September 2023 Newsletter

THE Quarterly NEWS from September 2023

Dear Members The photo above shows the organ at St Mary’s in all its glory, along with Dr Philip Smith, who presented a delightful recital as part of Auckland’s Heritage Festival.

Details are given later in this newsletter.

Also we cover our genealogy event at The Returned Services Club, and of course our 2023 Annual General Meeting. It has been a busy time!

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

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

THE Quarterly NEWS from Bloodworth Pavilion We are delighted to confirm that Parnell Heritage has finalised the hire agreement with Parnell Cricket Club and so we now have somewhere to store archives and documents, as well as a venue for meetings. A large amount of archiving and cataloguing work has been undertaken at the Pavilion by Executive members Carolyn Cameron and Lynne Abram, and we are most grateful for the extensive work they have done. In time this will enable Parnell Heritage to offer a limited research service.

Genealogy Event at the Parnell Returned Services Club In early August, we enjoyed another great event at the Returned Services Club, organised by Executive member Lynne Abram.

Lynne contacted Robyn Williams, who has been a member of the New Zealand Society of Genealogist for over thirty years.

Recently Robyn completed her last term as a member of the Board of Directors. Between 2015 and 2023 Robyn held the position of President of the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations.

To support the genealogy theme of gathering traces from all around the world, Lynne arranged for the nibbles served at the event to come from many different countries – all of which were delicious! The $5 entrance fee included a drink from the bar for each person so it was a very successful event enjoyed by us all. A big ‘thank you’ to the team at the Returned Services Club who always provide a very convivial and welcoming atmosphere.

Robyn gave is a fascinating talk about genealogy with plenty of practical tips on how to go about tracing one’s family history. She said it was very important to develop good research habits - so often people can end up ‘down the wrong track’.

Start with what you know and make sure you write down key facts, eg: o Family details o Birth o Civil registration or baptism by christening o Marriage certificate o Death certificate – burial, will, probate, newspaper announcement.

Make a family chart, and there are computer programmes/websites available to help, including: o Ancestry o FindMyPast o MyHeritage o The Genealogist o Family Tree Maker o Legacy o Roots Magic

THE Quarterly NEWS from It is very important to check information using different sources – the best accuracy, of course, is original documents. Many records are held at libraries and museums. In addition, you can:   

Join NZ Society of Genealogy (leaflet attached) Visit the Family Research Centre, 159 Queens Road, Panmure (leaflet attached) Visit websites – several listed on the Genealogy Society’s leaflet.

Robyn went on to give us a brief look at DNA and how it is inherited, although you do not share the same proportion of DNA with each of your siblings as you do not inherit the same DNA from each of your parents…. o o o o o o

2 Parents – 50% from each 4 Grandparents – 25% from each 8 Great-Grandparents – 12.5% from each 16 Great-Great-Grandparents – 6.25% from each 32 Great-Great-Great-Grandparents – 3.125 from each 64 Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandparents – 1.5625% from each………

As Robyn said, ‘The story is never-ending….!’

To round off the event, Executive member Carolyn Cameron (right below) introduced Kieran Rice (centre) from Morris & James Pottery, Matakana. Carolyn has instigated a wonderful plan to give Parnell householders the opportunity to order plaques of their houses’ names from Morris & James. Also, Carolyn can research a property to discover if it had a name in the past. This is proving very popular.

THE Quarterly NEWS from 2023 Annual General Meeting Held again at The Parnell Hotel, on 14th September we enjoyed our 2023 AGM. The Minutes, Chair’s Report and Annual Report have already been circulated. It should be noted that the membership fee for Parnell Heritage has remained unchanged for several years.

After the meeting, we were given a very interesting talk by Anne Morris.

Anne was an early member of Heritage Rose Society, and started the Friends of St Stephens Cemetery in 1984. Anne remembered author, artist and world-famous rosarian, Nancy Steen, who lived in Upland Road, surrounded by a beautiful garden.

In the 16th Century, roses spread from China and Persia via the trade routes, bringing plants to be cultivated in European gardens, and then on to America, Australia and New Zealand. Many varieties have been lost in Europe but they can still be found in NZ, as documented in Nancy Steen’s book. In New Zealand many roses have been lost also, but now we have a Rose Register, the first in the world, to which Heritage Rose members contribute and can apply for cuttings to propagate a rose, thus increasing the rose stock.

Over forty years ago, Heritage Roses was started by Toni Sylvester and Ken Nobbs, the latter planting rambling roses alongside State Highway 1. With their encouragement, old roses were planted all over the Auckland area and continue to flourish.

Anne said the Nancy Steen Garden opened in Parnell in 1984. It is filled with old roses and companion plants. There is a white garden where one can sit and pause, and let all the worries of the world fade away. An ideal venue for weddings, the gardens continue to be enjoyed by us all.

Anne had visited the churchyard of St Mary-at-Lambeth, opposite the Houses of Parliament in London, now the Garden Museum. The church itself had become rundown and needed extensive restoration. The graveyard, where lie the 17 th Century tombs of father and son gardeners and plant collectors, both named John Tradescant, and also the tomb of Bountyrenowned Admiral William Bligh, was restored also and made into the Courtyard Garden at the Museum. This gave Anne the idea to make a similar garden at St Stephens which had become neglected.

In 1984 Anne formed the group Friends of St Stephens Cemetery. They pulled out all the weeds and planted old roses from stock given by a nursery that was closing down. Hundreds of daffodils were planted, and Cornwall Park Trust helped with installing a watering system and Auckland City Council donated $10,000 to repair the tombstones.

THE Quarterly NEWS from Three years ago Rosie Cormack took over St Stephens Cemetery with volunteers and it is now coming back to full bloom. $43,000 has been given as a grant, with $10,000 from the Trust for ongoing work requirements.

Ewelme Cottage has been transformed by volunteer gardeners, and a small group of volunteers are helping to bring heritage roses to Symonds Street Cemetery, where vandalism has been a big problem.

All these areas complement the city and bring peace and beauty into our hearts.

Anne was asked for practical details about rose varieties and she has kindly supplied us with lists of Heritage Rose Society roses, companion plants and Auckland "well doers". These are available on request from our email address (see below).

For those interested, the next Heritage Rose working bees are at St Stephen's Cemetery on the first Monday of the month from 9.00am to 12.00pm, and at the Nancy Steen Gardens on 5th and 17th October.

Auckland Heritage Festival Running from Saturday 23rd September to Sunday 8th October, with theme ‘Peace, Love and Protest’, our

event took place last Sunday, 24th September. This was in conjunction with the Holy Trinity Cathedral and we are very grateful to organist Dr Philip Smith who gave a wonderful organ recital in St Mary’s.

He had chosen a wide variety of pieces from the 17th to the 19th Centuries, all of which showed the beauty and versatility of the organ.

Dr Smith included several pieces of music used at weddings and, with the Festival’s theme of Love, we included a wedding theme of our own. Lynne Abram made some beautiful pew decorations for St Mary’s, and also a wedding cake stand for the refreshments after the recital in the Bishop Monteith Visitors’ Centre.

THE Quarterly NEWS from

Parnell Rose Festival We will have a stall at the Parnell Rose Festival again this year – Sunday 5th November 2023 starting at 11.00am. Our journals and other publications will be on sale, as well as wreaths made from the pew decorations at the organ recital.

_____________________________________________ www.parnellheritage.org.nz contact: enquiries@parnellheritage.org.nz / 022 647 5155 / PO Box 37100, Parnell 1151