23 May, 2026

FLAGSTAFF NOTES

By Rob Drent

The death of Devonport “Tagbuster” Willy Williams brings the essence of the village into focus.
He made Devonport his home after a head injury suffered in a car accident invalided him out of Navy service. He was determined to be useful, setting up as the tagbuster to keep Devonport free of graffiti.
For many years he sold the New Zealand Herald at the ferry wharf and got himself some slots on The Flea radio station. He helped out at the RSA
He became part of the Devonport fabric.
It was a simple life and Willy didn’t want it any other way. He’d found his niche; happy to be out and about meeting people, “chewing the fat” and trying to convince anyone who would listen that the Crusaders would win that weekend.

He would sometimes have a late-afternoon beer at the Devonport Public House, waving cheerfully to people heading home from work.
In Devonport, simple lives are appreciated. Willy was accepted and supported in much the same way as the late Spence Buchanan, who based himself at a Victoria Rd barber shop, and Sam Walsh, the trolley manager at Devonport New World. They have been recognised by residents as being good people, happy to lend a hand.
Willy was a disarming character who would come into our office and say to the women, “How’s it going darling”, before giving them a hug. No offence was taken. It was just Willy being Willy.
Another Devonport character, Simon Gundry, once told me Willy would have been a fantastic salesman. His raffle-ticket selling at the Masonic Tavern was legendary – no one could turn Willy down. (Obituary, page 26.)

The need to review the North Harbour premier rugby competition gained momentum last weekend when Silverdale defaulted both its premier and premier 2 matches against North Shore. The Hibiscus Coast club cited the unavailability of 35 players due to injury and other circumstances as the reasons for the default.
It is the second match this season in which North Shore prems have been unable to take the field due to a default. Mahurangi defaulted to Shore on 4 April.
The defaults and a lack of player depth at more and more North Harbour clubs is turning the first half of the club season into something of a farce.

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Our story about the $10,000-plus consultants’ bill ahead of construction work to fix five steps at Devonport wharf (Flagstaff, 8 May) gained some traction around Auckland. Waitakere ward councillor Ken Turner picked it up as an example of “where waste is happening disguised as proper and reasonable process”.
Readers seemed annoyed about it as well. One said the simplest solution would be to dump some sand at the bottom of the existing steps to fill the gap where material has been taken away by storms.
It got me thinking about sand loss at Cheltenham a couple of decades ago. Residents near Arawa Ave were worried that waves were starting to undercut their beachfront properties. They clubbed together to built an expensive wall. Today the wall can’t be seen as the sand has returned.

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It was good to see a large contingent of Devonport locals heading over to the city on the ferry last weekend for the Auckland Writers Festival, which this year recorded its highest attendance. Some writers stayed at the Michael King Writers Centre in Devonport. With increasing demand for the festival, I wonder if there’s an opportunity to have a few writers’ events in Devonport leading up to it.