthquakes had not then raised the coast and caused the beach, now occupied by the railway, to appear and there, also, the trees overhung the water, leaving only at the ebb of the tide a space sufficient for a pathway. 3 The indigenous birds had been entirely unmolested, save when the Maori snared them in his furtive and noiseless manner. I remember especially, the enormous number of waterfowl frequenting the shallows at the mouth of the Hutt River. Cormorants, ducks, teal, oyster-catchers, plovers, sand-pipers, curlew and red-legged waders, were there in pairs, detachments and masses and so tame that it was slaughter rather than sport to shoot them.

At the beach at the head of Evans Bay, there were, beside ordinary waterfowl, flocks of Paradise ducks (Casarca variegata). In the low fern and sandy shores of Island the Lyall Bays, the indigenous quail, now disappeared, would rise almost at one’s food with its shrill startling whistle, while along the rocks the slate- coloured cranes (Ardea sacra), two and two, were to be seen making erratic darts after shrimps, or patiently waiting for a passing fish.The forest was then teeming with birds. Of twelve or fourteen species of small birds that were then to be seen in every wood, only the tui, the fly-catcher and the wren, with the sand-lark, in the open, are now common, while the robin, the bell-bird, the titmouse, the thrush, the popokatea, the tiraweke and the riroriro are rarely seen or have entirely passed away.Of the larger birds, the kokako, or crow, the rail, pukeko, pigeon, kaka and huia, were numerous in their respective localities or feeding-=grounds. Of a night might be heard the booming or “drum” of the bittern (Botaurus poeciloptilus). The Weka (Ocydromus earli), now common about the Hutt Valley, was then so scarce, that for more than three months our naturalist was unable to obtain one alive or dead or even to see a skin. I think this singular alteration in the bird’s numbers has been noticed in Southland. This bird, although not at all shy, is very pugnacious and can defend its young from either the rat or the cat, hence probably its singular increase.The huia (Heteralocha acutirostris) was then to be found in the ranges between Wainuiomata and Palliser Bay. Dr Dieffenbach, the naturalist, was anxious to obtain some and I accompanied him, making sketches, to the high range that overlooks Palliser Bay. The natives are very fond of the feathers of this handsome, dark, velvety bird with its yellow wattles and white tipped tail and two boys readily went with us as guides. There was no occasion to take much food into the bush in those days – the gun supplied game enough- and though the month was September, one blanket was considered sufficient bedding for the open-air bivouac.

We truck in front near Lowry Bay and reached the source of the Orongo stream before night. There was no path whatever. We shot some kakas and snared a kokako, but saw no huias. We made a good fire as night approached. The natives were awfully afraid of the Wairarapa people, against whom they had lately fought and while we slept with our feet near the fire, they sat crouched with our guns in their hands, listening to detect any possibly approaching footsteps for they were on the debateable land of the two tribes.The only sound worth noticing was the beautiful melody, towards morning of the bell-birds. Thousands of these were singing together, and probably by some auricular delusion, the sound seemed to arrange itself into scales, like peals of bells running down octaves. As the sun rose, this music ceased altogether. From the top of the range we had a fine view of Palliser Bay and the Wairarapa Lakes. On our way homeward the native suddenly stopped; they heard in the distance the peculiar cry of the huia. Imitating this and adding a peculiar croak of their own, which they said was very attractive, our guides soon brought two birds – a male and female – within shooting distance. We abstained from firing for a moment, admiring the elegant movements of these birds as they leaped from tree to tree, peering inquisitively at us and gradually coming nearer. We now fired with light charges and brought each a bird down. Our natives were annoyed at our “griffinism”. They had intended, by a further allurement of a peculiar guttural croak, to have brought the birds so near as to capture them with a common slip-knot at the end of a stick – a process which we saw subsequently performed with entire success. To be continued

PLEASE NOTE.. 2016 SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE DUE FROM 1ST JANUARY. EARLY PAYMENT WOULD GREATLY ASSIST WITH OUR FINANCES. A SUBSCRIPTION FORM IS INCLUDED IN THE CHRONICLE.. THERE ARE QUITE A NUMBER OF OUTSTANDING SUBS FROM 2015.!!!!