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Welcome to Dispatches...

Old Boys of the Fire Brigade

Fire

 In 2020 the organisation which was the legacy of the New Zealand Fire Brigade Old Boys Association was wound up, ending an entity that was founded in 1906. These days it had been known as the New Zealand Ex- Firefighters’ Association, now wound up in these times of contact on social media rather than in-person […]

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April 25, 2020/0 Comments/by Ric Carlyon
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Motor Bandits Strike in Mt Eden

Miscellaneous

Crime involving motor cars was relatively new to Auckland in the 1920s. An act of banditry in Mt Eden against an innocent couple in October 1928 was a well-planned night time holdup which turned violent and involved cars… in the crime itself and for the getaway.    George and Elizabeth Pearce kept a clothing shop […]

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April 23, 2020/0 Comments/by Ric Carlyon
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Auckland’s Volcanic Caves

Epsom

Volcanic action over much of the Auckland isthmus gave a legacy of numerous lava caves, and while they did not have the attraction of glow worms as at Waitomo, nor unusual fossils found in caves near Wellington, in the early days of the Colonists there was much curiosity about those fissures beneath Epsom, Three Kings, […]

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April 22, 2020/0 Comments/by Ric Carlyon
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Epsom’s Cinema… from silent “flicks” to loud avant-garde

Epsom

Epsom’s Regent Theatre at 427 Manukau Road, near the Greenlane West intersection, opened in the mid-1920s and closed in the early 1960s only to reopen as the upmarket Lido Continental Cinema. It remains, though greatly changed after several make-overs to create boutique theatres.     The Regent was planned and built by joint owners, Lawrence Henley, […]

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April 20, 2020/0 Comments/by Ric Carlyon
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Motorists’ Early Brushes with the Law in New Zealand

Pioneers

Police were quite used to prosecuting the drivers of horse-drawn carriages or carts who drove while under the influence of drink, likewise horsemen were charged for “riding horses furiously” through town streets, usually at speeds dangerous to pedestrians and other horse traffic. Police unhesitatingly took tram-car drivers to court after accidents involving death or injury […]

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April 18, 2020/0 Comments/by Ric Carlyon
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Early Motoring Stories

Pioneers

We take motoring, and driving our modern cars, as a given. What of the early days when the horseless carriage was a newcomer, a novelty? Here are a few stories I found about those first days of the motor vehicle.      May 1899 – Notes From England Mr. H. Lucy, the well-known London correspondent, describes […]

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April 18, 2020/0 Comments/by Ric Carlyon
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What’s in a Name – Grey Lynn

Miscellaneous

While looking at the history of Grey Lynn Volunteer Fire Brigade, I soon cottoned on to the fact that it started out as the Newton Brigade, named after Newton Borough which it originally served. This caused a little confusion , with two other brigades often referred to as “Newton” and/or “Karangahape” , first a volunteer […]

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April 17, 2020/0 Comments/by Ric Carlyon
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“Wizard” of the Skies and Other Early Auckland Aviators

Pioneers

In 1913 the American aviator, Arthur Burr “Wizard” Stone arrived in Auckland as part of a New Zealand-wide “exhibition tour” and chose the Domain as the base for local flights using his Bleriot monoplane. It was the first time such an aeroplane had been seen in New Zealand. There had been earlier experimental flights, short […]

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April 16, 2020/0 Comments/by Ric Carlyon
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New Zealand Fire Brigades – “Help Yourself” Beginnings

Fire

As is recalled in the histories of so many fire brigades world-wide, it often takes a big fire with loss of life or immense damage to galvanise townsfolk into action to provide organised fire protection. It was no different for many fire brigades in New Zealand. There was no nation-wide organisation of fire brigades in […]

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April 16, 2020/0 Comments/by Ric Carlyon
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Civic Theatre – “Showplace of New Zealand”

Miscellaneous

For just a year I worked at the “Picture Palace”, also advertised as “The Showplace of New Zealand”, “New Zealand’s Premier Theatre”, The Dominion’s Greatest Theatre” and “New Zealand’s Mighty Monument to Motion Pictures”.  These were promotional tags used over several decades to describe Auckland’s Civic Theatre. They were all true… and I was lucky […]

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April 15, 2020/0 Comments/by Ric Carlyon
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