To the west of Queen Street the reclaimed area can be easily distinguished on account of the regular low-lying nature of the streets comprised within it. If one follows a route from Queen Street along Customs, Sturdee, Fanshawe, Halsey, Patteson and Beaumont Streets, where the last named street junctions with Fanshawe Street, this would give roughly the foreshore as it existed in 1870. The reclamations, which include the area now occupied by Victoria Park, were completed about 1900.
The Harbour Board is still engaged upon reclamation work, adding considerably to the city and port’s facilities.
The wharves did not alter much during the first thirty years of the Board’s control. In this period the Queen Street Wharf was practically rebuilt and considerably enlarged, and the Railway Wharf erected. At a later date, Hobson Street Wharf, the Quay Street Jetty and other jetties were built. In the ’eighties Gore Street Wharf was demolished in connection with the Quay Street reclamations, and extra wharf provision was made parallel to this street. All these wharves were constructed of wood. In 1900 the comprehensive scheme of wharves in concrete was commenced, and has been steadily pushed forward. At the present time the port’s wharves are a credit to the authorities, alike in size, number and equipment, and, although the accommodation for ships has been greatly increased, the Board is occupied with further extensions, to enable it to keep pace with the growth of the port’s shipping.
Docking accommodation for the repair of vessels was also put in hand by the Harbour Board. On May 1st, 1876, the Auckland Graving Dock, which was situated opposite Hobson Street, was commenced, and was opened on August 20th, 1878. This dock was used for small vessels. It was abandoned in 1913 and the site filled in.
The Calliope Dock, on the North Shore, was opened by the Governor (Sir William F. D. Jervois) on February 16th, 1888, in the presence of Admiral Fairfax, commander of the fleet on the Australasian station. The day was made the occasion of a public holiday. Bunting was to be seen everywhere: in the city, at Devonport, and on the vessels in the harbour. Two of her Majesty’s ships of war, the Calliope and Diamond, steamed into the new dock, the former cutting the ribbon stretched across. The dock was, when opened, the largest graving dock possessed by any colony, and had cost up to that date £135,000. It required an additional expenditure of £20,000 to make it as complete as possible. Mr. Pierce Lanigan was the contractor, Mr. W. Errington the engineer, and Mr. Swainson clerk of works.
H.M.S. Calliope, which, as has been mentioned, was the first vessel to enter the dock, became famous in the annals of seamanship only a month later, when, during the great storm of 16th March, 1888, which struck Samoa, she sailed out from Apia under the command of Captain Kane. All the vessels which remained in the harbour were wrecked.
Queen Street Wharf, 1887
After the painting by A. E. Gifford, in the Old Colonists’ Museum
A hoax perpetrated by Mr. D. M. Luckie, editor of the Southern Cross, which for the time being created consternation and serious excitement in the city and district, occurred on the morning of February 17th, 1873, when the Daily Southern Cross printed a report purporting to be a description of the capture of Auckland by the Russian man-of-war Kaskowiski. The article described in detail the capture “of the British warship lying in the waters of the Waitemata,” the seizure “of our principal citizens as hostages,” the demand of “a heavy ransom for the city,” and the emptying of “the coffers of the banks of all the gold and specie they contained.” Although the report had a foot-note stating that it was taken “from the Daily Southern Cross of Monday, the 15th May, 1873,” quite a large number of people were deceived by it. One woman, the New Zealand Herald stated, became hysterical on reading the account, while a gentleman made preparations for the flight of himself, his wife and family to their farm at the Hot Springs. A Queen Street shopkeeper, after reading the report, put up his shutters and reappeared, fully armed, “ready for the fray.”