Kia ora koutou and welcome back!
Today local historian Lisa Truttman returns with her reliable mixture of thorough research delivered with great entertainment and enthusiasm.
Filling out our family history month offering, Truttman tells the story of Aucklander David Bruce Russell. Russell’s tombstone promised that his “Works will follow him”. These works included an almost life-long obsession with seeing west Auckland's Whau river turned into a canal. While he may have been short on follow-through, Russell was not short on ideas and his dreams and desires took him to places as diverse as Japan and Mexico.
Truttman explains how she managed to track this silver-tongued salesman across continents, careers and well, costumes.
Come along for the ride! Haramai tētahi ahua!
The Canal Promoter: David Bruce Russell and his dream of a Whau River Canal - Lisa Truttman: http://bit.ly/344eEwq
Alternatively you can contact the author here: waitemata@gmail.com
Resources:
Trove - Australian archive containing newspapers and more: https://trove.nla.gov.au/
Newspapers.com by Ancestry (NB - subscription required): https://www.newspapers.com/
Mexican newspapers: http://www.hndm.unam.mx/index.php/es/
Auckland Libraries:
J. E. Taylor, Manukau: https://bit.ly/2SSQQro
Proposed Waitemata-Manukau canal: https://bit.ly/3fBVVhx
Recorded live at the Auckland Central Library on 21 August 2019
