There was heritage news of interest to Bartley/Hannken descendants this
week. The former Graham and Co building at 104-106 Queen St, Auckland has been
given a Category 1 rating.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/auckland-city-harbour-news/10358095/Significance-of-historic-building-recognised
Frederick HANNKEN father of Edward Bartley’s wife Elizabeth owned a
drapery store in this part of Queen St from 1850. Although the Hannken’s premises predates the
Graham building and is now destroyed, this block of Queen St features strongly
in family reminiscences.
Philip Hannken (1858-1940) wrote his reminiscences in 1935.
He chose to take his readers on a walk around his childhood surroundings:[ii]
My parents had a drapery shop in
Queen St…let us stroll up the street and see who are our neighbours. Next door
is Connel and Riding’s auction rooms and above that Mrs Pollock’s butcher shop…There
was also a large butchery in this block at one time – Dornwell’s…Above Dornwell’s
was a small barber shop. The tonsorial artists was known as the Mt Eden barber;
it was said if they were short of a good barber in Mt Eden Gaol the police
would run him in and so he received the above name, which he in no way
resented, but when he got his freedom he was often heard complaining of the
state of the tools of his trade as he found them at his country residence….My
grandmother [Eliza NICOLLE then RAMPLING] had a grocery shop just around the
corner in Wyndham St.
 |
| A young Philip Hannken. Image from the Steven Album, BFA |
The Hannken family had lived previously in the Coromandel, having arrived
in the Bay of Islands in 1839. They were all familiar with the language,
customs and requirements of their customers.
Elizabeth Hannken, later Bartley, recalled:
After a few years in Auckland Father opened a business in Queen Street on a portion of the site now occupied by the Bank of New Zealand, and as the nature of his business brought us in close touch with the Maoris, we all became good native scholars, which added greatly to the success of the business.
Father used to employ many of the soldier’s wives sewing and making gowns for the Maori women and as the soldier’s pay was very small, the women were glad of the opportunity of earning a little, although they only received sixpence per gown for their labour.[i]
Auckland’s smart retail precinct
had developed along the eastern side of the town, largely due to the
geographical features. Fred Hannken chose his western site with an eye to
developing his existing business contacts and exploiting his former profession
of tailor at the same time.  |
| Elizabeth Hannken, wife of Edward Bartley. Image BFA |
Like his mother in law around the
corner in Wyndham St, Fred Hannken was able to take advantage of the close
proximity to the native and settler customers coming from the wharf nearby. He
also had a developing market from the new housing precincts appearing on
Auckland’s western side.
The site of Graham and Co recently listed has then a much longer
association with drapery and Manchester than the 1860’s.
One of the disadvantages of this part of Queen St was that it was on the ‘wrong
side’ of the Ligar Canal. This was the Horutu Creek, contained by a culvert,
which ran down Queen St to the harbour. By 1850 when the Hannken Drapery opened
that culvert was boarded over. It was still used as a sewer and would continue
to be so for many years, constituting a serious nuisance to public health.
Philip Hannken fell into that creek as a toddler, so the state of the
planks covering the menace can be imagined.
At the time we speak of this lower part of Queen St was a rough and ready
thoroughfare. Like most of the roads it had no seal. The quagmire in winter
made both trade and travel challenging. Joe Hannken records a family
recollection: a bundle of spades that was
dropped in the muddy street while being unloaded from a cart outside the
Hannken shop, which was not discovered until many years later when the road was
being dug up for relaying.[iii]
Moving from the Hannken store in the opposite direction, the nearest
neighbour was the Partington Store. This premises was owned by the same firm
which owned the landmark windmill on the Auckland sky line. Philip Hannken
recalled:
we children had every reason to remember that store for we were often
regaled in there with a biscuit as large as a cheese plate and well covered
with either currants or dark brown sugar. Next to Partington’s and on the
corner of West Queen St [now Swanson St] stood Gundry’s chemist shop. Going up
West Queen St we find Christopher’s grocery store, their yard forming the back
boundary to our place.
The 1860s brought a vast change to the character of Auckland. The population
increased significantly and became characterised by military presence. This
militarisation, along with the wider regional conflicts, adversely affected the
Hannken’s business interests.
In 1865 construction began on the BNZ building next door to their
drapery. The bank was first erected four bays wide. Later extensions resulted
in the demolishing of the wooden structures adjacent, one of which was the
Hannken premises. In 1866, due in part to that construction, the family business moved to northern Shortland
St.[iv]
 |
| This photo can probably be dated to the 1870's. It shows the former Hannken drapery in the centre dwarfed by its new neighbour, the Bank of New Zealand. Photo donated by Hannken family, BFA |
New register information for 104-106 Queen St can be found here: http://www.heritage.org.nz/the-list/details/95
