Don Donovan's World

New Zealand Odyssey: The Mayor's House, Ross, Westland

2012-01-27T08:30:00.000+13:00

'New Zealand Odyssey', published in 1989 by Heinemann, was authored by me, Don Donovan (who did the text and illustrations) and Euan Sarginson, who did the photography and design. In this series of blog posts, I will publish some of my drawings.

This house on Aylmer Street, built in 1870, was the home of Joseph Grimmond, one time mayor of Ross. By 1989, when I drew it, the locals had so little feeling for heritage that they had allowed it to fall into sorry disrepair. I guess somebody must have cared something for it otherwise why would the window holes be boarded up with rusting corrugated iron?

Ross was once one of the richest gold mining settlements in Westland. It was said that after heavy rain gold flakes could be seen glistering in the streets' gutters!

It may be that by 2012 'heritage' has been discovered but whether or not Grimmond's house has been restored I do not know. An old acquaintance of mine, Phil Ross May, wrote the history of Ross and the West Coast gold rushes. He died young and is buried on the hill overlooking the township.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Decay and Dereliction, Westland

2012-01-26T11:05:00.000+13:00

Euan Sarginson, my late co-author, used to chuckle at my love of ruined buildings. 'Anything that's decaying turns you on,' he once said. True. Why? Because it gives one freedom from straight lines and allows all sorts of little tricks to be performed with pen, brush and pastel.

The top drawing is of a derelict barn at Karangarua as it was in 1988. It's a salad of shapes and colours; the original hangs on the wall of a good friend in Christchurch.

The other two buildings are also on the West Coast, one near Franz Josef and the other a garden shed in Ross. Rust and Moss (sounds like a lawyers' practice).

donovan @ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Two Historic Buildings at Okarito, Westland

2012-01-25T11:30:00.001+13:00

Okarito and its lagoon are west of the main highway that runs from Haast to Greymouth. Its first claim to fame was as a destination for gold-hungry prospectors in the 19th century but now it is visited because it's the home of white herons (egrets) whose Maori name is Kotuku.

Two old buildings caught my eye in the late 1980s: Donovan's Store (no relation to me) and the local youth hostel.

Donovan's was obviously much older than the YHA house and was probably set up to sell everything imaginable to the gold miners. I don't know when it closed down but Coca-Cola, which, I think, only started distribution in New Zealand in the 1960s managed to get its name up so the shop lasted at least until then.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: William's Cottage, Marine Parade, Queenstown

2012-01-22T17:00:00.000+13:00

In 1988 when I did this illustration a stiff wind could have blown down this neglected 'sore-thumb' rusty-roofed cottage on the lake front at Queenstown. But that was before the town became a tourist mecca of expensive motels and street names in Japanese. Before, somewhere along the line, the cottage was saved and preserved as something of historic interest (which largely proves that where historic places are concerned, age is far more important than architectural merit).

The Historic Places Trust of New Zealand advises that its address is 21 Marine Parade; other experts say it's No. 19. It's the oldest house in the town, named after John Williams who built it around 1864. It's now a café.

Why they called it Marine Parade when it's nowhere near the sea defeats me.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Lodge Arrow, Kilwinning No. 86, Arrowtown

2012-01-19T11:12:00.000+13:00

In 2011 this handsome building looked exactly the same as when I did this painting of it in 1988. It's built of layered stone schist - a local material of which Central Otago seems entirely composed! It's an impressive structure and looks as if it will last for ever.

Freemasonry is a mystery to me. Despite having been in business for many years I was never invited to become a mason (or Rotarian, Buffalo, Oddfellow etc) and would probably have turned any offers down anyway as I'm not one for joining such hand-holding organizations.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Buckingham Street, Arrowtown, Central Otago

2012-01-16T14:59:00.000+13:00

These houses in Buckingham Street, Arrowtown are mainly workers' huts from goldmining days, the Arrow river and its surrounding area having been among the richest fields in New Zealand. They could have been demolished years ago had somebody not realized their historical value and now, despite occupying real estate that is worth small fortunes, they remain, photographic subjects for the increasingly large numbers of tourists that have turned the rest of the town into something approaching a Disneyland replica.

I did this painting in 1988. I am fortunate to have first visited Arrowtown in the 1960s before it had been 'discovered'.

No. 55 Buckingham Street.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: A Farm Barn on Speargrass Flat, Central Otago

2012-01-13T15:06:00.000+13:00

This old stone farm barn was at Speargrass Flat, between Arrowtown and Queenstown in Central Otago. It looked like this in the late 1980s, a huge area of corrugated iron in various stages of repair covering stout schist walls that looked as if they would last forever.

In the twenty of more years since then parts of Speargrass Flat have become among the most expensive bits of real estate in New Zealand with an international golf course, time share apartments and 'Homes and Gardens' homes and gardens that would even make dents in the bank accounts of Wall Street financiers!

I'm pleased to say that the original of this watercolour hangs in the sitting room of an old friend who seems to love it.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Two Buildings in Old Cromwell - Before the Flooding

2012-01-07T17:28:00.001+13:00

In the late 1980s, when I painted these two buildings, they stood on the old main street of Cromwell and had done so since the beginnings of the town back in the gold mining days of the late nineteenth century. The street then sloped downwards to where the Clutha and Kawarau rivers met at 'the junction' before flowing swiftly though the Cromwell Gorge below.

The buildings still stand although since the Clutha Dam was filled and Lake Dunstan formed - after 1993 - their inclined highway became a traffic-less back street that disappears under water - a fate the buildings just escaped.

The upper illustration is of the Masonic Lodge; the lower, a simple schist structure, is Hanson's Cottage, variously owned by a brewer, watchmaker and 'toothpuller'.

New Zealand Odyssey: Clyde Dam, Lake Dunstan, Drowned Orchards

2012-01-02T15:52:00.001+13:00

In 1993, long after I did this little watercolour (with oil pastel for the highlights), the Clyde Dam was finished in the Cromwell Gorge after which it gradually filled to make Lake Dunstan. Hamlets, houses, roads, gardens, sheds and orchards were inundated and this subject was among them.

I wonder whether you can still read 'FRUIT' on the corrugated roof of the shed after all these years? And how long did it take for the trees to drown? And I wonder whether any of the family that owned and tended the orchard are still alive today? And how long will it be before all the people who once bought fruit at this wayside stall are dead and gone? Tempus fugit indeed.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: The Postmaster's House, St. Bathans, Central Otago

2011-12-30T10:51:00.000+13:00

As it was in 1988 and probably still is, this imposing house was provided for the local postmaster in the heady days when St. Bathans was one of the richest gold mining areas in New Zealand. The NZ Post of the new millenium would do no such thing; these days they'd be reluctant to provide posties with a bicycle and high-viz vests let alone a house!

St. Bathans was saved from oblivion by people who were quick enough to realize that preservation of nineteenth century history pays dividends. St. Bathans is now a tourist destination and repays a long trek through Central Otago.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Two Buildings in Clyde, Central Otago

2011-12-29T11:12:00.000+13:00

The pre-European history of New Zealand has left virtually nothing of architectural note because Maori built little in stone. Almost all indigenous structures were wood: meeting houses, huts, storage sheds and the palisades that protected hilltop defences and villages. Earthworks abound, buildings are absent.

But Europeans built using the most appropriate local material and in Central Otago that meant stone. These two buildings in Clyde, which I illustrated in 1988, could last forever (how long is that?), although their roofs, being of corrugated iron, will be replaced often. The lower drawing is of a building under restoration and I was rather saddened to see that the modern window doesn't quite keep in tune with the rest.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: The Vulcan Hotel, St. Bathans, Central Otago

2011-12-26T10:54:00.001+13:00

I've drawn this pub a number of times but this rendering, from 1988, was the first. The pub looked very fresh and new then, despite its age, and has since been through a varied history until the present time when it is cherished and much sought out by tourists and goldfields historians.

When you go through that front door you are so close to the back wall of the bar that it feels like being in a railway carriage so I can imagine that there were many times in the nineteenth century when beer-thirsty miners spilled out across the footpath and on to the narrow main street.

The 'stone' walls are made of mud and the fine lettering has been refreshed countless times with greater or lesser facility.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: The Old Billiards Saloon, St.Bathans, Central Otago

2011-12-24T11:49:00.000+13:00

Whether or not they were still playing on the green baize in 1988 I don't know, but this little building next door to the Vulcan Hotel looked pretty fresh and there might still have been a full-sized table behind that door. The lettering was superbly wrought.

I'm always slightly suspicious of buildings like this. One never knows when they might have been dollied up for a TV commercial but I think it was genuine; indeed it's listed by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. I see pink flannel vested gold miners potting blacks in my mind's eye...

I was in St.Bathans in 2011 and the billiards hall seems to have become an extension of the hotel with 'Billiards' painted out and benches and flower pots blocking the door.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: The Old White Horse Hotel, Becks, Central Otago

2011-12-23T15:02:00.001+13:00

Travelling in Central Otago in 1988 it was still possible to find historic buildings that were going to the dogs. One such was this schist stone and clapboard pub on the road from Alexandra to St.Bathans, at Becks - The White Horse Hotel.

It was the OLD version, across the road is another, later, White Horse Hotel of good character. The barge boards and signwriting of the old inn were still intact and the building was still capable of repair but - would anybody care?

Well, yes, actually. I believe a group of enthusiasts has restored the old pub, rescued it from oblivion. And that must be a good thing.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Bellass Boxing Gym & Courthouse Door, Lawrence, Central Otago.

2011-12-21T11:37:00.001+13:00

Because it benefited greatly from gold winning in the nineteenth century, Lawrence, in Central Otago, has some pretty interesting buildings. The mustard yellow one above was a Catholic Hall and turned into a boxing gymnasium. I liked its rambling clapboard and those ecclesiastical windows which feature in many buildings where it was so impossible to do a gothic curve that they took the easy way out and did a triangle! This was how it was in 1988; I'm willing to bet that it's neither this colour nor a boxing gymn in 2011.

I also liked the panelled door on the long, low Lawrence courthouse. It has an innate authority that instils respect into both plaintiff and defendant.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Presbyterian Manse, Lawrence, Central Otago

2011-12-19T10:44:00.001+13:00

I did this drawing of the Presbyterian manse at 20 Peel Street, Lawrence in 1988. It still looked much the same in 2010. In a small town that sprang into prominence in the nineteenth century because of a hugely rich goldfield nearby the house looks indecently grand. But I guess gold and goldminers (forever short lived!) helped pay for that. It seems also that in great Anthony Trollope tradition, the clergy of those times, for all their avowed humility, made sure their living accommodation was a layer above the ordinary.

There's been a bit of a revival in Lawrence in recent years brought about by people who want to exploit the town's history. That's no bad idea as long as they can keep McDonalds and KFC off the main street!

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Fruit Stall, Roxburgh, Central Otago

2011-12-18T10:14:00.001+13:00

On a certain day in 1988, I was taken by the simple boldness of this wayside fruit shop at Roxburgh. A typographer and lettering artist from way back, I was greatly impressed by the amateur signwriting which looked to me as if it had been done by a professional who'd deliberately tried to make it look naive.

There's a special climate in Roxburgh that particularly favours cherries and apricots.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Stone Hut, Shingle Creek, Central Otago

2011-12-11T10:54:00.000+13:00

There's nothing particularly special about this illustration of an abandoned stone hut in Central Otago but it's one of my favourites. The thing is: I did it in no time at all - just a few minutes - but it came out just right and the soft wash behind the building showed the rising mist perfectly. The reckless landscape in this area is dotted with remains like this. They mostly date back to gold mining days of the nineteenth century and, while re-roofed by local farmers, their walls and chimneys are as everlasting as stone can ever be.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: D.S.Sinclair - Generalists, Nightcaps, Southland

2011-12-05T14:42:00.000+13:00

In small country towns all over the world, specialization is rare for it is a luxury of big cities. It therefore came as no surprise to find, in 1988, in Nightcaps, that D.S. Sinclair and sons were not only builders and joiners but also funeral directors.

I guess it's not beyond reason to imagine that they could have built the house in which one of their corpses had lived after which they might have fashioned his coffin and laid him to rest. Literally a lifetime 'one-stop-shop'. It seemed a pity, as they were Dulux Paints stockists, that they could not brighten up their premises but I guess battleship grey is an acceptable compromise between the joy of building and the sadness of passing.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Nightcaps Museum and Medical Centre, Southland

2011-12-04T10:49:00.003+13:00

Delightfully named Nightcaps is a small Southland town that grew up on coal but exhausted its resource. There is a number of interesting buildings - leftovers from a more prosperous time - dotting its precincts. These two fascinated me in 1988: the Museum with a suspiciously closed look and with epiphytic growth appearing on its roof as if to suggest that Nature will take over; and the Medical Association centre, an even more modest one-roomed lock up. I wonder what the group shareholding doctors of the grand amalgamated practices of the big cities would think of such simplicity?

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Greenhills Church, Southland

2011-12-03T14:31:00.000+13:00

Apart from Bluff Harbour there's nothing much between Greenhills Union Church and McMurdo Sound and when the biting south wind comes its old rusticated weatherboard timbers groan like a wooden ship, as they have no doubt groaned since 1886. But it's sound and unaltered inside and out.

I've painted it three times (this one in 1988) with great enthusiasm.

A Roman Catholic, Mr. S. Sullivan, both gave the land and built the church. It was de-commissioned in March 2001 and handed over to The Greenhills Church Charitable Trust who, I hope, will continue to love it like an old teddy bear.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Signal Station, Bluff, Southland

2011-12-01T10:38:00.000+13:00

I can't remember why I bothered to illustrate this ugly building. It was probably because it's historic, and at the very bottom of New Zealand's South Island. Farther south is Stewart Island which, I'm ashamed to confess, I have never visited. Beyond that it's Antarctica. On the day I did this illustration it was so cold and windy that tears were making snails' trails across my temples.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

The Twenty-nine.

2011-11-29T09:25:00.002+13:00

From Kahurangi to South Westland
There’s a rolling wave of grief
You can feel it in the birdsong
In the flax spear and fern leaf
And it echoes in the depths of
The great Pike River mine
As it mourns the poignant loss of

        New Zealand’s Twenty-nine.

They were undistinguished toilers
In Man’s caverns; places strange
To us who’ve never quarried
In The Paparoa Range
Where the cryptic seams of black gold
Rise on high, and deep decline
Ever luring brave men onwards, men like

        Westland’s Twenty-nine.

Now their names will live forever
In the light of unsought fame
And they’ll join the ranks of heroes
Lost in Westland’s deadly game
They’ll meet the men of Dobson,
Brunner and the Strongman mine
And in history they’ll be known as

        The Pike River Twenty-nine.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Flemings' Creamota Factory, Gore

2011-11-29T09:20:00.000+13:00

In 1988, when I did this illustration, the Flemings Creamota factory still produced the oatmeal porridge that had fortified New Zealanders at breakfast since 1919. Later, the factory closed down in 2001 - another 'icon' (how I hate that word) gone.

The weird cartoon character on the left of the building is 'Sergeant Dan', the grotesque figure that gave as much symbolic recognition to Creamota as that ghastly Four Square man did to the eponymous grocery chain.

The factory is still there and is listed with the NZ Historic Places Trust as a category one building.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Alliance Textiles, Milton

2011-11-28T10:05:00.000+13:00

I did this drawing in 1988. I felt then that in a little town like nineteenth century Milton it expressed the pride and good intentions of local industry to do something worthwhile in New Zealand.

But right now, in November 2011, its life has finally ended. These dates are from Internet news:

1897: Bruce Woollen Mill established to scour, card and spin and weave wool into yarn, blankets, rugs and clothing fabric.
1901: Mill destroyed by fire.
1902: Rebuilt mill opens with latest imported machinery.
1962: Business taken over by Alliance Textiles.
1992: Forty-nine workers locked out for refusing to sign new employment contract agreements. A group of 13 protest outside the mill gates for the next six years - longest industrial action in New Zealand trade union history.
1999: Alliance Textiles closes mill, 54 jobs lost.
1999: Mill reopens after QualitYarns New Zealand Ltd buys mill and equipment, 11 staff, growing to 35 by end of first year.
2000: QualitYarns buys worsted spinning line, creates another 13 jobs. 2008: Fifteen staff made redundant. Mill continues to employ 27 staff.
2011: Mill to close.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: 'The Poplars', Taieri Plain, Dunedin

2011-11-25T14:43:00.002+13:00

Woodside Manor or 'The Poplars', on the Taieri Plain south of Dunedin, is rather grander than the stately colonial villas that I've earlier posted. It was built in 1876 by a Scot, Francis MacDiarmid, and hints at those serious piles built by landed clansmen that one sees in 'Country Life'.

Using a more considered drawing than this sketch, I featured the mansion in my book New Zealand House and Cottage after I'd had the honour of meeting the owners who were bravely restoring it from severe malnourishment.

This watercolour was done in 1988, before I met the owners. I couldn't get near the house on that occasion but as I said then, 'distance lent enchantment' for, like Katisha, it wasn't too glamorous close up.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Girl Guide Hall, Mosgiel

2011-11-21T11:27:00.000+13:00

The little town of Mosgiel, south of Dunedin, was, in 1988, almost village-like and still showed signs of an earlier community. I'm not sure how old the Girl Guides' hall was but it seemed a luxury to be dedicated to one organization only, and rather suggested that there was probably a Boy Scouts' hall somewhere nearby.

The blank door aperture under that earnest keystone fascinated me. Had there ever been a door there, or was it just a matter of good intentions? On that score, why is the entrance where it is? Was the adjacent block an afterthought? An architectural oddity.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: 'Clairinch', Taieri Plain, Dunedin

2011-11-16T14:52:00.000+13:00

This is another of those gracious old houses on the Taieri Plain south of Dunedin. 'Clairinch' was built in 1878 and embodies those qualities that typify most buildings whose form comes from function rather than 'design'.

I didn't go inside when I drew the house in 1988 but suspect that the stairs to the dormer storeys are narrow and possibly have a rope rather than a wooden banister rail.

Somebody still loved 'Clairinch' a quarter of a century ago. I hope it's still cherished today.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: 'Duddingstone', Taieri Plain, Dunedin

2011-11-14T13:59:00.001+13:00

'Duddingstone' built in 1864 is one of a number of fine houses on the Taieri Plain south of Dunedin. It's a large, flat area laced by the meandering Taieri River and was probably attractive to early European settlers (many of Scots origin) as ideal grazing farmland.

Architecturally, the settlers seemed to compete with each other somewhat but the results of their up-with-the-Joneses efforts remain today in larger numbers than one might expect.

I did this watercolour in 1988.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Manor Place, Dunedin

2011-11-10T11:22:00.001+13:00

Dunedin is a hilly city and must have caused headaches for all of its builders. Two things fascinated me about Manor Place: firstly the urge to colour each component of the terrace differently - an impulse towards individuality, I suppose. The second was that in accommodating the horizontal boundary of the roofline and the slope of the street the segment on the left is one storey shorter than that on the right (while the two in the middle have trouble deciding whether to be two or three storeys). Most other structures residing in the same topography would be the same height but stepped up (see Stuart Street Terrace). Fascinating.

This drawing was done in 1988 so the colours may have changed by now but I think the shape will still be the same,

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Post Office, Mornington, Dunedin

2011-11-06T10:51:00.000+13:00

The building that I drew in 1988 is still there but it's no longer a post office. They hide post offices (which they now call 'shops') in grotty little buildings in shopping malls these days and the wonderful old tradition of fine, dignified buildings designed to reassure the public has now been killed. It's a sign of the times: email murdered snail mail!

I must have been feeling jolly when I did this illustration because it's all loose and wriggly. Happy days!

DON DONOVAN
donovn@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: 'Waiata', 24 Duke Street, Dunedin

2011-11-01T14:41:00.000+13:00

This Victorian house with its studied windows, self-important door lintel and stone quoins reminded me of Mr Pooter of 'The Diary Of Nobody' by George and Weedon Grossmith. I'm sure the first owner must have been just like him and would probably have painted his bathtub scarlet with the latest scientifically formulated enamel paint from the local hardware store.

One suspects that in 1988, when I did this illustration, it was yet another accommodation house for Otago University students. If it was, it stood up to them rather well.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: 1014/1008 George Street, Dunedin

2011-10-29T10:48:00.000+13:00

1988 was the first time I painted these mirror-image cottages in upper George Street, but not the last. They also feature in my book: New Zealand House and Cottage. They fascinated me. They shared the busy street with brick terraces and old villas with tiny gardens of high trees and enough vintage roses to grace all the cups and saucers ever created.

Nobody takes this much trouble when they design and build houses these days.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Houses, Dundas Street, Dunedin

2011-10-28T13:59:00.000+13:00

I have no doubt that this row of houses accommodated mainly students from Otago University who, as is the way of students, are often noisy, intrusive, badly behaved and impossible to live with - so why would any ordinary citizen want to be among their neighbours?

I don't know whether it was the landlords or the students who splashed paint around to try to disguise the fact that all the houses in the row are the same, but wheover it was was inspired. If the terrace hadn't been so polychromatic I should never have illustrated it. The drawing dates to about 1988, I expect they have been repainted many times since.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Otago Early Settlers Association Museum, Dunedin

2011-10-24T15:24:00.001+13:00

Somebody decided to be outrageously adventurous - either that or there was a collection of half-used pots of various coloured paints languishing in a council garage.

Fortunately paint can't actually destroy the underlying architecture and so, when I last looked at an image of the building on the Internet, they'd scrubbed it all off and it no longer looked as hideous as it did that day in 1987 when I did this illustration.

One good thing about this rainbow effect was that you could distinguish each architectural feature: portico, pediment, entablature, spandrels, pilasters, balustrades, columns and Corinthian capitals. Yay!

donovn@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Larnach's Castle, Otago Peninsula

2011-10-22T12:07:00.001+13:00

To my mind Larnach's Castle is a folly and was built by a man whose capacity for self-aggrandisement knew no bounds. Larnach was an Aussie of Scots descent who made lots of money from trading, gold exploitation and other speculative enterprises. How much of a hand he had in designing his folly I don't know but I get the impression that his architect was taking the piss out of him!

For all that, the putative castle is an attraction and sits in a most wonderful position on Otago Peninsula. It's so bad that it's good - like the Albert Memorial in London, William Randolph Hearst's pile in California or any of Saddam Hussein's palaces. I had great fun with all that cast iron 'lace'; it's drawn with a pen nib full of liquid rubber solution, allowed to dry, then washed over and peeled off. Hey Presto!

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Two Outhouses At Larnach's Castle, Otago Peninsula

2011-10-20T09:14:00.000+13:00

Larnach's Castle in itelf is a pretty eccentric building (more of that in another post) but its gardens contain some rather charming functional buildings. The brick and glass hothouse (above) is particularly elegant, its beauty, as is so often the case with practical buildings, dictated by function.

The stone outhouse (below) leaves no doubt that it's lockable, solid and unpretentious. No doubt that would be where expensive garden machinery was stored. The drawings date to 1987, I'm sure that over a decade into the new millenium nothing's changed.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

Cobb & Co's Stagecoach

2011-10-19T14:59:00.000+13:00

I did this drawing of the ‘Burton’ coach some years ago. It is in the collection of New Zealand’s Canterbury Museum who also supplied some of the information below:
This Cobb & Co ‘Telegraph Line’ coach went into service on the Hokitika-Christchurch route in about 1865, taking gold miners and other hopefuls to the new goldfields of West Canterbury (later the Province of Westland).

It is a derivative of American-built coaches, although the design was perfected in Australia.
As New Zealand’s railway network expanded, the coaching trade declined. This coach, however, was used for a surprisingly long time. Until 1923 and the opening of the Otira Rail Tunnel, it continued to cross the Southern Alps with teams of five horses and up to 17 passengers and their luggage.

Charlie C. Cole who had been running a coach service in Victoria, Australia introduced his coach service to Canterbury in 1863. He set up stables at Christchurch in partnership with his brother Leander. In 1869 operations were taken over by W.H. Burton & Company who continued to use the established name of Cobb & Co. in association with their own. The firm was sold again in 1874 to Hugh Cassidy who ran the operation until his death in 1922. Within twelve months the operation had ceased. The opening of the Otira Rail Tunnel in 1923 was the last link in a rail system joining both coasts of the South Island. After sixty years the coaches had become redundant.

***
On a personal note: I knew Sheila Sarginson and her sister, Mona Clark, mother and aunt of my late friend, Euan Sarginson; they had the memorable experience of having travelled together in the Cobb & Co. coach to Otira before the rail tunnel was opened. I once walked the remnant of the stagecoach track that ran, south of the modern highway, from the bottom of Porters Pass to near its summit. It has probably eroded completely by now.

© DON DONOVAN. With acknowledgements to Canterbury Museum.
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Fishing Boat at Port Chalmers, Otago

2011-10-12T15:54:00.000+13:00

I don't very often draw this sort of subject, preferring architectural stuff but this fishing boat, sitting propped up at Port Chalmers cried out for The Treatment. I loved its businesslike look, all that tackle: floats, winches, cranes and chains. The port is not far away from the entrance to Otago Harbour and the swells, beauties and perils of the open Pacific Ocean.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: 31 Currie Street, Port Chalmers

2011-10-10T14:20:00.000+13:00

I discovered this piece of domestic architectural jewellery as I mooched round the streets of Port Chalmers in 1987. It's a microcosm of that dour Victorian town on Otago Harbour: solid as the rocks of the peninsula and everlasting. They do say that if there was a catastrophic nuclear war only the cockroaches would survive; well, so would 31 Currie Street it is so... Permanent! And look at the detail: the quoins, the fence, the portico, door and those bi-coloured roof slates.

The New Zealand Historic Places Trust has this house on its protected list but precious little information is recorded except to say that it was built 'circa 1880'. 'Circa'? There's no doubt - it's on the pediment over the front door.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Palmerston Town Hall, Otago

2011-10-09T17:04:00.000+13:00

This must be one of the ugliest public buildings in New Zealand but I had to include it in the book because it's outrageously pretentious for a very small town. The town, Palmerston, is a little north of Dunedin in the South Island.

There's another Palmerston - Palmerston North - in the north island that's about a hundred times bigger and boasts quite a good university. Hardly anybody in this country knows about the one in the south so when somebody claims to come from Palmerston most people think it's the one in the North Island. Did you get all that?

Just along the road from the town hall there's a pub that's much more handsome - and probably much more useful.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Meldrum's Bakery, Usk Street, Oamaru

2011-10-08T11:32:00.000+13:00

This shortbread edifice is in a suburban street in Oamaru and was in a pretty sad state when I painted it in 1987. I've seen it more recently and somebody has tidied it up. Mr Meldrum must have had an uncommon love both of Oamaru stone (local limestone) and architecture because it's a fine piece of work, unique, there's no other baker's shop in the world that has its chutzpah.

It dates back to about 1880 when it stood on a quarter acre section with a six-roomed house also built of Oamaru stone.

If Mr Meldrum's bread and biscuits were as good as his shop he must have been one special baker!

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: The National Bank, Oamaru

2011-10-05T16:14:00.001+13:00

For sheer pomposity this pile takes the prize! In Oamaru, quite a small city even by New Zealand standards, the National Bank, built in 1871, breathes assurance to all of the surrounding citizenry. 'Give us your wealth. We'll keep it safe within these limestone Corinthian-capitalled pillars.'

It's glorious but I confess that I never looked beyond the façade preferring to believe that the stone goes all the way round. That was in 1987-ish. I was in Oamaru in 2010 and the building is still there and, I believe, is still the National Bank.

What has changed is that it's no longer New Zealand owned, the ANZ bank from Australia now owns it. But it still sports the prancing black horse - the Lloyds TSB Bank of England horse - go figure!

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Waimate Railway Station

2011-10-04T16:16:00.000+13:00

This glorious building was raised in 1900 and had been designed by Gordon Troup who certainly knew how to design a great railway station (see Dunedin's finest). If this building had been in any of the major cities of New Zealand - Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington Christchurch, Dunedin -it would have been demolished by now but because it's in Waimate nobody felt the rush of modernization and I hope nobody ever does!

My drawing does not do it justice. It requires a visit - but in this day and age don't go by train, use the car, it runs more frequently. The age of passenger rail transport is dead.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Evans Atlas Roller Flour Mill, Timaru

2011-10-03T16:00:00.001+13:00

It's hard to conjure up a vision of dark, satanic mills in New Zealand but the 1888 Evans Atlas Flour Mill in Timaru comes close. This is how it looked ninety-nine years later, I'm not sure whether it was still grinding in 1987 but you could still read the name on the building.

All those bricks!

The original is about 600mm wide. People often ask me how long it took to do the painting; well, surprisingly, not long - no more than an hour. Once the bricks were drawn (very quickly) the red washes were quick and easy. This is one of my favourites and takes up two pages in New Zealand Odyssey.'

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Bank of New Zealand, Rakaia, Canterbury

2011-09-30T16:21:00.000+13:00

Rakaia is a little settlement south of Christchurch just off State Highway 1 and close to the Rakaia, a whopper of a shingle river that crosses Canterbury Plains and tries to take bits of the Southern Alps with it into the Pacific Ocean.

If nothing else symbolizes the wealth of Canterbury farmers this four square pile does it nicely. According to that little box on the right hand side of the front door it dates to 1852 but I don't believe it.

In 1987 New Zealand's Bank of New Zealand owned it. I doubt if they do now; besides, it's no longer New Zealand's bank - it belongs to the Australians.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Quinn's Arcade, Waimate

2011-09-25T10:34:00.000+13:00

I couldn't believe my eyes when I discovered this building in Waimate in 1987. Not only was it architecturally unique in my experience but it was astonishing in such a small town. It was built in 1906 by a man who owned a brickworks - surprise, surprise, he must have used it to display his whole catalogue!

Mr Quinn thought it would make a nice covered shopping arcade but it never really worked that way; in the end it became a cinema and other things and, clearly, by 1987 it was freight depôt. It's not just a front, it runs the width of a block from High Street to Grigson Street. Long may it last.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Geraldine Cinema, South Canterbury

2011-09-24T14:44:00.001+12:00

This has got to be the most exciting piece of architecture in Geraldine - a pretty village in South Canterbury. Back in the early days of movies, in the absence of a cinema they used to show films in the local town hall - until a cinema was built. In Geraldine's case they didn't build a custom-made movie theatre - they turned the town hall into one. I was there in 2010 and it was still as it was in 1987 when I did this watercolour.

What is that architectural style? Fireside gothic? Pseudo-Tudor kitsch? I've no idea but I love it, I love it!

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Holy Name Church, Ashburton

2011-09-19T11:06:00.001+12:00

No matter how hard an author tries there is bound to be at least one mistake in any book. This was the only one in 'New Zealand Odyssey'. I captioned the church 'Holy Child, Ashburton'; it should have been 'Holy Name'.

I know how I made the mistake: my wife went to a Holy Child convent when she was a young girl. That name stuck in my mind and superseded 'Holy Name'. Simple as that. It took a reader in Ashburton to spot the mistake and tell me about it, much to my chagrin.

What appealed to me about the church was not so much its architecture - no matter how good it is - but that in a small town like Ashburton the local Roman Catholics could have had the cash and energy to build such a solid temple.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: 1878 Harbour Light, Timaru, South Canterbury

2011-09-15T11:22:00.001+12:00

This harbour light was built in 1878 to guide shipping into Timaru Harbour but by the time I painted it in 1987 it had been moved to Benvenue Street, Maori Park where it stood merely as a piece of history. Typical of design that comes from function its form is pleasing and sculptural giving off an air of solid reliability. I particularly liked the red cupola - a legitimate opportunity to use a primary colour without apology!

I think it's been, or is being, moved yet again in 2011.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Mailbox, Yaldhurst Road, Christchurch

2011-09-10T11:00:00.001+12:00

It's just another whacky side of the New Zealand character. We seem to need to outdo each other in various ways: some pretty weird houses (never two the same), a jumble of seaside cottages and mail boxes at the ends of drives - especially farms where the old, unused fridge or washing machine often comes in handy.

This adapted milk churn swayed gently in the breeze on Yaldhurst Road, an escape route from Christchurch that heads towards Porters Pass and the romantic transalpine highway to Westland. It was so open that I imagine that if the wind blew from the wrong direction all the paper mail and newspapers would have joined the escape.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Protest Graffiti, Winslow, Canterbury

2011-09-08T15:50:00.000+12:00

This is an example of a political protest made mock of by a cynical rustic. Protest made by earnest do-gooders; rustic riposte by, probably, the local sheep farmers.

In about 1987 when I did this drawing there was a strong movement against the export of live sheep to Muslim countries. So the protesters went round the country painting 'Ban Live Sheep Exports' on barns, sheep sheds and so on. The locals simply changed 'Ban' to 'Baa' and that was the end of that!

This shed was at Winslow, beside the main south road in mid-Canterbury. I couldn't resist it!

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Ellesmere Brass Band Hall, Leeston, Canterbury

2011-09-07T11:24:00.000+12:00

At Leeston, a small farming town on the Canterbury Plain near Lake Ellesmere, this proud, solid, earnest hall stood in 1987 as, to my mind, a good example of local community spirit. I daresay it was built early in the 20th century when people tended to travel less, stay in their discrete neighbourhoods and keep themselves occupied without the passive intrusion of television.

I guess it was built with funding from local subscription. I hope the brass band still flourishes and that the hall is still used for its original purpose.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: The Old Shipping Office, Akaroa

2011-09-01T11:00:00.000+12:00

This was a hasty scribble in my sketch book, I had intended to make a more formal rendering later but never did. Despite its looseness I think it conveys the essence of this old shipping office in Church Street, Akaroa. It was built in 1895.

The fascinating thing about this building is that it's entirely made of wood but that the architect found it necessary to make it look like stone. Why was that? Did it lend some pomposity and bank-like authority? Funny people, the Victorians.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: St. Patrick's Church, Akaroa

2011-08-31T15:36:00.001+12:00

There's a lot of joy in the design of this church by Maxwell Bury, architect. I mean, just look at those barge boards, they're an inspiration and almost a promise that religious observance doesn't have to be solemn. I did this painting in 1987 but I know that the building hasn't changed since then. It was built in 1865 and added to in 1886 and 1893 when the tower was built.

One of Maxwell Bury's instructions to the builders was: 'Piles should be charred to prevent decay... windows will be made by cutting the shape out of the wall planks...' I can't imagine any work like that being permitted in the 2000s but I'll bet the timber didn't rot and the building doesn't leak!

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Onuku Church At 'The Kaik' (Kainga=Village) Akaroa

2011-08-30T16:01:00.000+12:00

I've visited Onuku Marae near Akaroa on a number of occasions and have drawn this exquisite church more than once. On every occasion I've sought to find somebody who would not only give me permission to photograph and enter the church but also who might tell me something of its history, but Onuku village has always appeared deserted.

It's a delightful spot, somewhat remote at the end of a winding shoreline road but not far from the tourists' mecca of Akaroa. I guess the local Maori, though not unwelcoming, prefer their seclusion and lie incommunicado until visitors have left.

The church is a simple porch and nave; it's the Maori embellishments that give it its charm.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: The Little Red School Bus

2011-08-29T10:27:00.000+12:00

This illustration establishes a point in New Zealand's history when some school buses were still run by the Department of Education (which is now a Ministry). I drew this little red Bedford in 1987, at Allendale, when it carried children to school in the Lyttelton harbour area. It may bring tears to some eyes because it was quintessentially rural New Zealand.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Okains Bay Library, Banks Peninsula

2011-08-28T10:15:00.000+12:00

In 1987, this charming little hut was (and may still be) the Okains Bay Library. From the size of it I think I have more books than it does. I've often wondered about this sort of community library - how long would it be before a reader had exhausted its offering of books that might appeal to him or her? Perhaps it was topped up or stock-turned by a mobile library service, who knows?

Its real appeal is in the fact that a small community such as Okains Bay, quietly enjoying the peace of Banks Peninsula, had the cultural wit to set it up in the first place.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Brookshaw Woolshed, Pigeon Bay, Banks Peninsula

2011-08-24T15:36:00.001+12:00

I particularly remember that day in 1987 when I painted the woolshed. It was warm and dry and the heavy scent of lanolin sat on the still air like an exotic perfume. As the day warmed the timbers of the old building creaked a little as they moved in a continuum of movement that had gone on for many decades leaving the clapboards uneven, distorted and a delight for the artist.

Pigeon Bay was named for the abundant flocks of native birds - kereru - found there by European sailors in the mid-nineteenth century. The sailors killed them for food remorselessly; these days, thank heaven, the birds are protected.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey, Okains Bay Store

2011-08-21T11:06:00.001+12:00

Okains Bay, one of the many identations that form the periphery of Banks Peninsula, is relatively remote. Which explains why, in an age of 'samey' supermarkets the local general store breathes tradition and history.

When I drew it in 1987 it had just been taken over by a male solo parent who'd gone there for a quiet life and who could keep an eye on his two sons who were at the school directly oppostite the store.

It was a community gossip hub and nothing much had changed, including the two solid kauri counters, since the store was built.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Banks Peninsula Cruising Club, Lyttleton

2011-08-19T14:40:00.000+12:00

While it's true that we mostly found older architecture to express 'our New Zealand' there were occasions when we were impressed by the new. In a country of generally bad architecture the odd gem stands out and this was one of them.

I'm not sure which Canterbury architect designed it but it was an inspiration. I believe the cruising club later amalgamated with another and so lost its identity. As for the building: I don't know whether or not it still exists.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Captain Simeon's House, Lyttelton

2011-08-18T11:09:00.001+12:00

This picture postcard cottage on Godley Quay cried out for inclusion in New Zealand Odyssey - not only that, I also put it into a book I wrote and illustrated titled New Zealand House and Cottage.

The house was built between 1853 and 1860 by a Lyttleton businesman, Henry Le Cren. But mystery surrounds Captain Charles Simeon; he's hard to pin down. He came from a wealthy English family and arrived at Lyttelton in October 1851 complete with a pregnant wife, five children, a governess, cook, housemaid, footman, lady’s maid and housekeeper - a retinue described by Charlotte Godley, who accommodated them upon their arrival, as ‘alarming’!

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Shands Emporium, 88 Hereford Street, Christchurch

2011-08-17T14:56:00.001+12:00

This building was put up in 1860. I did this painting in about 1987. In among its later multi-storey (though not high) neighbours it looked defiant, like an old man wearing a stiff, detachable collar long after the fashions changed. It had a wild west look about it and instead of seeing buses pass in the street one could have imagined tumbling sagebrush on a bed of dust and horse manure.

The amazing thing is that now, in 2011, the internet has images of Shands emporium that are almost identical. It was damaged in the earthquakes but was classified 'make safe'.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Dowson's Shoes, Riccarton Road, Christchurch

2011-08-16T08:50:00.000+12:00

You'd only see a thing like this in New Zealand; an old building with nowhere to go, its life extended by being turned into some sort of warehouse depôt for shoes. Somebody had hopes for it once; look at those quoins up the corner walls and the decorated pediments over door and windows.

Its brick construction suggests to me that if it hadn't already gone by then, the earthquakes would have demolished it. Good idea, really. So dreary.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Signal Box, Heathcote Valley

2011-08-15T15:20:00.001+12:00

Railway buildings have a charm unique - especially those belonging to New Zealand Rail. Busy, self-important, functional and sturdy. I guess that like most small boys who never get the chance, I should like to have pulled some of those levers and set off some warning bells and lights in my time. Too late now.

This signal box was, is? at Heathcote in a valley that leads through rock portals to a tunnel to Lyttelton. The valley took a pounding in the Canterbury earthquakes but I'm sure the signal box is still there.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Christchurch Boys' High School

2011-08-12T08:40:00.001+12:00

I cannot for the life of me remember what this building at Christchurch Boys' High School was for. It might have been an old gymnasium. I was intrigued by it because despite it being a gloomy looking thing, somebody went to the trouble of designing it - even to the curlicued lightning conductor on the pyramidal roof. It must have resonated with some old boys because one of them bought the original off me for a decent sum!

It's all brick and such structures did not survive too well in the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011. I wonder...

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Pegasus Press, 14 Oxford Terrace, Christchurch

2011-08-11T16:42:00.002+12:00

I've known this beautifully proportioned place for fifty-one years. It was the home of Pegasus Press and was the fiefdom of Albion Wright a rascal who lived and breathed publishing. His office was the two windows on the right of the entrance, a dark, cosy room lit by a table lamp, reeking of cigar smoke and whose coffee table was a pattern of rings left by beer and whisky glasses.

A printing office was at the back, run by Peter Low, where I used to go to buy printing for my company and take the opportunity to linger with the compositors and machinists - I've always loved printing works and publishers.

This watercolour was done in about 1987. The company was later sold. I don't know what happened to Pegasus or the building.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Synagogue, Gloucester Street, Christchurch

2011-08-10T16:51:00.002+12:00

I wrote and illustrated a book 'Country Churches of New Zealand' and being so irreligious that I could be labelled atheistic-ecumenical, I wanted to put all denominations' churches into it.

But the title excluded town churches and so, regrettably, I couldn't feature this synagogue. It's four square and proud and that star window is bold as any rose window in any Christian cathedral, I'll bet it looks great from the inside.

I believe the temple survived all the Canterbury earthquakes.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Rural Barn, Leithfield, North Canterbury

2011-08-03T10:24:00.001+12:00

This is so typically rural New Zealand that it might pass unnoticed. It's a barn/garage/shed or what you will at Leithfield, North Canterbury. It looked to me, in 1987, as if it hadn't been opened for many years, its timbers warped and the grass grown long. It reminded me of an old, forgotten garage in Governors Bay in which I glimpsed, through a crack, a Model T Ford. Who knows what might lie concealed within this country barn?

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odysey: Kaiapoi Community Centre

2011-08-01T11:51:00.000+12:00

All over the world in the 1930s, the magic of Hollywood was stimulating a cult of cinema art deco architecture not only in the great metropolises but in tiny, insignificant communities like Kaiapoi, north of Christchurch.

This building, a community centre when I painted it in 1987, started life as The Rialto Movie Theatre in 1935 designed by Colin Lamb, who had only recently returned to New Zealand from studying in England and America.

Apparently it was going to be demolished in 1995 but was saved by a Christian fellowship organization who subsequently ran it as a church. Whether it suffered in the 2011 earthquake I don't know.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Kaiapoi Rail Yards.

2011-07-25T15:21:00.001+12:00

The only excuse I have for including this illustration from 'New Zealand Odyssey' is that the shapes appealed to me; oh - and, of course, it's a very New Zealand sort of scene.

NZ railways have only ever been attractive when their forms have been dictated by their functions. Some of the most beautiful of forms have been the viaducts and spirals that have been forced upon the engineers by the landscape. At a more mundane level, railway sheds have a character all their own like this one at Kaiapoi - a concerto of corrugated iron and a money-spinner for manufacturers of ochrish paint!.

Kaiapoi took an awful battering in the 2010 and 2021 Canterbury earthquakes but I'll bet this shed, if it hadn't already been deliberately demolished, survived. My drawing dates to 1987.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Ohoka House (1870), Rangiora, North Canterbury

2011-07-22T15:39:00.000+12:00

I found this stately old house in North Canterbury in 1986 resplendent with its decorative barge boards, slate roof (from Wales?) and red bricks. Looking at it twenty-five years later I wonder how it coped with the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011. Brick buildings suffered terribly; indeed a near contemporary of Ohoka, the Deans's family home at Homebush, was almost completely destroyed.

In some ways, Ohoka appears a bit brooding and grim, a bit Dickensian, but a happy family - dynasty - would have put the lie to that. I know nothing of the family, the architect or the builders.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Old Union Rowing Club, Avonside, Christchurch

2011-07-21T16:09:00.000+12:00

These wonderful buildings stood beside the Avon River near Oxford Terrace in 1987 when I did this drawing. Clearly much loved with fresh paintwork, the one on the right was the Union Rowing Club and the small neighbour belonged to the Naval Association. I was puzzled about the rowing club because the Avon was very shallow but I think the building had been constructed when a weir downstream, later removed, held water back thus raising the level.

Look at those wonderful decorative shingles on the gables. Nobody bothers with such detail these days.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: The Red Post, Culverden

2011-07-20T15:57:00.000+12:00

The thing that fascinated me about this fork in the road from Christchurch to Hanmer (left) or Waiau (right) was the red post stuck in the ground on the other side of the road (under the sign). It was a survey marker the original of which was installed in 1871. Because it was red, the area around it was known simply as 'The Red Post'. It was even included as that in railway plans until the name was superseded later by Culverden.

It's still known as Red Post Corner and the post, which some twit once painted yellow, is still there and painted red again. (Or it was in about 1987). Is it still there?

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Antigua Boat Sheds, Christchurch

2011-07-16T11:08:00.000+12:00

There's nothing else quite like the Antigua Boat Sheds anywhere else in the whole of New Zealand. Like huts wearing college blazers, they've been on the city's Avon River since 1892. They were a delight to illustrate in 1987 and, after the awful earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, I hope they've survived.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Reid's Store, Maruia

2011-07-13T11:07:00.001+12:00

This old store stood at Maruia, on the Lewis Pass road across the Southern Alps from Canterbury to Westland. I did the black and white pen sketch in 1986 feeling pretty sure that the building was coming to the end of its life.

On the uneven clapboard wall of the doorway at the right end there was the notice board (below) tattered, corners missing, years of pin holes but showing a spark of life among the local villagers whose existences could have been quite hard - especially in alpine winters.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Mayfair Theatre, Kaikoura

2011-07-10T10:43:00.000+12:00

This is how Kaikoura's Mayfair Theatre looked around 1988. It still looks the same today except that it's had at least one paint makeover since then - I suspect many more than one.

The simple, symmetrical art deco building comes as a bit of a surprise as you travel along the foreshore of the Kaikoura Peninsula whose architecture is largely New Zealand suburban seaside 'gothic' built around the late nineteenth early twentieth centuries. Kaikoura is one of those resorts whose populations swell enormously in the holiday season; otherwise I doubt that the small town could support a healthy theatre.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: The Door of the Old Uruwhenua Schoolhouse

2011-07-09T11:52:00.000+12:00

When working on illustrations for 'New Zealand Odyssey' I was always delighted when the opportunity came to play with textures. The old Uruwhenua school house was nothing much to look at but its door was a fine mix of flaking colour and stressed dilapidation. How long before I did this drawing the school closed I don't know but I'll bet a large number of cats, rats and possums used that convenient hole on many later occasions.

I gave the original drawing to a friend in Sydney.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Tophouse Cottage Mailbox

2011-07-08T14:55:00.001+12:00

The New Zealander's capacity to recycle imaginatively was encapsulated in this enchanting mailbox by the roadside at Tophouse on the road to Nelson.

On a tree stump rests the remains of a 'Diabolo' 50 gallon pump (which in itself is a piece of functional sculpture); on top of that a horizontal oil drum, and beside all a standard US-type mailbox. The word 'MAIL', which indicates that the occupier takes the Nelson Mail newspaper, somehow appears back to front. Don't ask me how or why, I can't remember, I did this drawing in 1988.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: The Old Longford Store, Murchison

2011-07-07T16:19:00.000+12:00

The Old Longford Store, five kilometres north of Murchison, looked like this in 1988. It long ago closed down. Now worse for wear, rusty roof sagging, it's just a memory. I actually remember when it was a functioning shop in the 1960s!

The finger post points up the Mangles Valley, to a trout stream I much wanted to fish when I arrived in New Zealand from England in 1960. I was fortunate to meet a man whose farm straddled the river and we've been friends ever since. The original of this drawing hangs in his house. I can't think of a better place for it to be.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Bush Hut, St.Arnaud

2011-07-06T14:44:00.001+12:00

A typical bush hut such as you would find anywhere in the back blocks of New Zealand. It's constructed of vertical boards and battens with a wooden floor, a corrugated iron roof (what else?) and a triumph of rusty steel sheeting for a chimney. In 1988, this example, at St. Arnaud, south of Nelson, was close to a main road but I doubt if there was anything grander than a pony track when it was built.

With that size chimney it would have had such a fireplace that on a cold night, when the logs were roaring, people inside would have had trouble avoiding roasting themselves! I wonder how many sausages and gallons of beer have been consumed here over its lifetime? And I wonder whether it's still there?

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: The Remains of Glenhope Railway Station

2011-07-01T11:19:00.007+12:00

There used to be a railway line from Nelson to Glenhope - a long time ago - and in 1988 this is what part of the station building's remains looked like. You could still read 'Luggage Room' and 'Telegraph' lettered over the doors.

Old buildings that are still standing are rarely left unused in New Zealand, especially in farming areas, and the station was amply stocked with winter feed on the day I visited. Surprisingly the roof iron was still in good condition but it was along time since it rattled from the vibrations of a docking locomotive.

donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Commercial Stables, Murchison

2011-06-27T15:26:00.001+12:00

I have no idea how old this building is but I reckon that when I drew it in 1988 it was well over 100 years old. Can't you just hear the hooves and the rumble of iron-rimmed wheels echoing through that archway to the forge beyond?

Murchison was, is, not only an important farming area but also has a romantic gold history revolving round the powerful Buller River and its tributaries. I first went to 'Murch' in 1960 just after arrival in New Zealand and made lifelong friends who farmed on the Mangles River where brown trout haunted the stones like nuclear submarines!

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: St. George's, Motupiko

2011-06-26T15:20:00.001+12:00

I 'discovered' this charming little church concealed behind a screen of trees when I was travelling the road between Murchison and Tasman Bay. I'd stopped to look at the map, and there it was, hiding; nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, I later included a new painting of it in my book 'Country Churches of New Zealand'; this is what I wrote about it:

'I think it among the prettier of the churches I've painted, probably because the architect, Stead Ellis, incorporated some window, bargeboard and buttress detail that takes it beyond the ordinary.

'It must have looked superb with its original shingle roof. It's Anglican despite the corbels of its window hood-mouldings bearing the St. Andrew's crosses more associated with Presbyterianism. It was consecrated on 30 September 1892.'

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Belgrove Railway Station Windmill

2011-06-24T08:51:00.000+12:00

It is claimed that this is the best remaining example of a wooden railway windmill in New Zealand. Apparently it was used to pump water into locomotives about to make the steep climb to the tunnel through the Spooner Range south of Nelson. This one operated between 1898-1955 and was still standing proudly in 1988 when I drew it.

You don't see a lot of pumps like this in New Zealand but Australia's full of them, and so is Texas (which is the only US state I've ever spent much time in).

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Wakefield Post Office

2011-06-21T09:54:00.001+12:00

Wakefield is a small village south of Nelson; small, yes, but proud enough to have built this heroic post office in 1909, and what a fine building it is. I did this drawing in 1988, seventy-nine years later, when the officers at New Zealand Post were still in the habit of raising the flag each morning to signify that they were in business.

Alas, as with most New Zealand Post Offices it not only shut down but even those left don't fly the flag these days; more's the pity. The building is still there but I have no idea what it is used for.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Tophouse

2011-06-20T11:50:00.000+12:00

The Tophouse road runs between St. Arnaud and Kohatu. It used to be the main connexion between Nelson and Blenheim but now it's an interesting secondary route. Tophouse homestead started life as a hostelry in 1887 and much history took place within its walls, some of it grim. In 1894 a lodger murdered the licensee and held a woman three childen captive before doing the sensible thing and committing suicide while besieged. Exciting stuff: there are still shot marks in the cob walls.

There was a lowering sky when I painted it. I probably overdid it but there's plenty of drama in that Payne's grey sky!

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: The Silversmith's House, Whanganui Inlet

2011-06-13T14:28:00.001+12:00

Whanganui Inlet, in the top left hand corner of the South Island, is so remote that this house came as quite a surprise high on its hill in thick bush looking towards the west, the Tasman Sea and Tasmania. Although, for some reason, I couldn't get very close to the house its design looked equally astonishing, in 1988 in a country full of mediocre architecture, this was impressive, imaginative and unique.

It was identified as 'The Silversmith's House' and when, recently, I asked around, I was told that it had probably been built by its first owner, a jeweller, Peter Meirs who now lives in Golden Bay.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Bendix Washing Machine Mail Box, Pakawau

2011-06-12T11:55:00.000+12:00

New Zealanders have a reputation for lateral thinking that requires to be exemplified in a book about the special qualities of this country. On our Odyssey we saw many varieties of mail box where the 'postie' collected and deposited letters and parcels every day. This one took my fancy. It is the internal workings of a Bendix washing machine no longer given over to churning and spinning. One imagines that the owner could not bear to throw the washer away when it could still have a useful function.

It was by a country road at Pakawau in the north-west corner of the South Island.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: The Rat Trap, Upper Takaka

2011-06-11T11:30:00.007+12:00

This drawing was done in 1988. I've drawn the pub several times since and it appeared in my book 'The Good Old Kiwi Pub'. This is what I wrote about it then:

'The Rat Trap, built in 1903, guarded the only road exit from the Takaka Valley to Riwaka, Motueka and the market gardens of Tasman Bay. I painted it on a number of occasions because it offered such a welcoming prospect after the breathtaking descent into the valley from the limestone heights of Takaka Hill-the "Marble Mountain".

'While well-known all over Nelson Province, the pub was never more popular than in the late 1930s when more than five hundred workers were constructing the hydroelectric dam in nearby Cobb Valley. That’s when the Upper Takaka Hotel was given its nickname. Life was hard at the remote dam site and the men sometimes became ’stir crazy’, so much so that absenteeism, caused by workers not returning to camp after making supply trips, became commonplace.

'"Where are the men?" the overseer would demand.

'The answer would come, "Caught in the Rat Trap!"

'They solved the problem by buying truckloads of beer from the pub and selling it in the works canteen. They bought so much that the Rat Trap’s beer sales were greater than any other pub in Nelson Province.

'It’s still possible to get trapped in Golden Bay if the hill is closed by snow and ice but, sadly, you won’t find comfort at the Rat Trap; it burned to the ground on 19 May 1994. It’s a tragic story; a husband and wife were proprietors and she, with tortured mind, fired the place which had trapped her and turned her into what her defence counsel at her arson trial described as ‘a lonely and terrified woman’. With heartening compassion the jury found her not guilty.

'I grieve for her, her husband and the old Rat Trap.'

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Rangimarie Worm Farm, Brooklyn Valley

2011-06-08T14:18:00.001+12:00

I think that it was probably in my ignorance that I found this worm farm interesting. I'd never seen one before, didn't know that they existed and wondered whether you could get milk, fleece or steaks off a well bred worm? Here it was in the middle of farmland nowhere; was it a joke?

No, of course not. Like bees, worms do a lot more for us than we ever realize, and the people who owned the worm farm knew what a contribution they make to soil improvement.

I called my drawing 'Helminthic husbandry in the Brooklyn Valley'. It fits.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey; Tobacco Crop, Brooklyn Farm, Motueka

2011-06-03T15:31:00.001+12:00

The Motueka area in 1988 had an abundance of hop and tobacco farms. The hops go on today, but tobacco has become a no-no, having killed generations of smokers. It's still legal to grow the crop, but under very strict regulations, and if there are any tobacco farmers left they will have little to hand over to their heirs.

The crop was picturesque and the aroma inside that drying kiln was seductive. So, within a short lifetime this has become an historic picture and a once proud occupation 'Tobacco Farmer' as desirable as a kiss with hepatitis.

Interestingly, Keith Holyoake, a prime minister of New Zealand, who died five years before I did this drawing, was once a tobacco farmer in Motueka; nothing to be ashamed of then.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Inglis Hops, Riwaka

2011-06-02T15:40:00.000+12:00

The architecture of this hop drying kiln at Riwaka in the west of Nelson province derives from its function, nothing else; and like so many functional buildings it has its own, unique charm. There were others like it in the area (whose climate favours both hops and the now pariah tobacco) but I haven't seen anything in the rest of New Zealand that looks quite the same. I did this painting in 1988 but I imagine that the kiln still exists.

I'm not the only artist to be attracted to this subject, Rita Angus did a superb painting, 'Hop Kilns, Motueka' in 1941, have a look at it, just put the title in the Google search box.

donovan@ihug.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Topz Footwear Repairs, Trafalgar Street, Nelson

2011-05-27T10:35:00.001+12:00

More corrugated iron! This lean-to was in the main shopping street of Nelson in 1988 and it, with the adjacent green building, seemed to be defying any attempt to bring the city into the 20th century (as it was). I wonder whether it still exists in the 21st century?

As for the Westpac Bank, I'm not sure whether it was also behind old iron like the repair shop but it had already struggled into a new dawn by changing its name from The Bank of New South Wales in 1982.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

New Zealand Odyssey: Baptist Church, Nelson

2011-05-26T15:29:00.002+12:00

To my mind this rather grand church belies what I have always thought of as a simple religion, perhaps I'm thinking of some other? Quakers perhaps? But it was a joy to paint in 1988 with all its decorative features and iron curlicues but, as with so many New Zealand buildings it's wearing a cloth cap - corrugated iron! Surely they could have run to a few shingles or shakes?

I knew a very beautiful woman once who was a devout Baptist. When she heard that I was an atheist (or maybe agnostic) she told me that when I die I will have a 'hell of a shock'. I thought that somewhat arrogant; it remains to be seen!

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.