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Finding William and Catherine WallisNairn Street Cottage offers visitors a glimpse into the lives of early European settlers through the story of the Wallis family, who called it home for three generations. William Wallis and his wife Catherine arrived in Wellington in September 1857, and William completed the building of their home in 1858, just before the birth of their first child.

Melissa Wallis, their great-great-great granddaughter, visited Nairn Street Cottage recently with her father Bruce Wallis, and son Jayden (above). “I was a child the last time I visited, and I couldn’t wait to get inside and have a look around” says Melissa. “It was much smaller than I remembered, and to see the furniture that William built was amazing. You have to wonder how they learned to make such things – it must have been that pioneering spirit.”

Their visit lead to a quest to find William and Catherine’s graves in Bolton Street Cemetery. “We were looking for a needle in a haystack. And just as we were leaving I noticed an interesting gravestone, and the one behind it caught my eye. I saw that the one behind it said ‘Wallis’. I called out, ‘Dad! Dad!’ We stood there for a while and had a few words. It was packed in really close with other stones, but it was only that night that we started to think that that was strange.” A second visit to the cemetery and the chapel revealed that William and Catherine had been moved between 1968 and 1972 to make way for the new motorway, and were now resting in a common grave. “We found them, but we found them the long way round,” says Melissa.

Nairn Street Cottage stayed in the family for 127 years until Win Turner, granddaughter of William and Catherine, passed it into the care of the newly-formed Colonial Cottage Museum Society in the mid-1980s. Juliet Thomas, Communications Coordinator, Wellington Museums.

Issue #14 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016 published by the

Wellington Region Heritage Promotion Council (WRHPC)

Thanks to the many contributors to this issue, which is generously funded by Lion Foundation. We are always interested to hear what you have been doing so please get in touch anytime. Anne Taylor, Editor. E: anne@boulderbaydesign.co.nz T: 06 304 7271 M: 027 489 0704.

ISSN 2463-2988

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Above: ‘The Sound of Music’ record store owner Bob Batenburg and assistant Stephanie Wimms. The store opened in Geange Street, Upper Hutt in 1966. Upper Hutt is gearing up to celebrate its 50th Anniversary in May. See story pg 2.

Bruce, Melissa and Jayden Wallis connecting with their roots at Nairn Street Cottage.

“Just as we were leaving I noticed an

interesting gravestone....”

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Photo: Mark Tantrum.

Seeking Upper Hutt memoriesDo you remember Upper Hutt in the 1960s? If so, Upper Hutt City Library would like to hear from you. As part of our activities to commemorate next year’s 50th anniversary of Upper Hutt becoming a city in 1966, the Library has launched an oral history project to record people’s stories about life in the area during that time.

The Upper Hutt City Council is employing award winning professional oral historian Caren Wilton (below left) to oversee the project. That’s quite a rare move for a local authority in this country and I’ve had heaps of positive feedback from NZ historians applauding the Council’s progressive attitude. “There seems to have been lots happening in Upper Hutt during that time and I’ve already met plenty of people with fascinating stories,” says Caren.

The 1960s were an important historical period for Upper Hutt in which it transformed from small rural borough into a sizeable urban industrial centre. Reports and photographs show an active, vibrant community, bustling with optimism about its future. The recordings will be available to the public on the Library’s heritage website Recollect, and will feature in May’s 50th Anniversary celebration, including at a pop-up museum in the central city. To share memories, please contact Caren E: caren.wilton@uhcc.govt.nz, T: 04 527 2169 / 432. Reid Perkins, Library Heritage & Research Co-ordinator.

Above: A balmy evening saw over 200 peo-ple gather for the annual Carols Around the Labyrinth in December. The sounds of the Hutt City Community Choir and Hutt City Brass wafted up to patients in Heretaunga Block at dusk. An elderly couple who had had multiple hospital visits expressed grati-tude for the opportunity to return to the hospital for an uplifting seasonal celebration.

Above: These lovely ladies are part of a display called ‘Summer of ‘69’’in our ‘Celebrating the 60’s’ series which continues through January at the Pointon Collection, Masterton. From mid February, the museum will focus on costume displays of the 1930’s. www.pointoncollection.co.nz.

Growing up in Upper Hutt in the 60sMayor Wayne Guppy, pictured here with Caren Wilton, grew up on one of the town’s new subdivisions - then almost entirely occupied by young families. Upper Hutt retained a strongly rural character around its edges, reflected in its annual A & P Show. Numerous milk bars served as hangouts for the local teenagers, who also attended the regular dances that were part of the city’s burgeoning rock music scene. Mayor Guppy also remembers the ‘New Zealand’s newest city’ celebrations of 1966: “People felt proud. There was growth in the city, there was a lot of optimism. They were buoyant times.”

World famous in Petone The Petone Settlers Museum recently invited residents of Patrick St to take part in a group photograph and morning tea to celebrate their street (left). By 10.50am. people were emerging and we soon had 49 residents plus one dog (Kea) all lined up chatting while photographer Mark Tantrum snapped away. Our longest resident had been there for nearly half a century while our newest had moved in the day before! Patrick Street is the location of New Zealand’s first state housing in 1906. Regular Patrick Street events include the annual ‘Pie and Port’ Christmas gathering and a street-wide garage sale every spring. Emma Bugden, Senior Curator, Petone Settlers Museum.

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Two decades of community effort came to fruition in December for the launch of Petone Historical Society’s book ‘Sun, Sand & Sweat’ ....and the icing on the cake was that several of the contributors, one now in her 90s, shared in the celebrations at Caffiend, Jackson St.

“The idea was sparked by Roy Hewson following the 150 year Pakeha settler celebrations in 1990,” says editor Barbara Scott (pictured above left), who joined the Society 18 months ago and juggled a partime job, family and postgraduate studies to get the book ready for printing. She paid tribute to the many contributors and the team of volunteers who helped with its production, including Marianne Jenner who digitised screeds of hand written and hard copy texts, and Pam Hanna, current President of the Society. A grant from the Hutt City Council Heritage Fund made it all possible.

Sun, Sand & Sweat - recollections of a seaside village features memories of life in the town from the 1900s to 1950s - gathered from Petone residents over the past 20 years by volunteeers from the Petone Historical Society. Long-serving member and past president Roy Hewson was at the launch, along with other contributors of stories Ruth Dickson, Don Boswell, Bim Blandford, and Norma McCarten (now in her 90s), pictured above.

“I feel like we have just scratched the surface and I look forward to a future project which includes other diverse voices that have resided in Petone,” says Barbara. She has been thrilled with the positive response to the book from the community to date.

Extracts from the Book:Norma McCarten remembers the fun local children got up to: “The stopbank area was where we cooked potatoes in their skins.... The boys built boats made of wooden frames and corrugated iron to sail in on the Te Mome Stream. Those boats

Book records P etone M emories

‘Sun, Sand & Sweat’ is available for $25 at Jackson St Project Office, Jackson St, Petone; Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt and by contacting Barbara E: barb_tony@xtra.co.nz. It will also be available from Petone Library and Hutt War Memorial Library in the New Year.

leaked like mad! We all got covered in tar that was discharging into the stream from the Petone Gasworks in Udy Street. We had to be smeared in lard and scrubbed in the laundry tub to remove it.”

Collecting combustibles for Guy Fawkes night is forever etched in Roy Hewson’s memory: “We guarded the growing mound jealously although it was a cardinal sin to steal from a neighbouring street. Tyres were most sought after, as they burned longer. Come 5th November we were up at 5am and with our guys in a trolley we were off around the streets after a penny, yelling ‘Guy Fawkes, Guy, stick him up on high.’ In the evening it was down to the beach..... with lots of bangers, jumping jacks, rockets and whiz-bangs...Great fun!”

Don Boswell: “Summer was a good time. Hot sand, warm sea, exciting races and good company. Most evenings and all weekend was spent at the Rowing Club just a few metres walk from home.” Anne Taylor, HT Editor.

Left: Ruth Dickson as a child out rowing with her family. Middle: Norma McCarten strolling (left) with her family on the Esplanade. Below: Bim, Laurie and Ron in their Bay Street home, c. 1930s.

Left back: Contributors Petone Historical Society Treasurer Ruth Dickson; Don Boswell & Bim Blandford. Front: Editor Barbara Scott & Norma McCarten.

Lesley Wardle

Gerad Taylor

Camp model a labour of love A few hours after attending the launch of the book ‘A Long, Long Trail’ about the Rimutaka Marches and hearing some history of the Featherston Military Camp, Greytown illustrator and graphic designer Gerad Taylor was working on a 3D map of the vast complex - a detail of which is shown above.

“It started as a personal project, really,” he says. “Like a lot of people, I’d driven past the spot where the camp used to be, just north of Featherston, but didn’t know anything about it....It was the sheer scale of it that amazed me,” he says. The digital model will be featured as a video loop in a major exhibition opening at Aratoi on 22 January (see below left).

Gerad ‘built’ the camp using ‘Cinema 4D,’ a computer-based 3D modelling programme he uses in his illustration work. Wairarapa Archive’s Neil Frances later helped him refine key details so the model was as accurate as possible. It includes to-scale soldiers, horses and a steam train modelled on a WB Series 299, likely to have carried troops and provisions to and from Trentham.

“The programme allows me to put in an authentic looking Wairarapa land-scape, plus lighting for different times of the day,” says Gerad. “The video loop will give people the feeling of flying over the Camp, so it gives a great sense of the size and look of the place in its heyday.” He estimates around 80 hours went into building the model.and creating the film loop.

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One thing leads to another... a volunteer’s storyWhen I retired in August 2014 I decided to spend more time

researching my family tree and Wairarapa history, so

I followed my parents and joined the Wairarapa Branch of the New Zealand Founders Society.

Not long after that, Pat Flynn from the Featherston Fell Locomotive Museum asked me if I would like to help out as a volunteer. Although I was one of the original Friends of the Fell I had not been a member or done any volunteering for over 20 years. So I renewed my membership and now enjoy helping with catering for tour groups and volunteering every second Saturday of the month with Kathleen Henderson.

In July 2015 I began working with Alice Hutchison, Director of Aratoi Wairarapa Museum of Art History, in relation to an exhibit for my uncle Spencer Cotter as part of Aratoi’s forthcoming Featherston Camp Centenary Exhibition (see box below).

Towards the end of September the late Dr Bernard Jervis asked me to help organise a luncheon to launch the Featherston Camp Trust fundraising campaign in order to purchase a Paul Dibble Sculpture as a gift for the people of Featherston in recognition of the close association between the town and the Camp (see box below right).

I am also involved with the Wairarapa Heritage Association and the Featherston Heritage Museum. The latter group has been busy trying to upgrade their buildings in order to have a closer association with the Fell Museum. I am aiming to attract more volunteers and improve coordination between organisations and exhibitions/pro-jects, so please let me know if you have any suggestions. Lesley Wardle E: lesleyw@xtra.co.nz

‘Featherston Camp 1916-2016: The Record of a Remarkable Achievement’ will tell “the human stories of the Camp, focusing on what it was actually like to live there - what was difficult, what was enjoyable, and what became of some of the people who passed through it,” according to Alice Hutchison, Aratoi Director. Aratoi, cnr. Bruce & Dixon Sts, Masterton, 23 Jan – 31 July 2016. www.aratoi.org.nz.

Charity Luncheon marks Camp’s centenaryThe Featherston Camp Memorial Trust is holding a Regimental Luncheon this month, 100 years to the day of the opening of the Featherston Camp. The Luncheon is a fundraiser for a planned sculpture by NZ artist Paul Dibble to mark the significant site. The Trust aims to raise $650,000 for the sculpture.

Secretary of the Trust Jean McDowall says the event will have a regimental mess theme consisting of a three-course meal plus cheeseboard matched with Gladstone wines. Adding to the occassion will be the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Charitable Trust, travelling from the South Island to form a Guard of Honour at the event. Guests include the Chief of Army, Major General Peter Kelly; Mr Aziz Sevi, a representative from the Turkish Em-bassy; and Minister for Arts, Culture & Heritage Hon Maggie Barry. Mas-terton’s Thomas Nikora will feature on piano. Tickets ($100 per person) are available by by contacting Lesley Wardle T: 06 308 9011; www.eventfinda.co.nz or www.featherstoncampsculpture.org ANZAC Hall, Featherston, Sunday 24 January, 12pm.

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Do you have ancestors in the Bolton Street Cemetery? Jenny Button, president of the Friends of Bolton Street Cemetery, has ancestors buried there – including Arch-deacon Thomas Fancourt, the first vicar of Karori, who died 97 years ago in February 1919. Jenny is pictured taking a look at the memorial book in the little Chapel on Bol-ton Street, which lists everyone who was buried in the cemetery. The Chapel is open seven days, 10am to 4pm. http://boltoncemetery.org.nz/.

Beryl Harris freely admits she is Dame Cecily Pickerill’s “one woman fan club”: “She was my first boss and went on to mentor me, and we remained friends until she died in 1988.”

A nurse of long standing in the Hutt Valley, Beryl was a 21 year old theatre nurse when she first met Dame C, working with her from 1958 to 1959 at Bassam Hospital, the eight room facility Dame Cecily and her plastic surgeon husband Professor Henry Percy Pickerill established to treat children with cleft problems.

But that’s only part of the reason why Beryl embarked on a three year mis-sion to write her book ‘A Dame We Knew’: “I saw all the books being written about ANZACs. They talked about Henry Pickerill and his work with plastic surgeon Harold Gillies in the War, and they tacked Cecily on to that, often in a derogatory way, which made me angry.”

“Dame Cecily started in the field first as Pick’s house surgeon, then came back to reconstructive work with him in 1927 after a stint in psychiatric work, which she found was not her forte. She faced discrimination from the start. She was criticised for not being qualified but in fact there were no qualifica-tions available for women until 1947 and she started in the field in 1935. In fact she had the best apprenticeship possible, working alongside Henry Picker-ill for 25 years.”

Dame Cecily had the (radical for the time) vision of each mother being the key player in her child’s recovery, so the hospital was set up with eight ‘hostel style’ rooms that could be shared by mother and child. The couple secured funding from the then Crippled Children’s Society to cover travel and ac-commodation expenses for the mothers and babies. The Pickerills virtually gave their labour free, only picking up the medical schedule fee of £9 for each operation. They worked with hospitals throughout New Zealand to ensure that every family of a child born with cleft problems knew about the available service. “Dame Cecily operated on hundreds of babies over the years, and they often kept in touch as adults,” says Beryl.

Beryl drew on letters from past child patients, including Gareth Morgan, for the book and also visited doctors and archives around the country. Beryl’s abiding memory of her friend is as a “straightshooter”: “Neither of them ever went after fame and fortune but they both did so much for New Zealand.” Contact the author for a copy of ‘A Dame We Knew’, $40. E: berylaharris@xtra.co.nz.

Author Beryl Harris (left) and her friend and mentor Dame Cecily Pickerill (right).

“Dame Cecily operated on hundreds of babies over the

years, and they often kept in touch as adults.”

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Allan Carley

If you have been enjoying Heritage Today, why not forward the email link you received to others. We welcome donations towards our production costs. A donation form is on our website http://www.wrhpc.org.nz/ & scroll down to the Donate paragraph. Membership is $30 per year, & you’ll receive Heritage Today bimonthly, details of meetings & events, & access to an extensive library of newsletters. Thank you.

Above: A detail of the Brees plan (showing Titahi Bay and Porirua Harbour) of the west coast of Wellington, c. 1844, prepared by the artist Samuel Brees (ATL ref B-031-036).

• Sun 17 Jan, 11am-4pm: Heritage Train Rides at Silverstream RailwaySee the impressive Steam Loco L504 (built in 1877) in action.

• Sat 23 - Sun 24 Jan, 10am-4pm: Discover Kapiti Heritage DaysWe are holding our Discover Kapiti Heritage Days event on Wellington Anniversary weekend. All eight museums in the Discover Kapiti Heritage Group will be open both days (except Steam Incorporated - open Saturday only). You can enter the draw for some great prizes if you visit three or more museums over the two days. Last year, a man on holiday from England won a steamtrain trip. He just happened to be a huge train enthusiast and was able to take the trip while here. He couldn’t have been happier!

For more details see our new website and our Facebook page. Participating venues: Paekakariki Station Museum, Steam Incorporated, Wellington Tramway Museum (at Queen Elizabeth Park), Museum of Aviation (at Paraparaumu Airport), Southward Car Museum (in Otaihanga), the Kãpiti Coast Museum (in Waikanae), Mahara Gallery and the Õtaki Museum. www.kapitiheritage.org.nz. Allan Carley E: carley@paradise.net.nz.

• Sat 23 - Sun 24 Jan, 11am-4pm: Our Story‘Our Story’ is a family fun event focussed on telling the story of our heritage through fun activities and games. The hub of the day will the Petone Settlers Museum. Rebecca Travers, Hutt City Council Events.

• Thurs 28 Jan, 6-7pm: Triumph and Tragedy: the New Zealand Division in 1917 and three battlesA presentation by leading New Zealand military historian Pro-fessor Glyn Harper, in conjunction with the exhibition ‘Feath-erston Camp 1916-2016: The Record of a Remarkable Achieve-ment’, Aratoi, Masterton, 23 Jan - 31 July. www.aratoi.org.nz.

• Sat 30 Jan, 12pm - 10pm: Upper Hutt City of Song Music Festival Celebrating the city’s musical heritage at Harcourt Park. Free entry.

Calendar Dates• Sat 13 Feb, 1pm & 3pm: Golder Cottage Devonshire Teas Golder Cottage is holding its popular Devonshire Tea and Cot-tage visit afternoon. Two sittings will be held on the day. Book-ings essential due to popularity of the event. Look for further notices on our Facebook page. 707 Fergusson Drive, Upper

Hutt. E: vibranthv@gmail.com.

• Thurs 18 Feb, 5.30pm: ‘Measured Works: Surveying Wellington’

Mark Bagnall, Curator ATL Cartographic Collections will present a talk on the beginnings of the city of Wellington,through the plans, artworks and writings of early surveyors from 1840 onwards. A Friends of Turnbull Library public lecture. Free (though donations are welcome). Full details and updates at www.turnbullfriends.org.nz.. Enquiries: fotl@paradise.net.nz. Tiakiwai Conference Centre, Lower Ground, National Library, Aitken Street entrance.