I finished my walk in bright sunshine at the Rongo Stone Memorial located on a large grass verge of road connecting the city’s harbour to the Otago Peninsula. The stone named Rongo is from Taranaki which commemorates the Māori prisoners transported to Dunedin between 1869 and 1879. As I read the inscriptions after visiting the nearby caves, I remember the stories I had heard as a child. Growing up my understanding was that Māori prisoners were held inside at night while building the road to the harbour during the day. This was in fact not true. The caves were used for storage while the groups of men sent down from Taranaki were prisoners who had supported an uprising against the Crown over unjust land confiscation in the 1870’s. The 74 prisoners were originally sentenced to death for high treason, but had their sentences commuted to imprisonment and hard labour and transported to Dunedin. Over the 25 months they spent in Dunedin, 18 men died, mostly from illness caused by the damp prison conditions and the sleeping arrangements. Ten years later at Parihaka in the Taranaki, following another confrontation between government officials and local iwi, more arrests were made and a further 200 prisoners were sent to Dunedin, sentenced to hard labour. The men from Taranaki ended up making significant contributions to Dunedin’s transport network as they cut through stone and hill to make a connection between Maitland Street and Princes Street and built portions of the main road from Dunedin to Port Chalmers. In the sunshine as I reflected on some of the shameful acts in New Zealand’s history, I was glad I knew the truth. John's Blog https://blog.caswellimages.com/ The latest print price guide: https://bit.ly/3oLw9OI
Upon exiting the Museum I was pleased to see that the fog had lifted and I could now see more than a meter in front of me. Unfortunately, it was still raining. So, once again I made a decision to capture an image that I had wanted to do for some time, that being the old Tiger Tea trolley bus at the Early Settlers Museum. I bundled everything into my car and drove off through as many puddles as I could. Having arrived at the Early Settlers Museum via nearly slipping on the wet entrance floor, I then spent several minutes fumbling around to find my vaccine pass. When this was completed, I was just about to venture off to the exhibits when the lady on the front desk informed me she’d have to take my tripod. ‘I’m sorry?’ I replied ‘Your tripod, I’ll need to take it while you’re inside” ‘I’m sorry? Why is that?’ I replied again. ‘I’ll need to take it’ ‘It’s never been a problem before?’ ‘Sir, it’s fairly busy this morning and it might get in the way of others trying to enjoy the exhibits.’ she explained. Reluctantly, and nervously I handed my band item and went off to find the transport section. It wasn’t long before I noticed something rather odd. Here was I, having to hand in an item that would stay perfectly still and connected to me at all times, as it would ‘get in the way of others trying to enjoy the exhibits’, whereas parents were allowing children to freely run around the museum and climb all over objects that clear had signs on them saying, ‘please do not climb.’ For a moment I wondered if their policy of not allowing items that would ‘get in the way of others trying to enjoy the exhibits’ could be extended to families who couldn’t control their child. I made my way through the museum, admiring this newly created center for family chaos, until I found what I was looking for. Trolley Bus No 10, registration number DK3158. There are certain things you need to be my age or at least in Dunedin in the late 1970’s and early to mid 1980’s to appreciate about Dunedin. One is the Star Fountain that used to light up in the lower Octagon and another is the Trolley Bus service. The trolley buses commenced operation in Dunedin in 1950, with the final route closing in July 1979, 42 years ago. At the time of their axing, Dunedin residents vigorously opposed their termination, but it happened anyway! And so, just like the Star Fountain, the Dunedin’s Trolley buses are now a distant memory. John's Blog https://blog.caswellimages.com/ The latest print price guide: https://bit.ly/3oLw9OI
I had a look around Dunedin’s warehouse precinct which is filled with all sorts of old buildings and for a while enjoyed seeing all the summer colours that were reflecting in windows of the surrounding businesses. John's Blog https://blog.caswellimages.com/ The latest print price guide: https://bit.ly/3oLw9OI
