contents - wordpress.com · the loss of her son must have been heart-breaking for sarah nias. every...

THORNDON NEWS | NEWSLETTER 172, ISSN 1179-9501| online ISSN 2463-476X | of 12

Thorndon Society Newsletter of the Thorndon Society Inc.

Working with the community for Thorndon's heritage since 1973

NEWSLETTER 172, ISSN 1179-9501 | online ISSN 2463-476X, October 2017

Contents

PASSCHENDAELE 1917 –GEORGE WILLIAM NIAS – A THORNDON SOLDIER AT THE FRONT .................................................... 2

THE QUEEN’S PARK .......................................................................................... 5

YESTERDAY AND TODAY ............................................................................... 8

SHOOTING OUTSIDE THE GALATEA HOTEL ...................................... 9

THE THORNDON SOCIETY ........................................................................ 10

Drawing – Allan Morse Architect -1974


PASSCHENDAELE 1917 – GEORGE WILLIAM NIAS – A THORNDON SOLDIER AT THE

FRONT This October marks the centenary of the New Zealand Division’s participation in the infamous Passchendaele offensive in 1917. It is a battle that is now synonymous with the mud and slaughter and madness on the Western Front, where this country lost nearly 5000 men, including 846 on a single day of action on 12 October.

George Nias at the time of his enlistment showing the insignia of the 20th Reinforcements.

We can commemorate this sacrifice by remembering one Thorndon soldier, Lance Corporal George William Nias, 30631, Third Battalion, Wellington Regiment.

George was born on 4 October 1879 in Nelson, the only son of George and Sarah Nias. George Senior was a Yorkshireman and a printer by trade who arrived in New Zealand after an adventurous twenty years or so in British Columbia and Australia. The family moved to Thorndon when George Senior

found employment at the Government Printing Office on Lambton Quay.

After various changes of address in Thorndon the Nias’s eventually let a cottage in Molesworth Street owned by the politician William Larnach who built the now famous ‘Larnach’s Castle’ in Dunedin. The cottage was situated in front of the Unicem Pharmacy on what is today the forecourt of Rugby House.

Young George was raised in the Molesworth Street cottage and continued to live there for many years with his mother after his father died in 1888. At age 15 he had a minor brush with the law when, with two mates, he admitted having rung “for a lark” the doorbell at the house of Mr H S Woon. Each were fined 5 shillings with 7 shillings costs.

After leaving school George worked for the railways but in 1901 at age 23 he left to fight in the South African war. Trooper Nias was attested in Durban for the 2nd Regiment of Kitchener’s Fighting Scouts and joined L Squadron commonly


called the ‘Body Guard Squadron’. He later transferred to the Seventh and then to the Ninth New Zealand Mounted Rifles. After 15 months in South Africa George returned home and was discharged in August 1902.

After his South African service, George remained in Thorndon. He was involved with shooting and rowing and worked for Staples Brewery, located where the New World Supermarket is now stands. At the time World War One broke out George was a storeman with the Post and Telegraph Department, in his mid-thirties and still a single man.

George enlisted again in July 1916 and in December departed for Britain with the 20th Reinforcements on the troopship SS Port Lyttelton. By the end of May 1917, he was with the New Zealand Division in France and Belgium,

training for what was officially the Third Battle of Ypres or ‘Passchendaele’ as it is more commonly known. The battle raged for over three months from 31 July 1917 and ended in stalemate with total casualties on both sides of around 500,000 men.

On 4 October, George’s birthday, the New Zealand Division entered the fray as part of an attack by the Anzac’s to take the Graventafel Spur which led


towards Passchendaele. The attack began at 6 am and after three hours the New Zealander’s including George’s Third Wellington Battalion had advanced more than 3 kilometres and taken the spur. However, this had come at a high cost with the Division suffering over 1,600 casualties including 330 dead.

Sadly, as his service records show, George was killed in action on this day. Nothing more is known about his death although it was most likely the result of shell-fire as he has no known grave. His name is inscribed on the Memorial to the Missing in the Tyne Cot Cemetery close to the village of Passchendaele.

On the same day Aucklander, Dave Gallaher, captain of the 1905 All Black ‘Originals’ died of wounds received in the Gravenstafel action.

The loss of her son must have been heart-breaking for Sarah Nias. Every year until the time of her death in 1931 she remembered George’s birth and death on 4 October through a memorial notice in the Evening Post.

When the Wellington War Memorial Carillon Society initiated a subscription process in 1926 to fund the purchase of the first 49 bells for the proposed new Carillon in Buckle Street, Sarah Nias also paid £30 for one of the small next-of-kin bells in memory of George. The bell was cast with the following inscription:

“BELLEVUE”- IN MEMORY OF GEORGE WILLIAM NIAS - GIVEN BY HIS MOTHER Photo - The G W Nias next-of-kin bell

So, next time you hear the Carillon bells sound, spare a thought for George Nias a Thorndon soldier who gave his life in the Great War.

Lest We Forget

Brett McKay


THE QUEEN’S PARK Here is an interesting report from the Evening Post of 30 January 1915:

A high bank above Grant-road, and on which the Wadestown trams now run, presents a neat and orderly appearance, with well-grown vigorous shrubs, and grass fairly green, considering the dry weather. Queen’s Park, which is above the bank referred to (the tram lines running between), is one of the pleasantest little oases in the city. If approached from

the old upper road to Wadestown, about halfway down the path by the creek, it affords one of the prettiest glimpses imaginable of the city, and all in a frame of green.

The city is seen through the poplars, its sharp lines blurred and softened by a blue-grey haze which is really the smoke of trade and commerce, and suggestive of traffic and activity. The blue waters of the harbour are also seen, while the tall masts and smoking funnels -- sometimes, decked with white plumes of steam -- of the ships, add interest to the view. The background is formed by the Mount Victoria range of hills, which turn golden in the feebler light of late afternoon…

Part of Lands and Survey map 1915

Queen’s Park which is approached by Grant Road has been fortunate having as a neighbour a citizen who has not only watched the park grow, but has himself contributed to it in money and labour. Some twenty-seven years ago Mr. G. E. Tolhurst planted oaks and ashes there, which have now acquired a quite respectable girth. It is not often that tree-planters have the joy of seeing their saplings develop into mature trees.

When the Reserves Committee chairman (Councillor Frost) was looking over Queen’s Park yesterday, Mr Tolhurst happened to be there too.


G E Tolhurst’s house in 1905 on Town Acre 199 adjoining Queens Park. The house is now the residence of the Italian Ambassador, 36 Grant Road. (Photo, Sir George Grey’s Special Collection, Auckland Libraries Ref: ANNS-19050907-6-1).

“All this” he said with a sweep of the hand, pointing to a part of the park, “was chaos a couple of years ago. An expensive and useless fence was around the place. Rotten vegetation had accumulated, and the place was infested with rats. I’m a regular Betsy Trotwood in keeping an eye on this corner, I assure you. If anybody destroyed the flowers I could thrash them. But then they don’t. Look at those banks of flowers (the plantation certainly looked bright and gay). No one ever touches them. The people pass up and down the path and never interfere with anything. They enjoy it. By the way, I’ll give you a contribution towards this next year,” said Mr. Tolhurst, as a parting word.

On the way to Anderson Park the party passed the Grant Road reserve, which was once a waste and an eyesore. It is now planted with well-established shrubs, and is most agreeably green to the eye, seen either from Grant Road or the upper road to Wadestown. The chairman of the Reserves Committee remarked, in passing, that this plantation also owed much to Mr Tolhurst, in money and close personal interest.

The famous spring in Grant Road which used to trickle through a gas pipe, is now much improved, and forms an artistic fountain in brick and rough cast. It is much used by many people who believe the water to possess valuable medicinal properties. Along the road above are light but strong protective fences, erected comparatively recently.

These works, and the Queen’s Park improvements may not seem to amount to much in the aggregate, but they represent a lot of money, work for workers, and besides affording much pleasure to all familiar with the locality, prove that the Reserves Committee of the


City Council is a no means dilatory body, and that upon works which give no tangible return to the city exchequer.

Follow-up!

In the spirit of G E Tolhurst, Peter Steel, a resident in the vicinity of Queen’s Park has initiated a campaign to have the park restored to its former glory. If you are interested in supporting Peter you can contact him on 021 344 1850 or email [email protected]

NZ Truth 11March 1926

mailto:[email protected]


YESTERDAY AND TODAY

(Photo from the National Library collection-Reference: 1/2-230661-G)

The Galatea Hotel on the corner of Molesworth and Hawkestone Streets was built by Thomas and William Nicholas and opened on 1 March 1869. The pub changed ownership several times and was renamed the Shamrock before it was demolished in 1892 due to its poor condition. The new Shamrock Hotel built in 1893, survived for almost 90 years before it was sold to make way for the office development now occupying the site.

For new-comers to Thorndon you might be surprised to know that in 1981 the Shamrock was cut in half and moved to the corner of Tinakori Road and Harriett Street. This was one of the first relocations of a heritage building in the country and saved it from certain demolition. The building was modified for commercial and residential use with the Indus Restaurant now featuring on the ground floor.


SHOOTING OUTSIDE THE GALATEA HOTEL A report from the Evening Post dated 18 April 1870

A fatal accident occurred this morning, at Thorndon, to one of the hard-labour gang of prisoners, named August Schroeder, the particulars of which are as follow:- An opening of considerable depth has lately been made in Molesworth Street, in front of the Galatea Hotel, for the purpose of getting at a drain which was out of repair. Round this a railing was placed, and this morning a gang of men were at work in the hole; the warders, as usual, on top watching them.( the possible site of the shooting is on the right of the photo below) One of the warders, named M’Carthy, had his gun under his arm, the muzzle depressed, pointing towards the prisoners below, whether cocked or not does not appear very clear. Some noise behind caused M’Carthy to move, when, possibly from his clothes

catching the hammer, the gun went off, the contents striking Schroeder close to the heart.

The unfortunate man never spoke, but, after reeling for a moment, fell against the bank. He was

instantly picked up, but died in a few minutes. The body was removed to the hospital, where an inquest was held this afternoon, the result of which will be announced tomorrow. Schroeder was a sailor belonging to the Melita, who had been sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for assaulting the police and misconducting himself while in a state of drunkenness. The gang was sent back to the jail immediately after the occurrence of the accident, and M’Carthy was placed under a sort of temporary arrest by Mr. Read, pending the result of the enquiry into the circumstances. This is not the first accident that has occurred through these same firelocks carried by the prison warders, and one might well ask what business have they with guns at all? If they fire after an escaping prisoner, it is at the manifest risk of shooting some-one else, as was the case at Lyttelton some years ago, and passengers in the streets are in danger of being wounded or killed by an unintended discharge. If a prisoner escapes he is safe to be recaptured, and even if he should not it is better so than to run the risk of killing the inhabitants of the town. All these warders require a pistol for their own defence, to be carried in a case when not required; and we trust the Government will consider these repeated accidents as sufficient


cause to prohibit loaded and capped firelocks being carried through the streets by men who in nine cases out of ten are ignorant how to handle them.

The Coroner’s inquest the next day returned a verdict of accidental death but the Evening Post had no hesitation in saying that the jury had been remiss in doing their duty. It was said that a man’s life had been sacrificed by gross carelessness, and some more notice ought to have been taken of the occurrence. The paper also reported that the General Government had given orders to issue the gaol authorities new Snider rifles to replace the guns in use.

REMEMBER

THE THORNDON FAIR IS COMING

SUNDAY 3 DECEMBER 2017

THE THORNDON SOCIETY The Thorndon Society was established in 1973 in response to the destruction of a large part of Thorndon for the construction of the Urban Motorway. The primary focus of the Society is to protect and preserve what remains of Thorndon's heritage and to maintain its residential character. The Society has been particularly active in opposing the further loss of heritage housing stock, the


NEWSLETTER DELIVERY PERSON REQUIRED If you want to support the Society get a little exercise at the same time we seeking a volunteer for our newsletter run centred on George and Goring Streets. About 190 newsletters are delivered in this area three times a year. To sign-up call Brett on 9720280 or email [email protected]

conversion of houses to non-residential use and the 'creep' of commercial uses into the suburb from the Central Area zone.

The Society also works to promote an interest in, and knowledge of, Thorndon's heritage through the publication of our newsletter and other initiatives such as the Notable Homes Plaques Project.

Thorndon Society Website The website address is www.thorndonsociety.wordpress.com

Membership

You can apply for membership online or by contacting any of the committee (see below). The fees are $15 individual Thorndon resident, $20 Thorndon household or non-resident or $50 corporate. The subscription year runs from January to December.

Newsletter Donations

Any donations to support the printing of the newsletter will be gratefully received.

You can pay online to our account at 060565-0028561-00. Please include “Newsletter” in the reference field.

Thorndon Society Contacts

PO Box 12-398, Thorndon, Wellington 6144 | [email protected]

Convenor: Bruce Lynch, phone 04-473-6000 Secretary: Grant Strachan, phone 04-472-7110 Treasurer: Tony Burton, phone 04 4727257 Newsletter Editor: Brett McKay, phone 04 9720280 Advertising: Judith Hatton, phone 04 4733753 Newsletter Layout Haritina Mogosanu-www.milky-way.kiwi

http://www.thorndonsociety.wordpress.com/

mailto:[email protected]

contents - wordpress.com · the loss of her son must have been heart-breaking for sarah nias. every...

Documents