Douglas Radcliffe Oral History

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00’ 20” Details about the history of library services in Ngaio and the origin of the name Cummings Park which took the name in 1950 after Herbert Cummings (1879 – 1949). 

01’ 50” Douglas gives details about his background and his connection to the district. He was born in 1919 and lived in the area all his life. His father, Walter Radcliffe  was also born in Ngaio (on the same land) in 1887. Walter was the secretary of the local progressive association while Herbert Cummings was the chairman. The area really started to take off after the Ngaio area joined Wellington City in the early 1920s. Walter was good friends will William Appleton (later to become mayor) and the two worked together to improve the suburb. 

04’ 05” Works associated with the railway line around what is now Collingwood Street resulted in a lot of clay fill. Walter suggests to Appleton that the clay be used to fill a gully at the bottom of the hill and the resulting created flat area be used to build a town hall and library.

05’ 10” The resulting library and reading room also had a “wireless room” where local residents (especially children) could visit to listen to the radio before they became a common household item (they were very expensive when first introduced). Douglas remembers joining the library. His subscription was a gift from his Uncle Herbert. 

07’ 30” Recollections of an early librarian, Miss Mason who was very strict. Memories of other later librarians, Barbara Gore [mother of Dame Jennifer Gibbs], Mrs Nairn & Noeline White. The use of the library was quite good but it was always a bit difficult to attract boys in part because they had so many other things to do (‘adventures’). 

09’ 20” Walter encourages to son to read and he grows to love books that he follows all his life. 

12’ 00” He has always been interested in local and NZ history. Memories of the Roberts family who lived in Imlay Crescent. They had four children, one of whom was called Mervyn who was a year behind Douglas at Ngaio School. Their father Albert Roberts had been shipwrecked as a cabin boy on a sailing vessel on Disappointment Island in the Southern Ocean where he was marooned for six months. 

13’ 50” At 14 Ottawa Road lived Dr Leonard Cockayne (Botanist). Douglas was gifted a signed copy of one of Cockayne’s books by his Uncle Herbert. Bill Galloway lived in Aplin Terrace who did two voyages on board The Pamir (sailing vessel) and later became the Wellington Harbour Master. He was also involved in the rescue efforts around the Wahine sinking in 1968. 

18’ 50” Mrs Bradley cleaned the Town Hall and Library for many years; one of the many ‘unsung heroes’ of the community. Many of the best people live almost invisible lives. Douglas feels that the competitive nature of modern society has taken the ‘fun’ out of pursuits. 

23’ 40” Memories of the Ngaio Town Hall which was a real hub of the community. Memories of an end of year school event at the town hall with a trick played by Harold Marriott. He enjoyed table tennis in the hall but didn’t enjoys dancing.

26’ 00” Mushrooming in the hills was always enjoyable and good mushrooms could be picked on the Croquet Club lawn (now Huntleigh Park Way) as well as up around the Crow’s Nest. Kite flying and sliding down the hill was great entertainment.

27’ 00” Douglas’ main chores were to polish the brass on Saturday’s and making sure that there was always enough kindling to light fires when needed. Telephones arrived at about 1930 but before then Douglas used to run ‘messages’ down to the grocery store (which presumably had a phone). Biscuits came in large tins though his mother did a lot of baking. Groceries would be delivered as was milk (delivered from milk cans) and meat. On one occasion the ‘Gear Meat Horse’ bolted. With no electricity or phone, there were no significant appliances in the home which made ‘keeping house’ a lot of hard work. 

33’ 00” [pause to mark the end of side 1 of the original cassette recording]

33’ 30” One of the disadvantages of being one of the first people to have a phone in the street was the number of requests to use it or to take messages for other people in the neighbourhood. Fortunately, it wasn’t too long before others in the area also got phones and problem alleviated. 

34’ 35 Douglas’s mother was good friend of Mrs Cummings (the wife of Herbert Cummings) who was a great talker on the phone. The arrival of reticulated gas made life much easier which replaced an old kerosine-fuelled stove. The arrival of a sewage connection saw the end of outside toilets and a fridge was installed in the mid 1940s.  Vacuum cleaners and washing machines were huge advances and significant, particularly for the lives of women. 

38’ 45” Douglas’s mother played the piano which he was very fond of. She also was a great user of the library. The librarian Miss Mason suggested many books to his mother. He was fascinated by the construction method of the ‘new’ library when it was being built. At the same time the Town Hall was being refurbished and Douglas made sure that the Roll of Honour was looked after. Inscribed on it are two of his uncles (his father’s brothers) , Julian and Percy who were killed in WWI. A third brother Harold survived but lost an eye. Douglas managed acquire some of the rimu bookshelves from the old library which were repurposed. If he hadn’t taken them, they were destined to be taken to the tip. As someone who recalled the Great Depression, Douglas couldn’t abide waste.

48’ 00” While the library was being constructed and the Town Hall refurbished, the library temporarily operated out of the former Ngaio Post Office building (42 Ottawa Road).   Douglas has always been impressed with the help and service the library now provides and notes what a huge improvement it is from the early days of “Miss Mason”. The library has been great at satisfying his curiosity in a wide variety of topics and interests. 

57’ 56” Douglas originally attended (c. 1926) the original Ngaio primary school then located in Chelmsford Street. He then transferred to the ‘new’ school in Abbot Street. Started at Wellington College in 1932. 

1hr 00’ 45” Douglas lived most of his life barefoot and would have liked to have continued this except that there is so much more broken glass about today. Memories of the different ethnicities that have lived in the suburb. He believes that Ngaio’s climate and keeping active by walking in the hills has had a big part to play in keeping him healthy into his retirement years. 

Originally recorded as two sides of a c60 cassette, the two parts of this recording have been spliced together as one recording with a short gap between the two at 33'.