Exploring 150 years
A BOOK celebrating the 150th anniversary of Mt Albert is in production and the creators need some help putting it together.
In 2017 it will be 150 years since the formation of the Mt Albert Road Board which was the area’s earliest local government body.
The Mt Albert Historical Society has commissioned the book, and historian and researcher Deborah Dunsford is putting it together.
It covers the area’s social history and Dunsford would like photos people might have to illustrate this.
‘‘It would be lovely to have some photos that haven’t been seen.
‘‘There are plenty in the public collection but it would be wonderful to have some that have been sitting in someone’s drawer for a long time.
‘‘I’d love to have some of the scouts doing something or an activity at a hall or sports club,’’ she says.
Dunsford is currently researching 1911 to 1929.
‘‘It’s just an incredible period. Before then Mt Albert was small farms and gracious homes.
‘‘There were people who had done well in business but wanted to be able to get to the city.’’
The Mt Albert borough included Kingsland, Sandringham and Mt Albert.
In 1911 the population was 6666 and by 1926 it was more than 17,000.
Mt Albert was the fastest growing suburb in New Zealand, Dunsford says.
‘‘You can just imagine the sorts of pressures that were happening.
‘‘There were new schools, new halls and the council built its chambers.’’
There have been a few things that have surprised Dunsford during her research.
One is the strong influence of the Methodist church.
The first two main churches built in the area were Methodist, a nonconformist religion.
‘‘It was a big area of temperance and abstaining from alcohol,’’ she says.
Mt Albert was a dry area until 1990 and was one of the last places in New Zealand to start selling alcohol.
‘‘Even 100 years later there was still a big enough non-conformist group to stop it,’’ Dunsford says.
The Mt Albert Historical Society has raised $50,000 over the last two years to produce the book.
The aim is to make it widely available when published.