` Thorndon Society Newsletter of the Thorndon Society Inc. Working with the community for Thorndon's heritage since 1973 NEWSLETTER 175, ISSN 1179-9501 | online ISSN 2463-476X, November 2018

Contents BABIES AT PREMIER HOUSE, 260 TINAKORI ROAD ...... 2 SERGEANT SAMUEL FORSYTH VC ...... 4 DISTRICT PLAN REVIEW AND THE FUTURE OF THORNDON...... 7 YESTERDAY AND TODAY ...... 8 THE INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC IN THORNDON - NOVEMBER 1918 ... 9 THE THORNDON SOCIETY ...... 15

Drawing – Allan Morse Architect -1974

THORNDON NEWS | NEWSLETTER 175, ISSN 1179-9501| online ISSN 2463-476X | Page 1 of 16 ` BABIES AT PREMIER HOUSE, 260 TINAKORI ROAD When the Prime Minister arrived back in on 4 August 2018 after the birth of her daughter Neve, she faced the waiting media at the airport and commented that the weekend would be spent getting Premier House ready for the new baby. She also mentioned that it was probably the first time that there had been a baby at Premier House. The Prime Minister was wise to be a little cautious about claiming a first for Premier House because research has revealed that three former Premiers or Prime Ministers have lived at Premier House with new or young babies. In mid-1872 Sir , as Colonial Treasurer occupied the house which was then a ministerial residence. A few months later on 25 November his wife Mary gave birth to a son. He was the youngest of the Vogel’s five children and was named Julius Leonard Fox Vogel. It is not entirely certain that the birth was at the house although the evidence points in this direction. Three months before the birth Mary had advertised for a respectable young woman to be a nurse and needle woman at Tinakori Road and she was at the house until traveling to Australia with young Julius in the New Year. Given the predilection for home births in those days it is highly likely that young Julius was born at the house. Sir Julius became Premier in April 1873 when his son was five months old so could claim the distinction of being the first baby of a Head of State at what was to be called Premier House. As a young boy Julius left to be educated at Charterhouse in England and it appears that he never returned. Like his father who studied chemistry and metallurgy young Julius went on to have a successful career as a chemical and metallurgical engineer, specialising in the manufacture of high- speed steel alloys. He died aged 70 at his home in Bedfordshire, England in 1943.

THORNDON NEWS | NEWSLETTER 175, ISSN 1179-9501| online ISSN 2463-476X | Page 2 of 16 ` The second baby at Premier House or ‘Awarua House’ as it was called at the time was Awarua Patrick Joseph George Ward, the fifth child and youngest son of Sir Joseph and Theresa Ward. He was born at the house on 14 January 1901. As a Minister in the Seddon Government, Sir had occupied Awarua house as a ministerial residence in 1900 and was named by him after his electorate. He also had a horse called ‘Awarua’ so it was obviously a favourite name that he used to celebrate the birth of his new son. The Ward family still occupied Awarua House when Sir Joseph became Prime Minister in 1906. At this time little Awarua Pat as he was called, was 5 years old. In 1913 at age 13 Awarua Pat travelled to London with his father to begin a public-school education and did not return home until 1918. Pat, as he was more commonly called in later life, married an American in 1930 and the couple moved to the USA. It is known from the U S census of 1940 that Pat was living with his wife and mother in law in a fashionable district in Detroit, Michigan. His occupation was listed as a cosmetic supplies salesman. By the 1950’s Pat was back in New Zealand running a beauty salon/hairdressing business in a shopping centre at Herne Bay in Auckland. He died aged 60 at his residence above his shop on 7 December 1961. The third baby to live at Premier House was Josephine Gwendoline Coates born in Auckland on 13 September 1924 to the Rt. Hon Joseph and his wife Marguerite (better known as Marjorie). She was the youngest of five daughters. Coates became Prime Minister in May 1925 and the family moved into Premier House at this time. Josephine was eight months old. Educated at Marsden Girls School, Josephine became a stenographer and worked at the U S

THORNDON NEWS | NEWSLETTER 175, ISSN 1179-9501| online ISSN 2463-476X | Page 3 of 16 ` Military decoding headquarters in Auckland during World War II. After the war she travelled to the USA and helped open the NZ Embassy in Washington DC. Here she met her future husband John Thornton, married and became an American citizen. Jo, as she was called, was a successful business woman in her own right and had a wide range of interests. She retired to Hawaii and died in Honolulu on 17 March 2010. As for baby Neve who is now at Premier House (on occasions), we can only wonder what the future will hold for her. If she is to follow the path of her predecessors she will be one of five siblings and leave New Zealand to make a career for herself overseas so we will have to wait and see. Brett McKay

SERGEANT SAMUEL FORSYTH VC As the WW1 centenary commemorations come to an end, it is time to pay tribute to one of Thorndon’s forgotten sons, Samuel Forsyth VC. Portait of Samuel Forsyth On 24 at the age of 26, Samuel was killed in action in the second battle of Bapaume on the Western Front. For conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty on attack, he later received a posthumous award of the . As Samuel was buried in France and his medal passed to his Scottish wife, his exploits seem to have drifted from our collective memory. His name is included on a plaque in Parliament grounds honouring New Zealand VC recipients in WW1 but that is about the only public acknowledgement you will find in Thorndon. After the war the Government commissioned a portrait of Samuel which was painted by a master from the Canterbury School of Art but today this resides in the basement of Archives New Zealand in Mulgrave Street.

THORNDON NEWS | NEWSLETTER 175, ISSN 1179-9501| online ISSN 2463-476X | Page 4 of 16 ` Samuel was born in Newtown on 3 April 1892 but at an early age the family moved to 26 Cottleville Terrace in Thorndon. He was educated at both the Thorndon School and the Terrace School on Clifton Terrace but he may also have attended the Wadestown School. His name appears on the Wadestown School’s Roll of Honour but there is no record to substantiate his enrolment there.

A view looking down Cottleville Terrace from Frandi Street in 1968 showing the cottages built by Charles Cottle in the late nineteenth century to provide affordable accommodation for workers. The Forsyth cottage at No 26 is arrowed. The cottages were later demolished to make way for the Mansfield Towers apartment block (Photo WCC Archive Ref: 00158-10-15). After leaving school Samuel went into the cabinet-making trade but at the time of his enlistment in 1914 he was working as a gold amalgamator for the Monowai Gold Mining Company in Thames. It has been said that Samuel was a man of high Christian qualities and gave much of his time to the welfare of seamen. His father, Thomas Forsyth was a seaman employed by the Union Steamship Company and it was probably for this reason that Samuel became an enthusiastic worker for the Sailors’ Friend Society otherwise known as the Missions to Seamen. In Samuel’s day the Society was based in the Missions to Seamen’s building on the corner of Stout and Whitmore Streets. This building still stands but it has since been converted to residential use. In 1919, before a large gathering, a brass tablet in memory of Samuel was unveiled at the building. A search has recently been made for the tablet but it appears to have been lost. THORNDON NEWS | NEWSLETTER 175, ISSN 1179-9501| online ISSN 2463-476X | Page 5 of 16 ` When WW1 broke out Samuel was one of the first to enlist and sailed with the Main Body of the NZ Expeditionary Force in 1914. He survived the , although wounded twice, and then served continuously on the Western Front where he was gassed twice on the Somme. He was killed by a sniper only 79 days from the end of the war as he led the advance which won him the Victoria Cross. In January 1917 Samuel was married in Scotland and it was his wife Mary who travelled to Buckingham Palace the following year to receive Samuel’s Victoria Cross from the King. The medal was later inherited by a nephew and then sold to a collector in Australia. In 1992 it was purchased by Lord Ashcroft who has a large collection of Victoria Crosses which are housed in the in London. Forsyth’s medal is now part of the Ashcroft collection.

Samuel’s medals including his VC (left). Photo from the Imperial War Museum, London

It is interesting to note that the house site at 26 Cottleville Terrace where Samuel Forsyth was raised is located only 80 metres or so from the house at 10 Tinakori where another VC winner, Sir Charles Heaphy lived. They were of different generations of course but this is still a remarkable coincidence. On 19 November a ceremony is to be held at the Clifton Terrace Model School in Kelburn for the unveiling of a new war memorial commemorating the 117 old boys from the former Terrace School, including Samuel Forsyth, who died on active service in WW1. This will enable a tribute to be paid to Samuel on the centenary of his death.

Brett McKay

THORNDON NEWS | NEWSLETTER 175, ISSN 1179-9501| online ISSN 2463-476X | Page 6 of 16 ` DISTRICT PLAN REVIEW AND THE FUTURE OF THORNDON It was announced in the Dominion Post on 8 June that the Council has initiated a planning review that will be focusing on ways to house a growing city population where housing is already in short supply. First to come under the spotlight are the inner residential character areas where it is said that the rules might have to change to accommodate future growth. This is something which could have significant implications for Thorndon. The Council’s present The Council's high-density vision for Thondon in the 1960s policies aim squarely at maintaining the character inner-city suburbs such as Thorndon and the rules are fairly tightly drawn to ensure that any new multi-unit developments are compatible with surrounding housing. Reasonably intensive development can still occur but not at a pace or a scale that would dramatically change the existing residential character. Under the present rules it would take a return to old fashioned boarding-house life styles to significantly boost Thorndon’s population but this is most unlikely to happen. The reality is that to pack more people into Thorndon the existing character area protections would have to be dismantled and policies introduced that would see development proposals assessed in terms of compatibility with a desired future high-density character rather than compatibility with existing housing patterns. This would potentially spell the end to Thorndon’s future as a heritage suburb. As we know hard-fought battles in the past led to the rejection of earlier high- density, high-rise visions for Thorndon and other inner residential suburbs. The Council should therefore look carefully at its planning history before the city’s character/heritage babies get thrown out with the planning bathwater. Brett McKay

THORNDON NEWS | NEWSLETTER 175, ISSN 1179-9501| online ISSN 2463-476X | Page 7 of 16 ` YESTERDAY AND TODAY

The photo (left) from the Te Papa collection was taken in Wellington but no precise location was given. From some photographic intelligence work on the water tower in the far distance it was found that the Self-Help store was situated on the east side of Mulgrave Street, directly opposite the Thistle Inn. The store, leased from the Phoenix Aeriated Water Company, was the opened in 1921 by Ben Sutherland who founded the Self-Help Co-operative the following year. Based on his principle of big turnover-small profits, the co-operative method of retailing quickly caught on. In the early days, to help keep prices low, customers either brought their own wrapping paper and string or had their groceries wrapped in newspaper rather than expensive brown paper. Plastic was a wonder yet to be seen. Self-Help stores numbered almost 200 after WWII but waned after Sutherland’s death and then faded from the retailing scene. Today the Self-Help brand is remembered largely through the Sutherland Self-Help Trust which has distributed millions of dollars to community organisations throughout the country. As shown in the recent photo (left) the old store has gone and is now a landscaped area. The front façade of the former Tramways building which adjoined the store on the Lambton Quay side still remains. In the old photo this can be seen projecting above the roof of the Self-Help store. It is now attached to the glazed wall of the existing office building and can be seen between the trees.

THORNDON NEWS | NEWSLETTER 175, ISSN 1179-9501| online ISSN 2463-476X | Page 8 of 16 ` THE INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC IN THORNDON - NOVEMBER 1918 As the Great War was drawing to a close in 1918, long lists of battle casualties were still being reported in the local papers. At the same time the country faced another deadly scourge which was to take thousands of lives. The worldwide influenza epidemic reached New Zealand and spread to Wellington with vengeance in November 1918. An estimated 9000 New Zealanders died in the epidemic including over 750 In Wellington. Among the Wellington dead, were 41 Thorndon residents (see list of names on page 12). As the centenary of the influenza epidemic is soon to be commemorated it is helpful to know more about what has been termed New Zealand’s forgotten disaster. We can do this by understanding a little of what happened in Thorndon at the time. From the start a leading figure in Thorndon was the Reverend Samuel Robertson Orr, Minister of St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church on the Terrace. Orr had the wisdom to know that speed was essential in fighting the epidemic and after the first death was recorded in the city on 5 November he began organising a group to take action. This preceded any serious response from the authorities. Reverend Samuel Robertson Orr Later Orr was officially appointed chairman of the Wellington North Epidemic Committee which covered Thorndon and city areas as far south as Dixon Street. St Andrew’s Sunday school rooms on the Terrace became the headquarters and hub of relief efforts in the Wellington North District. At its peak over 200 volunteers and others operated from St Andrew’s, canvassing neighbourhoods to assess the needs of victims, arranging medical assistance, supplying temporary hospitals, dispensing medicines, providing meals and fumigating homes. This was a massive effort which drove many to exhaustion but as one resident said “ if the volunteer workers had not got to work the way they did, half the population would have been dead”. Another aspect of the Committee’s work was to assist with the establishment free inhalation chambers where the public could go to take in a solution of zinc

THORNDON NEWS | NEWSLETTER 175, ISSN 1179-9501| online ISSN 2463-476X | Page 9 of 16 ` oxide to ward off the flu. Apparently the chambers were of no real medical benefit but in the absence of any proven antidotes the people flocked to them. There were plenty of concoctions on the market touted to be preventatives against the epidemic and one resident even advocated a daily swim in the Thorndon salt water baths. For those who could not get to the baths or beaches, the gargling or sniffing of salt water was recommended. It is not known how many tried this remedy. The first inhalation chamber in Thorndon was established in the District Health Office in Aitken Street, followed by others in the Methodist Church Schoolroom at the top end of Molesworth Street, the Art Craft Theatre in lower Molesworth Street and one at 328 Tinakori Road in the village shopping centre. Research has revealed that in 1918 the ground floor of the Tinakori Road premises was a Chinese owned fruit shop. The shop changed hands the following year so it is assumed that the inhalation chamber was set up between the change of owners. Today the site is occupied by the Tinakori Bistro. As the epidemic began to swamp existing medical facilities, emergency regulations were invoked to establish two temporary hospitals in Thorndon. These were set up under the direction of Major McCristell of the Army Ordinance Corps. The first temporary hospital was the Sydney Street Schoolroom in Sydney Street East (now Kate Sheppard Place). This had 41 beds. The second was in the two storied Further Reading manual training block of what was For those who want the read more about the influenza epidemic go to Dr Geoffrey Rice’s book, “Black Flu 1918 – The story of New then known as the Zealand’s worst public health disaster”. The book is still available Thorndon Normal from good bookstores. School. This provided 91 beds for women and girls. Centenary Commemorations Because of the Centenary commemorations for Wellington victims of the influenza acute shortage of epidemic will take place at the Karori Cemetery on Sunday 18 and doctors and other Sunday 25 November 2018. Go to the following website for details trained medical staff www.1918influenzakarori.weebly.com the temporary hospitals relied on volunteer helpers to remain operative but even volunteers were hard to attract. Whether for this reason or not the temporary hospitals were not necessarily the best places to

THORNDON NEWS | NEWSLETTER 175, ISSN 1179-9501| online ISSN 2463-476X | Page 10 of 16 ` be in the epidemic as they counted for over half of the deaths in Wellington. The Sydney Street Schoolroom had 49 deaths and the Thorndon Normal School 58. With the demolition of the manual training block at the Thorndon School in 1959, the Sydney Street Schoolroom is now one of the few surviving reminders of the influenza epidemic in Thorndon. The schoolroom was built in 1897 after the St Paul’s Schoolroom on the site building burnt down two years earlier. It was used by the St Paul’s Parish for over sixty years until it was saved from demolition by being relocated to the present Thorndon School site off Turnbull Street, where it gained a new lease of life as the school hall. It is now a listed heritage building. The schoolroom today The 41 Thorndon residents who were victims of the epidemic were all ordinary working people. Males outnumbered females by over 2: 1 and the largest individual group comprised single males with an average age of 34 years. They accounted for one third of the total. The disproportionate attack on young males in Thorndon reflected the profile of deaths throughout the country and even today there is still no clear answer to why the virus was so selective. Nevertheless, it was obvious to those fighting the epidemic in Thorndon that poverty, poor housing and chronic overcrowding went hand in hand with disease and death. Under the headline “Plague Spots in City” the New Zealand Times detailed the terrible conditions endured by residents in Pipitea Street, Hawkstone Street, Tinakori Road and Thorndon Quay. In Hawkestone Street it was reported that “a house was found to be so open to the elements that there were fourteen kerosene tins and a zinc bath in the passage to collect rain water, which reached a depth of three inches and needless to say the tenants were down with the flu”. Roberson Orr who gave evidence to Commission of Inquiry into the epidemic in early 1919 had no hesitation in pointing the finger at overcrowding in the boarding house areas of Molesworth Street, Thorndon Quay and Tinakori

THORNDON NEWS | NEWSLETTER 175, ISSN 1179-9501| online ISSN 2463-476X | Page 11 of 16 ` Road. It was in these areas, he said, that the epidemic raged more severely and supplied the principal number of cases. A recent analysis of data from the Council’s comprehensive 1937 housing survey, linked to the deaths of Thorndon residents, confirmed that two thirds lived in apartment houses, boarding houses or lodging houses and in 1937 one third of these buildings were still in a poor state of repair. Albert White, a labourer from a boarding house at 53 Thorndon Quay who dropped dead from influenza in the Strand Café in Molesworth Street was symptomatic of the actions at the time. It was reported that his body was moved with all speed to the morgue and then for burial in the Karori Cemetery. So many others suffered the same fate and no memorial was ever erected to recognise the tragedy. The victims lay largely forgotten for a hundred years. With the centenary of the epidemic upon us the sad situation of the influenza victims is being redeemed through a project initiated by Barbara Mulligan, a Karori resident and amateur historian. Begun in 2016, the ‘lost’ graves of the Wellington victims in the Karori Cemetery are being restored and their life stories recorded. In November 2018 there will be programme of commemorations at the Cemetery. Brett McKay

INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC NOVEMBER 1918 -THORNDON CASUALTIES Address Name Occupation Age Marital status 10a Cottleville Tce Mary Bartlett ? 21 S 4 Davis St Mary Gravenor Hood Housewife 52 M 23 Glenbervie Tce Harry Sims Railway Worker 30 M 215 Grant Rd Frank Burns Engine Driver 31 S 11 Guthrie St George Hubert Tutty Driver 35 M 10 Hawkestone St Clara Mary Arnold - 50 Widow 26 May St Augustin A Durney Clerk 27 S 7 Mobray St Thomas McParlin Waiter 29 S 10 Mobray St Arthur Hocker Accountant 49 S 16 Mobray St James Harper Caretaker 73 M 81 Molesworth St Henry Oben Hotelkeeper 47 M

THORNDON NEWS | NEWSLETTER 175, ISSN 1179-9501| online ISSN 2463-476X | Page 12 of 16 ` Address Name Occupation Age Marital status 88 Molesworth St Yee Hung Laundryman 50 S ? Mulgrave St John Griffiths Mailman 42 S 9 Mulgrave St Percival Ronald Galvin Clerk 19 S 16 Murphy St Woodward (baby) - 48 hr - 16 Murphy St Helena Woodward Housewife 30 M 26a Murphy St Druscilla Cooper Housewife 52 M 65 Murphy St Albert Arlow Soldier 31 M 13 Park St John Armstrong Bridge Builder 30 S 14 Parliament St Victor Wm Coleman Storeman 36 M 45 Patanga Cres Jessie Logan Housewife 30 M ? Pipitea St Frederick Dumble Clerk 42 M 15 Pipitea St Margaret Sheehan - 56 Widow 22 Poplar Gr Douglas H Crooks Tram Conductor 29 M 22 Sydney St Mary Stewart Housewife 28 M 53 Thorndon Qy Albert White Labourer 48 S 137 Thorndon Qy George Hay Soldier 31 M 161 Thorndon Qy Clara Ritter Housewife 29 M 174 Thorndon Qy Ivy Callum - 4m 174 Thorndon Qy Leonard Callum Tailor 18 S 258 Thorndon Qy Robert King Manager 42 M 74 Tinakori Rd Francis Price NZR Fireman 28 M 78 Tinakori Rd Mary McCarthy ? - - 103 Tinakori Rd John McKenzie Grocers Asst 33 S 142 Tinakori Rd Ronald Lewis Civil Servant 26 S 182 Tinakori Rd Thomas Joines Carter 34 S 296 Tinakori Rd Cecilia McPartland Charwoman 44 M 370 Tinakori Rd Rachel Machu Housewife 52 M 11a Wingfield St Marshal John Jenkins Labourer 34 S 18 Wingfield St Michael McNamara Retired Soldier 37 S 20 Wingfield St Mildred de Clifford ? 21 S

THORNDON NEWS | NEWSLETTER 175, ISSN 1179-9501| online ISSN 2463-476X | Page 13 of 16 `

REMEMBER THE THORNDON FAIR IS COMING SUNDAY 2 DECEMBER 2017

THORNDON NEWS | NEWSLETTER 175, ISSN 1179-9501| online ISSN 2463-476X | Page 14 of 16 ` THE THORNDON SOCIETY The Thorndon Society was established in 1973 in response to the destruction of a large part of Thorndon for the construction of the Urban Motorway. The primary focus of the Society is to protect and preserve what remains of Thorndon's heritage and to maintain its residential character. The Society has been particularly active in opposing the further loss of heritage housing stock, the conversion of houses to non-residential use and the 'creep' of commercial uses into the suburb from the Central Area zone. The Society also works to promote an interest in, and knowledge of, Thorndon's heritage through the publication of our newsletter and other initiatives such as the Notable Homes Plaques Project.

Thorndon Society Website www.thorndonsociety.wordpress.com

Membership Newsletter Donations You can apply for membership Any donations to support the online or by contacting any of the printing of the newsletter will be committee (see below). The fees gratefully received. are $15 individual Thorndon You can pay online to our account resident, $20 Thorndon at 06-0565-0028561-00. household or non-resident or $50 Please include “Newsletter” in the corporate. The subscription year reference field. runs from January to December.

Thorndon Society Contacts PO Box 12-398, Thorndon, Wellington 6144 | [email protected] Convenor: Bruce Lynch, phone 04-473-6000 Secretary: Grant Strachan, phone 04-472-7110 Treasurer: Tony Burton, phone 04 4727257 Newsletter Editor: Brett McKay, phone 04 9720280 Advertising: Judith Hatton, phone 04 4733753 Newsletter Layout Haritina Mogosanu- www.milky-way.kiwi

Newsletter printed by Rapid Copy 2017 Ltd, 191B Thorndon Quay, 04/4712537

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