A glimpse of Auckland 1859


Auckland had been New Zealand’s capital for nearly 20 years when the SHALIMAR arrived in the Waitemata in December 1859. Governor Hobson had chosen the capital’s site over other options which included inside the Mahurangi inlet, inside the Tamaki estuary and Thames, and the Surveyor General, Felton Mathew, had draw up a fine, curvaceous plan for the city, featuring concentric circles of terraced housing. 
from a photo that was in the possession of my Aunt Laura

By 1859 Mathew’s plan had been discarded and the settlement was still concentrated around Mechanics and Official Bay and along the ridges of Ponsonby, Parnell and Karangahape Road. Partington’s flour mill had dominated the Karangahape Road-Symonds Street skyline since 1850 and Partington had become a major producer of flour and biscuits. While Shalimar passenger Thomas KIDD headed north to investigate the farmlands, his family lived in a rented house near Partington’s mill. John and Lucy SWALES were a Shalimar family from Yorkshire who settled in Ponsonby – although at the time the area was still called Dedwood as there was a farm owned by a settler of this name at the north end of Ponsonby Road. Dedwood Terrace bordered the farm and the SWALES with their 6-year-old son, Job Horton, lived on the corner of the terrace and Yarborough St. I believe their little daughter Annie was one of three children who had died during the voyage. When the Swales family settled in Dedwood Terrace the neighbourhood was a predominantly Catholic one. Bishop Pompallier and the Sisters of Mercy had established schools there and the Church of the Immaculate Conception had been built the previous year. It is tempting therefore to think that the Swales were a Catholic family although I would love to have confirmation of this from their descendants. 


Further reading
Sarah Mathew Explorer, Journalist and Auckland’s First Lady by Tessa DUDER

www.kroad.com/heritage/partingtons-mill 

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