Greta Henry came to Russell with her husband Peter in the 1980s, to retire and enjoy life after sampling it in the 1970s while helping her niece Gill Jones run the Gables. Her vibrant watercolours reflect this vividly. She was self taught and she loved Russell, the mix of old buildings, native trees, locals and visitors. She loved people and met many through being a museum volunteer. Kauri Cottage, on the corner of Matauwhi Road, was Greta and Peter’s home. It was a place of hospitality and a great place to view the Russell world from.  After Greta’s death in the UK in 1994, Gill brought her Russell watercolours back to Russell Museum. Not only are they joyful to look at, they also provide an important historical record of our ever changing town.

We are delighted to have Greta Henry represented in our current exhibition “MADE IN RUSSELL”.

Please make time to come in and view the exhibition soon.

Sources: Russell Review 1999-2000

The reproduction of the sketch by Le Breton (the ship’s surgeon) at first glance looks like the Kororareka flag staff, but look again. The American flag is flying and so in all probability the location is Okiato Point which was then owned by James Reddy Clendon, the honorary American Consul. However according to annotations hand written by Marie King on a copy of the sketch found in the archives of the museum, the flag is flying from Gilbert Mair’s property at Te Wahapu.

So we have a mystery

On 29^th April 1840 the French corvette Astrolabe under the command of Dumont D’Urville set anchor in the bay not far from the village of Kororareka. The main purpose of the visit was to provision the ship and take on fresh water.

Of course the French were eager to visit the catholic mission and were hosted by Father Petit ,Bishop Pompallier being absent at the time They were brought up to date on the news of the annexation of New Zealand by the English and of the signing of the Treaty at Waitangi.They remained in the bay for only four days. D’Urvilles diaries mention the presence of American ships but no mention is made of any contact with the crews. They met many dignitaries but nowhere are the names Clendon or Mair mentioned.

So this poses several questions: why was there no mention of a visit to this property when everything else had been meticulously documented? Why would Gilbert Mair fly the American flag and is the site Okiato or Te Wahapu?

Did you know that 40 forty years ago planning permission was granted by both the Bay of Islands County Council and the Town and Country Planning Board for a four- story block of twenty four luxury apartments to be built on the Russell waterfront adjacent to Pompallier House? The accompanying photo is a mock-up representation of the 1.4 million dollar (1974 value) building that so nearly became a reality.

It was 1974. Mr. Roy Haywood, the driving force behind the project, owned Clendon Cottage and six acres of adjacent land. Despite outraged protests from local residents, environmentalists and the Historical Society (so named in an article from the NZ Woman’s Weekly) it seemed nothing could stop the building from going ahead. Earthworks had begun when the Crown acquired the land under the Public Works Act. For two years Mr Haywood fought the decision, going so far as to camp on the steps of parliament in the hope of persuading the government of the day to reverse the decision. His protests were unsuccessful.

As a footnote, at the height of the furore, a very young Mike Moore, newly elected to the Labour party, arrived in Russell on his honeymoon. He spent much of his time canvassing the locals regarding their opinions and seeing first hand the impact the development would have on the village. It was soon after this the Government intervened thus ensuring that the south end of the Russell waterfront retained the attractive image it has to this day. Weren’t we lucky!

Many people believe the old homestead in Orongo Bay to be the former home of James Reddy Clendon but according to Russell’s best known local historian the late Miss Marie King that is not so. The following is extracted from the NZ Herald Feb 20 1976:

“You would not believe some of the stories that get around about the old house in Orongo Bay, near Russell, in the Bay of Islands. ‘It had nothing to do with Clendon’ said Miss King. ‘Clendon was the consul about 30 years before the house was built.’ Miss King said the house was built in the late 1860s by a Mr James White, who was at the time a consular agent in Russell, which was quite a different thing to being the consul.

Elephant

He moved into it in 1870, and two years later moved to Auckland, when he was in fact made the consul and the man he acted as agent for retired. That particular consul apparently lived in Auckland because he was unpopular in Russell, which was the official seat of the consulate until 1871.

Miss King wrote to the United States Federal Government in Washington to clear the debate up. She was told from Washington that the United States never had a consul in Russell called White, but they had a consular agent by that name there.

There are a few other yarns told about that place that stretch credibility. One is the story that there is an elephant buried either on the property…or on a nearby farm. This story seems to have grown out of the history of the Tikitikioure hill manganese mine to the east of the house. Many people think the mine was owned by the American consul…who was supposed to have…had an elephant working at the mine-head. But there was no elephant, Miss King maintains, and White had nothing to do with the mine. There was a village centred on the mine that was actually larger than Russell in those two decades, Miss King said. The manganese ore used to be loaded on to lighters in the shallow waters of Orongo Bay and taken to ships at Russell.

The third big misconception about the house is that there are Negro slaves buried on the property. They were supposed to have worked in the mine. This story has its origin in the fact that White in fact did have one or two Negro servants. They were not slaves, which were emancipated in the 1850s by the United States, and they moved to Auckland with White. Since then, Miss King said, the house has had a fairly unexciting history.

She can remember six different owners in the time she has been in Russell.It is not a registered historic place, and Miss King does not think it warrants it. “It has no historical associations at all,” she said. “It is not of sufficient interest. It was only lived in for two years by an acting consular agent…It has no architectural significance, and anyway, 1870 is almost modern history around here.’

“When next you are in Russell it would be well worth your while to visit the new museum. When I went I was absolutely amazed at the items on display and their history attached.

I wondered which items in use at the present time would in 20 years hence be a museum piece. I’ve got it—a pint milk bottle. By then we will be well and truly into the metric system and a pint bottle will be as obsolete as now are the ration book and tram-way card which were in use during the war 30 years ago.”

The reporter was spot on with the metric observation but the idea of plastic bottles was a step too far. In our fast changing world I am predicting that technological appliances we take for granted today will be museum pieces in 5 years, not 20.

For example, will cell phones be obsolete and implanted micro- chips take their place? Will micro- chips be obsolete and some unheard of nanotechnology be running the world? Will the promised robot be cleaning our houses and will vacuum cleaners be museum pieces? We would enjoy some reader feedback on this issue, and have 2 free museum passes for the best ideas, which will be published in the Russell Lights. Admission to the museum is free to locals so the passes would be useful for visitors or guests.

When did you last visit your museum?

In 1967 two young men decided to explore the world, traveling in a 1925 vintage Buick. One of the intrepid duo was Hugh Blomfield of Russell, then aged 22. Their intention was to explore Australia, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Britain. Sadly, it was not to be; whilst the Buick survived the rigours of the Australian desert, the tires did not, blowing out in the extreme heat. Replacement vintage tires were few and far between and by the time they reached Mt Isa, the dream was over. Hugh found a job digging ditches at the mine, toiled till the morning break, walked off looking for a cup of tea and kept walking to the nearest Travel Agency where he booked a passage to England.

Hugh eventually settled back in Russell with his wife Roz and spent many years as a skipper with Fullers before setting up his own business.

Exploring has always been in both Hugh and Roz’s blood and their travels have taken them to Uzbekistan, Borneo, Peru, Chile and the Galapagos Islands to name just a few of the more exotic destinations. This year Vietnam and Thailand are the countries of choice and though modern jets are far more convenient than an ancient Buick, they do lack a sense of grand adventure and romance.

…is what this gathering of Brownies was dubbed in 1973. As part of a nationwide initiative aimed at improving and cleaning up the environment, they worked for two months raising money to buy two flowering trees for their school. Now 41 years old, the cherry tree they planted – with the help of senior boys who dug and filled in the holes – still graces the Russell School entrance. Another was planted later to make a pair. The fate of the second tree planted that day – an Indian Bean – is unknown.

The tradition of gardening at the school has recently been resurrected. Looking at the school grounds by the swimming pool you will see a fence largely obscured by lush and healthy climbing vegetables. Stalwart volunteers Mandy and Sandy help maintain a school vegetable garden, whose purpose is to introduce children to the wonders of gardening and to encourage eating of the produce. Every week eight children from two different classes are chosen on a rotational basis to help work the garden and maintain fruit trees around the school grounds. For their efforts they choose vegetables to take home to their family. A unique feature of the gardens is a pataka built by Mandy’s partner Sam. The design is based on a traditional Māori storage hut where seeds are stored before being used as the seasons dictate.

Whilst the aim of the garden is to provide fruit and vegetables for the children, the surplus, along with their world famous worm wee, is sold at the school market, held on the last Sunday of each month.

These 1973 brownies are, from left to right: Tracy Rewiri, Deidre MacInnes, Deborah Thompson, Debra Wrathall, Wendy Simpson, Seraphine Pick, Carol Jones, Charmaine Wood.

The Bay of Islands Luminary reported in 1936 that, on January 30th, 15 year old Charles Baker accomplished the feat of swimming from Russell to Paihia and immediately back to Russell, a distance of over four miles. He was given refreshments at intervals and was none the worse for four hours continuous swimming. Both he and Joan Strawbridge had made the attempt a few years earlier but gave up because of the presence of sharks. 18 year old Phyllis Boucher, pictured here with Charles Baker, was apparently the first person to swim from Russell to Paihia, in 1929.

These days hundreds of people swim the 3.3km every November in wet suits and brightly coloured caps, escorted by a flotilla of kayaks and inflatable boats. This year the times for the crossing from Russell to Paihia ranged from 50 minutes to 2 hours 40 minutes.

This photo and story features in Russell Museum’s current exhibition, ‘ Shaped by the Sea’, which explores Russell’s maritime history from a social perspective – everything from early whalers to coastal steamships and changes to our wharves. Yes, we once had three of them servicing our town. The exhibition runs until the end of February.

“It was quite exciting to get up one morning to find a ship at anchor – perhaps more than one – or we might hear the flapping of sails during the night, then the morning could not come quickly enough to see which one it was. We had our favourites – those which brought the biggest bunch of bananas and sacks of mixed Island fruits!…you see what a large part they took in our social history – all this, twice a year, in our little colony of only one hundred and fifty people.

At break of day the work would begin on board – over the water came the sound of singing, lovely some of it was. The Coopers were at work, tapping, tapping, making up new casks. The staves were brought in bundles. These casks were first used for water – as they emptied they were used for the oil. When a number of new casks were ready they were roped together, end to end, a long line of them floating high on the water, and towed ashore, and stood under a small waterfall, that ran over a rocky ledge onto a beach – this was called ‘watering- bay’. “

This is how Louisa Worsfold recalled the annual arrival of whale ships in her “Social History of Russell”. More of her reminiscences feature in Russell Museum’s summer exhibition “Shaped by the Sea”-we’re open every day in January, 10am to 5pm.