Whanganui history uncovered in renovation
Renovating old houses often leads to interesting discoveries but a Te Kuiti homeowner did not expect to find items from 300km away.
Colleen Gulliver was amazed when a builder discovered Whanganui Chronicle print moulds from the 1930s in the walls of her Te Kuiti house.
“We had to get our dining room and kitchen walls relined with gib, and the builder found them in the dining room side of the house,” she said.
“They were just sitting there in between the sidings. The insides of the walls were constructed with native timber in the pre-1940 style.”
The papier-mache moulds hold imprints that are clear enough to be read and Gulliver said she was delighted that they provide testimony to the lack of dampness in her walls.
“I’m also really intrigued as to how they got there,” she said.
“I wonder if someone who worked at the Chronicle moved to Te Kuiti and built this house.”
Whanganui builder Jamie O’Leary said newspaper was often used in old houses as a backing material.
“They were often used in walls and under carpets but I’ve never come across the printing moulds before.”
The papier-mache moulds were known as flongs and were made by pasting thin sheets of wet paper together to form moulds for molten metal.
Whanganui printer and papermaker Marty Vreede said they were made specifically for newspaper print.
“They were especially good for speedy printing because they could be rolled on to the cylinders of rotary presses,” Vreede said.
“It is not something I’ve ever done but I do have a couple of Chronicle flongs from the 1940s. I bought them in the 1980s when they were being sold to free up space in the old building.”
Vreede said being stored inside walls for over 80 years would have helped to preserve the flongs found in Gulliver’s house.
Gulliver wonders if there may be more of them in her house.
“We have only re-gibbed that section so goodness knows what’s in the rest of the house,” she said.
She plans to have some of her discoveries framed for display and said she will probably offer the others to the Whanganui Regional Museum.