People

BETTY HANSON

Betty was a woman who made a notable contribution to education, first in Blockhouse Bay, then in the wider community and nationally.

Soon after the first of her 7 children started at Blockhouse Bay Primary School she became involved in school activities. Her initial contact was through the Dental Clinic Committee, which looked after the practical running of the clinic. She was co-opted onto the School Committee in 1919. Her ability and drive were recognised as she worked for the school’s benefit for over 26 years. In those days the women on the committee served two roles - Secretary and supper provider. During her 10 years as Secretary, she saw through some arduous jobs such as the transfer of part of the block of land which lies adjacent to the school and was used for sport activities She served as Vice President and President on the Auckland School Committees Association and was an executive member of the National School Committees Federation.

Continue reading

LOIS WHITE

The New Zealand art world is filled with remarkable figures, but few are as compelling—and as unjustly overlooked in their time—as Anna Lois White (1903–1984). Known professionally as Lois (pronounced Loyce) White, she was one of the country’s leading modernist painters and a dedicated educator at the Elam School of Fine Arts, where she taught for more than three decades. Today, her work is enjoying a long-overdue resurgence, earning recognition for its bold style, social consciousness and extraordinary range.

Continue reading

SHIRLEY BROWNE

From the footpath in Blockhouse Bay village your eye is drawn to the colourful window display of Shirley’s women’s fashion store. As you step inside, you are met with an explosion of colour and fashion, all beautifully curated and displayed.

Shirley’s has been a Bay fixture for about 40 years. It is run by Shirley Browne. As a fashion co- ordinator for Brian Caughey Ltd she would visit fashion shops around Auckland. Shirley’s was then in

Continue reading

ZENA ABBOTT

ZENA ABBOTT April 1922 – November 1993 was a New Zealand weaver and a Blockhouse Bay resident. Her works are held at the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Dowse Art Museum. She was born in Auckland in 1922. Growing up in Depression-era New Zealand. Zena left school at the age of thirteen to become a dressmaker, and was subsequently drafted into essential work during World War Two. During the 1950s, she travelled around New Zealand, living in a caravan and working as a sewing machine instructor. She would leave Auckland with a van full of sewing machines and return loaded with fleeces and lichens.

Continue reading

Growing up in the Bay - through the decades...

1930/1940’s memories - Eileen Rusden (nee Eades)

I started school the year WW2 was declared, 1939. Joyce Davis (nee Heron) was in my class right through school. Then the Bay was a fairly isolated country village. We lived by the corner of Bolton Street and our nearest neighbour was on the corner of Puketea Street, so there were plenty of empty sections on which to play our favourite game of “rounders”.

Continue reading

Armanasco House and family history

One part of our heritage which has been saved is the historic Armanasco homestead, across the other side of the Green. It was built in 1890 by Stefano Armanasco, an Italian who came to New Zealand in 1885 and bought several parcels of land in Blockhouse Bay.

The site he chose for his home was on six acres bounded by Heaphy Street and Blockhouse Bay Road. When building was completed, Stefano sent back to his home village of St Agata for a bride, Maria, and she came out to join him in 1890. They were married in St Patrick’s Cathedral in the same year and settled to life in the new home at Blockhouse Bay.

Continue reading

The story behind Craigavon Park

Craigavon Park is a recreational area in Blockhouse Bay and bordering Green Bay, Auckland. This park with its bush setting with walking tracks, playing areas and children’s playground offers residents of the surrounding area the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors without having to venture far from the Blockhouse Bay main street and shopping area. Named after Lord Craigavon from Ireland (and Marianne’s birthplace), this park was donated by Marianne Caughey (Mrs W. H. Smith) as a gift to Auckland in November 1929.

Continue reading

BHB Primary School Memories During WW2

A wet afternoon and a box of old photos needing labelling and sorting, but soon I found myself remembering back to the 1940s. One memory led to another and though the photos are still largely unsorted, I had a fascinating afternoon, even going right back to commencing school during the early days of WWII.

Blockhouse Bay Historical Society

Continue reading

The Blow family seat

A Gift To Our Community

From 1939, Helen Blows, with sons Bruce, Keith, Ray and Don, lived at 20 Mitchell Street, and the family were all very involved in Bay life.

After service on the “Leander” in WW2, Bruce Blows, and his wife Billie, bought two acres of land across the road on the corner of Connell and Mitchell Streets and built their home in 1946.

When Bruce and Billie were first living on this property, their friend John A.R. Blandford, an Auckland representative cricketer, was playing in England and brought home acorns taken from a mighty oak tree in Sherwood Forest. He gave them three acorns, which were planted on the very corner of their property. All three grew very well but became intertwined, so two were cut out, leaving the remaining one to grow into the mighty specimen oak tree there today.

Continue reading

Blockhouse Bay’s Handweaver Fabric Artist

Ilse von Randow

Alexander Turnbull Library

After having the pleasure of hearing at our April meeting, Tyl von Randow’s talk on his childhood in Shanghai during WW2, this is the story of his Mother’s fame here in Auckland as an artist and contemporary designer of hand woven fabrics.

After the communists came to Shanghai, Ilse von Randow and her two sons, in April 1952, through refugee status, settled in Auckland. When Ilse was living in Shanghai she had designed woven fabrics for textile companies, and when settled here, over the next fourteen years, she became a central figure in the establishment of modernist craft weaving in New Zealand.

Continue reading