gundry's grumbles with Simon Gundry
Simon Gundry is a Devonport and North Shore identity, and character, who is known for calling a spade a spade. He is a director of contracting company Gill & Gundry, is an enthusiastic and active sailor (past crew-member of Ceramo New Zealand and Lion New Zealand in Whitbread Round The World races and Shockwave in Admiral’s Cup) and is a life member North Shore Rugby Football Club. This is his regular and lively contribution to CHANNEL.
it all changed WITH THE BRIDGE in 1959
In 1959 there was a radical change on the North Shore when the Harbour Bridge was finally opened to traffic, and opening up the North Shore to the rest of Auckland.
The previous front door had been in Devonport, where the vehicular and passenger ferries rode the harbour to bring people and their cars to the Shore, a largely marine and agricultural area in those days.
In the years prior to the opening of the Harbour Bridge, the East Coast Bays were developed in ribbon like development as far as Torbay, with small houses or seaside baches on large pieces of land, many with sea or harbour views. People commuted from there by bus, and ferry from Devonport, Bayswater and Birkenhead to Auckland City.
With the opening of the Harbour Bridge large tracts of land were developed. When we started our concrete company at the end of the 1960’s, urban sprawl was taking place throughout the North Shore in a huge way. The housing companies bought up vast pieces of land which were previously strawberry farms, dairy farms and the like, subdivided the land and built hundreds of houses. We started working on a Neil Subdivision in Sunnynook Road. Neil Construction had their construction sheds on the corner of Sunnynook and Sycamore Drive where the shops are now. We hand dug thousands of metres of foundations for Neil Housing in the ensuing years. We worked on all the major subdivisions that were happening at that time. The Maxwell Farm was developed into Maxwelton Braes, which lay between East Coast Road and Mairangi Bay. This opened up hundreds of sections, the cost of them between $2000-$3000. We worked on Glamorgan Drive, which was formerly part of Dr Greville’s farm, and was opened up in the early 1970’s with again hundreds of sections that were gobbled up by new families moving onto the Shore. Beautiful acres of pristine bush became Chatswood Estate in Birkenhead.
The Miller Brothers’ farms at Chartwell Ave were bought and developed, and became the Marlborough Estate. The population of the North Shore virtually doubled overnight.
Tracts of houses were developed on the previous strawberry farms at Birkenhead, Birkdale and Glenfield. We got the new shopping malls at Shore City and Glenfield. The North Shore was developing quickly into a vibrant place to live, without the hustle and bustle of the big city across the bridge.
I can remember driving with Walter Gill down Target Road in our old contracting vehicle, when Real Estate agents were putting signs up for industrial land. I commented then “Who the hell would want to buy an acre of gorse covered land for $2500?” Oh, how things have changed since then.
I’ve spent my contracting life on the North Shore, seeing how things have developed and changed over the years. We spent two years with Fletcher Housing at the Clemows’ Orchard subdivision, putting 180 houses into what was once a beautiful apple orchard. I spent years working on industrial sites through Bush Road, where there again were apple orchards and agricultural smallholdings. I have personally seen 40 odd years of enormous change on the North Shore.
Contracting was very easy then, all we needed was a small truck, a couple of barrows, a few shovels, gumboots, a transistor radio and a decent reinforcing steel cutter. There was an abundance of work from a myriad of different building contractors; this seems to have faded as time has faded.
The Harbour Bridge is now the front door to the North Shore, the other front door is in a sad state of neglect – that is the Devonport Wharf. The reconstruction of this wharf took place 20 years ago, it was duly opened with pomp and pageantry and huge expectation by Prince Edward. In the early days it showed a lot of promise, with wonderful shops, two outstanding bars and restaurants upstairs with vibrant views of our wonderful harbour. Truly a front door to be proud of.
But over the ensuing years, when ownership of the wharf changed and landlords were greedy for profits, businesses closed and the complex has fallen into a sad state of neglect. I find it embarrassing now to meet guests off the ferry and walk down the wharf noticing the neglect and the closed restaurants – it could be such a wonderful asset to both Devonport and Auckland City – as it sits on one of the most prestigious sites in the City.
Even the old concrete wharf is in a sad state, once they closed it to traffic people use this facility for fishing, and leave their rubbish lying all over the end of the wharf. The east side of the wharf is used as a rubbish storage area for the shops that now reside on the wharf itself, with a storage and stockpiling facility for their empty cartons etc. for recycling. It’s a total eyesore and the whole place needs one good tidy up to bring it back to the once proud wharf that stood there, and was once the front door to the North Shore.
The North Shore City Council were contemplating changes to the Devonport Library – I think the ideal solution would not be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on the existing botched around Library, but spending it instead on demolishing the whole building, the whole area there is a rebuild of a rehash of a once average building with no architectural or historical value at all. Turn it back into park land and relocate the library into the empty areas on the wharf - especially the two empty restaurants upstairs, can you imagine what a wonderful environment this would be to have a library in? Can you imagine walking down the main street of Devonport, past Clarence St and looking out to the sparkling Waitemata without the hindrance of the ugly Library building blocking the view. Just the trees, the statue of the Unknown Soldier, and the fountain bubbling gently. Not exactly rocket science, it could be done very easily.
Anyway, enough of my grumbles for this year. Please have a wonderful Festive Season – look after your family and friends. Enjoy a few barbecues, swims at our beaches and relax on our wonderful North Shore, we have a stunning community and we’re so lucky to live here.
State King Of The Bays LEADS WAY...
