THE ORNAMENTAL BRICK COTTAGE (corner Trafalgar & Manukau)

Cyril Skilton from Onehunga Fencible & Historical Society Inc.

Corner called Robin's Corner after grocers shop there.

Passengers on all types of conveyances, Horse drawn bus from the late 1870's, then Electric trams from 1903 to 1956, and Diesel and Trolley buses from 1956, down to the present day, evinced an absorbing interest in the brick cottage which stood in Trafalgar Street, adjacent to Manukau Road, Onehunga.

The neat appearance, clean and wholesome, looking as though it was hosed down every day of its existence, was the subject of much speculation of latter day viewers. There were to be found in the ranks of the historians of Onehunga, some who said that the pretty little cottage had been built by a New Zealand Royal Fencible in the 1847-56 period. Others, however, considered it was erected by a discharged Fencible in the 1860s. Some said it was erected by the Government for the senior-sergeant of Fencibles stationed in Onehunga.

All conjectures of the would-be-pundits led to a private investigator delving into the old records to answer an inquiry directly submitted to the Onehunga Borough Council by an Arts Diploma holder of the Elam School of Arts. The Town Clerk, the late Mr. Norman L. Norman ascertained from a reliable source that the brick cottage stood on a part allotment of land which belonged to John Beattie, a Fencible, ex¬ Royal Marines, who came to New Zealand with the Fifth Division of pensioners on the troopship "Berhampore" arriving at Auckland on June, 16th, 1849. The original grant of a contracted area of land, something greater than one acre, situated at the corner of Manukau Road and Trafalgar Street, was issued to John Beattie in 1856. The corner, thereafter, was known as Beattie's Corner, and retained this appellation until Mr. J. Robins built his store in the late 1880's on a site opposite to John Beattie's acre, when the name was Robin's corner, supplanting Beattie's Corner.

The purchaser of the section on which the cottage stood was Thomas Henry Massey, believed to be a Midlander from England. Massey was noted for his flair for artistic construction in brick and it is said that he was responsible for the design of the facades of the Branches erected by the Auckland Savings Bank in Newmarket and Onehunga in 1885.

The house in Trafalgar street, with a chimney at either end, its slate roof and white stone ornamental facings, was an object of interest to local residents and horse drawn bus passengers as well, while it was being erected.

The bricks were made at Avondale to Massey's specifications, and any that did not measure up to the standard required by the builder were rejected.

The actual year in which the cottage was built is not recorded in archives of the Borough Council. But two residents who were asked about 30 years ago, (1934) to fix a year which would be approximately correct, said that the cottage was occupied by Thomas Massey in 1878.

The edifice being finished off at the present moment is a bit different from what was originally there as described above.