Mansion House Bay c.1950
photos from Helen & Richard Andrew’s family collection (grand daughter & her husband of Henry Allen -Tiromoana) ex Ken Rickitts.
The above postcard of Mansion House Bay Kawau Island, was written by Alma Allen (Tiromoana) in the early 1950’s & sent to Esme & Joe Coggan — their daughter & son in law &/or Helen their grand daughter as a little girl, now Helen Andrew.
Ken has attempted to ID some of the boats & can identify Mananui (P.R.Colebrook’s days), Valsan (Arnold Baldwin era) & very importantly to Ken the Lady Claire (in the Stan Headland era), Headland had her cabin sides beautifully varnished, which disappeared later. Ken believes the photo was taken circa 1953-55.
Note Valsan anchored off the end of the wharf & with the stern tied to wharf — A.D.B. used to take family away for about 10 days at Christmas, then swap crews, for a “men’s” crew, & cruise. He never tied to the wharf when the family were there & never left the wharf, when they weren’t there, so this is without doubt, taken in the second half of a Christmas period. — He, & Len Peckham, (Lady Sandra) took unplanned turns, at sharing the wharf in this manner in this era.
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These wonderful stories of Mansion House’s bygone era have promoted me to add my bit.
I became a baby of Mansion House in 1941. Mother was a housemaid there. We lived in the staff quarters right behind MH. The Hooks cottages were there and their only daughter was my playmate. As I got older and smarter l collected the beer bottles thrown overboard by the yachties, receiving one penny for each one from the shop. When the Americans came in on their ships, they’d take me to the tuck shop and buy me everything a kid could dream of. I also joined the staff with their ukeleles on the wharf to welcome / farewell the large weekend ferries arriving from Auckland with 100’s of passengers. I knew all the songs. Long streamers were held by passengers and staff on both sides as the ferries pulled out. New Year Balls were unimaginable with everyone dressing up and drinking, eating, dancing like there was no tomorrow. Midnight, the less drunk ones would climb up the huge Kauri pillars in the lounge and kiss the ceiling. Tradition it was !
The snake pit at night was out of bounds to me but I used to spy on the adults drinking and doing silly dumb things with each other.
I also knew very well, the Vivian Bay Barneys and their boat St. Claire.
Great memories of a bygone era.
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Funny isn’t it. One of my jobs as a kid was kneeling on the duckboard smashing bottles on the exhaust as we were slow-steaming. One wonders what the do-gooders would say about setting a kid to such a task these days…
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I have just reread this post, to check for any new photos, that I may not have seen here yet, with its wonderful contributions by all the above, I know we all share this place & this era so much.
What wonderful & beautiful memories they are for all of us of that era, it being “our time.”
Long may we all continue to be able to hold them dear to us, for many years to come. — KEN R.
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Grant, check out my posts on ” a Brief History of Kawau Transport” & “Recollections of Bob Edwards” — Edwards makes a great read for us Kawau Lovers — KEN RICKETTS
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…..and remember how bad the holding was, as the flukes of the anchor skidded over the yard or so of brown quart beer bottles piled up on the bottom. Lincoln Wood had the practice of smashing the bottle over the side with a hammer in some contorted pre-Green vision of ecological sensibility.
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We holidayed at the Hookes residence at the side of the Mansion House as kids ,1950’s my family ,the Hudson’s even purchased an Island ,or a chunk of rock for 6 pence from Iona Hooke in 1958. I am now 64 and still remember the “snake pitt” where the linger of beer whafted from behind the hotel, when the Edwards ran the store and Bob kept the diesel generators going 24-7. As the” Kawau Isle” sailed out from the bay , covered in streamers , we all heard “Now is the Hour”and Allan Horsfall waved his guests farewell.
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Yep. Utterly spellbinding for a young kid in the late ’50s. I was always stunned by the varnish and finish on the hulls on some of those boats. Cabin tops were blue or pale cream (until Marnine came along with the grey tops) and some had blue boot topping. The purist in me always looked to see if the boot was wider at the stem and stern (the sign of a real boating man) or the same width all among (tch tch). All set off nicely (to my mind) by the ubiquitous.
Singapore or Red Hand antifouling -a colour that seems unavailable nowadays. Some of it obtained courtesy of the USSCo or AHB.
L F Herreshoff spoke about the aroma of the old steam yachts -varnish, metal polish and good living -maybe with a little after taste of hot oil and coal. The classics almost had that presence. And then along came the tupperware cookie cutter boats. Herreshoff called fibreglass “solidified snot”.
What a heritage we have to live up to -Long live the Woodys!
BTW we had a brief chance to see chalk and cheese when the ’30s G L Watson steam yacht “Nahlin” and the up to minute “A” from Philippe Stark. Funnily enough I appreciate the latter’s style (bow and sheer) for some reason but you will never hear me say it again. Both ships turn heads for different reasons but “A” makes me want to turn my head to lean over the nearest rail or reach for a bucket…..
Paul Simon said it in his ’60s rap “Desultory Phillipic” -The man ain’t got no culture!
Don’t shoot me crewmates, I’ll shuddap and go quietly.
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