March 2024

THE Quarterly NEWS from March 2024 Below: The Beauty of the tree in Dove-Myer Robinson Park known as Te Hā

Dear Members What a beautiful summer we have had! Day after day of clear skies and sunshine. Although suffering from lack of rain, the Auckland parks are looking very beautiful with the autumn light and changing colours. They are so well cared-for with mowers constantly on the go and play a big part in Auckland’s heritage.

This Newsletter introduces our new Co-Chairs, Beth O’Loughlin and Roger Burton, both of whom have been long-term members of the Society. We are pleased, too, that Ex-Chair Julie Hill continues to contribute as a member of the Executive.

The latest member of the Executive, Carolyn Cameron, has contributed greatly over the past twelve months – initiating the Morris and James house plaques, helping to find a Parnell Heritage base in the Bloodworth Pavilion and she has spent huge amount of time getting the Society’s archives into good order – thank you Carolyn!

Remember, if you would like to take a more active role in Parnell Heritage or to help in any way, please contact Sue (who looks after our administration) at andreassensue@gmail.com / 022 647 5155.

With best wishes, Beth O’Loughlin and Roger Burton Co-Chairs

THE Quarterly NEWS from Meet Beth and Roger, Parnell Heritage Co-Chairs Beth….

Originally from Timaru, I moved here 22 years ago. I immediately fell in love with Parnell and have never lived anywhere else! Parnell provides a wonderful array of historic buildings, lovely architecture and nice people! I still pinch myself at how blessed I am to live here.

My background is in event management, having worked for the Timaru District Council, and later I had my own events company there.

I was the event manager for the South Island Masters Games for a number of years. I’ve also spent many years in office management, working for architects and engineers. I am most interested in architecture and observing the changing profile of Auckland - also observing the demise of some of our lovely old buildings, some due to neglect, others faced with eyewatering seismic upgrade costs.

As a Justice of the Peace I do regular roster duties at the Parnell Library. Also I am a marriage celebrant and specialise in registry weddings, which these days are contracted out to celebrants.

I was a founding member of Parnell Heritage when it was set up over 20 years ago. We had the inaugural meeting at the previously named Swan Hotel at the bottom of Parnell Rise. Back then, many of the hotel’s clients were seamen, with the shipbuilding establishments nearby.

We have a conundrum here in Auckland. We are already a hugely expansive city – our population is increasing by the day. Do we continue to expand further or follow other big cities in the world and intensify? You can understand how people sitting on a beautiful old villa will sell out to developers who can benefit by replacing it with a 3 or 4 storey apartment block.

Parnell Heritage works hard to further the preservation of these buildings, liaising with appropriate organisations and committees and to keeping you informed.

Roger….

I joined Parnell Heritage in 2019 and was delighted to be asked to be co-Chair with Beth O’Loughlin, following our AGM last September.

Born in Epsom in the early 1950’s, I was blessed to live my first 12 years in Towai Street, St Heliers, when there was no Edmund Street, Grampian Road or Tarawera Terrace between us and Kohimarama Road. We had cattle over (and through) the back fence, and caught tadpoles in the creeks on the adjoining farmland; something very few city folks will ever have the good fortune to enjoy as Auckland continues to grow.

Educated at St Thomas’s School, St Kentigern and Auckland University, my life has taken me on many wonderful journeys.

THE Quarterly NEWS from From Box Boy, as a 12 year old, at the Kohimarama IGA during school holidays, to working on farms in Whitford, Waiheke and on the Kaipara; to living in Christchurch while in the Air Force; waitering at the Top of The Town and The Troika restaurants in Auckland: to working for Broadlands Finance in Auckland, Rotorua and back in Auckland before travelling to Melbourne in March 1985 to join Citibank.

Over the next 33.5 years I had roles with Citibank and ABN Amro, before moving to Sydney to run the Asia/Pacific operations of a small US consulting firm. During this period I travelled extensively for my work (I went through Customs somewhere in the world 83 times in my last 6 months!), and I came to appreciate the importance of history on the culture of the countries I visited. I believe it is critical that we respect our history and in particular our buildings, as these are what identify Parnell, Auckland and New Zealand to the world.

I returned home to Auckland CBD in September 2018 with my partner of 32 years, Roslyn, and we moved to Parnell six months later. In 2019 I ran, unsuccessfully, for the Waitematā Local Board on the Communities and Residents Ticket. That event was how I was introduced to Parnell Heritage, and Parnell Community Committee. Through my involvement with both of these wonderful entities I was privileged to became involved with the Protect Mataharehare group, to support the protection of Dove-Myer Robinson Park and Parnell’s notable Pōhutukawa, known as Te Hā.

This involvement has strengthened further my passion for the preservation of our history in Parnell, Auckland’s Oldest Suburb, and it is my pleasure to be of service to the community of Parnell.

My involvement with Parnell Community Committee continues - I am currently Secretary/Treasurer.

In addition, I continue to play a part with Local and Central Politics in Executive Committees roles, in an effort to continue to influence decision-makers about the importance of Parnell and our Heritage.

Events 

Open Day at Bloodworth Pavilion: This is Parnell Heritage’s new ‘home’ in Shore Road and we hope to hold a relaxing Sunday afternoon get-together – from 4.00pm to 6.00pm on Sunday 14 th April. Carolyn Cameron has done an amazing job compiling scrapbooks of all the material held by the Society. These will be on display at this event, along with journals and other items for sale.

Drinks and nibbles will be served – no charge but a koha will be appreciated. We do hope you can come by and see our new space. There is plenty of parking in nearby streets.



We are planning an event at Parnell Library in June. With so many changes going on around the library building, we felt it would be really interesting to have someone speak about the interesting history of the building itself, from its days of being the Blind Foundation. More details will be sent out soon.



Auckland Heritage Festival: We are hoping to hold an event on Sunday 29th September as part of the Festival. This will be at Kinder House where an exhibition of Louise Lonsdale-Cooper’s Parnell-themed photographs from the early 1970’s will be on display. Full details to come.

THE Quarterly NEWS from Auction of Artefacts We are undertaking a gradual sale of artefacts acquired by Parnell Heritage over the years. In case you wish to attend, the Māori Pou will be auctioned at Cordy’s (553 Mt Eden Road) on Monday 8 th April.

Parnell Heritage Scrapbooks Over the years since the Society began, many valuable articles have been saved and stored. Now, thanks to Carolyn Cameron, these have been incorporated in scrapbooks so that they can be preserved, enjoyed and used as important references for research. If you would like information on a particular item, please complete and return the attached form which will also be available at the Pavilion Open Day. Parnell Post – 3rd September 1956 A big ‘thank-you’ to the kind person who mailed our secretary this version of the Parnell Post. The paper covers many very interesting articles – the 1st and 6th pages are attached with this Newsletter for your information. If you would like the full edition, let Sue know (details below).

Remember, if you would like to take a more active role in Parnell Heritage or to help in any way, please contact Sue (who looks after our administration) at andreassensue@gmail.com / 022 647 5155.

If you have any suggestions for future events, or local places/history/people in which you are interested, and which might be suitable subjects for events, please don’t hesitate to contact Sue via the details given below.

www.parnellheritage.org.nz contact: enquiries@parnellheritage.org.nz / PO Box 37100, Parnell 1151