"Fort Britomart"—looking south across the railway reclamation
ca.1884 or 1885 (Burton Brothers) - 2025
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1880s image: Fort Britomart, Auckland, Dunedin, by Burton Brothers. Te Papa (C.011221)
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The demolition of Point Britomart, which had begun in the 1870s, was advancing toward St Paul's church near the top of Shortland Street (seen here at centre) by the time of this Burton Brothers photograph. The date must be later than 1883 as this picture was clearly made some time after a photograph of the waterfront made in that year (of which there is a then-and-now treatment on this site here). And the date can be no later than 1885 as it was in that year that St Paul's church was demolished.
Below, three crops from the Burton Brothers remarkably detailed image.
In the detail below, the massive retaining wall seen left of centre was built in the early 1880s only to be partially destroyed by a disastrous landslide in 1883. For more on this (and a view of the landslide) see the 1883 waterfront image mentioned above here.
