Tania holds the 2024/2025 Auckland Library Heritage Trust John Stacpoole Scholarship.
Tania spoke at the Central City Library on Saturday 12 April. Her topic was: 'The lost neighbourhoods of central Auckland.' The Trust is pleased to support Tania's research, and our chair David Simcock was delighted to introduce her at this well-attended event. Tania in turn acknowledged the Trust, Auckland Libraries staff and the Stacpoole family.
Drawing on a range of photos, maps and census documents in the rich heritage collections of Auckland Libraries, Tania provided an overview of the development of inner Auckland from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1930s. She began with the Chancery Street area and the small homes in and around the Chancery hollow. Photos and newspaper accounts attest to this neighbourhood as muddy and filthy, and odiferous from the poor drainage and outpourings from the slaughterhouses there. A particularly valuable historical record from 1842-1864 is the annual police census, digitised on Kura Heritage Collections Online.
The census book (Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections NZMS-0025) is 'one of the absolute treasures of the collection,' Tania said. It shows details of dwellings and information about occupants such as household composition, employment and religious affiliation.
This 1866 map of the city (Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections Map 18), drawn from a survey by Vercoe and Harding, shows the density of building in the 1860s. Tania discussed the support neighbours gave each other in times of need but also the friction that led to multiple court cases arising from disputes between residents.
Tania talked about the history of Acacia Cottage, John Logan Campbell's first house. She then considered the development of more elevated suburbs at some distance from the sights and stench of the Chancery hollow - Princes Street and its handsome buildings and Grey Street. Grey Street in the 1850s was an area of beautifully laid out gardens and gracious homes.
Other notable buildings Tania referred to included the Campbell Creche and the kindergarten in Myers Park (the vision of the mayor James Parr, Myers Park was funded by a former mayor, Arthur Myers). From the 1890s, Chinese businesses were established in Grey Street. Tania traced changes along the street until the 1930s, when residents petitioned for a new name (Greys Avenue) as a makeover and state flats were built.
The appreciative audience took the opportunity to look at the display installed in the atrium to accompany Tania's talk.
The Trust is grateful to Tania and to Auckland Libraries for hosting this talk, which was recorded.
