North Shore Nordic Walkers walked the usual Sunday walk right up until two weeks before Christmas and we started back on the 15th January, but the weather has been awful this year so we walked locally in Torbay and revisited Awaruku Bush.
Last Sunday Pam F took us for a walk through Kell Park at Albany which is situated along State Highway 17, it’s a bustling place with many shops and eateries, the village boasts a small library and a lovely little square that features some of the work of local sculptures. The name Albany comes from Alba (Gaelic for Scotland), originally Albany was named Okahukura or Kaipatiki, Maori names that mean ‘place of rainbows' or 'place of butterflies'. Originally though this town was on the main road and would have been a busy route to the city which was then the capital at the time before Wellington become the capital of New Zealand in 1865. The journey to the city must have been an arduous trip to Auckland either by horse or cart, the land was rough terrain, the very weary traveller would have probably stopped overnight along the way and continued with their travels by ferry at Birkenhead.
Last Sunday Pam F took us for a walk through Kell Park at Albany which is situated along State Highway 17, it’s a bustling place with many shops and eateries, the village boasts a small library and a lovely little square that features some of the work of local sculptures. The name Albany comes from Alba (Gaelic for Scotland), originally Albany was named Okahukura or Kaipatiki, Maori names that mean ‘place of rainbows' or 'place of butterflies'. Originally though this town was on the main road and would have been a busy route to the city which was then the capital at the time before Wellington become the capital of New Zealand in 1865. The journey to the city must have been an arduous trip to Auckland either by horse or cart, the land was rough terrain, the very weary traveller would have probably stopped overnight along the way and continued with their travels by ferry at Birkenhead.
 |
| Daniel Lucas |
In 1845 the area was named Lucas Creek after a Flax Miller called Daniel Lucas (possibly Culcas), it wasn’t until 1890 that the area was officially renamed Albany after one of Queen Victoria’s sons, Prince Leopold, the Duke of Albany. Apparently Lucas was a whaler who came ashore and became a flax trader; the flax was collected in the area and taken from the wharf to Auckland. The reason the name changed seems to have been influenced by some of the local people wanting to rid the town of its poor reputation of harbouring deserting sailors and illegal whiskey distillers.
According to the plaque at Kell Park there are no records of where Lucas came from, other than he bought the land in the 1840’s alongside the creek which stretches west towards Riverhead. The muddy stream that runs under the highway is tidal and still retains the name Lucas Creek He didn’t reside long in the area either as he left in 1846, his lands were abandoned and there is no record of him dying in New Zealand, it would seem likely that he may have left the country. |
| Some of the North Shore Nordic Walkers Sorry David! |
The village allowed chickens to roam free and was famous for it's free-range Bantam chicken population, sadly these had to go for various reasons only recently but there are sculptures and wall paintings dedicated to them around Kell Park and the village still uses the rooster as a logo.
Pam F had marked out one of the paths in Kell Park for our Sunday walk and we met by the local shops at The Avenue. It started to rain but it passed very quickly so we walked across the road to Georgia Crescent and then followed a small walkway into the Park. We passed a huge kids slide on our way in on the left and walked through the park, eventually exiting the park and onto a footpath, so took a right turn and continued onto the Massey Campus. As we made our way up the hill and through the grounds we passed Albany Senior School situated South West of Albany Village and along the highway. It’s a relatively new school and opposite there would have been Albany Presbyterian Church (originally called Lucas Creek Cemetery) but in 1991 a cyclone hit the area and decimated the church building.
We made our way back up the hillside and across the campus towards the footpath at Georgia Crescent, but Pam F and a couple of us had a nosey around the houses. There is a large housing complex and the owners get the use of a pool and gym, so we felt obliged to have a peep through the gates.
Moving on we made our way back to the shops to meet the rest of the group and drove onto one of the local cafes. I must go back there the food was yummy and the staff were really friendly, darned if I can remember the name of the cafe though!
Links and Sources:
No comments:
Post a Comment