1926: Henderson Town Hall

July 30, 2020

By AHNZ

Today in history, 30 June, 1926, the Henderson Town Hall burnt down. Curiously to my Anarchist eye, it was again destroyed by fire 41 years and 1 month and 1 day later. State History does not remark on how strange or similar these two events were in the history of West Auckland so it’s about time somebody did.

Henderson started out as a kauri mill town, owned and founded by Thomas Henderson who used bullocks and trip-dams to get his timber to the water. From places like Henderson Creek it became a simple matter to float the logs to where they could be milled into useful products for a growing Auckland City. Henderson’s Mill was up and running in 1848, having acquired the land from the local Maoris a few years before by compensating them with their own ship- Lucidan.

After the trees ran out (1860s) Henderson declined but by the 1890s it had a second wind. That is when the first Henderson Town Hall was built by the community, in 1896, also and when the Methodist Chapel was built too (1898.) By this time the kauri trees had been extracted but a thriving industry had been established in locating and digging up the sap of the old trees: kauri gum. Next up, fruit orchards and wine-making became the core industries around Henderson.

The First Fire, 30 June, 1926

In the old game of Municipal Darwinism, Henderson ate up all the surrounding communities and boroughs. Eventually it formed the bloc called Waitemata City (1975) then Waitakere City (1989)¹ and then that was eaten up in turn by Auckland “Supercity” (2010.) By 1926, Henderson Town Board were issuing their own drivers licences and mulling over what to do about their ageing Town Hall.

‘Long ago the country bore the country-town and nourished it with her best blood. Now the giant city sucks the country dry…’- Spengler

Shortly before the hall was to be shifted for replacement by a newer one the Henderson Town Hall burned down decisively to the ground. How convenient.

The insurance money for this act of God must have come in handy for the replacement building. How convenient. The new Hall was quite a capital asset to the town though, this time made of brick and concrete. It even had a Bank of New Zealand branch (which makes sense, Thomas Henderson had been a founder of the BNZ (est. 1861.)

If this convenient insurance money and building demolition were a scam then it didn’t end there. Prompted by the convenient fire, the Henderson Town Board then formed the first Henderson Fire Brigade. However, within only a few months later, having invested in the equipment, the brigade was abandoned completely. Nobody can explain why.

As an Anarchist not lacking in a sceptical mind or healthy cynicism toward politicians, can I have a try? Perhaps that fire brigade was a smoke-screen to, primarily, help sustain the cover story that the fire had been an accident and not a fraud? And, secondly, it was a way to launder money by buying up brigade equipment that never even had to be tested for quality or functionality?

The Second Fire, 31 July, 1967

Maybe I’m getting carried away with this anti-State business, do you think? Inconvenient buildings catch fire all the time and it doesn’t mean corruption.

OK, how about if it happens twice?

On 31 July, 1967, the Henderson Town Hall burnt down again. Once more this occured just ahead of the building becoming redundant. They called it “structural defects.” The hall burned down late at night and had to be replaced. How convenient.

In the case of this burning, as with the previous, the library books housed in both buildings seem to have survived the devastating blazes. Somehow the collection was saved. How convenient.

The coincidence is remarkable but not proof. However, it seems to me that fires and trucks and sinking ships often remove all sorts of red tape and public records and heritage inconveniences that get in the way when Governments want to do things. So here’s one more example.

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1 Note: The remains of Waitakere City have recently been sold for a “secret sum” to private interests. West Auckland is now to be run out of Albany on the North Shore; Ref. Two ex-Waitākere City Council buildings sold for secret sum: Laidlaw College revealed as buyer; NZ Herald

Ref. Hendersons Mill: How a humble timber mill became today’s Henderson in West Auckland; Anthony G. Flude (1977)

Image ref.
Henderson Public Hall c.1900-1920; Waitakere Library and Information Services photograph collection; Henderson Heritage Trail; West Auckland Historical Society Inc; AHNZ Archives 2017

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