Artist unknown :View from door step, Taurarua. [Between 1882 and 1886?]

View from the home of Chief Judge, Sir William Martin, at Taurarua, (Judges Bay) Auckland, loking towards St Stephen's Chapel and the graveyard, with the Waitemata Harbour and the beach at Judge's Bay to the left.

Formerly attributed to William Bambridge on stylistic grounds and dated between 1841 and 1849. (Bambridge's Diary for 1846-1848, p. 92 (Acc. no 8600) describes how he sketched Taurarua Church and his acquaintance with Judge William Martin). However a number of factors suggest a much later dating of the early to mid 1880s. The trees surrounding the site are quite mature, showing at least 25 years growth. Earlier sketches show much younger, smaller trees, or no trees e.g. Backhouse's 'View from Brighton, Parnell, Auckland, 1871' (E-400-f-009) and a watercolour by John Kinder in Auckland City Art Gallery. More conclusively, the large obelisk gravestone near the top of the hill, (the Hay family gravestone) was not erected until the early 1880s, nor was the cruciform gravestone (Sister Cecil's) to its left. (Information from Robert Phillips, Auckland, 7 October 2001). The second St Stephen's Chapel is shown (as a cruciform wooden church with bell tower). The previous rectangular chapel, built in 1843 (of scoria and without a bell-tower), collapsed in a storm in 1847 and the second church was not constructed until 1857.

Other Titles - Judges Bay

Inscriptions: Recto - on a separate strip of paper glued down the left side of the image: title

Quantity: 1 drawing(s).

Physical Description: Ink on cream laid paper, 113 x 159 mm

Provenance: Possibly part of Alexander Horsburgh Turnbull's collection.