Statutory Committees Part 2

Frank's Memoirs

Community Council

The third time I was elected to a committee was at Paihia, when in 1974 I became a member of the Community Council, which had much wider powers in fact than the school committees had had. The County Council allowed us to set the rates; we drew them up and they ratified the decision in practice. The Treasurer also was very helpful in this process. 

The Bay of Islands County was in a unique situation: it included seven little towns, so that the urban population was roughly the same as the rural sector. Kaikohe was a borough in its own right, but the other six had community councils which were encouraged to make recommendations on their own affairs, which were usually listened to and adopted by the County Council. 

I found this system worked well; if it had not, the towns would have been swamped by the arrangement of wards and seats on the county council, which gave around two-thirds of the votes to the rural wards.

Health

In 1986 the Taranaki Hospital Board was considering its options under the Government’s policy to establish Area Health Boards so that the emphasis in health would shift from treatment to prevention. They set up a Community Consultation Committee, and I was asked to join it. It was chaired by Dan Holmes, the Hospital Board Chairman, and its secretary was John Eady, CEO of the Hospital Board. Also in attendance were Peter Matthews and Janice Wenn, the two top clinical administrators. 

After several months’ discussions and consultations with public meetings around the province, the Area Health Board was introduced in 1988, by which time I was an employee of the Board.

Statutory Committees Part 1

Frank's memoirs

 

School Committees            

 

Between 1966 and 2010 I was a member of eight different statutory committees. By this I mean committees which are set up by Act of Parliament or which are set up by an arm of government which is itself controlled by an Act or Acts. 

The first committee of this kind was a school committee.  In 1966 a new school was opened in Mairangi Bay, a few metres from where we were living in Matipo Road, so Judy and Terry moved there. As part of the setting-up procedure, a school committee was elected and I was successful in becoming a member. 

School committees in those days did not have anything like the powers of Boards of Trustees. Most of the modern powers were exercised by the Education Board. But we did manage the funds for general everyday maintenance of the school grounds.  We were not allowed to discuss anything so important as the curriculum, or the way the teachers worked or the way the Headmaster did his job. I was strictly put in my place when I once inadvertently stepped over the line. Mr Clegg, the Headmaster, told me off quite sharply. 

From the beginning of 1971, Judy was old enough to go to Intermediate School. We were living in Takapuna by then, and a new Intermediate was due to open that year. I again stood for the committee and was elected. One of the other members was Roy Dixon, the famous yachtsman, who was elected Treasurer. Terry played soccer with his son, Chris, who also later made a name for himself as a sailor. 

The first question we had to decide was whether to have a school uniform. Half of the members wanted a uniform, and the other half were just as eager to do without one. We eventually reached a compromise, where we would have a general style, with four alternative materials, which the families could choose from. 

Unfortunately for democracy, the manufacturers were not co-operative and the ultimate result was that all the uniforms were made of one of the materials, so there was no choice at all. That was my first lesson in the realities of politics!

More Travel Part 2

Australia 1988

Guilin is famous for its odd-shaped little hills, and we were intrigued by this city of four million, which had several English-language Universities, whose students were keen to talk with us. We went shopping in the main street, and our children were looked after by students who came up to us in the street and took us to see their wonderful new department store. 

We also took a boat ride down the river (Li Jiang), when Matthew helped the captain drive the boat, and was allowed to wear his captain’s cap. 

The next day we took another 757 to Guangzhou, where we stayed in the White Swan Hotel, a multi-storey building right next to the river with a great view over the city. Then we caught the train for Hong Kong and another day’s sight-seeing before we climbed on to our plane headed for Australia.

 

John and Stella 1988

At the Brisbane Airport we picked up a rental car and drove north to the Sunshine Coast at Mooloolaba, where we had a swim and enjoyed lunch. This part of the Sunshine Coast had developed greatly since I had been here in 1953 for the Baptist Youth Conference. 

Back on the road we drove through Gympie, and Maryborough to Bundaberg, where John and Stella lived at that stage. They welcomed us with open arms and showed us around their district, including their former home on the beach at Bargara. 

After a couple of days with them, we headed south again, dropping our car in Brisbane and catching the plane for Auckland and home.

Why I support Labour

Many policies Labour is proposing this year I like; some I am less enthusiastic about. 

Many Labour candidates are wonderful people. 

But I am more interested in the long-term direction, and the value of policies for the country as a whole. 

By my reading of history, and my understanding of the  pre-history, the world has always developed in a left-ward direction. 

So over the centuries warfare has become peace, competition has become co-operation, retribution has become restoration, selfish greed has become community effort, and isolation has become mutual help. 

Leaders and thinkers of all philosophies have taught us to look after the weakest members of our communities, to protect them from collateral damage caused by the actions of the powerful, and that what is basically good for the oppressed and poor incidentally helps the powerful and rich as well. 

In particular the teachings of Christ put these values clearly in front of us as ideals. 

It is the left wing of politics, the Socialists and Social Democrats and Labour, who espouse the political versions of these values.  

Right wing leaders tend to say, with Margaret Thatcher, "There is no such thing as community." 

They try to put a brake on the leftward progress, and turn back the clock to old ways. They certainly have in my lifetime generally. 

So I believe that supporting left wing principles is following the best thinkers, and especially the values of Christianity, and fitting in with the way the universe moves and develops. 

So that, briefly, is my strategy. My tactics are more pragmatic. 

I think that you get things done by being the government, not the opposition, or the junior partner. 

So it is obvious that to make my vote count for the greatest possible good, I support the largest left-wing party, and its local candidate. Have done since 1966. 

Simple really.  

Are your reasons for your choice as simple, and as clear?

 

More Travel

Fraznk's Memoirs: Travel

Manila 1988

 In 1988, Denise and Rod were living for a year or two in Manila in the Philippines, with their two young children, while Rod studied at a University there. It was too good an opportunity to miss. 

So we packed ourselves into our travel bags and set out from Auckland; our first stop was Sydney, where we stayed near the city centre at the YMCA. We hired a car and drove west, over the Blue Mountains, through Bathurst, and on to a little town called Canowindra, where our friends Bev and Les Glover ran a newsagent’s shop. 

After three days with them we left the car at the nearby town of Orange, and caught a slow, mixed train to Lithgow, and then a faster double-decker electric train to Sydney central. 

Then we climbed aboard a big jet, and took off from Sydney Airport (after watching the Bi-centennial tall shops sail past on Botany Bay).  It was a long journey but eventually we touched down at Manila Airport and were met by Rod and Denise and Tina and Mark. They took us home through the busy Manila traffic in their VW beetle. Rod’s mother, who everyone called Neenie, was also staying with them; over the next few days all of us piled into the beetle often and toured the district. 

But there was also the elevated light rail system to get about on. 

They showed us Smoky Mountain, the rubbish dump with scavengers collecting items for resale, and the slum areas with their illegal TV aerials and shonky electrical connections. We visited tourist attractions every day, including the old fort and prison built by the Spanish in the middle of the city, several old churches, and Vila Escadura, a resort just outside the city. 

Julia with Uncle Rod and Auntie Denise

A highlight of our stay was a visit to the palace where we saw Imelda Marcos’s collection of shoes, and Ferdinand Marcos’s million dollar worth of US bills cut up into small pieces. Every day the traffic on the main avenues through the outer city area overwhelmed us. The VW was pretty warm but we managed to keep cool enough with all the windows open! 

We stayed in Manila for two weeks and then took off on the two-hour flight to Hong Kong. From there we flew by 757 of South China Airways to Guangzhou (Canton), where we had a Chinese lunch, and then by another plane to Guilin, a tourist resort an hour or so away. 

 

(to be continued)

Family History 4.11

Robinson story

More from Ancestry.com

The Dream that was Cornwallis Part 2

The ceremony at the founding of Auckland 1840

If it was a small town, a village or even a row of wooden houses the remaining 27 passengers hoped to see when they came to anchor off the long sandy beach at Puponga, they were sadly disappointed. Raupo huts were hastily being erected by local Maori on the bare and unsurveyed land. Indeed there was dispute, even, as to their right to occupy the sections for which they had paid and of which they expected to take possession. The Company had yet to prove its claim to the land purchased back in 1838 and this possession was still in dispute. On approach to the office of the Colonial Secretary it was agreed that the immigrants should be allowed to settle at Cornwallis on the express understanding that they occupy such land on sufferance only until the pleasure of the Secretary of State shall be known. If the claim were disallowed, those occupying the land by permission, would be allowed one month to remove their houses. To buy the title to land on the other side of the world, to

endure the hardships and suffering of a protracted sea voyage and to then be told that possession of your land hangs in the balance would be enough to cause many to collect their possessions and return home. But to those who came on the Brilliant, and perhaps because of the suffering they had already endured, this was one more challenge to overcome. They set to work with a spirit to lay out the township of Cornwallis as they had dreamed it would be, as they expected it and as they wanted it.

Two further vessels, the Osprey and the Louisa Campbell were sent by the Company to bring further emigrants to the Manukau. The Osprey, a three masted schooner under command of Captain Sedgwick, sailed to Auckland with general cargo and then to the Manukau where it unloaded a steam-powered sawmill to be erected by the tradesmen she had on board her. The Louisa Campbell, a barque under Captain Darby, sailed also to Auckland to land merchandise and then around to the Manukau with her passengers. Before these two vessels arrived, however, a tragedy was to further jolt the company from its idyll and create some major setbacks. On an errand of mercy to help Mrs Hamlin, the wife of the Missionary living at Orua Bay who had become ill, Captain William Cornwallis Symonds was drowned. As Dr Ellis was away, Captain Symonds obtained medical supplies and proceeded to Orua Bay in one of the ships boats. A sudden squall blew up which upset the boat and only one of the five men in her, a Maori oarsman, survived. Of the Company, Captain Symonds, James Adams and Mr McAlpine were drowned.

Following the tragedy Lachlan McLachlan took charge of the Company's affairs but his lack of local knowledge including of the circumstances and language of the local Maori, hampered progress of the settlement of the colony's affairs. Captain Theophilus Heale, former master of the New Zealand Company's ship, Aurora, was appointed agent for the Manukau Company. Captain Heale, however, was overseas at the time and the Brilliant immigrants were to battle on under their own steam without the comfortable assistance of one familiar with the people and conditions of this South Pacific land.

In July 1843 the mill, the only industry in Cornwallis and its chief source of employment, closed down. Thus the death knell of a brave, audacious, ambitious and, yes, even cheeky expedition was sounded. While many an optimistic opinion was held for Cornwallis in the early years, by 1843 opinions had changed and some scathing remarks were published. While some of the settlers did remain until the 1850's but in 1846 the Land Claims Commission awarded only one tenth of the original area to the Manukau Company because it was deemed that chief Apihai Te Kawau had not had rights to the land in the first place. The settlement all but folded. In 1855 Henry Sewell obtained power of attorney over land settlements at Cornwallis but following his untimely death the 1,927 acres remained unclaimed for almost 50 years. In 1903 it was bought by John Mitchell McLachlan, the son of Cornwallis settler Lachlan McLachlan, whose will directed that it become a public park. To commemorate this important event in the history of New Zealand a monument has been built on the highest point of the Puponga peninsula. This monument ...commemorates the attempt to found the settlement of Cornwallis, the arrival of the ships Brilliant, Osprey and Louisa Campbell in the Manukau Harbour, and the settlers who, after many setbacks were forced through no fault of their own, to abandon the township of Cornwallis.

What if the Company had confirmed its right to the land bought from Mrs Mitchell? What if the land had been properly prepared? What if Captain Symonds had not met with an untimely death? What if the Government had approved the original 19,000 acre claim? These and many other questions from the past will arise and, in all probability, will never be answered, but will serve to add intrigue, substance and import to the history of New Zealand. The settlers were, in the long run, treated rather well by the Government. For every £1 that they had invested in their claims at Manukau the Treasury issued them with scrip credit to the value of £4 with which they could take up land to the equivalent value elsewhere in the country.

Copyright Denise and Peter 2001

Family History 4.10

Robinson Story

An article from Ancestry.com

The Dream that was Cornwallis

The Manukau Settlement and the Voyage of the barque Brilliant

In 1833, realising the value of the Kauri forests on the shores of the Manukau Harbour, Thomas Mitchell, a trader from Sydney, established a trading post on the Puponga Peninsula. He later built a "substantial house" and brought his wife and children over from Sydney to live there. On January 11th 1836 Mitchell purchased "...the whole of the Auckland isthmus" from Apihai Te Kawau, a chief of the Ngati Whatua and from other local chiefs. For this he paid the princely amount of a quantity of merchandise to the value of £160. On Mitchell's death two years later his family returned to Sydney where his wife, through the trustee appointed to look after the estate, sold the land in New Zealand to the New Zealand Manukau and Waitemata Company for £500. This organisation had been formed, along with the New Zealand Company, out of the ruins of the New Zealand Association to acquire valuable tracts of land on the harbours of Manukau and Waitemata in the northern island of New Zealand.

Although the Company owned the land before the arrival of its sister company in New Zealand, they decided against immediate settlement because the Company considered it proper to refrain from incurring the responsibility of selling land to intending emigrants, or inducing them to go out until Her Majesty's government had determined the course to be adopted with respect to New Zealand and also until they should be in possession of reports from Captain William Cornwallis Symonds who had undertaken to proceed to that country for the purpose of ensuring authentic information as to the extent and capabilities of the Company's property. In fact the Company's property was very extensive indeed. It covered all of Auckland from the Waitakere Ranges in the west to the Tamaki River in the east and from the northern shores of the Manukau north to the Waitemata. Its core, and the proposed location of the city of Cornwallis, was Puponga Point (the Puponga Peninsula).

Finally, in May 1840, the Company issued its prospectus to entice purchasers to take up land in the proposed settlement. In its 40 pages the prospectus spoke of opportunities for trade and shipping (to Australia principally but also to the Home Country), of whaling, flax, timber and agriculture. It promoted a fertile soil and a salubrious climate congenial to European constitutions and those who went there sickly are soon restored to health, and the healthy become robust, and the robust, fat. The report previously forwarded by Captain Symonds spoke, too, of the benefits of the area for settlement and the proposal went ahead. The land was divided into sections comprising  100 country areas and one town lot for the price of £101 per section. Interested parties could obtain information from the head office of the Company at No. 6 Northumberland Street, Edinburgh, or at No. 6½ Waterloo Place, London.

More than 80 (of 220) sections were thus sold to buyers in England and Scotland and the barque Brilliant was fitted out for a voyage to the Manukau to prepare and lay out the settlement of Cornwallis. She left Glasgow on December 28th 1840 and the Clyde 2 days later. Important though the voyage was, its beginning was hardly auspicious. On day one Brilliant almost ran aground at Rothesay Bay near the Firth of Clyde and put into Cork on the southern Irish coast to be checked over. Here the Captain, Officers, Crew and some passengers left the ship amid concerns as to her seaworthiness and doubts about her ability to make the voyage safely to her destination. David Ritchie took command of the vessel, signing on fresh officers and crew and theBrilliant once again set sail for the Manukau.

Stopping at Sierra Leone, Cape Town, Melbourne (where several more passengers left the long suffering vessel) and Hobart, the Brilliant finally made her destination on October 29th 1841, fully 10 months after departing Glasgow. Even on reaching Manukau Heads a few days earlier the going was not easy for Brilliant. When it was found that the channel she was following was not deep enough to accommodate her she was anchored. The only chart Captain Ritchie had with him was a pencil sketch of the Harbour Entrance so he sent off one of the ship's boats to find a more appropriate means of entering the harbour.

(to be continued)

Family History 4.09

Robinson Story

Extract from "Robinsons of Rotherhithe" by Joanne Robinson

The Cornwallis Timber Company

Symonds

In 1839 Theophilus Hele, a Captain, and part owner of the East India ship Aurora, landed passengers at Port Nicholson, Wellington. He then proceeded to the Hokianga to load spars for the British Navy.

In sailing out of this harbour he lost his ship and subsequently travelled overland to the Bay of Islands.

Here he met four gentlemen: Dudley Sinclair, Larner, Captain William Cornwallis Symonds and a Mr McLaughlin.

These five men formed a company along the lines of the Port Nicholson Company (later the New Zealand Company) with the chief objective being to buy land from the natives to cut up and sell to intending emigrants.

Their objective was to establish a large firm including a mercantile house, a steam saw mill, and to run a vessel to the Australian southern ports.

Aurora
Ship: 550 tons
Captain: Theophilus Heale
Surgeon Superintendent: J. M. Stokes M. D.
Sailed London, Gravesend 22nd September 1839 - arrived Port Hardy, 8th January 1840                                                             

Port Nicholson 22nd January 1840

The  Aurora was wrecked in April 1840 on the northern head of the Kaipara Harbour.

The company was named The Manukau Land Company and the mill, The Cornwallis Timber Company.

The men crossed the isthmus into the Manukau Harbour and Captain Hele, being a good marine surveyor, selected Karangahape Bay lying inside Puponga Point about five miles inside the Manukau Heads on the north side.

Captain Hele, the leading spirit of the enterprise, proceeded to north America to obtain the latest idea of a steam sawing establishment. He then proceeded to England and on arriving in London appointed Captain Everside, a shipbroker, his agent.

He then had a steam saw mill constructed with frame and circular saws, shingle cutters, turning lathe, and a Cornish beam engine and boiler. A two story house was also made ready for shipment. The schooner Osprey was purchased to freight everything , with the remaining space to be used for merchandise for native trading. She was placed under the command of Captain Sedgwick and fourteen crew, the complement numbering thirty made up by paying passengers.

Captain Hele next chartered the barque Louisa Campbell, a 287-ton vessel built in Yarmouth. This ship that Joshua, Caleb and their families came to new Zealand on was commanded by Captain Darby and eighteen hands with Dr Morrison the ship's doctor.

The passenger list records two ministers, a Rev Kissling and a Rev Spenscer and their families. Other passengers of note were Mr Berry - the first sherriff of Auckland - and Mrs Berry, Mr Appelmard - the donor of the corner of Shortland Street and Queen Street to St Johns College - and Mr George who had charge of the first bond store in Auckland.

There was one wedding, two births and two baptisms during the journey, one of the baptisms being Caleb Joshua's, Caleb's third child. The Osprey is recorded as leaving London in November 1841 and the Louisa Campbell leaving Plymouth on the 6th of January 1842.

 

Family History 4.08

Robinson Story

From Joshua's diary

 

"I hope next week"

 

I told him I was sorry I had taken up his time; and we need not go further into the matter. I would not be ready in time. He reasoned with me, thought I was throwing away a splendid chance. I told him I could not give a final answer until I had consulted my wife and friends.

 

He then said I could put my wife and children on board at the docks and join the ship at Plymouth, that would give me a week or more to arrange my business. I told him my wife would not go on board any vessel where I was not, even if she would go at all.

 

He offered me an advance of money if I needed it. He then gave me the next day to consider the matter, and on the following one to let him know the result. I went home thinking it a direct interposition of Providence. Capital and labour will go together. That problem as far as I am concerned is solved.

 

But I feared my wife's attachment to home and friends would not be overcome. As soon as I got home I related all that had taken place. Her first words were, 'Father I cannot go.' I was not disappointed. She had an infant at the breast. 'How can I get ready in so short a time?' and then she pointed out many reasons, the long voyage, the recent settlement of the colony among cannibals, the impossibility of seeing her relatives any more. 'What will my father and friends say?'

 

We did not get much sleep that night. We spent the greater part of the night talking it over. In the morning she consented, provided she could have a fortnight to prepare.

 

I saw my father and friends, though at first I met with no encouragement, they at last consented and gave me what help they could. My father's friend and business customers interested themselves not only in giving me letters to some firms in Sydney and Hobart, but in ascertaining the respectability of the firm I was about to engage with.

 

I went at the appointed time as had been arranged and finally closed the agreement, he having told me it would be a fortnight before the vessel sailed.

Family History 4.07

Robinson history

From the diary of Joshua Robiunson

 

 

More on "Why I came to Emigrate"

 

While here [in Manchester] the Temperance or rather Total Abstinance movement began. At that time the evil of intemperance was fearfully prevalent, and drinking customs abounded, and great ignorance as to the nature and qualities of intoxicating drinks and though I never had any love for, or went to excess in the use, yet I used them, believing them to be necessary as a diet; but I saw and felt the danger and difficulty of avoiding the temptation when in company, of partaking of what was termed the social glass.

 

Young men had to be very watchful and self denying to escape the evil of excess, so general was the custom among all classes, religious or otherwise, the temptation was ever before them. Men otherwise good and useful fell before it. Some terrible cases came under my own observation.

St Giles slum district, London, eighteenth century

 

My wife and I embraced and enrolled ourselves members of this new organisation with enthusiasm and preached and practised the principle faithfully to the present day, amid much persecution for the first few months. I hold the step I took then as a direct interposition of divine providence, and thus I was forever delivered from one of the greatest obstacles to advancement morally and religiously.

 

About the year 1841 my family had increased to four, three girls and a boy. I had begun to think for them, how shall I train them and fit them to gain an honest living. These thoughts revived my desire to emigrate. I thought in a new country everything would be wanted, labour of all kinds could not be in excess of requirements, there would be no want of employment, whether I followed my trade, or went into cultivation of land.

 

I erred in one respect. I did not sufficiently consider that in order to succeed  Capital and labour must go together. A bare existence by much labour and privation might be gained, but that would be slavery. I had no capital but the desire having entered my mind I could not rid myself of it.

 

I made enquiries, read the advertisements on emigration, made it a matter of prayer to Him who has the hearts of all men in his keeping that he would make a way for me, or make it apparent that I was not to sever myself from my friends and native land.

 

About this time I was working a distance from home and having to take my meals from a coffee house. While at dinner I took up one of the daily newspapers. Almost the first thing I saw was an advertisement: 'Wanted a respectable sober man by trade a carpenter to take charge of works in New Zealand. Apply to well known broker, Cornhill, London.'

 

I quickly finished my dinner and hastened to the address, saw the agent, had a long talk, was asked and answered numerous questions. He seemed well pleased, thought if my testimonial to ability and character corresponded with my statements I would be engaged. But he was only the agent for the vessel.  I must see the principal who he was expecting. He urged me to wait.

 

He soon after arrived. He appeared to be a genial freespoken gentleman, a naval captain. He spoke of the work he wanted, the terms and probable length of service, assured me I should be independent in three years, gave me his address, one of the squares in London, made an appointment to present my testimonials and close the agreement.

 

My object in answering the advertisement was to make inquiries. I was not prepared to go until I had consulted my wife and friends, so I said, "When do you expect to sail?" He said, "I hope next week."

Family History 4.06

Robinson story

Joshua Robinson's diary

 

 

Why I came to Emigrate - continued

A London street fight 1818

 



As I heard and read I thought how I would like to begin life under such circumstances, but the way was not yet open to me to plan or purpose such a life, and other circumstances prevented me from coming to any conclusion.

 

My surroundings did not favour that direction. As a working man I was free from any pressing care, pretty good general health, a circle of friends and associates superior to the general run of British workmen.

 

Here let me say in my young days there were very few Mechanic Institutions and societies of that kind that now abound. A youth in my day, the greater part of his time, was under the influence of men whose morals and example as a rule was very low indeed.

 

I had from my boyhood been connected with Sunday Schools and that with other Church work occupied my spare time and thoughts, and so preserved me from falling into gross sins and follies.

 

The devotion to amusements was not so prevalent as is now in this country. I am not disposed to condemn all entertainments, especially if they afford healthy exercise, and in the daytime, but in my early manhood, long hours of work and very few holidays rendered out of door exercise a rare thing.

 

The principal amusement in my day was theatre-going, not always helpful to good morals or religious thought. Happily I never was more than twice in a theatre in my life.

 

A circumstance about this time caused me to set aside the desire to emigrate. I was thinking about taking a wife. The young person to whom I was engaged was altogether opposed to leaving friends and the country of her birth, so it was not likely I would entertain a project that would interfere, delay or peril the hopes my heart was set upon. So I set aside the subject of emigration till a more convenient season.

 

I was now nearing my twenty-second year and so on the 20th August 1832 Elizabeth Jones and Joshua Robinson became man and wife and on the authority of Him who cannot lie they two became one. My wife was a woman of some spirit, a descendant of the Ancient Briton, a true woman ready to enter upon all the duties and responsibilities of the married state, a real helpmete, just the wife I needed, and as a good wife is from the Lord, I thankfully accepted the gift, and by lifelong experience proved the truth of the giver.

 

I believe in more senses than one she was my Salvation, for that purpose God gave her to me. The first two or three years of our married life was uneventful to anyone but ourselves, saving my wife presented me with a dear little daughter. The next six or seven years was marked by some changes as to both place and circumstances, but not in the character of our associations.

A street in old Manchester

 

Some time after the birth of our first child, my wife having a longing desire to see her parents from whom she had been separated for several years, who had removed from Wales to the town of Manchester. I could not accompany her then, but ultimately led me to that city, where we resided for three years.

Recent Sketching

For a while I have been trying to sketch intersections at various points around New Plymouth. Here is one of  the central corners: the Westpac Bank and its neighbours:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We attended a debate between political candidates at the Council Chambers: the paper published photos of the leaders on its front page the next morning, so I sketched them both. On the left, Andrew Little for Labour, and on the right, Jonathan Young for National:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another suburban intersection I visited the other day halfway down Fitzroy Road about 3 km from the centre of the city:

 

  

 

 

 

And on a wet day, my regular practice on photos from holiday travel few years ago, in this case, Milan Cathedral.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Family History 4.05

Robinson story

Joshua's diary

Why I came to Emigrate

(Extracts from a journal written by Joshua Robinson, my great-great-grandfather, in 1893, when he was eighty-two.)

 Some of my friends have repeatedly asked the question I have chosen as the motto of this paper. I purpose, therefore, to write the principal causes that led to that event. I found it impossible in a mere conversational way to enlighten or satisfy them or myself, for many things led to it, and it was not done in a moment.

 

You will see, it is not an essay on Emigration, but a brief homel;y narrative, not altogether unique, nevertheless containing some remarkable incidents.

 

The writer of this paper came into existence on the 11th of March 1811, in the Parish of Rotherhithe, suburb of London, England.

 

His education began and finished at a private local school, such as at that time existed for the benefit of all children whose parents could afford to pay for it. My education was greatly helped by the home training of God-fearing parents who did their best (and not altogether in vain) to lay the foundation of a moral and useful life.

When a boy I was fond of reading Chambers Journal, voyages and travels. Robinson Crusoe was a great favourite. 

 

 I came into possession of that book in a surprising manner.  My father was in the habit on special occasions, when he went to town, of buying some little present for his children, saying nothing about it previously, but bringing them out by surprise.  The day he made the purchase we had all gone to bed before he came home.  That night I had a dream.  I thought we were all at breakfast, when my father laid upon the table a parcel, and on opening it were various things.  Then taking up a book, handing it to me, he said, “Boy I have bought you a book.” On opening it to my surprise I discovered it to be Robinson Crusoe.  The joy caused me to awake, for behold it was a dream. 

Well, in the morning we were all gathered at breakfast.  I had not forgotten, but I said nothing about my dream, when lo out comes the parcel I had seen in my dream. My father taking up a book and handing it to me said, “This is for you.” On opening it, it was the very book Robinson Crusoe. 

 

This may seem a trifle to relate, but that book awakened my imagination and gave me a longing to know more of men and things leading me on to read the history of my own and other countries. I was much impressed with reading the history of the Hugenots of France, the Puritans and the Pilgrim Fathers, the savage cruelty of Monarchs, Priests and men in power towards those who claimed the right to think for themselves and resist unjust and unlawful demands, driving them to seek refuge in new countries, where extensive forests and broad prairie lands lay unused, and untrod by the foot of civilised man, and where the so-called savage reigned supreme, choosing to make a home by labour , exposed to danger and privation rather than risk their lives and liberty among worse than savages.

 

Of course there was nothing of this in my time.  England had become the freest country in the world, the refuge of the persecuted whether politically or religiously, free from all intolerance, every man at liberty to enjoy his own opinion and follow the conviction of his conscience, worshipping under his own vine and fig tree, none daring to make him afraid.

The stimulus to emigrate in my day was the crowded state of the labour market, and the need there was of seeking new fields for speculation and enterprise, to extend the blessings of civilisation and better their conditions without injuring others, by taking up lands in those countries that generations before their countrymen were driven.  Such countries having been changed into smiling cultivations, and well built towns and villages, invitingly promising a home and protection to unborn millions, thereby relieving the crowded state of many parts of our native land.

(to be continued)

Family History 4.04

Robinson story

Extract from "Robinsons of Rotherhithe" by Joanne Robinson

 

 

Twins

 

Were Joshua and Caleb included when upper-middle-class men were granted voting rights in 1832? This same year saw them both taking the plunge into matrimony. Joshua was first, marrying Elizabeth Jones on the 20th of August 1832. Elizabeth was a Welsh girl, born in Bangor. They were married north of the river at St Dunstan's in Stepney.

 

The church was built in the second half of the 13th century, repaired in 1633 using Portland stone to reinforce the outer walls, and as a result the main body of the church withstood the Great Fire [1666]. The tower and steeple had to be rebuilt and this was done by Sir Christopher Wren of St Paul's fame. After a hurricane swept London in 1703 Wren was told that the steeple of every city church had been damaged, and he is said to have commented with quiet assurance, 'Not St Dunstan's, I am sure.' His confidence in its structure was not misplaced and today that is all that remains after it was bombed in the second world war.

 

[Remember the nursery rhyme "Oranges and Lemons"? 'When will that be? say the bells of Stepney]

 

Caleb followed Joshua and married Sarah Malyon on the 2nd of September at St Mary's in Newington, a parish of Bermondsey. We know nothing of Ebenezer and Jemima's lives.

 

Over the next ten years, Queen Victoria is crowned, the registration of births, deaths and marriages is started, railway building booms particularly in the London area, the first opium war between China and England begins and many thousands emigrate after a great famine in Scotland [including the first two shiploads for Auckland].

 

Over these same ten years both brothers are to have four children each: Joshua, three girls and a boy: Jane, William, Lydia and Jemima, while Caleb had one girl and three boys: Mary, Thomas, William and Caleb, all born in the Bermondsey area.

 

Here we will let Joshua continue the narrative of their lives.

 

 

Houses Again

Hurford Road Farmlet

Another joy of the farmlet was sharing it with friends and family, and several families came to stay with us while we lived there.

After a year or two the arrival of the children, and my attack of cancer, proved overwhelming, and we were reluctantly forced to sell and move to town in 1981.

Our next house was a small 1920s cottage in Hobson Street, New Plymouth, right next door to the Council yard. Our industrial neighbours started work early, but as we have always been early risers this was not an insuperable problem. The house was easily managed, and close enough to town for me to walk or cycle to work.

It was also handy to Rex and Ruby, who were able to support us, especially when Julia arrived and demanded extra attention by hospitals and medical experts. 

Just around the corner was “Love and Care”, an early child care centre, where Matthew and Julia started their education. It is now transformed into Rainbow, where Carys and Spencer have begun their formal learning.

As we got nearer to Matthew’s fifth birthday and we started to think about his school life, it became clear that to get to the nearest primary school he would have to cross State Highway 3, a very busy road at rush hours. We also needed a larger house with more outside area for the children to play in. So we started to look for another house.

Eventually, after a lot of searching and thought, we found the house in Hillside Crescent, with its beautifully developed quarter-acre section. It was particularly suitable because it was on the same block as Westown School, which meant that Matthew could walk to school without crossing any roads. It also backed onto Rugby Park, which meant I could walk across the park and down the walkway to work in town each morning. Westown had also been Margaret’s school from Std 2-4 and had a good reputation in the city. 

Hillside Crescent was a private cul-de-sac with little traffic, and a friendly neighbourhood atmosphere, which we came to appreciate more and more as time went on.

We also loved the garden, which had been developed by former owners Bill and Barbara Guild. We spent many happy weekends weeding and planting, pruning and improving, while the children played happily on their own or with neighbourhood children. In good weather we also used the garden for entertaining, sitting, eating and chatting under the large trees that Bill and Barbara had planted years before. We loved this house and enjoyed 10 years living there.