Auckland History and Quotes

Firstly some quotes:

'Laugh at ministers all you want, they have the words we need to hear, the ones the dead have spoken'. Rabbit in John Updike, Rabbit is Rich.

'It can surely be said that the Psalter presents a struggle of the just against the unjust', Jose Miranda, Communism in the Bible (from the opening pages of a book i've started, Walter Bruggemann's theological commentary on the Pslams.)

From the book i've just finished reading on Auckland, which i discuss a bit below:

'It [Auckland City Councils etc] has been drowned by the cacophony of promotion by business lobbies that we live in an Economy not a Community", p.299.

I especially like that quote.

A recent book i've just finished reading is Gordon Mclauchlan's 'Auckland, the Story of a Colourful City'. It is an interesting read about some of the Auckland's history from just around contact to the present Super City discussions. However, it spends most of its time in the 19th C. I've taken some pictures of some of the places he mentions as important, and i'll put them up soon. Some of the highlights for me were:

Onehunga as the first town in the British Commonwealth to have a female Mayor. She was apparently very capable and become Mayor before women were enfranchised in 1893, or maybe it was the same year. Go Onehunga.

St Pauls was originally located in Emily Place, were that triangle of land/picnic seats still exists by Shortland Street. The rock there represents where the biggest Church in Auckland stood at the time and it was impressive, internationally, for its size and style. And, it was impressive in Auckland over looking point Britomart. It was the biggest building in Auckland for years. It is nice that the monument exists to its original location.

The Settlers dumped all their crap and wees into Okahu Bay, which insulted Maori who did not even use crap for fertilizer. Literally, settler's shat on Maori in Auckland.

Mt Eden, or, Maungawhau (which means "Mountain of the Whau Tree") was an important landmark where Captain William Hobson in part made his decision to move the capital from Russell (i think...) down to Auckland. It is named after George Eden, first Earl of Auckland, whom Hobson admired greatly (namely numerous things after him!) Looking over the isthmus, he saw the potential of the area, it's rapid, unplanned growth. Which has, McLauchlan argues, led to the culture of economic risk/success which has dominated the city more than others in New Zealand. On Mt Eden, where i was up today, there is a rather pathetic monument to surveyors who cut up Auckland into the city is today - in particular, Matthew Felton.

Alex, i really think you'd enjoy this book. There is a lot of geographical and town planning information in the city's history.