A Close-knit Community
Book Review
Bee Dawson presents CAF AVM G Lintott with a copy of her book. The idea for a book on Hobsonville's history was put forward by former CAF AVM (Rtd.) J Hamilton. WN-08-0062-01-tn.jpg.
Hobsonville
Portrait of a seaplane station
By Mrs Bee Dawson
192 pages. Colour & B/W.
RRP $34.99.
Random House, New Zealand.
If you are expecting a technical book about seaplanes or a treatise on the exploits of the RNZAF this probably isn’t quite the book for you*. Rather, RNZAF Social Historian Bee Dawson has painted a multi-faceted picture of Hobsonville from its earliest days as a gum digging site, a pottery, and later a market garden through its slow pre-war growth as a seaplane station, its heyday as a wartime station and its eventual amalgamation with the RNZAF’s nearby Base at Whenuapai.
Along the way Bee Dawson has again produced a detailed social profile of Hobsonville community and an important part of Auckland’s history. She interviewed many of its former personnel digging up fascinating anecdotes and personal observations (including mention of Scandal Alley) that give the book its colour.
It was way back in 1924 that the Annual Defence Report noted the need for an aircraft station at Auckland: ‘Both seaplanes and landplanes are essential for the defence of the commercial port.’ But it was not until 1928 that the building programme began in earnest under the supervision of the station’s first Commanding Officer Major (later SQNLDR) Len Isitt. Initially he was the only officer at Hobsonville and was assisted by three CPLs (all named ‘Bert’). While construction of the new station continued apace in the late 1920s the Great Depression limited military spending. The ambitious building programme petered out leaving facilities at the Base bleak to say the least for the men posted to Hobsonville – no recreation room, no fire and a 300-yard walk to the latrine.
By the mid-1930s the building programme was picked up with renewed vigour. With the arrival in New Zealand of WGCDR Ralph Cochrane in 1936 the Government of the day and the Air Force were galvanised by his forceful report proposing a complete reorganisation.
The outbreak of war in 1939 overtook events so completely that it saw ‘Hobsonville erupt into activity’ says Dawson. The threat of war in the Pacific served to further underline the need to put the station on a war footing. It was to play a central role in assembling new American aircraft for use in the Pacific theatre.
Crucial to the seaplane station’s functioning was its Marine Section which, with 36 watercraft of all shapes and sizes, serviced the seaplanes and barges in the busy harbour. Former Coxswain Colin Armiger recalled the complexity of the Marine Section’s job: ‘When you think of the Marine Section, just think of what would happen on an airfield. Everything they did on land, we did.’ Fittingly the Marine Section is holding its reunion on 16 and 17 August 2008. No doubt many of the memories, anecdotes and characters in this book will be recalled at that get together.
A significant factor in Hobsonville’s unique character was its isolation from Auckland. With very limited road access and water borne access the norm rather than the exception personnel and locals were drawn together into a close-knit community. They had to make their own fun and rose to the challenge accordingly. Officers and enlisted men and their families spent much of their leisure time together. Locals say the Base enriched their community. ‘We were allowed to use what they had, like their swimming pool, tennis courts, picture theatre and chapel,’ recalls Dawne Laurenson.
Mrs Bee Dawson’s third book on Air Force history is a pleasure to read and an excellent contribution to the Air Force’s and Auckland’s social history – well-researched, readable, with plenty of historical photographs, maps and diagrams. Mrs Dawson has come up with a thoroughly professional and apt history.
The book will be retailed by the RNZAF Museum, AFCC and RNZRSA. The books will retail through these outlets at a special price of $30 per copy.
* Paul Harrison (in association with Brian Lockstone and Andy Anderson) provides an excellent account of flying boats and their exploits in The Golden Age of New Zealand Flying Boats, Random House New Zealand.