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An account of Freda written by Allan Webb (Special thanks to him for this information).
Compiled and edited by site owner

Freda was born in 1907 in Disley, Cheshire, England. At the age of twelve she came to New Zealand, after finishing her schooling, trained as a nurse at Thames Hospital and at one stage was relieving for a while as matron at the Thames hospital. She worked in Poverty Bay caring for people who got typhoid after the 1931 earthquake. She then became Matron of a hospital in Wellington, before marrying Victor Maurice Tracey in the early 1930’s and moving to Papatoetoe. They had two boys, (Warwick and Peter) and one girl, (Maureen).

Mr. V. M. Tracey

Mr. Victor Maurice Tracey, a son of Mr. Walter Reason Tracey, was born in Whangarei in 1907. He spent his early years in Whangarei, Ngawha, and Paihia, receiving his education at Ngawha. He afterwards qualified as a Radio Operator, at the Wireless College, Wellington.

His first voyage was made on the “Eleanor Bolling,” a supply ship for the first Byrd Antarctic Expedition. He afterwards served with the Union Steam Ship Company on all Pacific routes.

In 1932, Mr. Tracey commenced business as proprietor of the Central Theatre, Papatoetoe; and some years later, when Andrew & Andrew relinquished the Papatoetoe branch of their business, he carried it on as the Central Carrying Company.

Mr. Tracey began his service to the district on the Papatoetoe School Committee, of which he was a member for two terms. In 1938 he was elected to the Papatoetoe Town Board, of which he became Chairman in October, 1941, on the resignation of Mr. Hay. With the exception of a period served in the Army from 1942 5o 1944, he continued as Chairman until the formation of the Borough in 1946, when he was elected as first Mayor of Papatoetoe. He held that office until his resignation in June, 1948.

During this time he was also a member of the Auckland Hospital Board, and when the Board took over Middlemore he was elected Chairman of the governing committee.

Mr. Tracy was also the first President of the Papatoetoe Kindergarten Committee.
Taken from; ‘Our First Hundred Years  An Historical Record of Papatoetoe’ by Ivy F. Smytheman and Albert E. Tonson

Maurice started the Metro Cinema in Mangere East with his brother. He helped run the Monterey Theatre in Howick with his father. He also ran pictures at the Maraeti Hall in the summer months. He had other businesses in Papatoetoe besides operating the Central Theatre: furniture and trucking.

From being the wife of the Chairman of the Town Board, in 1946 Freda became the first Mayoress of the newly formed Borough Council for two or three years. Maurice had been Mayor. Freda was very community-minded and one of her special interests was caring for less fortunate people. She was involved with Meals on Wheels, provided meals for people in need, and regularly visited a number or people who were not mobile or were otherwise disadvantaged.

For a number of years she was President of the Papatoetoe Plunket Society, was involved with the Community Chest fundraising for charities, and with the Papatoetoe Public Library. She also held fundraising garden parties for youth groups, including Guides and Scouts.

They divorced and Mrs. Tracey, with no previous business experience, took over the managing of the Central in 1948 and continued to do so until her retirement in May, 1967. She admitted to the matinees, free of charge, children from the Wyllie Road Orphan Home and other deserving people. Eventually the cinema building and adjacent shops were purchased, and a new shop/office block built beside the theatre.

She purchased and looked after six shops and a large shed and collected the rents from same. She operated the Central Theatre Milk Bar, having a manageress, but participated in the running of it personally, serving during the intervals. She handled phone reserves from her home as well as at the Theatre. The home number was 198S and the Theatre was 198M. Reserves were also available at the Shop during the day. Her duties included programming of the films and film buying, writing out the advertisements and monthly calendars, completing the bulk of the accounts, although she did have an accountant. She did most of the cashiering at the Theatre and was extremely fast in this task. She made all the flower arrangements in the inside of the Theatre. She loved flowers and grew and cut them herself. She was quite well known for these displays which added a personal touch to the Theatre.
Any improvements to the Theatre were decided upon by herself.
The position of working at the Theatre was a popular one and a waiting list was on hand. She rostered the staff to cover all the sessions. There would have been a dozen or more on the staff during the better times.
She owned a house at Torbay and would go there with the family after working Saturday night and came back for Monday. In those days there were no Sunday movies. She had one overseas world trip and enjoyed visiting Australia regularly to visit her daughter.
Her interests were quite wide and she loved the movies and would often see a movie once the house was in. Her preferences were musicals, travel movies and good dramas. A keen gardener, she liked reading, music and travel. At home her preferences were for ornaments and antique furnishings. She liked Persian carpet and this was evident at the Theatre. Freda’s other interests included her love of nature, particularly trees and flowers. She planted a number of geraniums and other plants along Auckland-Papatoetoe motorway.

Maureen said (To Allan Webb)  “I am so impressed and touched with the high regard in which you hold my mother.  I also believe she was a very special woman who did so much in her life and had a positive attitude to everything that crossed her path.  Her real name was Jessie Elfreda Tracey but she was known to everyone as Freda.  She was on many committees for years, often as president, for example, Plunket at Papatoetoe and the Auckland Hospital Women’s Auxiliary, (or it could have been Middlemore Hospital).  She was on other committees but I do not know which ones.  She prepared her garden in order to have Community Garden Parties to raise funds for local projects, for example Guides and Scouts and to help with building the library.  She also helped frail elderly people with shopping and social visits and took one lady with severe physical disabilities to Middlemore Hospital weekly.  All the children from Papatoetoe Orphanage were admitted free of charge to every Saturday matinee.  When the chief Papatoetoe librarian (Mrs Patricia Greenhough) had to retire, because of illness, my mother personally raised funds locally to give her an appropriate farewell gift.”

Mrs. Tracey liked to be friendly at the Theatre and had a liking for people, having lots of friends, being very tolerant of young people.
She was very interested in her own family and spent a lot of time with her own family and later, grandchildren.Freda still owned the theatre after 1967 and leased it to Allan Meekings who owned and operated the opposition Otara Cinema, for a ten year period. She felt that the competition was getting too much and Allan told me that some of the young patrons’ behaviour had become a concern. The Film Companies had been using one Cinema against the other and with an increasing number of high percentage movies and decreasing admission numbers due to Television taking hold, the Theatre would not have been viable.
(The good years at the Theatre were in WWII when the Americans were stationed at a camp in Puhinui. They had special sessions and some free showings on some Sundays. This was when Mr. Tracey ran the Theatre. The poor times that he had were during the Depression years.)
Film hires were a closely guarded secret. Peter said that when percentage (of the gross takings) film were instituted, some of the film hires became exorbitant. He mentioned upwards of possibly 75% although to my knowledge the highest percentage engagement was 70% .
Freda was in good health when she ran the Theatre.

She was a guiding and a driving force throughout Peter’s life giving encouragement, help and advice when he started out in his own business, assisting with some finance. She was an excellent parent.
Freda loved nature and walks at the beach and in the bush, walking for many miles. She went to a lot of functions and conferences as well as being involved with a lot of community organizations, including Plunket, for a long time and a travel club. She also helped many local people on a one-to-one basis with transport, shopping, social support and outings. Her main accomplishments in life were to have successfully managed the Theatre when it was a difficult challenge and it was unusual for women to be involved in business, brought up a family single-handedly and to have led a very full, active and enjoyable life. Her retirement would have been for 5 years. I (Allan Webb), remember her telling me that she tried to learn one new thing each day of her life and that is probably why she was such a wise lady.

Ref:
Documents supplied by Allan Webb, after interviews with Freda's children Peter Tracey, Maureen and Warwick.
Warwick Tracey. Cameos of Papatoetoe Women  by the Papatoetoe Historical Society
‘Our First Hundred Years  An Historical Record of Papatoetoe’ by Ivy F. Smytheman and Albert E. Tonson

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