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Preparation for the Transit of Venus in 1882

Wednesday, May 30th, 2012 | Anna Blackman | 3 Comments

The 1882 transit of Venus, attracted widespread interest as it has in 2012. Two official observatories were designated in Otago: at Dunedin (with observers R. Gillies, A. Beverley and Henry Skey), and at Clyde (Dr James Hector, Director of the Colonial Museum in Wellington). We are fortunate that the Hocken Collections include a letter written by Hector about his experiences at Clyde as well as a photograph of his temporary observatory for the transit due on 7 December 1882.

Temporary observatory at Clyde, 1882. From left, unknown, Rev Mr Clinton, James Hector (in observatory. The telescope is a six-inch Cook telescope, on loan from Mr G.V. Shannon of Wellington).
Hocken Collections: S08-223. The photographer is unknown
 A few years earlier there had been another transit of Venus, but observations throughout New Zealand were generally disappointing because of poor weather. Central Otago skies are generally clearer than most other parts of the country, and it seems likely that Hector decided to make the observations there himself, having missed out in 1874 due to cloudy weather in Wellington. He wrote to his wife, Georgiana, a few days before the Transit was due to tell her of the preparations that had been made. His letter (MS-443-3/21) is written, partly in ink and partly in pencil, on the back of telegraph forms:
Clyde
4 Decr. 1882
My dear Georgie
I am now ready for the Transit having finished the fitting up of the Observatory & nothing remains but to get my chronometer error and to practise with the Telescope & with my assistants so that they may be well drilled in their duties. Whenever I have been able to leave I have been off in various directions to see gold diggings & mines & last night I gave a lecture to an audience of about 200 which is a large number for this place. Some of them drove in 20 or 30 miles to hear it. I had made a lot of diagrams  on blank calico & it went off very well. So you see I have not been idle. There are a few very nice folks here but as a township it has gone back sadly. Indeed the whole of this district has quite a deserted look whereas it was at one time the most bustling part of N.Z. The diggers have all gone to other places but have left lots of good rich deposits quite untouched. The expense of living & of getting water for washing the gold has been the great drawback. If they would only contrive machinery to make the big river lift up part of its water to the level of the Plains there might be abundance of food grown & abundance of gold obtained.
Mr. & Mrs. Walter Johnston with Werry & Blair spent Wednesday night here, which made a pleasant change. They were such a mess of dust after coming thro’ the gorge but seemed to have enjoyed their trip up Lake Wakatipu. They were also at the Wanaka Lake. I was there last Sunday & found it lovely. I had not seen it for 18 years! & found very little change – except a few houses & farms, very little planting of trees, but a great destruction of native vegetation of all kinds by fires & rabbits. The borders of the lake & the little Islets all look quite bare. In the forenoon I basked in the sun in a beautiful garden that belongs to the hotel by the side of the Lake. It reminded me of Lucerne somewhat. In the afternoon I drove to see the Govt nursery garden where they raise trees for distribution in the district & in the evening went for a sail on the Lake in the Moonlight with a lot of children. I must take you to see the Wanaka some day. In the course of six months they will have a fine steamer on it.
I rode over to Galloway one day with Mr Clinton the clergyman to call on the Rees family who used to live in the Wakatipu Lake in olden days. One of the girls is going to be married to a young Clinton in a few days (a lawyer here). They have made Galloway such a pretty place – but he has only been managing for Robt Campbell & he has suddenly got notice to leave which is very hard on him. Another day I rode south to Alexandra & —— the river to examine  some new reefs near to where Frasers station is. He is down in Dunedin at present so I have not seen him.
I have a little sitting room & bed room at a queer tumble down Inn, kept by Mrs ?George, a fat old lady who makes us very comfortable. Ashcroft sleeps in the Observatory hut but has his meals with us. The Observatory is just out of the town on the edge of a plain that extends about 7 miles before it reaches the hills on the other side of the valley. I have taken possession of an empty old Iron house of four rooms & have fitted up all the topographic fixings & led in wires from the Telegraphic office in the Town so that we send messages direct. In front of the hut I have put up a canvas tent —— for observing from with the big telescope. I have lots of visitors on fine nights to see the stars thru it. We have had many dull days since I came up but the nights are generally fine. Last night we had hard rain for the first time (Sunday).
I hear the coach coming past the obs. so must run over with this. I will start back on Friday & hope to get home about Wednesday week.
With much love to all
Your J. Hector
Transit day was fine over most of New Zealand, and the Evening Post (7 December 1882) reported an almost unqualified success for the New Zealand observations. “The only failure among the more important observations was that of Dr Hector, at Clyde, whose view was vexatiously intercepted by a dense cloud almost at the very instant of contact. There are, however, amply sufficient complete onservations for all the purposes aimed at, and the 7th December 1882 will long stand as a red letter day in the annals of astronomy”
Blog post very kindly prepared by regular Hocken researcher, Simon Nathan.

The good ship Maheno, an ANZAC hero

Tuesday, April 24th, 2012 | Anna Blackman | 4 Comments

This wonderful image is a photograph of the ship Maheno, which served at Gallipoli as well as elsewhere in the Mediterranean during the First World War.  Along with sister hospital ship Marama, it transported over 47,000 wounded soldiers to safety. For the winter months of 2012 the Hocken Library is using this image to promote the current exhibition – Ship Shape – an exhibition based on the idea of “portraits” of ships.
Maheno in her building berth, 1905, Cameron Family Papers MS-1046/422
Maheno was built by William Denny and Brothers at Dumbarton, Scotland but Dunedin was its home.   Joining the Union Steam Ship Company’s fleet in 1905, the Maheno was the first turbine-powered ship to work the Trans-Tasman route.  The vessel had a strong link with the University of Otago as well since the Ministry of Defence offered the institution surplus money from the Hospital Ships’ Fund to build a hall for the military training of medical students in 1919.  Maheno and Marama Hall (as it was originally called) was completed in 1923 and is now occupied by the Department of Music.  A roll of honour in the foyer lists medical staff who served on the ships.
Maheno’s elegant profile was much admired, as were its comfortable and beautiful interiors. Original photographs of the ship from the Hocken Archives Collection are currently on show as part of the exhibition:
For more information about the exhibition, follow this link Ship Shape
 
Blog post prepared by Assistant Curator of Photographs, Anna Petersen, with David Murray, Acting Arrangement and Description Archivist.

Soldiers, ships and the ‘Waimana scandal’

Friday, February 10th, 2012 | Anna Blackman | 2 Comments

Among the treasures in a box of odd bits and pieces discovered during one of the Hocken’s building manoeuvres is this 1919 blueprint of the TSS Waimana, showing “accommodation for Australian families”. We don’t know the provenance of this plan, but a little research on the wonderful Papers Past website revealed its link to an event labelled by newspapers “the Waimana scandal”.
The blueprint, MS-3755
The Waimana, a twin-screw ship, was built in Belfast in 1911 for Shaw, Savill and Albion, to carry immigrants and cargo on the New Zealand run. In 1914 the Waimana took on a new role as troopship, for which she was “altered out of recognition”. She was one of the largest of the steamers that departed New Zealand in October 1914 with the main body of New Zealand Expeditionary Force troops. After a rapid conversion, the Waimana could carry around 1500 men, 62 officers and 500 horses. Through the war, the ship returned to its more usual duties, transporting cargo to and from Britain, but in 1919 troopships were again needed. In June 1919 the Waimana arrived in Auckland with 1675 returning soldiers, whose “behaviour during the voyage was excellent”.
Troopships were not renowned for their comfort, but soldiers generally tolerated some degree of privation without too much complaint. When it came to their wives and children, though, they had higher expectations. In October 1919 the Waimana was fitted out, as per our blueprint, to carry a group of 500 or so returning Australian servicemen from London, together with 400 women and 100 children under three. As soon as the passengers arrived, complaints began about overcrowding and inadequate facilities and supplies. The final straw for some may have come when one of the many babies aboard had its toe bitten by one of the ship’s large complement of rats. The military hierarchy agreed that the complaints were justified and the passengers disembarked while better transport was sorted out.
The origins of the blueprint remain a mystery – perhaps somebody kept it as an example of how not to fit out a steamer for families on long haul voyages.
Blog post prepared by Ali Clarke, Reference Assistant
Waimana at the Cross Wharf, Dunedin, 1922. Otago Harbour Board collection, S04-167a

First NZ Exhibition 1865

Thursday, June 16th, 2011 | Anna Blackman | 8 Comments

Recent donations to the Hocken Library include three of the most significant images to come into the Photographs Collection over the last decade. They are interior views of New Zealand’s first international exhibition held in Dunedin in 1865. The sight of the main exhibition building which afterwards became the central block of the Dunedin Hospital has long formed a useful marker for dating early photographs of Dunedin city but modern researchers will delight in these views of the exhibits themselves.

Gifted by a descendant of Alfred Eccles, the main organiser of the exhibition and his son of the same name who wrote an account of the venture in 1925, the glass plate negatives came with labelled wrappings in the son’s hand and are obviously early twentieth century copies of original albumen prints. A fourth glass plate (figure 1) of the exterior of the main building, which was reproduced in the 1925 publication, bears the name of the photographer, J.W. Allen.

Figure 1

Figure 2 was taken just inside the main entrance and shows clocks and pianos in the Otago Court. These were mostly imported goods but the display did include the work of Dunedin inventor, Arthur Beverley, who won praise from the exhibition jurors for his ‘highly ingenious self-winding atmospheric clock’ (Eccles, p. 9) – nowadays on show in the Physics Department of the University of Otago and possibly to be seen here in the far corner in a slightly different case. Unfortunately the photograph does not include a view of the 21-feet high gilded obelisk which first greeted visitors, representing the 1,749,511 ounces of gold that had been exported from the colony up to the end of 1864 (Eccles, p.8).

Figure 2

Figure 3 is of the Furniture Court looking toward the Museum section on the Gallery Floor. The paper hangings offer a valuable sample of wallpaper designs that were fashionable at the time. The museum, organised by Provincial Geologist James Hector, included ‘Rock, minerals, fossils, birds, woods, dried plants, plans, sections, drawings and other objects arranged principally to illustrate the Geology and Natural History of Otago in 15 cases and a wall shelf’ (exhibition catalogue, p.56).

Figure 3

Figure 4 was labelled the Hawkes Bay Court but the display of Maori taonga does not correspond with the list of items in the published catalogue. While Ngati Kahungunu chiefs Karaitiana and Tareha and Pakeha collectors including Donald McLean contributed objects like taiaha and a waka named ‘Takitumu’, the three mere pounamu and hat described in the catalogue as ‘1 Native Mourning Head Dress’ answer only to Sir George Grey’s collection represented in the Auckland Court. High up on the wall samples of Grey’s fern collection may also be visible though again, there were others who contributed similar items for the display.

Figure 4

These newly acquired glass plate negatives add to the archival record of the 1865 exhibition already held in the Hocken and may now be used to illustrate future accounts of this historic event.

Post prepared by Assistant Curator of Photographs, Anna Petersen June 2011

Nobblers, duffers, and life on the goldfields

Friday, April 8th, 2011 | Anna Blackman | No Comments

The spirit of the Otago Gold Rush is colourfully captured in Allan Houston’s manuscripts. Not much is known about Houston, but he arrived from Scotland on the Hamilla Mitchell in September 1864 and was for a short time a self-described miners’ representative, practical digger, and storekeeper at Gabriel’s Gully. His manuscript, compiled in 1865, includes description of work and social life on the goldfields, politics, farming, commerce, flora, fauna, and settlements in Otago.


A group of Tuapeka men

Commenting on a digger’s reminiscences of the first rush in 1861, Houston wrote: ‘Of all unpoetical sort of things, one of the most so, is for a young, newly married person to “go off to the diggings”. He is indeed a brave, bold, man who can go straight home & without wincing quietly say “Wife I’m off to the new rush”! It’s more trying than “popping the question” for the decent man has a great chance of being considered insane by his affectionate partner in Life – “What! Going to the diggings? Eh! what do you mean, Sir?”’

Houston explains some of the lingo in use at the time, including:

  • Making Tucker: Getting gold only sufficient to make a living.
  • A Duffer: A failure – disappointment.
  • A Stringer: A small vein of gold that does not pay, but leads a digger on ‘Will-o’the-Wisp’ like, and ends in a ‘Duffer’.
  • Cockatoos: Small owners of land, but poor.
  • Jumping a Claim: Taking forcible possession – ‘Might being right’ ‘a-la-revolver’ – Any person having a ‘Miner’s Right’ or ‘Licence’, can lawfully ‘Jump’ the claim of those without this document.
  • New Chum: The latest arrival.
  • Old Identity: Old Settlers of Otago – Barracouta – i.e. a fish contemptibly applied to old settlers.
  • New Iniquity: The Victorian new arrivals.
  • A Nobbler: A glass of any Liquor – usually costs 1/- at the diggings. 
Houston’s description and photos of Balclutha and the Crown Inn.

These manuscripts would be a great transcription project for someone. The picture painted is sometimes a little too rosy to be convincing, but Houston was there and his writing is full of life, charm, and a sense of optimism prevailing over adversity. 

The scene at Gabriel’s Gully, 1865


Post prepared by David Murray, Assistant Archivist, from Houston, Allan: ‘The Gold fields of Otago, A.H.’s Jottings 1865 with Lithographic Illustrations. Memoranda of Otago Gold diggings and of Gold Diggers, from personal inspection and reliable information written in March 1865’ (Misc-MS-1413).

Hocken Snapshop of photographs from the Library’s collections goes live

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011 | Anna Blackman | 2 Comments

The Hocken has just launched a new online service making the photographic collections housed at the Hocken Library more accessible to remote users.

Over 33,000 images have been digitized, relating to people and places from all over New Zealand.  A small portion of the Hocken’s large shipping collection is also included.  Copies of the images are available for purchase over the internet and a zoom function greatly assists in the use of the photographs for research purposes.

Emails from readers are already arriving on a daily basis confirming that the site is proving an instant success.  Coupled with the fact that the Photographs Collection database is also now available online, people are more able to see for themselves what we hold and direct specific questions and requests to staff.

The Hocken Snapshop link is as follows:

http://hockensnapshop.ac.nz/

Children from Milton School visiting Thomson & Co. factory in Dunedin by E.A. Phillips, Dudley Collection, Photographs, Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena, University of Otago. S10-243c.

Post prepared by Anna Petersen, Assistant Curator of Photographs.

Treasures abound in recently catalogued scout archives

Friday, October 22nd, 2010 | Anna Blackman | No Comments

The first New Zealand scout troop was officially registered at Kaiapoi on 3 July 1908, following the arrival of Baden-Powell’s book ‘Scouting for Boys’ in New Zealand. The movement was formed by Lieutenant-Colonel O. Cossgrove, who became the first chief commissioner.
Originally a branch of the United Kingdom Scout Association, the New Zealand Boy Scouts Association became independent in 1953 and in this year became the Scout Association of New Zealand.  In 1911, the first all-Maori scout troop was formed at Ohinemutu.  Cubbing was introduced in 1916 and Venturer scouting was introduced in 1965.

The records of the New Zealand Scout Association, Otago Area, held at the Hocken occupy over seven and a half metres of shelving and include those of scout groups from all over Otago, such as the Owaka Scout Group, Halfway Bush Scout Group and North East Valley Scout Group.

The collections include a vast array of material, such as minute books, logs, scrapbooks, jamboree papers, newsletters, magazines, photographs and textile banners.
An example of a handwritten, illustrated log of a trip to Port Craig by Andersons Bay Rover Sea Scout Crew, 1955 (image from MS-3486/010):


A colourful log book entry of the 13th Dunedin North East Valley Scout Troop describing an account of Easter camp and woodcraft signs, 1951 (image from MS-3486/103):

The earliest record is a minute book of the St Martin’s Boy Scouts, which began in April 1927, before changing to North East Valley Boy Scouts in 1935. (Image from MS-3486/090).
The Rovering branch of scouting was officially started in England in 1917. The First Dunedin District Rover Crew was established in 1926. Handwritten, illustrated log of a caving trip to Dunback by Andersons Bay Rover Sea Scout Crew, 1954 (image from MS-3486/009).
There are approximately 16,000 Scouts in New Zealand.  In the lower South Island there are currently 50 active scout groups, 12 Venturer Units and 2 Rover Crews.  There are plenty of newsletters being produced to keep people up to date on developments:
Image from MS-3486/017

Visitors are welcome to come in and view the scouting material, or you can look through our listings on ‘Hakena’ at http://hakena.otago.ac.nz/nreq/Welcome.html

Post prepared by Debbie Gale, Arrangement and Description Archivist.

Interesting use of photographs of Cargill’s Castle

Thursday, August 5th, 2010 | Anna Blackman | No Comments

The Otago Daily Times recently published the story of Warren Justice and his scale model of Cargill’s Castle

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/119111/cargills-castle-model-completed

Warren based his model on historical photographs of the well known landmark (also known as the Cliffs) which he found at the Hocken. While researchers use information from the Hocken for a wide variety of purposes this is probably one of the more unusual. It’s good to hear that the Cargill’s Castle Trust may be able to use the model in its’ work towards the preservation of the Castle.

Crawford Street and Thomson & Company photographs

Thursday, May 20th, 2010 | Anna Blackman | 2 Comments

These images show the intersection of Crawford and Police streets, Dunedin, with the Otago Harbour and Andersons Bay beyond.

The first photograph was taken not long after 1876, when the three-storyed building on the corner was built for the well-known cordial and fizzy drink manufacturers Thomson & Company. This impressive building was designed by local architects Mason & Wales, and it even featured a lion lounging on top of the pediment. Crawford Street follows the waterline from the left to the right of the image.

Extensive reclamation carried out from 1879 is very apparent in the second photograph, which was taken c.1905-1910. Thomson’s premises still dominate and a large sign on the side of the building boasts of the company’s awards at the St Louis World’s Fair of 1904. The small building next door appears to be the same one visible in the earlier image. It has a new facade and is occupied by the builder George Simpson. The building at the far left was built in 1897 for the auctioneers Maclean & Co. Here it seen as the premises of A. Steven & Co., ‘manufacturers of the famous Victor flour’, who took over the building in 1902. At the centre is the large wool and grain store built in 1892 for Stronach Morris & Co. Behind this is the store of the National Mortgage and Agency Company (NMA), and further back some long railway sheds can be seen.

None of the buildings or businesses visible in these photographs survives. The site of Thomson’s building is now occupied by Brown’s Avanti Plus cycle shop.

The original photographs are in the papers of J.T. Paul, MS-0982/597. They are on identical mounts from Exchange Court Studios, Dunedin.

Blog post contributed by David Murray, Assistant Archivist.

ANZAC Day

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 | Anna Blackman | No Comments

Photo from AG-577/023 Hocken Collections Uare O Hakena

Keen World War 1 researchers may feel they recognise this image – that’s because it is a photograph of the “man with the donkey” at Gallipoli that Sapper Horace Millichamp Moore-Jones based his famous paintings on. The paintings depict Private John Simpson (his full name was John Simpson Kirkland), but the man in the photo is actually Private Richard Henderson of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.

The photo you see is scanned from a negative which is part of a substantial collection of WW1 photographs amongst the papers of James Gardner Jackson held by the Hocken Collections. The collection also includes Jackson’s diaries and correspondence with the Australian War Memorial explaining the circumstances in which he took the picture. Jackson did actually meet Private Simpson and worked with him for about 5 days but did not take a picture of Simpson. It was only a little later that he took the picture of his colleague Private Richard Henderson. Both Jackson and Henderson were in the NZ Field Ambulance Unit at Gallipoli. In a letter to the Australian War Memorial dated 22 September 1937, Jackson states that the wounded soldier was an “Aussie” so the photo could be said to illustrate the ANZAC spirit with New Zealanders and Australians working together in appalling conditions to help each other.

Although the photo was taken in May 1915, Jackson did not see it until 1919 when he returned to NZ. In the meantime his photos had been developed by his family. The artist Moore-Jones had been discharged and had returned to NZ by 1917 and during a lecture in Dunedin on the war, illustrated with copies of his watercolours, he was asked if he had a painting of Simpson and his donkey. Moore-Jones said no he didn’t but that if he had a photograph he would make one. James Jackson’s brother supplied him with a copy of the photo the next day, Moore-Jones identified it in error as being of Simpson and produced the first painting.

As well as the negative there are several prints of the photo in the Jackson collection, curiously and somewhat tantalisingly the back of one of the prints is inscribed “Murphy, Paterson, VC Anzac, Received the Victoria Cross on 1st of June and killed on June 8th”. Well, my research indicates that one of the donkeys was called Murphy, but that sometimes Simpson was also called Murphy by some, but where “Paterson” fits in I haven’t been able to work out. Perhaps the name of the injured Australian? Perhaps just another error of identification?

Private Henderson’s personnel file is now available in digitised form from Archives NZ and you can find a digitised copy of the painting at the Australian War Memorial website. You can find out more about Moore-Jones from the NZ Dictionary of Biography.