The Star of Auckland
I was sitting in the Corner Bar of De Brett's tonight looking across the road at the big gap, the twenty-five year gap, in Shortland Street that used to be the Auckland Star. I got to thinking what a waste it was pulling the grand old Star building down, to turn it into a single level car-park for twenty-five years. What else could have been done with it, with His Majesty's Theatre, with the Royal International, with ... ?Anyway, a bit pissed, I Googled "Auckland Star" and really there isn't much out there. But what there is is grand.
Here's Hillary knocking the Queen's coronation into the second lead spot. And here's the old, old Star building and the old presses.
But check out this page of great old All Black caricatures. There's my old fave Dave Loveridge, who used to hold the ball way out in front in the tackle and dispatch it at the last possible minute. Sid Going is there too and even Joe Stanley. Tane Norton, Andy Haden. Mourie, Hewson (who remembers Hewson now?). Buck's there too.
Remember I said Nick Willis's run reminded me of John Walker? Let's make that Peter Snell, shall we?
posted by Rob O'Neill at 10:52 PM
4 Comments:
I don't know where their printing presses were, but I have a childhood memory of piles of newspapers being loaded to and from a cart dock on Fort St.
As for ther Royal International all I can recall is that there was a large public bar with surly old men on Victoria St and a tree that was inside a garden (bar?) on the corner of Albert St.
It all seems like a "colorized" black and white newsreel now.
My fond memories of the Star are of working there in 1987 or so. Paul Ellis was an eager junior reporter, Carol Hirshfield was opposite me on the subs' bench and Julie Christie was down the far end as the racing sub. Didn't they all do well.
Yes a lot who were there did well. My memories are vague too, pretty much confined to walking past this grand entrance with a huge star overhead. It was a real newspaper building.
I think that star might now hang at the front of the Fairfax building on New North Rd.
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