The Crabbe Store

Crabbe Store in Cameron Road
Courtesy of Helen Borell, Hardy Collection, Tauranga Heritage Collection

George Alfred Crabbe established a grocery and drapery store in Cameron Road near the corner of Sixth Avenue in 1867 and replaced it in 1877 with the building that survives today at the Boys’ College. He built a house next door in the 1890s that has since be relocated to Pyes Pa. Crabbe had arrived in Tauranga in 1864 as a soldier in the 1st Waikato Militia and lived at The Camp, the area around today’s cricket pitch in the Domain and Brown Street. He was born in London and his gravestone in the Tauranga Presbyterian cemetery includes the words “Edgeware Road, London”. His position during the Battle of Gate Pa or Pukehinahina was at the rear but he took an active role in the Battle of Te Ranga making him eligible for the New Zealand Medal. His land allocation for his service included a quarter acre in the town of Opotiki and 50 acres near McLaren Falls. He obtained half an acre in Cameron Road from an officer who wished to dispose of his section and sold his country acres. When George Crabbe died in 1905 his coffin was covered by the Union Flag that flew at the Battle of Gate Pa and is now in the Tauranga Heritage Collection.

George A Crabbe, founder of the store (1840 - 1905)
Courtesy of N. Wilson, Crabbe Collection, Tauranga Heritage Collection

John Conway, a well-known builder in Tauranga constructed the two storey shop for £600. The room at the front included the retail area while there were two rooms upstairs and living accommodation at the back.  Conway later built the adjacent house. The shop and outside beneath the verandah was a popular meeting place for the people in the neighbourhood. A man on horseback delivered the daily newspapers for distribution from the offices of the Bay of Plenty Times in town and posters were shown in the shop windows when war broke out in 1914.

Maria S Crabbe (1824- 1923)
Courtesy of N. Wilson, Crabbe Collection, Tauranga Heritage Collection

While living in a bell tent at The Camp, George Crabbe and wife Maria had a son Charles in 1866 and he was christened by Archdeacon Brown at the Mission Chapel. A daughter Annie Frances followed in 1870. In 1899 Charles married Rebecca Johnston a daughter of Noble Johnston of Katikati. Crabbe was a direct descendant of Sir Christopher Wren and was able to pass down some of his famous ancestor’s possessions to his son Charles. Charles and Rebecca were to have a daughter Rebecca Violet, later well-known by her married name Vi Simons. They also had three sons, Charles who died as a child and is buried with his grandparents, Reginald and Selwyn. Vi was a nurse and midwife in Tauranga and an active member of the Tauranga Historical Society.

Hillsdene Store
Courtesy of Tauranga Boys' College

While the property remained in the Crabbe family until 2002 the premises were used by other businesses for many years.  In that year Peter Cooney gifted the building to Tauranga Boys’ College and it was moved further down Cameron Road. At this stage the old stairs were replaced and the building relined. However, the original wide floor boards are visible on the ground floor and the exterior retains most of its original appearance with rusticated weatherboards, double hung sashes in the upper windows and the iron hip roof. The large front windows on the ground floor can be seen in the early photograph of the building.  Today the store functions as a school uniform shop on the ground floor and office space upstairs.  The building is on the Register of Heritage New Zealand in their Category 2 level and is included in the Tauranga City Council Heritage section of the District Plan.

Heather McLean 1937-2019

Heather and a young helper at a cemetery working bee, Tauranga Methodist and Children’s Cemetery, 2011. Photo: Fiona Kean, Private Collection

Members of the Tauranga Historical Society will be saddened to learn that Heather McLean died yesterday, 31 January 2019, at Waipuna Hospice.

Born in Tauranga in 1937, Heather’s childhood was spent playing in and around the Te Papa Peninsula, a place and time she always remembered as idyllic. Heather attended Tauranga Primary School in 5th Avenue which was a short walk from her home in Cameron Road. In 1951 Heather started at Tauranga College and after leaving school she joined the New Zealand Post Office as a telephone operator. In 1954 this work took her to live in Wellington. Heather returned to Tauranga in 1964 and met her future husband Bill McLean at an Orange Festival dance.

Settled back in Tauranga, and with two young children, Heather's interest in genealogy began. In 1972 she joined the Tauranga Branch of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists and the New Zealand Society of Genealogists in 1973.

Heather and the Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy at a special ceremony where Heather received her QSM, Sunday 27 January 2019. Photo: Fiona Kean, Private Collection

Her research skills and sincere desire to help others would lead Heather to volunteer her time to many groups and organisations, including the Tauranga Historical Society.  Within the Society her knowledge of local history, and in particular her expertise on Tauranga’s cemeteries, was well respected. Heather’s transcriptions of headstones, completed over more than 40 years, continues to be an invaluable resource.

Recently Heather’s work was officially recognised, first with the Tauranga Heritage Award and then in the 2019 New Year Honours List, a Queen’s Service Medal for her services to genealogy and historical research.

Heather will be greatly missed by her friends in the Society, who offer their condolences to her family.

Historical Society member receives New Year Honour

Heather at the repaired grave of WW1 soldier Robert Cooper, for which she was responsible as part of her work with WW100 Tauranga committee. Photo supplied by Fiona Kean.

Respected genealogist and Tauranga Historical Society member Heather McLean, has received a Queen’s Service Medal for her services to genealogy and historical research in the 2019 New Year Honours. In October 2018 Heather was the recipient of Tauranga Heritage Award.

Interviewed by the Bay of Plenty Times, Heather said that the QSM came as a “wonderful” surprise and that “Genealogy is a bit like a rash … It’s like an allergy. You start, and that’s it, you keep going.”

 “Heather … was born in Tauranga in 1937 and has lived here most of her life. She is an expert genealogist and researcher, with 46 years experience of collecting useful data and delving into family history. Heather is well known for using her super-sleuth research skills to help others in their quest for genealogical knowledge.” Western Bay Women: Celebrating 125 Years of Women’s Suffrage