Thames (NZ): The Hazelbank Hotel

Thanks to Tom for spotting some new / higher resolution copies of photographs of Thames at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

The one below is a classic, that looks over the Government Buildings in Queen Street, with the Wesleyan Church and Sunday School top centre. So much more, but of particular interest for me was the signage for the Hazelbank Hotel.

Grahamstown

Burton Brothers studio; photography studio; New Zealand, Unknown; photographer; New Zealand

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Background From the Hotels of Thames:

"The Hazelbank Hotel in Brown Street was located north of the Wesleyan Church (now the site of the Thames School of Mines). Alexander Gillon was publican at the hotel for several years. In May 1875 Gillon applied to the Licensing Committee for a license to sell liquor after 10pm until 4am on the 25th. “He wanted the door open after hours and to sell liquor after hours as he expected a few friends.” (Thames Star, 22 May 1875) The Bench agreed in principal if the house remained closed to the general public, but Gillon wanted it sold to all and sundry – so the application was refused!

In 1882 licensee John Tonkin was in trouble with the law as he had sold drink to Charlotte Hicks on a Sunday and she was not a bona fide traveller. The hotel keepers of the Thames certainly kept the lawyers and court busy with a multitude of Licensing Act breaches.

In 1911 the owner of the hotel was Mr A M Myers, he sold the property and it was converted into a villa residence. The town lamented, that yet another landmark of the town was disappearing.

THE HAZELBANK HOTEL:
A crop of the photograph (below) shows the back entrance to the Hazelbank Hotel off Davy Street, adjacent to Hamilton's Bakery. The hotel's main entrance was on Brown Street - between Cochrane and Albert Streets.

The hotel was open pre-1872 till c1887. Known publicans were: Alexander Gillon (1874-80); John Tonkin (1879-83); Thomas Godkin (1883-87).

You can download the full photograph at the link given. Enjoy finding the butcher shop, and Mennie & Dey's biscuit factory opposite the library. (see below)

Keep hunting, keep revisiting sites like Te Papa - fingers crossed there are more treasures out there, as more sites update their online content.

Thames (NZ): Thames Library War Books & Collections

It never ceases to amaze me, the quality of books at the local Thames Library. They have an excellent selection of history resources for the genealogist and general researcher. Many of you will be curious about those people in your family tree who served in the different wars. At the Thames Library you will find many books that provide information.

Below is a new book that is a must read, as we near the beginning of the WW100 commemorations:

Title:  New Zealand and the First World War, 1914-1919

Author: Fenton, Damien, author.

ISBN: 9780143569756

This is a unique book, with multiple map, packets of information on each page that you can slide out and view. Postcards, posters, letters...the list goes on. A large book, that is easy to read - personalised by the experience that you have of unfolding each treasure. One feels privileged to unfold each item of memorabilia.

 

Remember while you are at The Thames Library website, click on the KETE Logo. Visit the Kete Hauraki Coromandel website. You will find lots of Thames photos, including those from the B Murch collection.

The photo above: Royal Marine Corp - Drums. Reunion Parade, October 17th, 1993 by B Murch

Just one of the many photos available for viewing online thanks to the contributors and The Thames Library Digitisation team.

Thames (NZ): Heritage Week & Identification of Houses

During the Heritage festival this year, the Thames Library are holding an event called: Capturing the Present, to become the Heritage of the Future.

The details posted are:
Add your photos and memories to a digital archive collection of buildings and homes in Thames. Bring in your current (and old) photos of buildings around Thames - perhaps your home, your workplace, your school. We'll help you scan and upload them to the Thames Streets & Places basket on Kete Hauraki Coromandel. Material in this Kete is harvested to National Library NZ's National Digital Heritage Archive, ensuring that it will always be safely stored for future generations to access. Play your part in leaving a trail for future generations to explore. Staff and volunteers will be on hand to help you each weekday during the Festival, from 10am to 12 noon, at Thames Library.


The event is Monday 11 March to Friday 15 March and Monday 18 March to Friday 22 March 2013
Times 10am - 12pm

You can view photos that are already onsite and add comments - just complete the simple login registration

Description

Looking south from Broad Street, over Shortland (Thames). At centre right of image (amongst small group of buildings on the flat), are the premises of Butement Brothers, Manufacturers of Aerated Waters and Cordials, situated along Pollen Street. The Butement Brothers had aerated water factories established in Dunedin, Greymouth, Christchurch, Wellington and Shortland. The long white building in the centre background is Smale's Folly (Smale's Boarding House), built 1868/9. Phoenix Brewery?, centre left.
Thames Coromandel Region (N.Z.)

Source: 'Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 7-A16669'

Thames (NZ): Current Newspaper online

For those not wanting to miss out on local news, THE HAURAKI HERALD is online - along with archived copies for the last year. You will need to just complete a short registration process.
If you after family notices for earlier years (back to 2006), these are available at The Treasury, Thames - copies can be requested via their research service.

Alternatively the Thames Library and Hauraki Herald Office has copies that you can go in and browse covering all years.

Another old Thames Newspaper that has come to light is THE THAMES SENTINEL AND MINERS JOURNAL, published by William Wood back in the 1890s.

Thames Sentinel Newspaper
Copy courtesy of J Vedder-Price

Thames (NZ): Court's Corner traffic

With all the talk of the 'new' road rules, one is left to ponder the rules of old. How did the horses, carts and bicylces manage? The postcard below shows a lady ambling across the road, did the man on the bike have to slow down..would road rage have eventuated had the lady cyclist slowed in her pace. A quieter time, when maybe these things did not matter....

The papers contain many reports of accidents containing horses, and horse and carts. Such as 3/11/1919, when a cart with two men, suddenly swerved across the Parawai Road in to a telegraph pole. Both men were thankfully unharmed.

In 1894, Mr & Mrs COWLING and their infant child had a narrow escape from a buggy accident. Remembering that roads and bridges were often in a poor condition, although traffic was not an issue - the challenging conditions often were.



Thames Star 24/3/1894



Kete Hauraki Coromandel - a place to share your stories

This site wants your stories, both historical and current:
This kete has been created to collect and preserve the stories of our communities - current and historical.

Also that staff at the local libraries are happy to help.
Kete Hauraki Coromandel is a joint project between Thames-Coromandel District Libraries and Hauraki District Libraries, and is supported by The National Library of New Zealand and Aotearoa People's Network Kaharoa. CLICK HERE TO VIEW SITE

The search engine shows many historical items on Thames, along with wonderful photos
Examples:
Bank of new Zealand
Tararu School
History of Library Services in Thames
Tararu Road

plus many more....

Books on THAMES, NEW ZEALAND

There have been many excellent books written on Thames that are of interest to those with a history and genealogical interest. An old list that I assembled is available here. Also The Treasury has a list of just a few they have available and the Thames Library has a searchable catalogue.

Recently several people have asked about the availability of Downey's mining book on the Hauraki District. Reprints of this and several other books are available from Cadsonbury Publications. Downey's Gold Mines of the Hauraki District, Clarke: Thames Gold Fields Miner's Guide and Grainger's The Amazing Thames. The company can be contacted by email: cadsonbury (at) xtra.co.nz

John Grainger's book is a particular favourite, he was passionate about the preservation of Thames history. An article about Grainger is online at The Treasury.

Thames & area SCHOOL RECORDS

Often overlooked is the value of school records.
Sure they give you details on the child, but the extra info is invaluable for building a picture of our ancestors,
Look at GUARDIAN, ADDRESS, past and future SCHOOLS & DESTINATIONS
Plus you can often get birthdate (although it can vary)

Sources:
The Hauraki indexing group indexed many of the schools and the info is available on the NZSG Index Cd's
Thames Library has photocopies of these registers in the closed archive section, behind the front desk
The Treasury has some copies, more to come

Archives Auckland do have alot of school records that can be viewed. Search at Archway.
One exception - Sadly no early Catholic School records pre 1900 are available at archives or at catholic archives

School Reunion books are also excellent for learning more about the school plus Newspapers for reports on school reunions. For instance in the 1950s several schools (Tararu or Shellbank, Waiokaraka and Thames High) had reunions and reports in the papers listed names of those attending and several old entrants names.
These are filed in the SCHOOLS FOLDER at The Treasury, Thames.

Whakapapa - maori families Thames Hauraki area

At present alot of the past great Whakapapa sites seem to be offline, but here are a few:
NZSG Maori Special Interest Group http://www.nzsgmig.com/
 and their resource Links page but several links no longer work

Waikato Uni have a names database collected by Rev. Henry James Fletcher (1868-1933).

Maori marriages at http://marvin.otago.ac.nz/marriages/maorisearch.php
 
Maori land information sites:
Te Puni Kōkiri (Ministry of Maori Development)

MAORI LAND ONLINE - surname searches

MAORI BMD registrations: remember these are available on separate fiche to the general BMD fiche. Many NZSG branches & libraries have a copy of these.

HAURAKI MAORI TRUST BOARD: wonderful online site including digital oral histories that can be viewed/listened to online

NGATI MARU: site with contacts

Wonderful Books with whakapapa:
Te Takoto O Te Whenua O Hauraki - Hauraki Landmarks by Taimoana Turoa, Edited by Te Ahukaramu Charles Royal. This book includes alot of information on places as well as people.

Waihou Journeys, The archaeology of 400 years of Maori Settlement by caroline Phillips.  An excellent read to give background on the area and major settlements.

Maori Peoples of New Zealand. Te Ara The encyclopedia of new Zealand. A wonderful quick reference book for all tribal groups and contains alot of early whakapapa.

Nga Taonga O Te Kauaeranga - Maori Heritage of Thames by John McEnteer & Taimoana Turoa 1993. This a comprehensive review of maori heritage sites around Thames.

Hauraki Contested 1769-1875 by Paul Monin. Excellent resource covering the history of the area.

All the above books are available at The Treasury and the Thames Library.

Thames Newspapers

Wonderful news with the Thames Star now online from 1874 to 1920.
remember also to check papers for surrounding areas such as the Ohinemuri Gazette

Even though the papers are online it is still great to view the microfilms and browse the papers. Remember that the Thames Advertiser is not online, this is available to view at The Treasury, Thames.

Newspaper indexes for the Thames Papers are available at The Treasury and the Thames Library.
Much more to come on those later.

More information at my webpage.