Auckland Finds Time

How did early Aucklanders set their clocks and watches? Without today’s radio pips, clocks on every mobile phone and commonplace wristwatches, keeping time was difficult. The “Southern Cross” newspaper observed in 1865 that “…it’s any time o’clock in Auckland because the town lacks an authoritative public clock”. Here’s how Auckland found time…

The first clock in public gaze (but not a public clock) is said to have been in Thomas Watt’s premises in Shortland Crescent (Street) in 1841. This detail accompanies the instrument which is in Auckland War Memorial Museum’s collection.

Thomas Haldane Watt (1799 – 1876) arrived in Auckland in 1840 bringing with him the clock he had made as an apprentice in the U.K.: a case was built for it locally and the finished piece graced Watts’ watchmaker and jewellery business in Shortland Crescent. Not for sale, the clock afforded settlers a chance to check their pocket watches. James Watt’s clock (left) is now in the Horology Collection at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

But, then, there was apparently not much need to refer to Mr Watt’s clock if your timepiece was serviced by C. Doiron who opened his watchmaker’s business in Shortland Crescent in 1844. Mr Doiron, advertising in the “Daily Southern Cross” newspaper on 22^nd August 1844 promised “…having been principal Assistant to Le Roy and Breguet a Paris, watches serviced are warranted to keep the time for 12 months”! To which Mr Doiron was never held: the business closed in the first quarter the following year.

(There was another pioneer watch and clock maker with premises in Shortland Crescent from the early 1840s: George Partington, who, in “The New Zealander” newspaper of 11^th September 1847 announced that he was “chronometer and watchmaker to His Excellency the Governor”)

Aucklanders had the bonus of a public time signal for a few months in 1855. It was courtesy of Captain Byron Drury whose command, HMS “Pandora”, was in port. 1 Using the ship’s chronometer, which would have been set and locked to Greenwich Mean Time before leaving England, Drury ordered a time ball to be dropped from the masthead at exactly noon on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Captain Drury, for whom Drury, South Auckland is named –
Auckland War Memorial Museum

The many townsfolk within view of the harbour could, thus, set their clocks to an accurate time. But when “Pandora” departed, Auckland was again without a public timekeeper.

By 1856, however, there were two clocks downtown, a publicly owned one on the waterfront in Market Place Square which had been donated by Sir John Logan Campbell.2 The other was in the Shortland Crescent (Street) premises of Thomas Macready (1827 – 1875), watchmaker, having the advantage it was lit at night. 3 Then there was the “phantom of the Courthouse”. The “New Zealander” newspaper 4 said it should be a feature of the building, the town’s authoritative public clock, “although there is a round hole over the middle entrance to the Court, there is no clock!”

Ventilation grille or slot for a clock? Auckland Courthouse 1850s – E. Bartley, Auckland Graphic, Auckland Libraries

The newspaper went on to advocate accurate timekeeping by providing a public clock with a powerful striking-bell, or else firing a canon every day at noon: or, preferably, both.

Other Means

Reports from Wellington, March 1864, advised that timekeeping there improved after a time ball had been installed, “the first in the Southern Hemisphere”, that was dropped at exactly noon each weekday at the Custom House. 4

Wellington’s Time Ball on the waterfront –
Alexander Turnbull Library

This signalled renewed interest in keeping exact time at other ports… including Auckland, where Captain Samuel Williams (1823 – 1888) set up a time ball on the flagstaff at Smale’s Point, on the waterfront, visible to all ships in port and from the town. 5 From August 1864 he was offering a time-check by dropping the time ball every Sunday morning at 9am, the exact time confirmed in Monday’s newspapers. It appears Captain Williams had introduced an “official” Auckland Mean Time.

New Zealander 15 August 1864

(Samuel John Williams had been in Auckland from the very first: according to an article in “The New Zealand Herald”, 23^rd February 1887, he was Midshipman on the British East India Company’s ship “Chelydra” and in 1841 he rowed Captain Hobson ashore to the beach – later Commercial Bay – which Hobson decided would be the site of the colony’s new capital)

The “New Zealand Herald” 6 praised the Captain’s timekeeping efforts saying the time ball augments “the nine o’ clock gun which many residents can’t hear”, though it’s not recorded whether this was a regular signal, or from one of the naval ships which happened to be in port at the time.

Meantime, Auckland clockmaker, Alfred Bartlett (1818 -1909) had taken the next step in the town’s timekeeping by ordering a sophisticated “transit” apparatus from renowned Sydney clockmaker, Angelo Tornaghi. 7

Alfred Bartlett’s upper Shortland Street premises (left) with a clock above the door – Winkelmann, Auckland Libraries

Bartlett’s retail shop was in Shortland Street, at first near Queen Street, later at the top of the hill, and in June 1865 he erected a pole, attached a time ball and gave an accurate time daily at 1pm. 8 The ball was partially raised at 12.55, elevated to the top at 12.57 and a half, then dropped precisely at 1 o’clock. Captain Williams was continuing his service from Smales Point, so Auckland had two reference points, both provided without cost. 9 When Alf Bartlett moved to a higher point in Coburg Street, his time ball was even more visible to ships in the harbour… and accurate, given the Tornaghi chronometer and his stellar and solar studies. 10

Townsfolk had not forgotten the need for a clock, mid-town, and in July 1867 J. Crispe wrote to the newspaper hoping “that the new Post Office would not be deemed complete without a striking clock out front”. 11

Alfred Bartlett generously filled the gap when in 1868 he provided a clock for the foyer of the Post Office and offered to maintain it, gratis, for one year. 12

One of Bartlett’s clocks is in Auckland Museum’s collection – Auckland War Memorial Museum

“The Daily Southern Cross” suggested that either Central or Provincial Government should find the funds for a town clock, preferably located on the Post Office Tower. “Surely our mercantile men can lay their heads together and contrive some means of establishing a standard of time”. 13 It was a cry taken up a year later by the “New Zealand Herald”. 14

Bartlett’s year was by now well expired. He had, in the meantime, ordered, “on spec”, a large turret clock from Moore’s works in Clerkenwell, England, 15 and its arrival in Auckland prompted moves towards its purchase and installation as a public clock. The New Zealand Insurance Company was, at the time, planning new offices on Queen Street and it was probably its enterprising Manager, George Pierce, who led the move to redesign the building’s tower to provide space for a clock. 16 A deal was done: the Auckland Board of Commissioners (Council) would finance half the cost of the clock and its installation, £125, as well as providing lighting at night, while public subscription would finance the balance.

Man of his time: Alfred Gregory Bartlett, 1909 – H. J. Schmidt, Auckland Libraries

Alfred Bartlett would be contracted to provide the clock which he had on hand, install and maintain it. 17

The public appeal delivered, the Council paid up, New Zealand Insurance provided the space in their new building – and the clock was completed 18 in March 1871 after numerous unforeseen difficulties had been overcome, leaving Mr Bartlett out of pocket.

NZ Insurance clock tower – Burton Bros, J. D. Richardson Auckland Libraries

It became known as the Town Clock. It had three faces, North, East and South, and although it rang out the hours without chimes, one of the bells doubled as a new fire alarm for the town. The last part of the “arrangement’, lighting the clock faces at night, proved very difficult despite several aborted attempts. It was only after New Zealand Insurance reminded the City Fathers of their responsibilities in the original deal 19 that in 1878, 7 years after commissioning, suitable gas lights were finally installed enabling the clock to be adequately “read” from the street by night. 20. The Council had finally delivered its part of the deal.

Alfred Bartlett continued his civic service when in July 1878 he put up a clock outside his new business premises at the intersection of Queen and Victoria Street.

A.G. Bartlett’s shop with clock, Queen Street –
Winkelmann, Auckland Libraries

“The Auckland Star” noted the clock, “was convenient for wayfarers in central Queen Street”, adding that Mr Bartlett regulated both this and the Town Clock, both showing New Zealand Mean Time, now also observed at the railway station and telegraph office. 21

Time Ball Revisited

In 1883 plans were being drawn for new waterfront premises for the Auckland Harbour Board and a tower with a time ball was included. 22 It was to be 114 feet (34 m) high on the North-East corner of building, visible from most parts of the port enabling ships’ captains to check their chronometers. The estimated cost of £800 seemed high and the Chairman of the Harbour Board thought so, too, saying “a time ball would be a costly and almost useless luxury, and if provided at all, it should be done by the General Government”. 23

Library/Art Galley Clock

In the interim Aucklanders obtained another town clock, up-town, in the tower of the new Art Gallery and Library at the corner of (now) Kitchener and Wellesley Streets.

Opening day for the Library & Art Gallery… but without the clocks – S. Pegler, Auckland Libraries

But townsfolk had to wait. While the building officially opened on 26^th March 1887, the clock was not installed until October 1894. 24

Auckland Art Gallery website

The instrument was made by Littlejohn and Sons in Wellington and cost £300. It chimed on the quarter hour, the bells from Loughborough, England. “The Auckland Star” later recalled “…children at the Wellesley Street school were enchanted, and for quite a week or so people used to stop and listen to the cheerful sound every quarter of an hour. The big bell on which the hours were struck had a magnificent note that could be heard all over the suburbs, even to Onehunga under favourable circumstances, but the vibration was too much for the tower, and his ardour had to be muffled, since when he has always been rather husky”. 25

Even so, the chimes were loud. In 1898 Madame Amy Sherwin was giving a recital in the neighbouring YMCA hall, in the shadow of the bell tower. At nine o’clock, in the middle of a soprano solo, Madame gave up against competition from the chimes, paused her song until the last stroke died away and then resumed, singing the verse over again. 26

The clock, with its chimes, remains: resplendent in the (now) Art Gallery which has recently had a major facelift.

Meantime, Downtown

The Harbour Board’s building on Quay Street was completed without a time ball and the matter languished until 1900 when shipping interests wrote to the Board urging it to reconsider the necessity of a time ball as Auckland “is the only port in Australasia where such a necessary adjunct to navigation is absent”. 27 The Board responded and in June 1901 the time ball was in place. 28

Time Ball apparatus above Harbour Board premises – James Hutchings Kinnear, Auckland Libraries

This was Auckland’s first “official” time ball, worthy of detail… the ball itself is 3ft 6in (1.6m) in diameter, made of wooden stays covered with black canvas and mounted on a tower about 40ft (12m) above the roof. The weight of the ball is 30lbs (13.5kgs) and it has a drop of 17ft (5m), the force of the fall being broken by a couple of spiral springs.

At ten minutes before noon, (Monday to Saturday), the ball would be hoisted to the mast-head and connected with an electric detacher, linked by electric wire to the Telegraph Office, where, exactly at noon, an operator will connect the electric current which releases the ball from the detacher, and it drops giving the exact time. 29

Things did not go according to plan. Alfred Bartlett was brought in to resolve problems and by September 1901 the time ball was connected electrically with his premises in Queen Street, from where it was operated. 30 The correct time was obtained by solar observation taken by Mr Bartlett who must have felt a certain deja-vu: he had provided, gratis, a time ball service in the mid-1860s! Now, in another century, the Harbour Board paid for his timekeeping!

The time ball, prominent and problematic –
Auckland Libraries

But the signal from the masthead was erratic and after many months of criticism the Harbour Board gave it up. Board Chairman, J. Thomas Julian, said the unreliable time-ball had become the laughing stock of the port. It was discontinued. 31

Town Hall Clock

Landlubbers, meantime, had another public clock, from January 1912, this time at the new Auckland Town Hall on Queen Street, gifted by former Mayor, (Sir) Arthur Myers. 32

Town Hall Tower under construction, 1911 – Weekly News, Auckland Libraries

It was a turret clock, imported from England, with four 9ft (3m) dials. The weighty bells struck at the quarters; but they were able to be muffled or turned off should they risk interfering with performances in the Great Hall.

Town Hall clock in its Imperial Baroque-style tower – Andrew Pettingell, Auckland Libraries

Another Time Ball

But the need for a time ball had not been forgotten. Further agitation for one resulted in the Harbour Board saying “we have a new building in mind which will have room for a time ball”. 33 It was the waterside Ferry Building, completed in 1912, but continuing problems with the time ball meant it was not dependably telling the correct time until February 1915. 34

Ferry Building Tower –
Winkelmann, Auckland Libraries

The picture left shows the time ball raised on the mast above the Ferry Buildings in April 1913, a scene seldom caught by photographers. A patient Henry Winkelmann must have waited for the ball to be hoisted and then taken the shot before it dropped at 1pm. Of note, the clock has not yet been installed: it was commissioned in August 1913 having been imported from the Manchester works of W. H. Bailey and Co. Ltd, and, all up, cost £600. 35

Ferry Building Clock and other Waterfront Timekeepers

In February 1915 “The Auckland Star” advised readers “…by watching for the flag go up at 12.30 citizens will know when the time ball is to be liberated. This occurs on the stroke of 1 p.m., and it is worthy of comment that last week, and again this, the Ferry Buildings clock was striking the hour as the time ball fell”. 36

This happy coincidence was, increasingly, hard to match. Like the time ball on the Harbour Board offices, problems with the apparatus continued. Again, this method of telling the time was dropped in 1915, 37 and over the years three alternative systems kept the waterfront on time. First there was the Ferry Building clock.

Ferry Buildings, largely unchanged over the years – Challenge Properties Ltd

Secondly, from 1915, there was a visual display by night on the mast. 38 A green light appeared on the staff at 7.45pm, a red light was added at 8pm joined at 8.15 by a white light. At precisely 8.30pm the three lights disappeared, indicating that the Greenwich Mean Time was 9 a.m. This was provided, particularly for mariners, but discontinued in July 1937 when time signals were commonly broadcast on radio.

Meanwhile, port workers had their own audible signal, a siren on the Ferry Building that sounded at noon each weekday with times later modified to signal work-times: 8am, noon, 1pm and 5 pm. 39 During the war it became an air raid siren. It was resurrected post-war on the Harbour Board workshops building, again sounding the work-times, also used by townspeople to check their watches, etc. 40

The clock remains in the Ferry Building, overhauled as part of building refurbishments in 1986, and today the sole public waterfront timekeeper. It also continues to give a favourite local quiz question – “what’s on the dial of the Ferry Building clock, Roman or English numerals?”. The answer is “neither… it has ruby-coloured diamond marks”.

Ponsonby Post Office Clock

The first design drawn for a new Post Office at Three Lamps in 1912 included a tower so locals petitioned to have it altered to incorporate a clock to serve the bustling suburb of Ponsonby. 41 Architect John Turner’s later concept did not have a tower. Dumb-struck, townsfolk protested and said they would raise half the cost of a clock (about £100), if the Government also contributed. The tower was later incorporated 42 in the plans, locals donated towards the clock, 43 and Mr Edward Haydock of Mt Eden won the tender to provide the instrument. 44 The new Ponsonby Post Office opened in February, 1913 and the clock was commissioned in October that year.

The former Ponsonby Post Office – Brian Cairns, Auckland Libraries

The “New Zealand Herald” reported 45 that, clock-wise, Auckland was now well served: this latest made five. Like other public clocks there was, some years later, arguments about who paid for maintenance and regular windings: Auckland City Council accepted responsibility and paid up. 46 The former Post Office building is now in private hands and has been refurbished with a hospitality outlet on the ground floor, offices above.

In 1944 Ponsonby was one of the post offices listed for demolition, or alteration, to mitigate earthquake hazards 47 but locals spoke out and the building, with its clock tower, was allowed to remain.

Second New Zealand Insurance Company Clock

In September 1915 Auckland lost one of its clocks, the original “Town Clock”, which had been timekeeping in the tower of New Zealand Insurance Company’s Queen Street premises since 1871. The Company was demolishing its old building to make way for new premises on the site and it made two moves to ensure city folk still had a clock. It set up one of the old clocks on the Bank of New Zealand until its offer of a new timepiece eventuated, a large clock “hung off the façade of the company’s new building at about the third floor”. 48

New Zealand Insurance Co’s new building in Queen Street – Winkelmann, Auckland Libraries

It was in place when the building opened early in 1918 and was welcomed by locals because it was easily visible to passersby on the main throughfare.

The old clock, with three faces, was lent by the City Council to the Featherston Military camp in South Wairarapa, where it kept time during the First World War aloft the Salvation Army Institute’s building.

The “Evening Post” newspaper, 16th June 1917, said “The musical tones of the town clock are how heard… by day the clock tower is a landmark for miles around, and by night its illuminated dials can be seen, beacon like, from near and far”. The centrepiece of the camp, it was later returned to Auckland. Left, Salvation Army HQ, Featherston Camp, Wairarapa Archive, Digital NZ

University of Auckland Clock

This was commissioned in 1927 a little after completion of the Tower that it graces on Princes Street opposite Albert Park. 49 Made locally by Gane Engineering Company in Parnell, it has the same type of mechanism as Big Ben, the minute hands measure almost a metre long and the hour hands just over half a metre.

University Clock: more than 100 years old – Brian Cairns, Auckland Libraries

It has four faces featuring markers instead of traditional numbers and when built, the height of the Clock Tower allowed the mechanism to run a full week without rewinding and had a device to ring electric classroom bells every half hour. 50. It’s silent and is unlit at night, commiserated by “The Auckland Star”, urging alumni to subscribe towards a set of bells and lighting 51

John Court Limited

Queen Street received a further clock in March 1928 when a double-sided timepiece was erected above the veranda on John Court Limited’s department store on the corner of Victoria street. 52

The JCL corner with silent clock – Auckland Libraries

The building lost its John Court identity and in latter years took on the Farmers name when that company left Hobson Street, then Whitcoulls, stationers, had naming rights. It’s now multiple commercial occupancies with accommodation on upper floors. The building retains its clock.

Uptown, George Courts

Bustling Karangahape Road had its own clock from 1926 with the completion of George Court’s department store on the corner of Karangahape Road and (now) Mercury Lane. 53 The clock had two faces, hung on the facade and at one stage had the letters George Courts on the clock face in pace of numerals. In 1988, after some 60 years as a department store, the building was converted to apartments, retaining retail outlets at street level, and the clock out front.

George Court Limited’s clock
– https://encounteringtheurban.home.blog

Show Time – Civic Theatre

This clock, installed in September 1929, is the largest… the dial on the Civic Theatre is a slab measuring 10 feet (3m) by 4 feet (1.2m), originally white, at one stage black, now white again, with roman numerals.

1990s with black dial – unknown photographer,
Auckland Libraries

The dial later reverted to its white face.

Brian Cairns, 2008, Auckland Libraries

The hands were designed to be slightly convex to prevent the wind from blowing them around on the dial… there is no glass casing. The master-clock is of French manufacture, electric, and as well as driving other clocks it can control certain lighting systems in the cinema complex. It is silent. 54

Chief Post Office

It’s this local landmark that, wherever it is in the country, can be expected to have a clock… but the Auckland’s new Central Post Office in lower Queen Street, opened in 1912, without one. The Ferry Building clock across the road in Quay Street was more or less within sight. It was not until 1938 that a clock was installed on a steel bracket reaching out over the footpath from the façade at first floor level. 55 Apart from a public timepiece, the clock regulated the mails in the days when there were strict “closing times” for local and overseas postings. The clock remains… today it sets the time for Auckland’s rapid rail.

Formerly the Chief Post Office, now Waitemata Station on the City Rail Link – https://legacyconstruction.co.nz/

Floral Clocks

Two floral clocks have prettily, and relatively recently, served Aucklanders. The first was installed in Jellicoe Park, Onehunga, in 1940 to celebrate the district’s centenary. 56

Time in the park, 1966 – Len Dalton, Auckland Libraries

The more recent floral clock in Albert Park, central Auckland, was donated by Robert Laidlaw, funder of Farmers Trading Company, and constructed in time for Queen Elizabeth’s first visit in 1953. 57