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The Life and Times of Auckland
Gordon McLauchlan
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Non-Aucklanders despise the place, bc they fear that it is a future version of what they will become in a meritricious world.
Frank Sargeson once said that the dividing line for NZ was not Cook Strait, but Lake Taupo, bc from there, the north sloped up toward the sun, while the south sloped down toard isolation.
"As I walk around the city I see dozens of hand-holding, inter-ethnic partners, and I relish the future."
London was a busy and impt trading centre in Shakespeare's time, but it was smaller than ChCh today.
Felton Mathew was NZ's first Surveyor-General, and in 1840 drew the first plan of Auckland.
In 1800 two tribes resident in Auckland. Ngato Paoa controlled Tamaki River, Ngati Whatau further west. But the balance tipped up by Hongi Hika, leader of the northern Ngapuha. He recognized that muskets cd give him the upper hand, so he set about trading for as many as he could. And when he went to England in 1821 he was showered with gifts, most of which he swapped for muskets in Sydney on way back. (Although he kept a suit of armour, which he occasionally used on his campaign).
He defeated and dispersed both Auckland tribes.Survivors fled to Waikato, but he caught up with them and decimated their ranks. The Auckland isthmus had become a dangerous place to live. HH's men massacred tribes to stop survivors plotting utu.When remnants of Ngati Whatau trickled back to Mangere, they were keen to have white settlers close by as defenders.
The original Govt House came out prefabbed from England in 1840. Burned down in 1848 and was replaced by the Old Govt House which still stands in Princes St.
Until late in C19, communication bt Auckland and Wellington was often via Sydney. Until the Main Trunk railway was completed in 1908, travel to other NZ towns was almost always by sea.
NZ's coastline is longer than that of mainland USA.
1893, the year women won the vote, Elizabeth Yates elected Mayor of Onehunga. She was attractive, intelligent and tough-minded - all of which upset many men then. Made world news as first woman mayor in British Empire (and second in the world). Queen Victoria sent her a congratulatory letter; impt visitors to NZ called to see her. But many men on the council refused to take orders from a woman.
Freeman's Bay on reclaimed land - reclaimed by shit. 50 tons a week of it dumped there.
Ponsonby, Picton St, Paget St, Uxbridge St named after Duke of Wellington's Waterloo generals.
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