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Royal visitors

There is a charming tale from Howick about the first royal visit to New Zealand. HRH Prince Albert the Duke of Edinburgh arrived in Auckland on 8 May and departed on 27 May 1869. One day, so the story goes, he rode out to Howick, where he inspected the Howick Yeomanry Troop, parked two elephants brought from India outside the Methodist church, took tea at the cottage of an old army chum, and lunched with the Maclean brothers at Bleak House.^[13]

This sounds like a children’s bedtime fantasy. The Howick Troop of the Royal Cavalry Volunteers was certainly present at the Duke’s official welcome. However, the nearest the Prince got to Howick was Pigeon Mountain. On 14 May he sent his apologies for being unable to attend a pheasant shoot with the Maclean brothers at Pakuranga. Governor Sir George Bowen and Lieutenant Haig, the Prince’s equerry, picnicked on Pigeon Mountain instead. On 24 May the Prince did get out to Pigeon Mountian after all, spending the morning shooting on the Maclean brothers’ property, followed by lunch set out in the Butley Manor barn.^[14]

There was no mention in the newspapers of the presence of elephants at the time. However, on a subsequent visit in December 1869, as a captain in the Royal Navy, the Prince did bring an elephant with him after all, an animal that he had been given in Ceylon. The Prince played a lively role in the social life of Auckland for several weeks before his final departure on 16 January 1871. The elephant, which was quartered in the Albert Barracks, also made a number of public appearances: at Government House, at a charity concert, and on walkabout down Queen Street. There was no mention of any jaunt to Howick at the time.^[15]

Subsequent accounts have sometimes confused the Prince’s first visit with his second.

Shaw to tell

Another Howick tale suggests that the famous playwright George Bernard Shaw spent a night at the town’s Marine Hotel. In March 1934 Shaw – literary royalty in his time - spent several days in Auckland. The extensive media reports of his activities make no mention of Howick. However, Shaw and his wife were taken on a tour of the city during their visit; so it’s certainly possible they visited Howick, and (who knows?) had morning or afternoon tea at the hotel.^[16]

Not long after leaving New Zealand, Shaw wrote to Nancy Astor that after his time in Auckland he refused to visit any other city in the country, except Wellington, from which he had to sail.^[17]

The flight of the Manurewa

In 1911 at Glenora Park, Takanini, the pioneer aviators Leo and Vivian Walsh made the first confirmed successful controlled aeroplane flight in New Zealand. A seminal aviation history has dated the event at 5 February 1911, quoting an Auckland Star report from “that night”.^[18]

In fact, the Manurewa’s flight seems to have taken place four days later. No Star was published on 5 February 1911, which was a Sunday. The issue for the following Friday, however, reported the event as having taken place “yesterday”, i.e. Thursday, 9 February 1911.^[19]

An erroneous date once published is almost impossible to correct. On 5 February 1986 the 75th anniversary of the Walsh brothers’ flight was commemorated by the unveiling of a plaque on the site. The error has thus been preserved not just in ink but also in bronze.

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