Early Reminiscences of Auckland- Edward Bartley
Compiled & transcribed
by M.W.Bartley
My brother and I came to Auckland in 1854 by the good ship
“Joseph Fletcher” and, there being no wharf, our vessel anchored in the stream
and the passengers and cargo were taken ashore by lighters ( large Cutters).
These cutters were run ashore and grounded on the beach, at a spot where the
Victoria Arcade now stands, and we were transshipped into drays, which conveyed us up the sloping way know as
the “Slip” and thus deposited us upon dry land just about where the stone
staircase of the Arcade now is on the corner of Queen and Shortland Streets.
Both my brother and I were carpenters and joiners by trade
and we had no difficulty in obtaining employment, as builders were awaiting the
arrival of our ship with the hope of securing the necessary labour to carry out
prospective building.
We landed on a Thursday and commenced work on the following
Monday, our first employer being A Black, who was about to erect a building of
five two-storey shops on the corner of Queen and Victoria Street East for
J.S.McFarlane.
We started by placing
into position wood blocks for the foundations, after which we proceeded with
the wood frame work, all of which work was so strange to us as Joiners and so
vastly different to the employment we had been accustomed to at home.
There were no timber mills and therefore all the wood boards
had to be hand planed and the tongue and groove worked by hand. This was termed
“flogging the boards” and I found it anything but easy work to be constantly
employed at from 6 o’clock in the morning until 6 in the evening.
I was next employed by E.I.Matthews, a retired officer of
the Royal Engineers Department, who had left the service to become a building
contractor. While I was with him, he built all the Government buildings, vis:
Military Training Stable; Stores on Britomart Point; large Stores in Princes
Street; Huts in Albert Barracks; Powder Magazine; Mt Eden Gaol etc. The
Military Stables were in Symond Street and occupied almost the whole frontage
from Grafton Road to the present site of St Pauls Church.
Since those days the whole of Britomart Point has been
removed and the Albert Barracks has become Albert Park.
The first portion of the Mt Eden Gaol was erected in about
1857, under the supervision of Mr Reader Wood, Architect. Some of the good
conduct prisoners were employed as labourers and occupied temporary buildings
on the site. These prisoners had plenty of liberty and I remember one, a
shoemaker, who was allowed to mend and sole our boots, for which we lodged
payment with the authorities to go to his credit. He must have lifted quite a
goodly sum at the expiration of his term.
Mrs Bartley has already informed you of the gaol at the
corner of Queen and Victoria Streets and of the hideous gallows erected in
Victoria Street. I witnessed three executions which were carried out to the
full gaze of the public who usually assembled in crowds of men, women and
children. These sickening operations were conducted without any attempt being
made to obscure the horrid sight from public view, and there the unfortunate
victim would remain hanging for an hour. I must confess the first execution I
witnessed made me feel squeamish, and looking back on those days, one can
hardly conceive how such horrid sights attracted such numerous spectators. The
bodies were buried in the gaol yard, just inside the Queen Street wood wall and
their graves were marked by a little head-board. When the premises were no
longer used for a gaol, these bodies, which were many, were removed and re-
buried in the Symond Street Cemetery.
The site of the Post Office in Shortland Street was on a
slope running down to the beach and on the beach front was the first Custom
House, merely a small four roomed cottage with a verandah in front. There was a
narrow lane leading from Shortland Street to the beach, and on one corner was a
low one-storey building, being the Victoria Hotel, and it simply had a path in
front dividing it from the beach. This was known as “Poorman’s Corner” on
account of the labourers hanging about this corner waiting for a job.
On the other corner
of the lane in Shortland Street was Weston’s Auction Mart, now the site
occupied by Hobson’s Buildings. Weston was an Anglican who took an active part
in church matters, and when the first St Matthew’s Church was built I remember
he imported an hand organ with which he led the singing at the services. It was
Mr T.Weston we have to thank for the present stone church. He started the fund
for this purpose and when it amounted to five hundered pounds, the money was
invested on mortgage at ten percent, which, together with careful
administration, resulted in this small beginning of 1860 producing the
magnificent sum of £32,000 pounds which built the stone church in 1904 and, I
may mention, that the erection of the stone church was carried out under my
supervision.
In 1862 I was foreman of my worthy boss, E.I.Matthews, and
we built St Paul’s Church on the site of the triangle now laid out with paths
and shrubberies at the junction of Shortland Street with Princes Street. There
was an old church on the site, which we demolished except for the front gable
and tower.
Colonel Mould, of the Royal Engineers, was the architect and
the church, when finished, was always considered to be a very good example of
true Gothic Architecture, the design and construction of the roof principals
being especially good.
About this time the Maori War was in full swing and all men
came to their work with their guns and accoutrements. I was orderly- sergeant
of the No 5 Militia, but prior to the war I was a member of the Royal Rifle
Company of Volunteers. I was ordered to the front but after a few weeks, I and
ten others were brought back to town to complete the Fort Britomart “Stores”,
as hundreds of tons of military stores were landing and there was no place to
store them.
About this time I remember an incident in Shortland Street
when a number of men-o-warsmen from the “Maranda” and “Esk”, under the command
of a young midshipman, marched to the front of the “New Zealander” printing
office and then demanded from the editor an apology for a statement in
reporting the taking of Gate Pa. The paper accused the crew of the “Maranda”
and “Esk” of cowardly forsaking their officers. The men threatened that,
failing the apology, they would wreck the building, and with this in view I saw
one sailor mount the shoulders of a mate and by this means he entered on of the
top-storey windows. He took with him a stout rope and came out again by another
window, and tying the rope securely, he descended to the street. Then the men
took up their positions on the rope awaiting the orders, but the middy came out
of the building with the desired document of apology in his hand, therefore the
rope was removed and the men marched back to their respective boats.
I remember the wreck of the H.M.S.Orpheus, February 7th,
1863, which took place on the Manukau Bar. The first we knew of the affair was
by seeing drayloads of sailors being brought into Auckland.
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| Daily Southern Cross 9 Feb 1863 |
Commodore Burnett and 189 officers and men were drowned and
for days after the wreck, beodies were being washed ashore. Three officers
succeeded in reaching the shore on a plank of teak from the wreck, and from
this I made for them several momentoes such as picture frames, paper knives
etc. I made for myself a model of a book, which I still have in my possession.
It was about the same year, 1863, that we started the Eight
Hour Movement. It was started by a Mr Griffin, a painter who was a “chartist”
and in consequence had been transported for life from England for being a
leader of that movement. He was a fine noble man with a large heart for his
fellow working man. Probably his only crime in the Mother Country was the “one
man one vote” proposition or otherwise aiming at the betterment of the
conditions of the working classes, with a view to reducing the great distress
that existed, thereby causing bread riots and almost creating a revolution. Yet
such a man, who would endeavour to find a remedy for such defects was hunted
out of his native country, but he found a more favourable field for his labours
in little New Zealand, and I am proud to be able to say that I worked as one of
his Committee men and thus helped to lessen the working man’s burden from 10
hours to 8 hours a day. The movement was first established in Auckland after
which it became law throughout the land and also throughout the whole of
Australia.
I also feel proud of being associated with our FREE Secular,
and compulsory system of Education, by which the poorest lad in the land may
pass from the primary to the secondary schools and thence to the University, by
which every lad has the opportunity of becoming qualified for any position in
life. I have been a member of the
Devonport School Committee for over 35 years, and I am thankful that it has
been my privilege to help in maintaining the principles of so noble a cause.
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| Devonport School early 1900s BFA collection |
We have had to fight many times in keeping our Educational
System free from the clerical element, and this has been more especially the
case in respect to the attitude assumed by the clergy of the Roman Catholic
Church. As a case in point only a few weeks ago, when Bishop Brodie was laying
the foundation stone for two new catholic schools, certain addresses were given
in which the following statements were made
(a) “ The
Catholic School was in reality the vestibule of the Church, which did not bring
up children on homeopathic doses of religious instruction given once a week,
but they were so taught every day, which was the reason that the school was the
entrance to the Church"
(b) “That the
ceremony in which they were taking part was an assertion of the principle that
education without religion was seriously defective and incomplete.”
Now I maintain that sound education is one thing and
religious training, with all its party strife and denominational antagonism, is
quite another thing and the two must be kept apart at all costs, for the mixing
of the two must be with fatal results to the former.
I have always taken a keen interest in Technical Education
and in 1891 started, in connection with our Devonport School, evening classes
for Architectural drawing, and a year later we provided a workshop in which I
taught the lads two evenings a week for two years. When I could no longer
devote the time to the matter we employed an expert cabinetmaker and joiner as
instructor and at the Auckland Exhibition in 1898 our scholars obtained first
honours for quite a number of well made and useful articles.
In 1895 I was one of the 10 who founded the Auckland
Technical School, which was maintained for many years by private subscription
until the Education Department took it over.
It may be interesting to some to know a little respecting
the history of the Auckland Society of Arts. I was one of the sixteen who
founded the Society as far back as 1869 and have continued to be a member
throughout its existence, and for many years filled the position of Hon
Treasurer. It is now a good many years
since I contributed to the exhibits, but in former years I was a constant
exhibitor and in 1872 I won “Honourable Mention” at the Sydney Exhibition for a
water colour landscape.
It cannot be said that the early Aucklanders neglected the
fine arts in any degree, for I not only came in contact with many fine artists
of the picture painting world, but I was also associated with many gifted
musical friends. I joined the Auckland Choral Society in 1856, in which I
assisted vocally and also as an instrumentalist on the “C Cello” and Double
Bass. I have still a copy of the first book of rules printed in 1856. I was
also one of the four who formed the original Male Glee Party, then termed the
“Orpheus Glee Club” and for many years the same four kept together and assisted
at the principal musical functions.
Now I trust I have not wearied my readers and I hope that
the little past information I have been able to furnish will assist in linking
up the early history of Auckland with that of the present day.
Signed
ED.BARTLEY
Architect.
