Miramar Peninsula, Wellington, New Zealand.

I began collecting New Zealand postcards because of my interest in early New Zealand photography, and decided to collect Wellington postcards. I soon found that this was going to a huge undertaking, so now I only collect cards from east of the Mt Victoria tunnel, ie: Hataitai, Kilbirnie, Rongotai, with my main interest being the Miramar Peninsula. This has the advantage of keeping the collection small, just a couple of albums, and to be selective on what cards to add.
Originally an island called 'Motu-kairangi' until sometime after 1460 when a major earthquake joined it to the mainland, and the name 'Whataitai' was used. In 1840 surveyors divided the peninsula into 18 lots, 5 of which were purchased by James Watt, who never lived there, and the name 'Watts Peninsula' was adopted. James Coutts Crawford purchased 500 acres, and was probably the first white settler on the peninsula. The name 'Miramar' was first used by Crawford's brother-in-law, Major McBarnett, to a house build by him in 1868 on a hill at the south-east of Evans Bay and later occupied by Crawford. When the peninsula became a borough, it was given the name of the house.
There are a number of books on the history of Miramar if you want to know more. I recommend "Miramar Peninsula" (1975) by John Struthers, where most of the above information came from. Other reading includes; "Early days on the Miramar Peninsula" (1981) & "On the edge of our city" (1984) by J.M & B.M.Kenneally, "Waka, Ferry, Tram-Seatoun and the bays before 1958" (2001) by Bob O'Brien, "TV, 4WD, WWW, Seatoun and the bays after 1958" (2003) by Bob O'Brien, "Early events from Seatoun to Sinclair Heads" (2009) by H.Gary Tonks.

I am a member of the New Zealand Postcard Society.
Membership enquiries to jenny-long@clear.net.nz

Miramar.

By the 1880's James Coutts Crawford had become the sole owner of all the land on the peninsula.
Between 1870 and the early 1900's Crawford's land was divided up into smaller lots and sold.
In 1902 the auction of 132 residential sections was very successful. The Miramar Borough Council
was formed in 1904, and in 1907 a tram line connected Miramar to the rest of Wellington.
Miramar 1907. Hector McLeod & Co.
Hector McLeod & Co, Miramar Series No.3.
McLeod was a local estate agent, publisher, archaeologist, and Mayor of Miramar.
Miramar 1907. Hector McLeod & Co.
Reverse of above card with timetable for trams and ferrys.
Miramar. Industria Series No.1002.
Miramar. Tourist Series 2363. Frank Duncan & Co.
St Aidans Church. No publisher on card. c.1910
Card shows church at its original site above Tauhinu Rd.
In Nov, 1923, land was acquired on Miramar Ave, and the church was 
moved there. 
Miramar. Aotearoa Series N1239. Hugh & G.K.Neill Ltd. Dunedin.
I thank William [Bill] Main for his donation of this card to my collection.
Miramar, looking north, 1907-11.
Private card.
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1 comment:

  1. Mike Riversdale22/11/11

    Thanks for sharing these postcards.

    As a new-ish member (10 years or so) of the awesome Miramar community I love to read/see how it used to be.

    I've shared a link via my Twitter account (@MiramarMike) and Google Plus - hope it see's a raise in readership :-)

    ReplyDelete

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