Johnsonville Town Board

Johnsonville came under the jurisdiction of the Wellington City Council in 1953. The minutes of the Johnsonville Town Board that cover the period 1874 to 1953 are held in the Wellington City Council archives.

Dr. Wayne Nelson, Senior Information Advisor for Wellington City Council researched the archives to see if there was any information about the cannon.

He discovered that the cannon at the recreation ground were handed over to Mr R W Bothamley and that a history of the cannon had been compiled by Mr A Broderick. Unfortunately the history of the cannon was not attached to the file.

 

Minutes about the cannon

Notes copied from the Johnsonville Town Board minutes by Dr Wayne Nelson on 15 September 2010.
Wellington City Archives, Series 00111 Box No.12:
Johnsonville Town Board Minutes Sep 1938 to May 1941.

 

Johnsonville Town Board
Minutes, July 15, 1940
New business

Old cannon at Recreation Ground: Following an enquiry by Mr R W Bothamley regarding the old cannon at the recreation ground, it was decided to make further enquiries from Mr A Broderick of Glenside as to how the cannon came to be there, and the ownership.

(Cnrs. Morgan – Jacobs)"

 

Minutes 15 August, 1940
New Business

Cannon at Recreation Ground. The Town Clark gave details of one history of the cannon as obtained from Mr A Broderick of Glenside.

Resolved: - That Mr Bothamley be granted custody of the cannon subject to the Board’s right of recalling them, and to Mr Bothamley being liable for all costs of removal.

(Morgan-Grant)"

 

About the The Broderick family

The Broderick family have strong connections with The Halfway/Glenside having lived and farmed here from the earliest days of its settlement for several generations. For example, there are records of farm land purchases at The Halfway in 1846, 1863, 1890 and 1903. Broderick Road in Johnsonville is named after the family.

Creasy Broderick first settled at The Halfway (now Glenside) in 1845 on Section 19, which is near where the gun wagon rolled.

Mr A Broderick mentioned in the Johnsonville Town Board minutes is Alfred Thomas Broderick, a relative of Creasy who also lived at The Halfway. His grand-daughter Diana Broderick and her mother were the last Broderick’s to live in Glenside. They left in 1965.

I contacted Diana Flatman nee Broderick to see what she recalled of the cannon. She had no papers referring to their history and had not been told about them by the Broderick family. She was however, aware of their existence through Robert Meyer's book Up in the Hills.

 

The next section in this article is the discovery of the cannons at Trentham Military Camp - Claire Bibby, Glenside