What flavours of ice cream do you miss?
The world’s favourite flavour is vanilla - but in New Zealand hokey pokey takes second place.
Some of the ones we loved are long gone now. Think Goody Goody Gum Drops with its lollies and half banana half chocolate Monkey Business.
Ice cream has been one of our favourite treats almost since the beginning.
And one of the characters was a chap called Ice-Cream Charlie who sold his icy goodies from a cart in Christchurch’s Cathedral Square.
But his name wasn’t Charlie at all. It was Sali Mahomet.
He had said on legal documents that he was born in Ceylon and to others that he was Punjabi but it’s uncertain what is true.
He and his father had come to New Zealand via Australia, arriving in 1894.
They sold things - using Dunedin as a base and travelling, usually on horseback - they offered various household items around the bottom of the South Island.
But a riding accident left Sali with a limp and might have been the start of him thinking of a less demanding job.
Which led him to making and selling ice cream in Christchurch. He had a cart built and painted it red and white and rented a shop where he made ice cream from a recipe he had bought.
It was in Christchurch he met 19-year-old domestic servant Florence Henrietta Johnstone and they married at a registry office.
It was a daring thing - to marry a man who was so different - interracial marriages would have been viewed with suspicion.
They had four daughters - all of whom were considered great beauties.
In business Sali became more and more successful. He was able to leave the rented shop he used and buy his own premises in Caledonian Road, building a shop and home of kauri with a bay window and engraved roses on the ceiling.
HIs diary was set up in an outhouse structure where he ran a lead to get electricity.
To make it, he had to bring in massive blocks of ice - each one 45kgs - from the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company. He would break them up himself with a mallet, breaking them down so the ice cream could be kept cold.
For 10 months of the year he sold ice-cream and could be said that his appearance was the start of summer.
The flavours he made came from the syrups made by wholesale druggist H F Stevens - pineapple, strawberry, raspberry and orange and the vanilla Sali imported himself.
He was popular - with many people turning up at his cart with billys or preserving jars to buy it.
But he was also subject of attacks, labelled a Turk during World War One when people were frightened by anything exotic.
It wasn’t until the 1930’s that he took on a helper, a lad who worked until he went off and was killed during the second World War.
In 1940 he retired - selling off his business and chattels including his iconic cart and asked the council to consider granting a licence to whoever took over the business.
He suffered a stroke in 1943 and then next year entered the Old Men’s Home in Ashburton before having a second stroke.
He is buried in the Linwood Cemetery.
With thanks to Christchurch City Library. Photo by Dovile Ramoskaite.​

On November 24, 1959, a mayday message was sent from 485-ton coastal freighter Holmglen travelling between Oamaru heading to Whanganui.
It was received by the Taiaroa Head Signal and Radio Station and also by Awarua Radio ZLB and Wellington Radio ZLW on 2182kHz.
A voice, believed to be the captain, gave the ship’s position as 44° 35′ South, 171° 37′ East, and reported: “am heeling heavily to port … accommodation awash … preparing to launch boat.”
Taiaroa answered and were told by the Holmglen to stand by for further information but nothing was ever heard again.
On board were 15 crew, all of them died.
Air and sea searchers rushed out to the last known location but they initially only found a large oil slick and floating debris. A further search found three bodies and an upturned lifeboat.
The final resting place of Holmglen is 6-7 miles northeast of this position and 22 miles east-southeast of Timaru. Taiaroa Head, where the distress message was received, is 20km northeast of Dunedin.
The ship was only three years old so the mystery was why had a new ship with an experienced crew sink?
The ship had left Dunedin and stopped at Oamaru, taking on more cargo. It left the same day and the next thing that was known was the mayday call.
Two naval survey ships responded and by early morning 17 ships had answered the emergency call for help.
A couple of ships who found the oil slick used echo sounders and believed the Holmglen had sunk.
The debris was found later in the morning including one of the lifeboats. Two bodies were recovered, James McEwen and Sydney McKenzie.
As the weather got worse the search was abandoned. In the following days another lifeboat was found then a third body, that of Wilfred Henry Harding.
A Court of Inquiry was unable to establish the cause of the tragedy. The Holmglen was only three years old and was not overloaded. There was no engine explosion, collision or striking of rocks.
Although the weather at the time was poor, with a southerly wind and moderate to rough seas, it should not have troubled a vessel of its size. It certainly did not stop other ships responding to the call for help.
There was speculation that shifting deck cargo, or some other instability, caused the ship to suddenly heel but to this day, the cause is unknown.
On board was Master Edward Joseph Eugene Regnaud, Chief Officer Keith Douglas Billinghurst, Second Officer Keith lawdon (or Lawton) Barker, Chief Engineer Ronald Foster. Second Engineer Alexander James Wolgast, Third Engineer Wilfred Henry Harding, Able Seamen Sydney McKenzie, John Cleary, Derek Whorlow, Henry Weatherley Weatherley and Alfred Pemberton, Ordinary Seaman Garry Joseph Boyce, Cook: Joseph Anson, Steward: Aubry Shepherd McClelland and wiper James McEwan
James McEwan (of Timaru) and Sydney McKenzie (of Glasgow) were buried side by side in the lawn cemetery in Timaru and Wilfred Harding (of Mangakino) was buried in Greymouth.
An examination of the wreck by divers and a remotely operated underwater vehicle in 1999 failed to shed any further light on the loss of the ship.
In 2008, another life was lost when divers went to the wreck of the Holmglen to retrieve its bell. After diving and beginning for the surface, the bell dropped dragging the ascent line with it. The divers got clear but Kevin Bailey disappeared from sight shortly after. His body was found days later.​

The story of Charles Mackay is odd to say the least, firstly an honoured mayor, then convicted of attempted murder then killed as part of a communist riot.
Charles Ewing Mackay was born in Nelson on June 29, 1875, to Jessie and Joseph Mackay. Joseph was headmaster of Wellington College for 10 years and Charles also attended the school.
He went on to Canterbury College then to university and obtained a Bachelor of Arts then a Bachelor of Laws going on to be admitted to the bar as a lawyer.
Charles started his own law firm in Whanganui and also began a career in politics joining the Mataongaonga Road Board and then the Whanganui Borough Council.
He was elected mayor of Whanganui for two separate terms. He helped establish the Sarjeant Gallery.
Charles was a somewhat controversial mayor - his projects were ambitious and often far sighted but also expensive. He wanted an electric tramway and new roading along with bridges built.
During the First World War he suffered the first hit to his reputation for not serving.
In 1920, he met Walter D’Arcy Cresswell - a poet and writer - who was visiting relatives in Whanganui.
It would be his downfall. Five days after they met Cresswell was shot in the chest and injured by Mackay.
Cresswell alleged that Mackay had made homosexual advances to him and that he had led him on to get evidence and wanted him to resign the mayoralty.
Mackay was arrested and charged with attempted murder which he pleaded guilty to before a packed courtroom then was sentenced to 15 years hard labour by Sir Robert Stout, the chief justice.
His wife, Isobel Mary Agnes Duncan, divorced him and on his release from prison in 1926 he went to England where he worked as a journalist for the Sunday Express. He was released early on the understanding that he left New Zealand.
In 1929, he was working in Berlin, covering the street battles between communists and police when he was shot dead by a police officer who thought he was one of the communists.
The German Foreign Office expressed regret for the shooting.
It’s unclear now exactly what happened between Mackay and Cresswell. It was mostly likely Mackay was a closeted gay man (even with a wife and three children) and it’s possible he wanted to silence Cresswell to protect his life - which he ended up losing anyway.
Now, in a more modern age, he would likely have lived a very different life.
Mackay is buried in Friedhof Priestereg cemetery in Berlin, Germany.​

It took five months to dig the tunnel, but for two New Zealand soldiers it was their way to escape a prisoner of war camp called Campo 12.
Brigadier James Hargest and Brigadier Reginald Miles used a kitchen knife and iron bar to dig beneath the walls of Castle Vincigliata near Florence in Italy in 1943. It was a huge task using very little with so much at stake.
In late March of 1943, the two men and four others used the tunnel to reach a deserted chapel from which they were able to leave.
It was the beginning of the journey though - both men made their way to neutral Switzerland. From there they had to get to England and took different routes. Miles made it to Figueras near the Spanish border before he unfortunately killed himself.
Hargest used the French Resistance to go through France to Spain reaching the British Consulate in Barcelona then was flown to England. The trip had taken the better part of a year.
Hargest was born to Mary and James Hargest in Gore on September 4, 1891 where he went to school before joining his father in farming.
He was a member of the Territorial Force before volunteering for service with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in 1914. James was seriously wounded at Gallipoli and nearly a year later rejoined the 1st Battalion of the Otago Infantry Regiment in France in July 1916.
He was considered a promising officer, attained the rank of major and was awarded the Military Cross.
In Hampshire, he married Marie Wilkie in 1917 and went on to have three sons and a daughter. He continued to serve, was awarded a DSO, the Croix de chevalier and Legion d’honneur. Marie herself was awarded the Royal Red Cross as a nurse.
They returned to New Zealand in 1919.
He bought a farm and became interested in politics, taking the Invercargill parliamentary seat in 1931 before taking the seat of Awarua in Southland which he held until his death and was considered a leading figure in the National Party’s founding.
With the outbreak of the Second World War he sought a post but a medical board found he was still suffering from shell-shock. He asked the Prime Minister at the time Peter Fraser to intervene and he was given the command of the 5th New Zealand Infantry Brigade and promoted to brigadier in Egypt.
James was captured in November 1941 when his headquarters were overrun. It was then he was taken to Italy to Campo 12, a special high-security camp for officers.
During his recuperation in England after the escape he wrote a book Farewell Campo 12.
James then became an observer to the preparations to D-Day and spent a lot of time near the front line.
He was wounded in June then on August 12, 1944 he was killed by shellfire during the Battle of Normandy - escaping a prison camp only to die in action.
He is commemorated in James Hargest High School in Invercargill.
James is buried at the Cassino War Cemetery in Italy.​

The loss of the ship Marquette in World War One was always going to be a tragedy but for New Zealand it was devastating.
The Marquette was a British transport ship on the way to Salonika (Thesaloniki) on October 23, 1915, when it was sunk by a German Uboat.
On board were 36 nurses plus eight officers, nine non-commissioned officers and 77 orderlies of the New Zealand Medical Corps.
Earlier in the month they had been in Alexandria before being ordered to pack up and leave, going to support French and British forces.
Also onboard were the 500 men and officers of the ammunition column of the British 29th Division, plus 500 mules, some horses and many wagons loaded with ammunition.
Crucially the troop ship was not marked with the Red Cross that would have given them a measure of protection.
Just before the ship was due to arrive, its escort (and protection) was called off.
Just after 9am on October 23, some of the nurses were walking on the deck when they saw something in the water. It was a torpedo and it struck forward on the right side of the ship.
Well trained, those on board hurried to grab their life jackets and went to the lifeboats.
They managed to get the first lifeboat into the water but the second was stuck and when the Marquette rose in the water as she was sinking, the lifeboat swung and fell, fatalling injuring some and killing others.
On the other side a lifeboat hit a door tipping up and nurses fell into the water. Once in the sea, the lifeboat then capsized, losing more.
As those in the boats watched, the Marquette sank bow first.
An SOS had been sent but unknown to the survivors waiting for rescue, the uboat who sunk the Marquette had sent another - giving a totally different location. It was there the rescuers went first - so it was late afternoon before they found the survivors.
It took more than a day for a full roll call to be made and it was found that 10 New Zealand nurses had been killed: Marion Brown, Isabel Clark, Catherine Fox, Mary Gorman, Nona Hildyard, Helena Isdell, Mabel Jamieson, Mary Rae, Lorna Rattray and Margaret Rogers. The only bodies recovered were those of Rogers and Isdell. Also dead were 22 New Zealand men. Of the 741 onboard the Marquette, 167 had perished.
Questions were asked about why the nurses in particular were on an unmarked ship carrying ammunition when another more appropriate ship was available but they were never satisfactorily answered.
Even those who survived had life changing injuries and were unable to continue their service.
Many of the nurses who died were from the South Island and the tragedy plunged the country into mourning.
Mary Grigor who survived gave accounts of the horror - she described the launching of the lifeboats as a failure.
Once she was in the water, Grigor had her arm crushed and struggled to stay afloat and around her, people were dying.
The nurses are of course, recorded as lost at sea - although a number have memorials in cemeteries around the country.​

We think of hacking as a new thing. Like the British tabloids hacking phones or secretive hackers in back rooms breaking into computers.
But it’s been around a long time and New Zealand had its own scandal that led to accusations, lawsuits and even a select committee investigation. And this was in 1870.
At the time telegraph was new. The telegraph system stretched from Invercargill to Auckland and had quickly become a source of news and communication.
George Barton was initially a lawyer but his interest in journalism led him to become the editor of the Otago Daily Times.
On October 3, 1870, in an article he claimed that the government was deliberately delaying telegrams coming to the Times until a summary of them was provided to opposition newspapers of the day who supported the government.
He had been waiting on huge news. That Napoleon had been captured and imprisoned and Frances declared a republic. It was important international news. A ship was bringing the newspapers which would be turned into telegraphs to send to the newspapers of the country. Barton said the telegraph to the ODT was delayed while the news went first to one of its rivals.
It caused outrage and accusations flying.
Then it led to a criminal prosecution against Barton for libel. He was committed for trial and then resigned his position with the paper. After which the criminal trial was withdrawn.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
The staff at the Otago Daily Times staff were even offered a pardon so they wouldn’t incriminate themselves giving evidence against Barton.
Despite the charge not going ahead, Barton decided to countersue and brought a case against Charles Lemon who was then the general manager of the telegraph department.
That too ended before it began - the case was thrown out.
A parliamentary select committee was then appointed to look into it. Over a couple of months it took evidence and finally produced a report that exonerated the government, although it also told off a few ministers for minor things, like paying for personal telegraphs with business funds.
Lemon went on to be in charge of the Telegraph office for 25 years and is known now as the man who designed the huge poles that the telegraph wires were on, called in the trade Lemon trees.
He died on May 6, 1901 and is buried in the Otaki Public Cemetery.
Photo from Te Papa’s collection.​

Victoria Howell, by all accounts, was a kind woman who had run a nursing home before her death.
In many ways, it made the extraordinary circumstances of her death, burial, then exhumation and reburial even odder.
Victoria had been born in Riverton on Valentine's Day in 1871. Her father was Captain John Howell of the Fairlight station at Lake Wakatipu and her mother Caroline Brown.
Her closest friend was Florence Hall, a nurse. In the papers of the time Florence was referred to as friend and business partner - but given that they lived together and worked together for many years, a case could be made for a different relationship.
When they moved to the Wairarapa they bought a home and turned it into a nursing home. And for a time everything was fine.
Then in 1906, Victoria took ill. Initially it was thought to be influenza and a nasty case at that. But a consultation with a doctor led to a diagnosis of a cancerous growth in her stomach.
He advised them to go somewhere quiet - and the pair moved to a home at Castlepoint.
Florence nursed her diligently but Victoria died on January 23, 1906.
She was buried in the Archer St cemetery.
Normally that would end the story - but it was only the beginning.
Victoria’s brother questioned why her will would name Florence as her beneficiary and not any members of the family. He was suspicious and made a case for Victoria’s body to be exhumed.
It was done and she was examined. But no growths were found. So what did Victoria die of?
Samples were taken and sent for analysis and suspicion began to fall on Florence. And by the inquest it was clear Victoria had died of zinc poisoning and all eyes turned to Florence again.
Poor Victoria’s body was again exhumed for further tests.
A series of investigations came to astonishing conclusions though. Victoria had been drinking water from a zinc tank, new tanks put in at the home in Castlepoint.
At the inquest it turned out a few other people who used the water at Castlepoint had also been ill, just not to the degree Victoria was.
A government analyst told the inquest the water Victoria was drinking contained four times the amount of zinc as other water.
With all the information to hand a jury at the inquest found that Victoria had died from zinc poisoning - made worse by the fact she was already ill.
The jury also found no other person was responsible for her death.
Victoria was again quietly buried, finally to rest.
Florence sued several newspapers who had all but convicted her before the findings of the inquest and moved on going to Wellington to work.
Victoria had been buried in what is called the old ground at the Masterton cemetery and the whereabouts of her grave is now not known.​

There are more unsolved murders in New Zealand than most know. We know big names and those from recent times but there are still some - even over 100 years later - that still have had no justice.
James Dorgan was born in Gortaleha Co. Kerry, Ireland on Jan 26, 1884, to John and Margaret where he grew up working as a labourer. He had 12 siblings and by 1912 he had come to New Zealand and joined the police force.
He married Agnes May - called Minnie - in December 1915 in Timaru. They went on to have three children.
James was known as a fearless police officer wading into fights and even shoot outs.
So he probably wasn’t phased to be left to watch a business premises because it was believed that a burglar or burglars were at work inside, but when police reinforcements arrived they found Dorgan fatally shot.
He was at Thomson’s Drapery in Stafford St in Timaru on August 27, 1921. He had started on his beat - walking the streets a few hours before. Also on the beat was Constable Thomas Christopher.
Outside the drapery Christopher could see lights inside and believed a burglary was in progress. He alerted James and they checked the entrances to the shop. James told Christopher to go alert the owner.
As Christopher was coming back he heard four shots - and saw James staggering.
Three of the shots had missed. But one had hit him in the chest.
James was still alive as other police arrived but was not able to say who had shot him.
Despite a doctor arriving very soon after, it was too late - James died in minutes.
A search of the shop showed rather than money, whoever it was had been after clothes. A bag filled with shirts and socks was found abandoned near the door.
Police descended on Timaru - determined to solve the murder of their own. Fingerprints were taken from many men - and a prime suspect became clear - Albert Lamb who had been fired from the drapery shop. But he had left town before the murder happened and was able to prove it.
As time dragged on, no other suspects were able to be pinned down.
More than a year later Christopher himself was investigated. He had left the police and then worked in a drapery store himself where his boss became suspicious, finding he was stealing goods from the shop. He was convicted and it prompted police to take another look at him.
Christopher was not quite who he portrayed. He was a World War One veteran who had been sent back to New Zealand and discharged after numerous discipline problems.
But that came to nothing despite lots of odd rumours.
James was buried in Timaru Cemetery.
He is the only police officer in the country whose murder remains unsolved.
Picture from the Christchurch Star.​

Did you know that Kāpiti Island is actually the tip of a huge mountain?
The island has been occupied on and off since Māori arrived in New Zealand, used by whalers and for a while was the centre of the flax trade.
In 1870 it was identified as a possible nature reserve - although by then much of it had been deforested. Farmers also lived there, leasing the land from the Maori who owned it.
The Kāpiti Island Public Reserve Act 1897 prohibited any further private sales of land on the island, and provided the basis for the island being acquired by the Crown, to be set aside as a nature reserve, with the exception of land still held by original Māori owners or their descendants.
One of its fiercest protectors was Ernest Valentine Sanderson.
We know him now as the founder of New Zealand Forest and Bird.
Sanderson was born in Dunedin on February 8, 1866 the son of Jane Sanderson and William Walter James Spreat before the family moved to Wellington. It was Spreat’s behaviour that initially broke up the family and when they returned to live with him, he attacked Val as he was known and his brother Louis, ending up shot to death which was ruled a justifiable homicide.
Val enlisted for the South African War and served before coming back to a clerking job.
When his father’s estate was finalised he had enough money to start his own business, Magnus, Sanderson and Company. Initially they imported bicycles then moved into cars.
When war was declared he tried to reenlist, lying about his age. He was eventually accepted and served as a quartermaster but only served seven months before becoming ill.
He had married Emily Louisa Cooper in 1904 but by the end of the war he was estranged from her and they divorced.
Sanderson was increasingly concerned about conservation and in 1921 he and the Evening Post newspaper went to the island. The resulting publicity about how badly off the island, with no fences for the reserve area or to protect it from the goats and sheep, was created a groundswell of support for better protection for the island.
“We have robbed the birds of tremendous areas of bush on the mainland. Are we not patriotic enough to give them a last secure resting place on this small island, seven miles by one mile in area, in order that our children and children’s children may see and learn what New Zealand was really like when their daring forefathers first set foot in this land of ours?” he wrote in 1922.*
Sanderson launched the New Zealand Native Bird Protection Society and built a membership of supporters and in 1935 renamed it the Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand.
He campaigned against things like soil erosion and the menace to our bush by deer.
He married Nellie Milne in 1934 and set up home in Paekākāriki - from which he could watch Kapiti Island.
Sanderson died on December 29, 1945 and was buried in the Otaki Public Cemetery.
But even if his name is not as remembered anymore - his legacy - the Forest and Bird Protection Society continues.
* From the Forest and Bird website.​