National Volunteer Week is held annually in the third week of June.  This year from Sunday 16^th June to Saturday 22^nd, we celebrated and acknowledged the women and men who volunteer their time to their communities.

Volunteers are diverse in the skills, networks, qualities and passion they bring to their role. This year we celebrated diversity in Te Reo Maori with the theme, “He Tangata! He Tangata! He Tangata!” which translates as it is people, it is people, it is people.

Volunteers are often the unsung heroes of Aotearoa New Zealand.  We want to bring to light the tremendous work they do for our communities.

New Zealand has a strong volunteer force; we are a leading nation in the contribution made by volunteers.  A 2008 study of the New Zealand non-profit sector estimated that volunteers make up 67 per cent of non-profit workforce equal to 133,799 full time positions.

Historically, New Zealanders have always volunteered to help others in their communities.  For instance, Auckland Council Archives has records relating to some of the early volunteer fire brigades that were established by councils.

In 1854, the first volunteer fire brigade was established in Auckland. While some brigades provided helmets, uniforms and other basic equipment such as an axe to volunteers, in the early 19^th century a lack of

funds, poor water supply and equipment often meant the volunteers had to stand and watch buildings burn to the ground.

As the result of devastating fires in Auckland and difficulty of funding brigades, Auckland City Council put pressure on the Government to take responsibility for fire fighting.  In 1906, the Fire Brigades Act was passed which established fire boards to manage fire districts of areas with populations with 2000 or more people.  Fire brigades continued to be run locally; it was not until the 1970s that New Zealand had a centralized fire service.  Today, about 7500 New Zealanders serve in volunteer fire brigades.

Auckland Council Archives has a small team of volunteers, who once a week dedicate their time to transcribing original documents so that we can create family history indexes for our website which benefit researchers worldwide.

Currently our volunteers are working on transcribing the Devonport Valuation lists 1887-1900, Otahuhu Road Board ratebooks 1873-1891 and the indexes to Auckland City Council building calculation books 1912-1965.  We are also in the process of checking transcribed indexes for the Auckland City burgess roll 1892-1893 and an Auckland City Council specifications (contracts) book 1897-1908.

We are looking to recruit at least two more volunteers to our team, one for our central office and another at our Takapuna office.  Perhaps you have an interest in family history or historical documents and have some computer skills and time to offer Auckland Council Archives?

We provide an induction programme, plus ongoing training and support.  Initially, the new volunteers would be checking completed transcriptions so that we can get more indexes online.

If you are interested in volunteering at Auckland Council Archives, please contact us at:  archives@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

To view the family history indexes that are currently available online, visit the Council Archives web pages.

The Auckland Council Archives team has prepared a new online exhibition entitled “Auckland in 1913 – one hundred years ago” featuring images of items from our collection.

The exhibition covers ten topics within the broad themes of leisure, dwellings, commerce, streets and transport, and reflects the activities of local councils and road boards 100 years ago.

The images mainly consist of architectural and engineering plans, and Auckland Libraries Special Collections have kindly given permission to use some photographs from their heritage images collection.

The exhibition features this plan for proposed swimming baths in Devonport, drawn by architects Edward Bartley & Son and M.K. Draffin.

The proposed baths were never built since Devonport Borough Council had insufficient funds to proceed with the project and the Auckland Harbour Board would not permit such baths to be under private control.

View the Auckland in 1913 online exhibition

It is not often that as archivists we get to retrieve records from where they have lain for many years. Usually they are boxed and transferred from the Council's Records department, however we were called upon to rescue some documents from the crawl space above the Devonport i-site which had been discovered by a pest control officer checking for rats.

We retrieved two bags full of records from the space and it took our conservator a full day to vacuum, dust and sort them. Here is what we recovered and how the findings relate to records already in our collection.

Employee records from 1937 to 1939

There are two sets of employee records: letters from the Labour Department referring an individual person to the Devonport Borough Council for work, and pay sheets that list a number of employees. The pay sheets provide a work scheme number, the work undertaken then a list of those on the work scheme, their coupon book number, hours worked and amount paid. “Scheme 13” involved road and footpath construction for reserves, parks and beaches, “Scheme 13 Special” was maintenance for reserves, parks and beaches, while “Scheme No 5” was weed eradication on Rangitoto Island. We have some “scheme 13” records in  DBC 704-1-6.  These could be a valuable resource to family history researchers.

Devonport Library : invoices, payment vouchers and receipts from 1933 to 1934

Amongst these records was a payment voucher for a copy of “Murder on the Orient Express” in February 1934 from Arthur J Harding Ltd, importers of  books, stationary and leather goods. A quick check online indicates that the book was first published in the United Kingdom on 1 January 1934 and retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6).  The library got a good deal at six shillings and 4 pence (6/4)!

Receipt booklets 1940-1949

These are from the Rangitoto Domain Board and the Devonport Domain Board. The receipts include rental of camp sites on Rangitoto Island to ground fees for the “Devonport Druids Cricket Club.” We have ledgers and cash books for both boards.

Rate Arrears records from 1929 to 1945

Names on these records also appear in our Devonport Borough Council Rate Arrears ledger 1925-1960 (DBC 810).

Cemetery Records 1926-1951 (6 items)

Names on these records appear in the O’Neill’s Cemetery Plot Register (DBC 386) and Interment Register (DBC 307).

Although we already have some examples of employment scheme records and library invoices, the records found could certainly add to our collection, while the other records confirm information that we already hold.  For further information on these records, please contact the Archives.

Donations of former council records, publications, plans, photographs and memorabilia from the public and former staff are welcome. For more information, please email the Council Archives team at, archives@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

Phone              09 307 7792

Email                archives@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

Website           www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/councilarchives

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