Despite a lack of personal effects, Christine’s research has uncovered many of the residents’ stories.
From a Miss Annie Cross, who migrated from England and married the local baker in the cottage, to a Richard Stevenson, who was employed by the 1912 landlord, W. D. Lynsar, following a work arrangement made in London.
These personal tales have helped paint a picture of how both the cottage and the town might have looked at the beginning of the last century.
“Papers past have confirmed that Miss Cross was indeed married at the residence of Mr G.S. Cumming but as Gisborne was so small in those days, the only address they felt necessary to include was Whataupoko.”
Clues from unlikely placesWith few physical remnants, clues to the puzzle of Wyllie Cottage have come from unlikely places.
A missing collie puppy advertisement in the 1910 Poverty Bay Herald links a Mr Browne with 10 Stout Street, the cottage’s original address.
“It seems very likely that this was Harry Leggett Browne, who is listed at this address on the 1911 electoral roll,” says Christine.
“Harry appears on a couple of New Zealand electoral roles and then he disappears.”
Christine notes that a Harry Leggett Browne, originally from Wivenhoe in the UK was killed in France in 1917, but communications with the Wivenhoe Historical Society have yet to confirm a positive identity match.
“If that is the case, he would not be the only inhabitant of the cottage to have been a war casualty,” says Christine, acknowledging the Dunlop and Evans families who lost sons at Gallipoli and The Dardanelles respectively.
Surviving over a century, during times of great societal change and technological development, it is no surprise Wyllie Cottage tells other tales of hardship, says Christine.
“The 1931 Napier earthquake caused damage to many of the chimneys of Lynsar’s rental properties, including the cottage,” Christine notes, referring to information gathered from a historic insurance company letter.
Only two years later, in 1933, the cottage’s residents were themselves facing challenges as the impact of the Great Depression entered Gisborne.
“The Depression was causing considerable hardship, a point acknowledged by Mrs Lynsar (cottage owner) in her letter to Messrs Ward and Ferrol (the rentees),” says Christine.
“Nevertheless, she thought that, ‘with two families living in the house you should have no trouble in keeping rent paid even though these are hard times’.”
Clues about landlordsOther features of the house have also left clues that speak more of the landlords than the cottage inhabitants.
“We doubt that it would have survived to the 1970s with no bathroom or indoor toilet if it had been occupied by the people who actually owned it,” says Christine, noting the only owners to live in the house were the original Wyllie family.
But the cottage did not always function as a home.
The Dunlop family, who bought the property from the original owners in 1885 and relocated the cottage to the present site, utilised the space as a school from 1896 to 1898.
“Although Mrs Dunlop had taught before her marriage, it is hard to say to what extent she was involved with the actual teaching in the cottage, as by 1896 she had five children under the age of 12,” says Christine.
The cottage likely served as a school run by various teachers up until 1903.
While much of the information uncovered by the Wyllie Cottage project details personal stories, the time in which they unfolded allows insights into societal changes pertinent to Gisborne’s identity.
“Today, the cottage is evidence of the enormous changes that took place in the district in the space of just 10 years from 1865,” says Eloise Wallace, museum director.
“Like many other families in the district, the Wyllie’s lost property and loved ones in the fighting over power and land in the district from 1865.”
Destruction of former propertyThe destruction of the Wyllie’s former Waerenga-a-Hika property during the conflict forced them to move and eventually settle in Whataupoko where they built the cottage.
After years of hosting various renters and school students, the cottage was sold to the Gisborne District Council by its last private owner in the 50s.
When the last renter moved out and public interest in the heritage home grew, the site was developed into the visitable space existing today.
Large barriers protecting exhibits in the small house have greatly limited visitor access in the past.
However, Christine says that this is all about to change as a result of the present- day renovations.
“The doors to the rooms have been replaced and the cottage will be the closest to the bare bones of the 1886 appearance as it has been at any time since then.”
To date, the archivist has identified over 15 former families and individual residents of the cottage, however gaps remain.
“As is always the way, our research has raised as many questions as answers and we are hoping that some of the names in this article will jog people’s memories and help us fill in some gaps,” she says.
“Any extra information that will help us enrich those stories would be most welcome.”
Information about the cottage and those past residents already identified can be found at Tairawhiti Museum and on the organisation’s blog.
Project managers hope to have the cottage re-opened to the public by summer 2016/17. However, an exact date has yet to be finalised.
