Tawa Historical Society Incorporated
The Tawa Historian
Newsletter #14 – January 2007
Dear Members,
We held our final executive meeting for 2006 on Monday 18th December, and it was agreed that we should report back to you all.
Financial Report
Our current bank balance is healthy, at over $12,000, but it includes money earmarked for our share of the costs of placing plaques along the line of the old Porirua Road. We have decided to place some of our funds on term deposit, and need to commence building reserves against the day when, eventually, we may have our own rooms and proper storage facilities for items of interest which keep coming our way.
At the moment our Society is run out of the homes of some of its members, and it operates on a shoe string. I am particularly indebted to Bill Hinkley for the outstanding work he does as Secretary / Treasurer.
An Historical Atlas of Tawa
For the second time our annual publication has sold out. Last year 600 copies of the Streets of Tawa were published, and this year 117 copies of the Historical Atlas have now gone. We are taking orders for extra copies, and when those orders reach 20 it is likely that we will order a further 40 copies. This may seem conservative, but at a cost to us from the printer of $54 each, we cannot afford to “order and hope”.
The Atlas has shown us what it costs to produce a high quality book, with colour, and printed on top quality paper. It is not something we could do on a regular basis, and without the financial assistance of the Tawa Community Board and the Pelorus Trust, together with the advantageous pricing from New Zealand Micrographic Services Ltd and the incredible assistance given by Karol de Raad (Porirua Print), it simply would not have been feasible. The cost of printing, together with the purchase of material on disc from the Turnbull Library, and the costs associated with photo shopping that material made the production very expensive, so we were very careful with our budgeting, promotion and sales. In the end we were able to produce this Atlas for a total loss of around $250, and we feel very satisfied with that.
As an aside, your Society made both written and verbal representation on your behalf for the retention of the Community Board, and were delighted at the outcome. Work related to preparing the Atlas was helpful in this matter.
The Web Site
Thanks to Richard Herbert for his continuing work wit the web site. Please keep using it.
Best of Tawa
For some time we have been considering what our 2007 publication should be. We have been drawn to a series of articles written by Elsdon Best and published in a Christchurch weekly newspaper called the “Canterbury Times” in 1914. The series was entitled “Porirua and they who settled it”.
Porirua does not simply mean the area called Porirua, centred around the city of that name. In 1914 Porirua was a small village of 330. The Porirua that Best refers to is the Porirua District; that area of land from Kaiwharawhara to the Porirua Harbour, on either side of the Porirua Road, including Johnsonville, Glenside and Tawa Flat.
We propose to take these newspaper articles, which have never been made available in book form, and to do the following :
• Edit them
• Illustrate them with relevant maps, photographs and paintings
• Explain them through both additional text and footnotes
• Provide an introduction concerning Elsdon Best and his family and their connection with Tawa Flat.
With the wealth of material available, we are strongly inclined towards publishing them in two volumes, the first in 2007 and the second in 2008. Each volume will be around 80 to 100 pages, and the whole work will be entitled “Best of Tawa – an account of the Porirua District and they who settled it”.
Volume One will deal with :
– pre European occupation of Porirua and its harbour
– the first Europeans - whalers
– the European settlers
– Maori-European hostilities – the 1840’s and the 1860’s.
Volume Two will deal with :
– the opening up of Porirua for settlement – road development
– miscellaneous material (e.g. re Mana Island, the earthquakes of 1848 and 1858, crops and stock, early sawmills and accommodation houses etc.)
– Place names and their origins.
Subscriptions
In the 2005/06 year we set subscriptions at $5 (down from the usual $10) and it had been intended to restore them to $10 this year. However, we again used $5 as part of our promotional activities, so it has been decided to hold them at that price for the year. A subscription notice and a pre-addressed envelope are included with this newsletter. We run the Society on a shoestring, but we do need some funds for the routine activities for the society, so your subscription and more particularly your membership is important to us. As in the past, should you wish to make a donation, this would be most welcome, and will be separately receipted in time to get a tax refund from the IRD.
Donations
On the topic of donations, we recently received a donation of $500 from the Tawa Rotary Club which was an extremely pleasant surprise. The level of the donation was significant, but in particular, it represents a strong endorsement of the work being done by the Society, and this is at least as important as the funds themselves.
The Executive Committee
As members will see, the work of the Society is getting more and more involved, and there is much that could be done. We would be very grateful if any members, who are able to, could contribute, particularly in assisting Bill in the Secretarial role. Of course we could also do with writers / researchers coming forward as well!
Please refer back to Newsletter #13 if you wish to see the kind of projects we could undertake.
The Charles Duncan Reserve
The Friends of Tawa Bush have consulted us regarding the wording on an information board to be placed at or near the entrance to the reserve in Fyvie Avenue. They have also asked for assistance in determining the extent of the original farm (Section 52) owned by Charles Duncan.
Cemetery
Work continues with the City Council.
The Takapu Ammunition Dump
Phil Harland (who recently celebrated his 80th birthday – well done Phil!!) will have concluded this work in the first half of 2007. It has been a long and laborious exercise.
With best wishes for 2007.
Bruce Murray
Chairman