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| Devonport Ferry Terminal |
Paul was most informative and we regularly stopped at frequent intervals whilst he gave us a talk about some of the history and pointed out various buildings or landmarks of general and historical interest.
Devonport on the North Shore of the Waitemata harbour is a beautiful historical village traditionally used as a holiday resort, situated right on the sea front. It has three volcanic headlands in the area Mount Victoria and North Head with Mount Cambria situated between them and looking out across the waterfront from the Ferry terminal you can actually see remains of lava flows on the beach with the black oyster catchers strolling over the rocks showing off their unusual red beaks and red eyes.
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| The Flagstaff |
Back in 1840 a flagstaff was erected at the top of the highest hill named Mt Victoria and the area then became known as Flagstaff. It was under the present flagstaff that Paul explained the importance of the area as the harbour is extremely deep and was suitable for a Naval anchorage so it became eventually known as Devonport after the English Naval town. Devonport is still the main base for the Royal New Zealand Navy and the dry dock opened in Devonport in the late 1800’s and for many years Calliope dock was the largest dry dock in the Southern hemisphere. Paul told us some of the history of the ferry terminal and thriving ferry services which are now operated by Fullers.
As we moved further along, Paul told various stories of interest and we stopped by a bronze memorial plaque where Lt Snow, his wife and daughter, were murdered at their home in 1847 on the original naval base. The crew from the Naval ship Dido spotted Snow’s residence on fire and launched a boat and at the same time Thomas Duder a Signalman from the Flagstaff who lived not too far away had also seen the blaze and made his way down to the scene. Unfortunately it was too late, Lt Snow, his wife and one of his two daughter’s had been hacked to death and the house set alight. Thomas Duder and an associate were implicated in the murder but later an ex-shipwright Joseph Burns was arrested and in 1848 he was convicted and sentenced to death. The plaque stands at King Edward Parade today to commemorate the past events. Paul also told us a great deal about the importance of Maori culture and history in this area and how archaeologists have found moa remains and evidence of ancient Maori existence.
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| Devonport is famous for it's orginal buildings |
Further along our walk a number of buildings were pointed out to us, the area being characteristically colonial and retaining a lot of the local history of the area. Typically buildings were made from local timber and Devonport still has many of the original houses and buildings in situ. The Masonic Tavern built in 1866 is on the corner of Church St and King Edward Parade, it remains one of New Zealand's oldest taverns although sadly it now seems that there are plans to develop this site into apartment blocks.
We saw many beautiful old residences on our trip up towards Mount Victoria and stopped by the Duder Homestead, originally built in 1860 as three terraced cottages which can be hired as a holiday home.
We climbed up the steps to Mt Victoria which was formerly the site of a Maori pa or fortified village of the local Kawerau tribe before the Europeans arrived. Today, you can still see remains of the terraces once protected by palisades of sharpened wooden stakes. There are the most amazing views from the top of Mount Victoria of the Hauraki Gulf and Waitemata Harbour. At the top is Auckland‘s signal station and below is the Music Bunker which hosts Devonport Folk Music Club whose ventilation shafts are painted as brightly coloured mushrooms up top. The bunker was built in 1891 to protect New Zealand from Russian Invasion and Paul told us that the gun was once fired but it caused so many windows to shatter in the area that it was never fired again.
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| Mushrooms at Mt Victoria |
During our descent we passed through the Mt Victoria cemetery where we paused whilst Paul told us about Rangatira Eruera Maihi Patuone who died 1872 - he was 109! His grave is marked with a simple wrought iron railing and stone plaque. Patuone was a great leader and warrior, but he was also a peacemaker between the Maori people and the European settlers.
Paul took us along Victoria Road where we then stopped at Victoria Picture Palace Theatre built in 1912 by an American John Leon Benwell and it was one of the very first moving picture houses to be built. Recently it was disused and came under threat a while back of being converted into apartments but was rescued by the Original Victoria Theatre Trust who convinced North Shore City Council that they should buy the building and in 2003 the heritage group won the contract to lease the theatre and restore it to its original state. It is now showing films again.
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| Victoria Picture Palace Theatre |
The Ploughman's Bakery traditional Clydesdale drawn wagon passed us by and I believe that some of the horses used to pull the wagon have featured in NZ television films such The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Zena Warrior Princess, the Clydesdales have also been featured by Tip Top as well as Ploughman’s for advertising.
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| Ploughman's Clydesdales Wagon |
We had coffee at one of the cafes and Paul and organised a quiz. I’m ashamed to say that I answered not one question despite being prompted by Judy my co-walker, I was too enthralled by my date scone and latte, but Paul was generous enough to give me the remaining chocolate frogs to give to the kids when I got in, Issy was very pleased with my winnings.
http://www.devonport.co.nz/heritage.htm
http://devonportheritage.org/documents/VictoriaRd.pdf
http://www.devonport.co.nz/north_head.htm
http://www.tourismnorthshore.org.nz/id/1/top10/
http://www.townandcountryclydesdales.co.nz/
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