Individual Details

Ernest ALISON'S grandfather was Alex ALISON, one of the first to set up a boat building yard in Devonport. He purchased property on the foreshore. King Edward Parade follows his seaward boundary, which extended to just east of where the Masonic Tavern was to be built.
The Alison home was one of the earliest wooden dwellings in Devonport. At that time the area was characterised by Maori settlement with only a few scattered settler farms. About 1854 he moved his boat building operation from Official Bay across to Devonport.
At Torpedo Bay he continued to specialise in smaller craft which he built for sale, rather than the more conventional practice of building to order.
 Alison's ‘Foam’ was a clinker built copper fastened boat launched 2 April 1855 whose construction included some of Duder Bros cement between skins. Could that be a first in New Zealand boat building? She made a good showing in the Auckland Anniversary regattas.
His sons Alex and Ewen, in particular, left an indelible mark on Devonport and Takapuna. Their involvement in local politics, racing, ferry services is legendary on the North Shore. The pioneering contribution of the Alisons is remembered in the clock tower at the base of Victoria Rd.
Alex Alison’s son Ewen was apprenticed to him. For a short while he was in partnership with John Holmes (see note attached to Mary Elizabeth HOLMES, wife of Arthur BARTLEY)

Birth	1880	Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Marriage	27 Oct 1921	Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand - Freda Verne BARTLEY
Death	2 Mar 1941	Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Spouse

Freda Verne BARTLEY (1896 - 1990)

Notes