Avondale Historical Journal No. 70

7/29/2019 Avondale Historical Journal No. 70

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/avondale-historical-journal-no-70 1/4

The Avondale

Historical Journal

March—April 2013 Volume 12 Issue 70

Official Publication of the Avondale-Waterview Historical Society Incorporated

Copies of Avondale Historical Journal and AWHSNewsletter produced for us by

Words Incorporated, 557 Blockhouse Bay Road,

Blockhouse Bay.

The Society and AHJ editorial staff thank

Avondale Business Associationfor their continued support and sponsorship of this

publication.

Next meeting of the

Avondale-Waterview Historical Society:

CHANGE OF VENUE AND DATE

Combined with Mt Roskill (Puketapapa) Historical SocietyAt St David’s-in-the-Fields Church Hall, 202 Hillsborough Roads, Hillsborough

SUNDAY, 14 April 2013, 2.00 pm

What happened to Avondale’s “Cinderella Club”?

Dolly’s splendid patchwork quilt, shown here from a photo out of the Auckland Star , 26 August 1936, was “made upof hundreds of tiny pieces of velvet” put together by the members of the Cinderella Club in Avondale. The clubseems to have flourished only from 1936-1938 (no further mention found in the newspapers online at the moment),

but we do know who the members were, at least as at 1937:

“CINDERELLA CLUB (Avondale). Our loyal friends, the Cinderella Sunbeams, came to light this week with awonderful contribution of £1. Alice has reorganised thisclub and the members are as follow: Amy Harris, IdaSetters, Katie Service, Barbara Brebner, Marjorie Brebner,Marie Steele, Joan Steele, Elaine Sampson, ValdaArchibald, Valmai Vernon, Nellie Crisp, Margaret Crisp,Phyllis Crisp and Alice Tait (captain). The pound wasraised by means of a grown-up tea party, a raffle and sev-eral donations from Cinderella members. Splendid work,Sunbeams!” ( Auckland Star , 16 October 1937)

The first Cinderella Club appears to be that started inBradford, England in 1890 — and still running. It aimed to“reach and afford amusement” to the poor children of Bradford. That club is still working to meet the needs of such children. So … what happened to our CinderellaClub?



The Avondale Historical Journal Volume 12 Issue 70

Page 2

Taken from Arthur’s notes to his speech given at the

Society’s October 2012 meeting — Editor.

In 1938 we moved from Kopuarahi, close to Thames, to10 Great North Road, Auckland. I went to Newton CentralPrimary School. Number 10 was a shop leased by mygrandparents. About this time my grandparents had estab-lished a scrap leather business making patchwork shop-ping bags. The firm was named "Uneeda".

We then went to a flat in Great North Road, SurreyCrescent. I went to Grey Lynn Primary for a short while.Finally we shifted to a house in Avondale and settleddown. The address was 1759 Great North Road, SW3. TheMilner family in Avondale were: Joseph Milner, his wife

Doreen, Trevor his 2nd son from a previous marriage andhis two sons to Doreen, Arthur and Leonard. I started atAvondale Primary School on 1 August 1938. Malcolm,Doreen's 3rd son was born at the above address in 1942.The doctor in attendance for Malcolm's birth wasDr Short. Joseph's eldest son, Eric, never lived atAvondale; he lived in a boarding house in Huntly wherehe worked in the coalmines.

Dad and a chap named Joe Resetar a "Dalmatian" used totravel up north and collect Kauri gum. They used to scrapeand clean it under the house. The place of work was thewash house with a copper and two tubs. It had a 10' stud

so there was ample room and ventilation. There was a var-nish factory off Rosebank Road and I am trying to find outif this place was supplied by Dad. Dad continued with thekauri gum business but it was slowing down by 1939.Eventually they ceased to operate. Dad was out of work and desperate. He was getting enough gum work to put ameal on the table and pay the rent. As a last resort hewrote a letter to the Prime Minister "Mickey Savage". Dadwas accepted into the Army on 20 May 1940 and enteredcamp on that date.

Trevor shifted to Auckland and lived with us for a periodof time. He worked at "Sweetacres" so we were well sup-

plied with "Minties", "Throaties" and blocks of liquoriceetc. Trevor used to cycle to Kopuarahi periodically to seehis girlfriend Desma Clevely whom he was to marry lateron. I believe he used to set out after work and when it gotdark or he had a puncture he used to stop about half-wayand sleep in a milk stand beside the road. Trevor andDesma were later to be married on 7 December 1944(anniversary of Pearl Harbour). They had three children.

When war was declared Trevor was one of the first to vol-unteer for the Navy. He was accepted and when the Achilles came home from the River Plate he was drafted to

her straight away.

I am not sure of the reason or the specific date but Mumstarted work at the Westfield Meat Works around 1940.She was either short of money or was manpowered to thisas war effort. She used to catch a bus to Point Chevalier

and then the tram into town. From there it was either trainor bus to work leaving home in the dark and also when she

arrived home. I used to come home from school and peelthe potatoes etc. for our evening meal. Mum just had tocook them.

1941-1942: About this time Granny and Grandpop hadturned their shop into a green vegetable and fruit outlet.Granddad had a Model "A" 15cwt Flat Deck with sides.He used to pick us up after school with our friends andtake us to the orchards in Henderson and Swanson. Wealso, with Mum and Dad, used to go to the vineyards on aSaturday or Sunday.

Dad, due to his working in fish shops in the 1920s with

the Yugoslav people, could speak fluent Dalmatian.Consequently, he was able to converse with the owners of the wineries in their own language. They were very im-pressed and many were the free flagon of port or sherry.His army uniform was also a great help.

By this time Trevor had teamed up with a friend in thenavy. His name was Norman Warren (Rocky) fromChristchurch. Occasionally these two would accompanyus to the vineyards. From time to time in the early waryears, Trevor and Rocky would come home on leave fromthe Achilles. Eric would come up from Huntly Mines andDad, if he was on leave. Many were the party that lasted

from Friday night till the small hours of Monday morning.I can't remember how many kegs they used to drink but itwas quite a few. There were always quite a number of sailors and soldiers in attendance.

On 24 April 1942, Aunty Dorothy and Fred Burrows hadtheir first child, Shirley. I can remember it vividly. Mumhad just bought me my first bicycle. It was half size andcost her 30/-. Grandpop who was living with us at the timeput a carbide lamp on the front and told me to cycle out toUncle Gerald and Aunty Rita's with the good news. Theylived on a farm let between New Lynn and BlockhouseBay. I left after school and by the time I arrived back it

was pitch black and I was tired and hungry.

1943: The war in the Pacific was hotting up and the Japswere getting close to Australia. If Australia fell, it was badnews for us in New Zealand. The kids at school were dig-ging trenches in their backyards, and I decided to have ago. I dug a trench 2' deep and placed a sheet of corrugatediron over it. It might have been ok but the first rain we got,it was full of water.

The last time Achilles was in port, Rocky transferred tothe Leander. He didn't have to, but there was more chancefor promotion for him. I believe he had to put more time

in the boiler room so he was doing "subs" for the variousstokers. He was doing one of these "subs" when Leander was torpedoed. It hit the engine room and Rocky waskilled instantly, 13 July 1943. Our house was all doom andgloom for ages after this. He was going to be best man atTrevor's forthcoming wedding.

Some memories of Avondale 1938 - 1944, including the War Years by Arthur Milner




Page 3

Street as possible. A line with white chalk was thenmarked where the front wheels came to rest. The ruleswere simple. No pram wheels or anything with rubbertyres. Only cast iron trolley wheels. We could purchasethese from the "Hardware" shop, I believe it wasC Colliers. I also got my 1st bike from this shop. The rea-

son for these wheels, was the trolley had no brakes. Weused to stop by zig-zagging down the hill.

Another bit of fun we had was at the "Asylum" part of thegrounds, where a bank ran from Great North Road downto Oakley Creek. At this time the bank was covered in astand of large pine trees. A school mate of mine was DesBurrows. Des was always making something, and one dayhe asked me to come to his place after school. I went andhe showed me a sled he had just made (a "toboggan" intoday's terms). He said, "come on, we will have somefun". We went to the "Asylum" and the bank under the

pine trees was covered with pine needles. We proceededto race down the slope and were really having a goodtime. After a while, when it was my turn, I lost control andthought I was going to end up in the creek. I let out a"yell". There was an inmate asleep under a tree. He wokeup and chased me up the bank. Des and I cleared the fenceand ran to his place.

Des said, "Don't worry about the sled, I’ll build anotherone". He did and modified it so it had "brakes", so youcould stop it and steer it. A bit like the system on a"bulldozer", pull the left lever to turn left and the right toturn right.

1944: During these years I was spending my school holi-days with Mum's Aunty "Mag" and Uncle Ivan on theHauraki Plains. They also had a farm at Miranda wherethe Hot Pools are today. The pools in those days were intheir natural state. Just a hole in the ground with a lengthof No. 8 fencing wire across for safety.

On the 28th April 1944, Dad was discharged from theArmy. Not long after this we shifted to a shop at 45 GreatNorth Road, Grey Lynn. He set up a shoe repair businesswhich did well. After Dad’s discharge, he worked for a

short time for a chap named Norm Billington makinglounge suites etc.

Len and I both continued attending Avondale PrimarySchool. We used to catch a tram to Pt Chevalier and thenthe bus to Avondale.

1945: Avondale Tech High School was officially openedin February and I was one of the foundation pupils. I havemany fond memories of my two years there. Playingrugby for the school and visiting the various colleges, highschools and grammars were highlights. We had military

training once or twice a week. It was either the Army orAir Training Corps. They first of all gave us a choice:Army or ATC. When we decided we had to choose whichbranch. A small group of my mates and I chose the Armywith the Infantry as a branch. There being insufficientnumbers, we all transferred to ATC.

The parties at home during 1943 were becoming moreregular and the number of people was increasing. Eric wasbringing his mates up from the mines. Dad was bringingAmerican soldiers from the Waverley Hotel down thebottom of Queen Street, and Trevor was bringing sailorshome as well. Once we had a visit from the boxer, Vic

Caltaux. He gave an exhibition of shadow boxing and itwas awesome. The Yanks were spellbound and they took up a collection in appreciation.

1943-1944: At Avondale Primary there was a patch of grass with a concrete strip in the centre for playing cricket.About April or May, when the cricket season had finishedwe would arrive on the Monday morning to find the pitchcovered in what we called "tan". I believe the "tan" camefrom the Avondale Racecourse used for exercising therace horses on. When this happened, it signalled the finishof cricket and the start of rugby.

A rugby ball was not available so we improvised with agame of “Kingosene", later changed, I believe, to thename of “Bullrush". The object of this game was that oneboy was picked to stand in the middle of the field. The restof the boys would gather at one end of the field, the objectwas to get to the other end without being tackled. Invaria-bly, the bigger boys (Standard 5 and 6) dominated thegame and consequently, picked a smaller boy to go in thecentre. There were a few smaller boys including DesHoffman, Allan Donaldson, Keith Morrison, TrevorHewitt, Ken Banks, Billy Wymer, Denny Morland andmyself. If one of us, or a smaller boy was picked for the

middle, we concentrated on the other boys. Once we had anucleus of 5 or 6, we went for the big ones. Our tacticswere to try to tackle a big fellow by grabbing an arm orleg, hang on, and wait for the "cavalry" to arrive. Thissystem was very effective but caused a few altercationsbetween the big and small.

I remember the serials before half time at the pictures.Flash Gordon, Jungle Jim, Buck Rogers, Tim Tyler’s

Luck . Listening to the radio. Mum’s favourite, “Dr Paul”,“Aunt Daisy”, “Uncle Tom and the Sankk Singers”,“Uncle Scrim”, The Air Adventures of Jimmy Allen. TheAvondale identity Cyril Bruce saying “Did you listen to

Jimmy Allen last night?”

Saving the cards from the cigarette packs collecting thecards from the porridge “Diamond Oaties.”

Just about every boy had a trolley or some a push bike.These were utilised for both pleasure and chores like gath-ering firewood etc. The trollies were put to our fun of racing down hills etc. I can remember one experience of this which is impossible for today's youth. There is a streetin Avondale named Henry Street. We would place one of us on the corner of Great North Road and Henry Street.This person would signal by waving his arms or a flag, if a

vehicle was approaching on Great North Road. The objectof this person in the trolley was to proceed as far as he orshe dared up Henry Street. When the starter signalled"Go", the trolley and driver would proceed down HenryStreet, across Great North Road and into Victor Street. Itwas not a race, but the object was to go as far down Victor




Page 4

The Avondale Historical Journal

Published by:the Avondale-Waterview Historical Society Inc.Editor: Lisa J. TruttmanSociety contact:19 Methuen Road, Avondale, Auckland 0600Phone: (09) 828-8494, 027 4040 804email: [email protected] information:

Website: http://sites.google.com/site/avondalehistory/ Subscriptions: $10 individual

$15 couple/family$30 corporate

With the Yanks here, there was money to be made. Mycobber and I made a trolley each and started to gatherempty beer and soft drink bottles. Our favourite hauntswere Western Park after school and the top of Mt Eden onthe weekend. We used to take them to Clark's in Freemans

Bay. They paid 1/6 a dozen and my trolley used to hold 3dozen. This was good pocket money in those days. Weused to make up to 4 trips a week. We used to go downNewton Road in the trolley (making break-neck speed)and pull them up the other side. Coming down Mt Edenwas a lot safer. If we travelled too fast we could slowdown by running on the grass. The hardest task on MtEden was getting the bottles from the crater. The Yanksused to see who could throw the bottles the farthest. An-other perk for us was Dad and Trevor bringing themhome. There was always plenty of Coca Cola (2d a bottle),Babe Ruth Chocolate Bar and G-Man Chewing Gum justto mention a couple.

Sometimes they would take us down Queen Street to theAmusement Park. That was a real treat because they let ushave a go at everything. Once they bought us a milk shakeand candy floss and shortly after a ride on the Octopus.With the spinning around and the combination of eatingand drinking, I wasn't very well, much to the concern of the people on the ground. I have never been on one againto this day.

When I turned 15 years and left secondary school Dadcalled me aside. He told me there are two things in life to

remember:1. Don't believe everything you read and hear.2. Get yourself a trade. I don't care what trade as long as itis a secure one.In my opinion I have fulfilled both obligations in life.As a matter of fact, I ended up as a tradesman in Shoes,Luggage and later as Head Groundsman at Carlaw Park and Waitakere City Council, receiving the Grounds Manof the Year for 1st Class Cricket Pitches from theAuckland Cricket Association.

I was very interested in the photo on the front of yourlatest newsletter and I think that it may have been taken inwinter 1947 for the following reasons.

My years at Avondale Technical HS were 1946–1950. Iwas a 3rd former, in 3 Languages 2, rejoining some of myold classmates from Blockhouse Bay Primary School, as Ihad spent four years at Auckland Dio. (It was an amazingcultural shock as the noise at the end of each period whenwe changed classrooms was incredible.)

Only the grounds at the entrance were formed. The girls’wing and the boys’ wing had a wide strip of concrete infront of all the classrooms. The rest of the remaininggrounds were full of builders’ debris and huge mounds of piled up earth. We used the strips of concrete as assembly

areas and for lunch. We travelled to our rooms by meansof the corridors and as I was one of an intake of 500 and Ithink that the Foundation pupils also numbered 500,approx. 1000 pupils were trying to get to their next class-room. I frequently had to go from Room 1 to Room 43,the other side of the cafeteria.

Then the Public Works dept. arrived with heavy-movingmachinery, mostly bright yellow and labelled Caterpillar,started to form our grounds. When the wind was in theright direction we were showered with clouds of dust buteventually the whole enormous area was flattened androlled. Then the whole school was lined up and we were

walked slowly over the whole grounds picking up allstones as we went and piling them into heaps. When thesown grass appeared and was cut for the first time we didthe same with the newly cut grass. (Yes, there were a fewgrass fights, but the teachers just pretended the this wasnot happening.) The tar seal area in front of the boys’wing, library, gym and Intermediate School was also laiddown, fenced and Chinese Poplars (that’s what we weretold they were,) were planted. As they are so small I think that this must have been 1947.

The boys’ wing comprised ten classrooms and continuedon with the Commercial and Homecraft classrooms being

in this corridor. At the right hand of the photo was a corri-dor at right angles to the boys’ corridor and led to thecafeteria, Art and Music rooms. The Science corridor ranparallel to the Homecraft corridor and the entry wasthrough this corridor.

The other article about the WNSC being reviewed atAvondale racecourse mentions Miss D M Hawking. Iwonder If this was the same Major Hawking who ranHilltop School in partnership with Miss Phyllis Boult, inKhyber Pass?

I can add much more to my account of ATHS, but I

preferred to just state facts here.

With best wishes from Robin Fazakerley.

More on Avondale College early days

Documents

Avondale Historical Journal No. 70