A is for Alexandra ... and Appleyard


Princess Alexandra of Denmark and Princess of Wales from 1863, following her marriage to Queen Victoria’s son Albert Edward, gave her name to two early New Zealand settlements. Lower Dunstan or Manuherikia in Central Otago was renamed Alexandra in 1863. Just a year later, in a meander of the Waipa River, about 30km south of where it flows into the Waikato River at Ngaruawahia, another settlement was named Alexandra. This was a strategic military settlement: a short way to the south, the Punui River joined the Waipa and formed part of the demarcation line of the area that is known as the ‘King Country,’ following the decisive battle of Orakau. The 2nd Waikato Regiment built redoubts in Alexandra from which to defend the demarcation or confiscation line, and settlers who had fought in the regiment were granted land. The Waipa was navigable as far as Alexandra so in the mid-1860s the settlement was seen as a potentially thriving future communication and supply link between Auckland (from the Manukau Harbour and the Awaroa-Waiuku portage into the Waikato River) and the settlements around Alexandra. And in fact, in the 1860s Alexandra did bustle and thrive. Having served as a sergeant in the 2nd Waikato Regiment, SHALIMAR passenger William APPLEYARD opened a hotel in the village on the corner of Franklin Street (today’s SH 39) and Crozier Street. As a Yorkshireman, it is fitting that Mr Appleyard named his hotel the Doncaster Arms. It was an imposing building with accommodation in 8 upstairs bedrooms and downstairs, as well as the bar, the parlour and dining room, there was a venue for concerts and balls. Attached there were kitchens, stables, a butcher’s shop, a blacksmith’s and sundry other buildings. There was great revelry when the hotel opened, with celebrations continuing almost until daybreak. On 26th April 1866, the New Zealand Herald commented that Mr Appleyard had ‘spared neither trouble nor expense to provide for the comfort of his customers’. In January 1867, on race day the Herald again mentions the Doncaster Arms, noting that its veranda served as a sort of grandstand for the ‘fair sex’ who radiated cheerfulness and an ‘air of home’. That day, in the half-mile hack races, Mr Appleyard’s Catch Me won a saddle and bridle worth £3.10s.
Old photos of the hotel show its distinctive shaped corner, with horses and carriages drawn up outside.
Sadly, William Appleyard seems to have suffered from ill health. After his death in 1869, just 10 years after coming to New Zealand, his widow, Hannah, took over the hotel license. One of their sons remained in the district and another, William junior moved to south Taranaki. In September 1865 various newspapers reported an incident in Alexandra involving a young son of William and Hannah Appleyard. The boy (unnamed) had been playing with another boy a short distance from the Alexandra redoubt. They were chased by Maori and young Appleyard was taken captive while the other boy escaped. Days later the newspapers all reported that the search for him had been unsuccessful. I would be very interested to hear from anyone who can tell me how this episode ended.
In 1896 the New Zealand postal service realised that 2 Alexandras was creating confusion and the Waipa Alexandra was renamed Pirongia. Although the settlement grew quieter when river transport eventually gave way to rail, and this was routed through Te Awamutu, the Pirongia of today is enjoying a come-back, as a popular area for life-style blocks. The Doncaster Arms burnt down in 1932, but there is a hotel, of more modest proportions but still offering accommodation, on the same corner.
Special thanks for information for this article to Wendy at Te Awamutu Museum, to Rowan Miller, the Museum Administrator for Waipa District Council and to Alan Hall at Pirongia Heritage and Information Centre.
Historic Alexandra – A guide to historic sites in Pirongia Village compiled by Pirongia Heritage and Information Centre
Footprints of History, no. 14 May 1995, pages 16-17, the journal of the combined Te Awamutu, Otorohanga and Te Kuiti Historical Societies; the Waitomo Caves Museum Society and the Piopio Museum Society
www.pagespast.natlib.govt.nz

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A very versatile man

When the SHALIMAR left Liverpool bound for Auckland in September 1859, there were probably as many reasons for facing the perils of the 100+-day voyage and the uncertainties of settling in a new land as there were adult passengers on board. Undoubtedly, the occupations with which the passengers embarked weren’t necessarily what they would end up doing when they reached New Zealand. Edward Leyland is an intriguing example. Born in Yorkshire in 1828 or 1830, he was one of 4 sons employed by their father in his prosperous woollen mill in Halifax. In the English census of 1851, Edward is a ‘worsted spinner and manufacturer’. He married Emma Hughes in 1855 and they had two sons before Edward decided to come to New Zealand. As often happened, he came alone, presumably to check out the best place to settle and to get established. Emma and the children arrived on the Queen of the North in July 1862. I wonder if he took his family to where he was living in Hunua when he had registered to v
Read more

From Edinburgh to the Kaipara Harbour - Andrew James and Elizabeth Frances BONAR

On the day in early summer, 1863, when Daniel Manders Beere called to take their photos, Andrew and Elizabeth Bonar had been in New Zealand for just on 4 years. For the photo Andrew wore a light coloured suit – trousers, buttoned waistcoat and open jacket   – with a black shirt and black bow tie. Really quite dashing. Elizabeth chose a full-length dress in a light-weight fabric – it looks like seersucker. The dress has quite wide sleeves that reach to just below the elbow and Elizabeth’s arms are covered by the cuffs of a white lace garment that she is wearing under the dress. A white lace collar and a white bonnet complete the outfit. Although there is a bench seat on the verandah, Andrew and Elizabeth are seated on dining chairs, positioned at the top of the steps up to the front door of their home in Kaukapakapa, a short distance from the southern shores of the Kaipara Harbour, where they settled following their arrival in Auckland in December 1859. Andrew is seated casually, wit
Read more

An ambush brings family tragedy

Image
Almost midway between Papakura and Waiuku, Glenbrook Road dips down to cross a bridge over the upper reaches of the Taihiki River, a southern inlet of Auckland’s Manukau Harbour. On the Papakura side of the bridge, and just a few steps down from the roadside, a white picket fence surrounds a small cemetery. Of the handful of early settlers named on the memorial stone plaque, Private Jas (James) Dromgool, Mauku Forest Rifles, was the older brother of Charles Dromgool, my maternal grandfather’s father. (The plaque incorrectly gives James’s death as September 1863: it should be November 1863). Taihiki River bridge, on Glenbrook Road, about 15km east of Waiuku and about 2km west of the Kingseat-Patumahoe roundabout. November 2018. James Dromgool, born in Co Louth, Ireland in July 1843, was the eldest child of John and Susan Dromgool. When John and Susan and their eight children (Anne had died as an infant in 1852) arrived in Auckland on the SHALIMAR in December 1859, Su
Read more