Signposts - a blog about Te Ara the Encyclopedia of New Zealand

The original caption of this image, in the Auckland Weekly News of 29 November 1917 said, ‘Well done, New Zealand’ as King George V awarded the Victoria Cross to Sergeant Samuel Frickleton at a parade in Glasgow, Scotland.

On Saturday April 3rd a memorial to New Zealand soldier Samuel Frickleton VC was unveiled in his birthplace at Slamannan, Scotland. He won his Victoria Cross for gallantry during the battle of Messines in 1917. Frickleton’s bravery is remembered in Scotland, the land of his birth; in New Zealand where he emigrated; and also in Ulster where he is regarded as an Ulster-Scot.

Sam Frickleton’s story is similar to that of many working class people who emigrated to New Zealand for a better life in the early 1900s. He came from a large coal-mining family, and by 1911 he and six brothers were working underground with their father. The death of his father and hard economic times led the family to emigrate. The two elder sons went to the US, while the five other boys and their mother emigrated to Blackball, New Zealand. They were a close-knit and unruly family, handy with their fists, and remembered locally as the ‘Fighting Frickletons’.

All five Frickleton boys in Blackball volunteered to serve with the New Zealand army in the First World War. They saw service in Gallipoli and on the western front. All five were badly injured at different times. William Frickleton died of his wounds, and the other four were eventually discharged as medically unfit.

Sam Frickleton’s gallantry is commemorated at Messines and in Slamannan. Although his medals and other memorabilia (including his boxing gloves) are held at the National Army Museum in Waiouru, he has no memorial in Blackball apart from a photograph in the Workingmen’s Club.

Following a major strike in 1908, Blackball has long been a union stronghold. Because of ongoing anti-militarist sentiment, there was no war memorial in Blackball until 2008, although a large number of men from there died in both world wars. The recently unveiled war memorial includes the name of William Frickleton.

There are no longer any Frickletons in Blackball, or on the West Coast. Sam Frickleton moved to the North Island after 1920, and died in Lower Hutt in 1971.

The impact of the 1868 Tsunami on Banks Peninsula

The tsunami alert resulting from the Chilean earthquake of 27 February 2010 is a reminder of the hazard that tsunamis pose to coastal areas around New Zealand.

In the early 21st century we have instant communication around the world. It was very different in August 1868, when one or more large earthquakes close to the Chile–Peru border caused a huge tsunami that spread around the Pacific Ocean. The first anyone in New Zealand knew was when the first wave arrived soon after 3 a.m. on 15 August. Sea-level fluctuations continued for over 12 hours, causing considerable damage, for example around Banks Peninsula.

James Hector, then in charge of the Geological Survey and the Colonial Museum, collected observations from around New Zealand. He wrote three separate reports, as more information came to hand.

On 25 August 1868 Hector was able to produce a graph of sea level changes from New Zealand ports, showing when the first wave arrived and how long the sea level continued to fluctuate. Although the cause of the sea level fluctuation was uncertain, in his first report Hector correctly deduced that it was probably caused by a distant earthquake.

By 1st September 1868 Hector had more information, including reports from the Chatham Islands, where one man was drowned trying to rescue a boat.

In his final report on 1st October 1868 Hector was able to confirm that the tsunami originated from South America, and also had compiled newspaper reports of the tsunami from around New Zealand and Australia.

The 1868 tsunami has considerable historic importance, as it was documented by Ferdinand von Hochstetter, an Austrian scientist who had visited New Zealand in 1859. He charted the progress of the tsunami across the Pacific. It is the first detailed scientific analysis of a major tsunami, but the results are not too different from what is being reported 140 years later.

Were you affected by the tsunami on Sunday?

Brian Mason

Expatriate scientist Brian Mason died in Washington DC in December 2009, aged 92.

Appointed Curator of Meteorites at the Smithsonian Institution in 1965, he examined and described more than 7,000 meteorites in the last 40 years – probably more than anyone else has ever looked at. Although he officially retired in 1984, he continued to work at the Smithsonian until a few months before his death.

With a long-term love of travel, Dr Mason led an adventurous life, starting with climbing in the Southern Alps during his student days in the late 1930s. Awarded a postgraduate scholarship to study overseas in 1939, he rejected the conventional path to Oxford or Cambridge, and elected to study the new science of geochemistry under Professor Victor Goldschmidt in Oslo. He was only there for a few months in early 1940 before the German invasion, and he was lucky to escape to Sweden, where he completed his PhD.

Appointed Curator of Mineralogy at the American Museum of Natural History in 1953, he was in charge of one of the world’s most spectacular mineral collections. His introduction to meteorites came when he found the large collection of meteorites in boxes filling the corridors, waiting for him to sort them out. Later, his book Meteorites became a standard text.

Brian Mason returned to New Zealand many times and wrote a number of papers on geological topics. Indeed, many local scientists knew him through his New Zealand research, and were unaware of his overseas work in geochemistry and meteorite science. He was always disappointed that so few meteorites had been found in New Zealand.

An admirer of the American tradition of philanthropy, Dr Mason established a number of trust funds at Canterbury Museum and the University of Canterbury, as well as setting up the Brian Mason Scientific & Technical Trust.

Recently published obituaries reflect different sides of his career. Not surprisingly, the one published in the Washington Post emphasises his work on meteorites at the Smithsonian, while that on the Royal Society of New Zealand website has information on the New Zealand side of his career. The University of Canterbury notes his long-term connection with the Department of Geological Sciences, while a memorial by the Canterbury Mountaineering Club notes his long term membership and generous financial support in rebuilding the Park Morpeth hut (where he sheltered after a climbing accident in 1934).

Brian Mason’s life is described in an autobiographical memoir, From Mountains to Meteorites, published by the Geological Society of New Zealand in 2001.

In honour of the launch of Te Ara’s entry on the West Coast, find out how well you know ‘The Coast’.

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Westport Borough Council building – the West Coast meets Los Angeles

Although Napier and Hastings are often identified with the art deco style of architecture, it is also found in other parts of New Zealand, including Westport – the art deco capital of the West Coast.

This is because Westport was badly damaged by the 1929 Murchison earthquake. In the subsequent reconstruction in the 1930s several of the town’s larger buildings were erected, incorporating art deco features:

• The Buller County Council chambers featured in an issue of four art deco stamps produced by New Zealand Post in 1999.
• The Westport Borough Council building uses simple classical lines to produce a solid municipal building. It looks like solid stone, yet is really stucco. With a palm tree and the sun shining, it could be in Los Angeles.
• The post office building was badly damaged in the earthquake, and has been partly reconstructed using typical art deco symbols over the windows.

Many older movie theatres were built in the 1920s and 1930s, and have external decoration in the art deco style – often a good way to dress up a building that is little more than a box. One of the most out-of-the-way examples is the Lyric Theatre in Granity, with an art deco facade. Unfortunately there are no surrounding buildings to hide the other three sides.

One of my favourite Westport buildings was the St James Theatre, with art deco detailing on the front and a modern mural on the side. I photographed it a few weeks ago for the West Coast regional entry in Te Ara (due to be launched in December). But sadly this was one of the last pictures of the building ever taken.

It was long been known to be structurally unsound. During a movie session on Sunday 12 October a large crack was noticed on the back wall, and the roof was sagging. The next day it was examined and condemned. The grand piano was hastily removed, and demolition began. Before anyone could say ‘heritage’, the building was gone.

With thanks to the Westport News (www.westportnews.co.nz) for information on the last days of the St James Theatre.