Grey
& Menzies Ltd, Auckland & New Zealand
Grey & Menzies Ltd was formed in 1902 through the amalgamation of John
Grey & Sons Ltd & Menzies & Co. The beginning of a bottling dynasty.
Some photos of bottles, many of which are in my
personal collection. As Grey & Menzies was such a huge concern there
are many different bottles, I am currently endeavouring to illustrate as many of
these as possible through the links on the left.
A very interesting book "Aerated Water Manufacturers of Eden Crescent
1845-1964" ©1979 Keith G Rusden contains some very interesting information
about the site which Grey & Menzies operated from for many years. In the
Auckland Historical Bottle Club journal of Feb 1983 (no 26) Keith adds some new
information
"doing any historical research is a bit like doing a jigsaw - collecting
facts and then trying to piece them together to form a logical and factual
picture. In collating the material for my book on the aerated water
manufacturers of Eden Crs, I found a gap between Alexander Wilkie finishing and
when Charles Sutton took over in 1871. Did a break in the manufacturing occur,
or was it one of the inaccuracies of the Business Directories of that time?
One interesting fact which came to light after the Court building was completed
on that site was that when the site preparations were underway the brick footing
of what was a 2 storied boarding house came to light, but unknown to me at that
time, on digging down further they struck another building. This was kept fairly
quite, a concrete column was poured and the whole thing sealed up. In the last
few weeks further information has come to hand which made references to the
filling in of a property in Official Bay, engulfing an existing building.
Unfortunately this information cannot be accurately dated but was between 1865 -
1875, but an early sketch of Official Bay showed the scattered buildings of the
area and using St Pauls Church as a landmark, I could pinpoint the manufactory
in Eden Cres with its shed like appearance.
Conclusion: I believe that with the death (?) of Alexander Wilkie, his factory
in the hollow was filled in. The site was empty in 1877 with the exception of a
willow tree (see p 15), so one of Aucklands first aerated water factories is
still down there complete in an umplundered state. At the other end of this
site, at no 17, another new & unoccupied building was constructed over part
of the Wilkie tip; this area had been tarsealed and so undiggable, and during
the course of construction the footings were cut through the seal, which did not
allow for free digging. Wilkie torpedoes, early ginger beers were in evidence.
Finally, as it appears that city buildings may last 70 years, mark your
calendars for 2053 then go down to 9 & 17 Eden Crs."
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© 2000 Glenn Corbin. Permission is freely granted for
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Interesting
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