Names that left their mark on port
MUCH is made these days — and rightly so — about Dunedin’s growing collection of street art, with the supersized murals/ artworks being something the local citizenry should be proud of.
But today I want to focus on a littleknown but related form of ‘‘drawing’’, for want of a better phrase, which I will dub ‘‘rock graffiti’’.
I am referring to the subject of today’s old Evening Star photos I recently discovered, by accident, in our Allied Press archives, dating back to 1956.
They capture a practice, long since discontinued, by visiting seamen to Port Chalmers, as the original caption to the righthand picture, published on March 1956, explains:
‘‘Members of the crew of the overseas cargo liner Persic, at present berthed at Port Chalmers, suspended by ropes this morning as they painted the name of their vessel on the sheer rock face above the borough.
‘‘This namepainting has developed into a competitive business, with each new visiting crew endeavouring to outdo previous ones. Dozens of ships’ names are now on the cliff face.’’
The second photo, not published at the time, shows the various names on the rocks below the Scott monument. If you can’t make them out, they include Port Pirie, Edinburgh, Fry Hill, Ruahine, Empire Star, Brisbane Star, Sydney Star, Otaki, Persic and DSC 195255.
When I checked with Ian Farquhar, who knows a lot about the town’s history, he said painting the ships’ names was a common practice which died out once the mainly Britishcrewed ships stopped visiting Port Chalmers.
Send your graffiti photos
These old photos also got me thinking about the numerous other examples of historic ‘‘rock graffiti’’ I’ve seen, especially when driving through Central Otago.
I’m sure there are some interesting background stories to these whitepainted creations splashed on to the rocks near the road. So, if you have a photo of any of these, email them to The Wash and we’ll see if we can find out who put them there, when and what they mean.
Saint ? of NZ
Joe Enright, of Mosgiel, has emailed us with an interesting query for readers. He writes:
‘‘Does New Zealand have an official patron saint? The mainstream churches have various saints appointed to this role, but I can’t find any reference to an official patron saint. Presumably, if there is one, then the appointment would most likely be by Act of Parliament; however, a search of legislation.govt.nz fails to turn up anything.
‘‘Some internet locations say that as a colony we inherited all four UK saints (George, David, Patrick and Andrew) as patrons, but go on to say those appointments would have lapsed when NZ gained its independence. Wikipedia and other internet ‘authorities’ have no information.
‘‘So, when all else fails, ask The Wash, he is bound to ferret out an answer.’’
Suggestions please!