Historic Hawke's Bay: Herald Tribune

When William Nelson, of Tomoana Freezing Works, decided Hastings needed a newspaper with a strong provincial focus, the result was the formation of The Hawke's Bay Tribune in December 1910.

While Nelson never took any shares in the paper, his son George did, along with John and T Mason Chambers, Reginald Gardiner and the first editor, W C Whitlock.

A sign of their faith in the future was the opening 101 years ago this month, in August 1911, of their two-storey building and printing presses next door.

The Hawke's Bay Tribune motif design on its facade detached from the building during the 1931 Hawke's Bay Earthquake and it appeared to be the main damage sustained. Mr Whitlock believed the building to be safe and stayed on the ground floor, producing temporary editions of his paper.

A few days after the quake, sailors from the HMS Diomede arrived and told Mr Whitlock to leave the building as they said it was unsafe, and they were going to blow it up.

"You'll have to blow me up, too," was his reported response to the sailors.

While Mr Whitlock won round one of that battle, as the sailors left with their explosives, the top floor was later removed. Unhappy at this, an article appeared in The Hawke's Bay Tribune calling the act an "architectural crime". However, a second storey was later added.

Next year will see the end of nearly 102 years of editorial content being produced from the old Hawke's Bay Tribune (now Hawke's Bay Today) building, as Hawke's Bay Today relocates its Hastings office.

Michael Fowler will be giving a talk on the history of Havelock North for the period 1852 to 1912, at the Havelock North Community Centre on Thursday, August 23 at 7.30pm, to commemorate 100 years since the forming of the Havelock North Town Board. Gold-coin entry.