365 Places: Karangahape Road
Day 88: Karangahape Road, Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand
In an earlier post, I spoke about a forthcoming augmented reality project that I will be presenting as part of the ADA Mesh Cities Symposium in Auckland. The project titled Finding the Ghosts of K Road will explore Auckland’s oldest street, hopefully uncovering some of the ghosts of the past though the imagery of the old photographs of the streetscape.
Tivoli Theatre: Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 1-W1606
Something that has been really wonderful about developing this project is the help and support I have received from some of my artist friends, who have generously shared stories about K Road. For example, Trudy Lane shared some very interesting information about some of her ancestors who lived in the area. The story below is very sad about the loss of a number of her ancestors. Trudy writes:
My Great Great Grandfather — Captain William Solloway Lane — died at sea in 1893, failing to return from a voyage to Tasmania. With him on board was his wife Lucy’s sister-in-law and her youngest sister. She was pregnant with twins at the time. 3 days after giving birth to them, Lucy died. One of the twins also died two days later.
Captain William Solloway Lane, died April 1893
Christina, born 11 April, 1893
Lucy Lane, died 12 April, 1893
In the material she sent me was a story of how this tragedy impacted the then small community of Auckland. I have transcribed this text from the images below:
This sad chronicle so moved everyone in the then small town of Auckland that people lined the streets from Ponsonby to Symonds Streets as the funeral cortege for Lucy Chiffinch Lane and her baby passed by.
Here are the images from Trudy.
Trudy also informed me about the work of historian Edward Bennett, who has done extensive research on K Road. I have subsequently been in touch with Edward and he has been a great source of guidance for the walk, and hopefully will be our tour guide on the day!
The walk is scheduled for the 12th September and will start at Artspace in Karangahape Road at 15:15.
Here is the map – in progress:
I am really grateful for being guided by the experts for this project, people who have an intimate knowledge of K Road. It really helps me to get a better sense of the place I am exploring, which I hope will result in a richer experience for people doing the walk.
It is not long until we will be in Auckland for the Symposium – can’t wait!
Thank you for blogging about Auckland. We plan to visit next year and are grateful to learn about its history.
My pleasure – stay tuned – there will be more…
Reblogged this on Tracey M Benson and commented:
A post about the forthcoming project “Finding the Ghosts of K Road”
Reblogged this on Mediakult and commented:
A post about the forthcoming project “Finding the Ghosts of K Road”
I used to play in a band at Surf City once the old Tivoli Theatre before in was converted into the Damatian Club? In the 50’s i played with brothers in Newton Gully now part of the North West motorway, attended Newton Central that looked a bit like Colditz in those days! Our stint of the week was the matinee every Sat at the Avon theatre. Dud.
Thanks for sharing your story. K Road is a fascinating place!