The Local - Mt VictoriaAlan Olliver traces the history of the gates to Wellington East Girls’ College, which featured as the ‘Unidentified Local Object’ in last month’s edition of The Local. The donor of the gates was Sarah Ames.
Sarah was born in 1847 in Devon, England and married Joseph Ames at the age of 35 in 1882, in New Zealand. In 1896, Joseph built their family home called Rockcliffe at 84 Ellice Street, but it sadly no longer exists. He also subdivided and had two houses built at 80 and 82 Ellice Street in 1906, which are still there today.
Joseph died at home in Ellice St after a long illness in 1917. The couple had no children of their own and were generous benefactors to many churches and charities in town.
In her later years, Sarah watched the construction of the new ‘Mount Victoria Girls’ High School’ across the road from her property, eventually opening as Wellington East Girl’s College in 1925. At the front entrance to the school was an old farm gate. Sarah was unimpressed with “the tired apology of a gate hung on a post with a piece of wire” so she decided to donate £200 to fund a set of iron gates. Sarah was guest of honour at the opening of the gates on 13 April 1927 (Photo source: WEGC Memnonian 1927).
Sarah died two years later and left money from her estate for an annual scholarship to Wellington East Girls’ College, which was still given out today.
Sarah’s husband was an interesting character. Joseph was born in 1844 at a Kaikoura whaling station set up by his father, Captain James Ames. In his adult life, Joseph was a gold miner in the Otago and Thames gold fields and volunteered as Mounted Rifle Ranger in the 1860s land wars. Joseph had a desk job in a range of Government departments and while residing in Ellice Street; he is listed as clerk in the Valuation Department. After he retired, Joseph built and or managed a number of hotels, in particular the Ames’s Provincial Hotel (Upper Hutt), the Star (Lambton Quay), the Thistle Inn (Mulgrave Street) and the Hataitai Hotel (Wellington Rd). At the opening of the Ames’s Provincial Hotel in 1876, Mr Ames received “praise for having established one of the best hotels in the province, and we hope that it will bring him in not only credit but cash”. Joseph was active in rowing, and a member of celebrated ‘Dolly Varden’ rowing team. In his obituary, he was considered “one of the best boat men in Wellington”. Horse racing was also a passion. Joseph ran totalisators and successfully raced several horses.
Postscript:
Hawker Street resident Brigitte Diessl, a relative of the Sarah & James Ames, noticed the ULO and got in touch with The Local. She described a story, handed down in the family history about Joseph’s parents James and Mary Ann Ames. They were whaling from a small island, Tokamapuna, off Kapiti Island in 1840-41.
"Whilst Mrs Ames was alone with her children at Tokomapuna, Te Rauparaha made a descent on the island but was met by Mrs Ames, who inwardly quaking, put on a bold front and went forward to meet him and invited him to dine. At the end of the meal, Te Rauparaha said ‘Woman! We came to kill, but you are too brave’. The Maoris never went to the island again while Mrs Ames lived there."
Source: Scholefield papers. – Letter from Arthur Wakefield Ward (husband of Ida Emma Ames, the granddaughter of James and Mary Ann Ames).
OTHER STORIES
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