North Shore Heritage Thematic Review Report ... - Auckland Council

monopoly for their ferry service. Howls of protest issued from a meeting at the Masonic in November 1866
- „it was unsound and unjust … and now forsooth, not content with large returns for all their outlay, they
must ask for a monopoly for three years!‟ 15 All to no avail.
Thus it was not until April 1869 that the Auckland & North Shore Steam Ferry Company, headed by
William Cobley, was inaugurated with the ship Lallah Rookh. 16 Cobley also obtained permission to sink a
well across the street from the Masonic in order to have water for the steamer. Cobley had even persuaded
the Holmes‟ captain to join his enterprise. Holmes Bros in turn countered by running horse buses to carry
passengers to and from Victoria wharf free of charge. William Cobley then offered free ferry trips for
Devonport residents! This ludicrous situation lasted just six months. Cobley, tiring of it all, finally sold the
ferry to the Holmes brothers. 17
Victoria Road developed as the commercial centre but East Devonport continued to flourish. The Duder
brothers, Richard and Robert, opened their shop on the corner opposite the Masonic Hotel in 1874 and the
store behind in 1881. They built a wharf for the shipping of their goods and coal for their brickworks in
Ngataringa Bay.
Devonport grew in the 1880s due to the arrival of the military and the construction of defence works on
North Head, coupled with the efficient and reliable ferry service of the newly formed Devonport Steam
Ferry Company in 1885. Commuting was now possible and businessmen from the city began to settle and
build large residences. Over the next 20 years Devonport began to develop as a „marine suburb‟. Farming
continued – supplying fruit, vegetables and milk – but was becoming less important.
By the turn of the 20 th century, clerks, bank officials and other professionals who worked in the city were
coming to live in Devonport. Builders and tradesmen were in demand and the usual services of
dressmakers, tailors, milliners, midwives, and photographers were all on offer. 18
Chinese vegetable gardens were situated at the top of Victoria Road on the east side and also on the north
side near the Albert Road roundabout in the 1870s. 19 Along Bayswater Avenue there were Chinese and
Indian vegetable growers into the 1930s. No other ethnic group has had a significant presence in the area.
Places that represent this theme include:
Appendix 11B contains a Schedule of Archaeological sites, of Maori and European origin, 18 of which are in
the Devonport Ward and are identified numerically by their New Zealand Archaeological Association
(NZAA) Site Record number:
97 Pa (Volcanic Hill) North Head
109 Pa (Volcanic Hill) Mount Victoria
110 Pa (Volcanic Hill) Mount Cambria, Vauxhall Rd, Takararo
203 Midden Shell/Cultivation/Findspot
(Adze)
916 Midden (Shell, Fish-bone, Glass and
Metal) (Historic)
North Shore Heritage - Thematic Review Report
Vauxhall Rd, Narrow Neck Beach end
North Head, Cheltenham Beach side
968 Middens (Shell) end of Aramoana Avenue, Duders Point
969 Middens (Shell) end of Aramoana Avenue, Duders Point
970 Midden (Shell and fish-bone) Norwood Road, Bayswater
15
„The Proposed Steam Monopoly‟, Daily Southern Cross, Vol. XXII, 22 November 1866, p. 5
16
Walsh, p.8.
17
Paul Titchener, Beginnings: A History of the North Shore of Auckland, Vol. 5 p.4.
18
Ibid.
19
Gael Ferguson, „Industry and Commerce‟, The Hundred of Devonport, p.60.
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