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Jun 2008 |
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It was a great
turnout with 50 people attending the Society's Annual General Meeting on Tuesday
3 June 2008. We were all very interested in Mike Lee's talk about
Wright's Hill Fortress and the photographs of the Fortress.
He emphasised
that although it has been in Karori since the 1940s there are still a number of
people who are unaware of its existence and the reason for building it. He
reminded members that it is a unique piece of New Zealand's wartime history - a
long-range coastal battery built to protect Wellington city and its environs
from possible enemy attack from the Pacific in World War II.
Although the site
was selected in 1935 it wasn't until March 1942 that authority was given for
work to proceed on construction of the battery of three 9.2 inch guns.
Before the project could begin an access road, from Campbell Street, had to be
built together with an accommodation camp. Extensive underground work,
consisting of 2,030 feet (620 metres) of interconnecting tunnels was carried
out by the enginnering contractors Downers starting in November 1942. They were
assisted by men and machines from the Public Works Department in 1943. Two 9.2
inch guns were installed by the Army in 1944. The guns were never fired in anger
but were test fired after the war ended.
The Fortress was
used for training purposes in the 1950s and in the 1960s the government made a
decision to cut the guns up for scrap and sell them - they were bought
ironically by the Japanese. The Fortress went through a period of neglect until
1988 when the Karori Lions Club cleaned up the tunnels and opened them to the
public for the first time in 1989. Since then the Wright's Hill Fortress
Restoration Society has been formed and members have spent thousands of hours
restoring the area. (Photos courtesy Wrights Hill
Website) ....
Wrights Hill Fortress:
Home Page |
| Mar 2008 |
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John Morrison,
Special Projects Engineer with the Water Supply Parks and Forests, Wellington
Council gave us a talk on
"The History of Wellington's Waterworks" .... the Karori Dam playing a
prominent part of Wellington's water supply for many, many years |
|
Dec 2007 |
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Our Christmas meeting is always well attended
and this year we had over 50 members enjoy KHS Committee member Catherine Hodder
present an excellent illustrated topic taking us back to the early days of
schooling in Wellington, in particular our local area. The evening
concluded with a wine and Christmas cake supper
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| Sep 2007 |
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At our September meeting Walter Cook from The Alexander Turnbull Library
gave an illustrated talk on “WELLINGTON CITY LANDSCAPE AND VEGETATION FROM 1840”. Walter’s talk
was one of many events outlined in the Heritage Gardens Spring Festival brochure. |
| Jun
2007 |
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Following a brief AGM attended
by 50 members (out of 160) Dr Kerr gave an illustrated talk
entitled "Medicine in Ancient Greek
and Roman Times" or "The more things change, the more they stay the same". |
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Mar 2007 |
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An enthusiastic audience of 50+ enjoyed Peter Kitchin's reminiscences of his life as a journalist. His first job was with the Dunedin 'Evening Star' in 1966.
Referring to his Flashback articles, published in the Dominion Post in the Saturday edition, he related his investigations into two men buried in the Servicemens section of the Karori cemetery and the new information he discovered.
He also spoke of several well-known Karori identities and the contributions they had made not only to Karori but also to the wider community."
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Dec 2006 |
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John Sullivan was the guest speaker at the Society's Christmas meeting on Tuesday 5 December. He is Curator of the Photographic Archive at the Alexander Turnbull Library. John acknowledged the contributions made by the Society to the
archive over the years.
He showed a number of images of Karori from the library's archive ranging from the early days of settlement to more recent times. These included images of some of the houses built by Stephen Lancaster, damage caused by the Wahine storm at Karori Normal school, some of the workers building the Karori tunnel, a trolley derby at Karori Park with Mayor Appleton winning, also Futuna, Ben Sutherland at Homewood, a 1899 view of Campbell's farm in colour, prior to the troops leaving for the South African war.
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Sep 2006 |
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“Charles Fleming - Environmental Patriot”
At the September 2006 members' meeting of the Society, Karori resident
Mary McEwan talked about her father Sir Charles Fleming (1916 - 1987), the subject of her biography Charles Fleming: environmental patriot (2005).
Fleming was a scientist whose professional interests included geology, ornithology, oncology, and conservation. In a talk laced with humour and interesting anecdotes, Mary described his lifetime involvement in science, and his connections with Karori, where he and his wife and children lived for a time.
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Dec 2005
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"The History of Sheet Music in New Zealand"
Those members of the Society who were fortunate enough to attend the Christmas function were treated to entertainment of the highest calibre. Who could have imagined
that a talk about "The History of Sheet Music in New Zealand" could be so interesting?
David Dell the director of the NZSM Archive is an accomplished musician and provided us with anecdotes about his travels in search of NZ sheet music. He showed the audience some of the beautifully illustrated covers from the archives and also played and sang many of the old songs. He even persuaded the audience to sing along with him and also challenged us to provide not only the titles of songs they could remember, but also their composers. We were not very successful ! It was indeed a fun evening and we thank David for his wonderful presentation. The evening concluded with wine, fruit juice and Christmas food.
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Sep 2005
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“Tales from Antarctic Pasta”
The Karori cemetery hosts a wide range of characters who have made their mark on New Zealand history but as time fades the memories do to if deeds are not immortalised by the written word. One such person who has endeavoured to bring some of such characters alive by documenting their lives was our September guest speaker
John Thomson. His talk was about the story behind two graves at the Cemetery - Harry McNeish and Thomas Orde. These men were part of the Shackleton expedition to the ntarctic. John spoke with passion and a thorough knowledge of their times in the Antarctic; making an enjoyable and informative winter's evening for Society members.
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Jun 2005 |
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'"The Empire City and seat of New Zealand Government - Wellington"
It is Election year so we asked Dr John E. Martin, author of the book "The House: New Zealand House of Representatives 1854-2004, to speak at the meeting on something topical historically. His talk encompassed the setting up of Parliament in Auckland in the 1800s and the controversial move to Wellington - something some Aucklanders have never really adjusted to ! John's presentation covered what it meant for Parliament to come to Wellington in 1865; shipping the government and its staff down, the impetus it gave to the development of the town, the taking over and extension of Parliament Buildings, and the social whirl created as a result of Wellington being the seat of government.
John's talk followed a brief Annual General Meeting in which the proposed changes to the Constitution were approved; 3 long serving Committee members stepped down and no-one had General Business matters to raise. Financially the Society was reported to be in good stead and membership levels just below 150. But we have room for more members ! |
| Mar 2005 |
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"THE CREATION OF MYTH IN NEW ZEALAND HISTORY"
Dr Robin Watt, Doctor of Forensic Anthropology spoke about how myths can be created during the process of researching New Zealand maritime history, taking innocent objects such as the Tamil Bell, the Spanish Helmet and various maps, and making fallacious conclusions about them. They subsequently are assumed to be proven fact.
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Dec 2004 |
Paul Thompson |
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Our December Speaker was Paul Thompson, the newly appointed Director of the Museum of Wellington and Sea.
Paul gave a very informative speech about the history and purposes of the Museum, and what he was trying to achieve in his new role.
Over 40 members attended this entertaining close to our activities for the year. |
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Jun 2004 |
Retiring Secretary Daphne Sutton receives a thank you from President Judith Burch |
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The 2004 AGM of the Society saw students from
Samuel Marsden Collegiate School talk about their Family History / Whakapapa projects.
Our guest speakers were Fiona Foster, Roseanne Carroll, Frankie Delany, Kelsey Josling and Elli Martin (all Year 9 pupils) Descendants of Scottish, English, Shetland Islands, Estonia and Ireland there were interesting tales to be told by these entertaining speakers.
For more information on Marsden College click on
marsden.htm |
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Feb 2004 |
Nick Jennings
Chairman Quartz Hill Trust |
| Nick Jennings explained the objectives of the Quartz Hill Trust in its role to acquire and preserve the historic area at Makara and open it up for enjoyment for all. Nick explained that there are possible plans to build a Wind Power generation system at Quartz Hill and why these plans are vigorously opposed by the Trust. Jenny showed slides of the remote area and talked about the history of the land usage and plans the Trust had to encourage recreational usage for all to enjoy in the future |
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Dec 2003 |
Dave Small Curator, Maps, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington |
| Dave Small gave an excellent presentation of the different types of maps one can find at the Alexander Turnbull Library and showed some o the local Kaori maps / sub-division advertisements from early days. |
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Sep 2003 |
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Major Walter Fraser about the history of the military graves at the Karori Cemetery |
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Walter has been researching the military history of Karori cemetery and presented a talk on the interesting background to some of the military personnel at rest in our local cemetery.
See also Cemetery photopage
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| Jun 2003
AGM & 30th Anniversary |
 
Norma McCallum
Michael Kelly |
Norma, first President of the Society and driving force behind setting it up 30 years ago, spoke of the early days and the passion and need for such a local society to encourage and preserve its heritage.
Michael, well-known Heritage consultant, talked of the vision of the past and challenges of the future to preserve and protect our heritage. He reflected that we are in a "Golden Age" where historical awareness is higher than ever before and how we have to be vigilant to ensure that the community protects its historical roots in the name of progress.
For
Anniversary
event click on the blue to go to the Photo Gallery page |
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Mar 2003 |
Arvind Zoderkar |
Arvind, researcher, demographer and long term Karori resident, used Census and other official statistics to talk on "The Changing Face of New Zealanders", focusing on immigration trends and impacts. |
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Dec 2002 |
Susan Maclean |
Susan talked about the life and church architecture of Frederick de Jersey Clere (1856-1952), a prominent Wellington architect, many of whose churches, houses and other buildings survive in Wellington and in the lower North Island. |
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Sep 2002 |
Joan McCracken |
Joan gave an illustrated overview of the portraits the Turnbull Library holds. Images and descriptions from the Library’s collections are accessible through the library's
Timeframes and the database
Taphui. |
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Jun 2002 |
Steve Russell |
Steve talked about the New Zealand Film Archive,and illustrated his talk with selected early Wellington footage from the Archive collections. |
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Mar 2002 |
Rosalba Finnerty |
Connections between Marsden School and Karori. |
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Dec 2001 |
David Kernohan |
The influence of European architects on New Zealand architecture |
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Sep 2001 |
Gladys Rainbow-McGrath |
From bush to desolation to vision - the transformation of Wright's Hill |
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Jun 2001 |
Ann Calhoun |
The arts and crafts movement in New Zealand |
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Dec 2000 |
Walter Cook |
The autobiography of a collection: a journey into styles and fashions of New Zealand's past |
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Sep 2000 |
Elaine Bolitho |
Methodists at Karori 1843-1913 |
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Jun 2000 |
Jennie Harre Hindmarch |
The Karori wildlife sanctuary past present and future |
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Mar 2000 |
Ken Scadden |
Getting to your place - the story of the Museum of Wellington City and Sea |
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Dec 1999 |
Denis Wederell |
The wayward girls and what came after |
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Sep 1999 |
George Gibbs |
G V Hudson: Karori's pioneer naturalist |
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Jun 1999 |
David C Williams |
Eastbourne and the Eastbourne Historical Society |
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Mar 1999 |
Linda Evans |
Oral history in New Zealand |
