Yelven's great grandparents parents, George and Hannah Sutton arrived in Nelson aboard the Bolton (1842). In 1853 George bought sections 68 and 90 and part of 66 in Richmond (see map Reservoir Creek) from John Nixon, Magistrate. They lived in a little two-story building (Nixon's) with their family of 6, while building the "Selbourne" homestead (1850s).  “Selbourne” is named after the home near the village of East Meon, East Hampshire. Selbourne was located on Hill Street almost opposite Sutton Street. It was taken down in 1978 to make way for subdivision. George's eldest son, John, ran the family farm from the homestead block after father George moved to upper Queen Street in 1896.

Yel Sutton on former Griffin tennis court, old rifle range is on the right

George Sutton initially planted hops on the property that he had brought over from England.  The hop mill was located behind present day 167 Hill Street. At Easby Park opposite the Griffin pigsty, the Sutton family had the largest herd of pedigree Jersey milking cows in the District. 

Yelven’s father, Oliver Charles, was next to take over the running of the farm. Yelven (1918-2008) lived at Selbourne until 1954. In the late 1930s Oliver's other children, John and Rita grew two acres of tobacco at Easby Park. Yelvin and Phyllis [Griffin]  were neighbours and he can remember the Saturday tennis parties at the Griffin's court near the boundary, not far from Sutton's disused hop mill. Just above the tennis court, on Sutton land, is the site of the rifle range. This range was used by the Richmond Corps volunteers from the mid 1800s and was no longer in use when Yelven was a boy. The volunteers were organised in 1845 in response to the Wairau Massacre and a incident at Happy Valley, Wakapuaka. The range was 500 yards and the volunteers would shoot from the bottom of the present day Selbourne Street to targets just below "the butt" (Cropp Place). Jean Sutton's book indicates that the Nelson City Cadets combined with Richmond Corps and held camps on the Sutton's paddock in August 1875 and Easter 1879. In 1881 many of these participants were the first outside troops to arrive at the North Island uprising at Parihaka. As a boy, Yelven and his mates used to dig out lead from the site to melt down and use for sinkers for sea fishing.

Duck hunting at Templemore ponds

Below the targets, tennis court, Griffins pigpen and cow shed the Sutton’s also had dug a large swimming hole in Reservoir Creek.  This was located at the playground area of Easby Park.¹ As a boy Yelven can recall catching eels, kokopu (“native trout”, bullies (“cockabullies”) and koura (“yabbies” or freshwater crayfish) near the swimming hole but the creek often went dry for approximately 6 weeks every year,² as a result of the demand on water in the reservoir from a Richmond population of 700.  Reservoir Creek is underground in pipes at this location. (Yelven thinks this occurred 1970). Yelven tells us that his father found two adzes on the bank above Selbourne and these went to Isel Park some 55 years ago. Yelven remembers large populations of native pigeons (kereru) on the farm in his younger years.

Oliver’s sister, Mary, married William Higgs who had the neighbouring Barrington Farm approximately 500 metres uphill of the Selbourne homestead (this was to be the Griffin Dellside farm in 1918).

Yelven’s uncle, Herbert Sutton, ran the farm on sections 66 and 68 below Hill Street.  Reservoir Creek flows through this area, now called Welsh Place and Alexandra Park.  This was primarily a sheep farm that was sold to Putty Hurst who in turn sold the property to the Nelson Hospital Board in 1957.  This area includes the present day location of the Alexandra Home for the elderly.³  Herbert Sutton’s home still stands today at 151 Hill Street.

Yelven’s brother’s John and Victor⁴ (Sutton Bros.) farmed part section 79 below Salisbury Road where Reservoir Creek flows into the Waimea Estuary. This land (41 acres) was purchased from the Allport family in 1931.⁵  The Sutton farm was called “Mayroyd” and in addition to a few pigs there was a large milking herd of pedigree Jersey cows.  In 1960 John observed Reservoir Creek “turning black” and with one swipe of large milk can filled it with whitebait.⁶ At the time of writing this story, John Sutton’s home still stood on Tasman District Council land across the road from Raeward Fresh.  The new ASB Aquatic Centre now occupies part of the Mayroyd farm site

The research for this story was originally done for Tasman District Council, October 2006

Trolove of the Clarence

Frederick Trolove  (1831-1880) was an early European settler who established Woodbank Run, located south of the Clarence River. Most of what is known about Trolove, comes from his letters (which can be found at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington).  These give us a fascinating window into the life and experiences of an early Marlborough pioneer.

Trolove was one of four brothers who had a wealthy uncle, Dr John Shaw, of Boston, England. He was keen for one of his nephews to help him develop a sheep farming venture in the new colony of New Zealand.  Frederick and his uncle arrived in Nelson in 1850 and took up a 42,000 acre run in the upper Awatere Valley. Dr Shaw returned to England, satisfied at the thought of a half share in a large sheep run.  Lonely and isolated, Frederick was able to swap the run for land on the East Coast north of the Clarence River. He moved to the place he named Woodbank in about 1852 and was joined by his brother Edwin the next year.¹  

The terms of the contract signed in 1851, were that Trolove was to send his uncle in England a set amount of wool per year, and his uncle would supply start-up funds and cover up to half of any potential loss of income.²

Frederick, Peter and William Trolove. 
Marlborough Museum & Archives

In the summer of 1855, an 8.1 earthquake tore through Marlborough. Trolove described it thus: ‘a most awful shock the imagination could conceive forced us once more out of the house in the greatest confusion and alarm’. His cottage was ruined and at some point in the following decade, he returned to England.³

Portrait of Nathaniel Levin . Davis, William Henry Whitmore, 1812-1901. Davis, William Henry Whitmore fl 1860-1880 Ref: PA2-0596. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand

Trolove stayed there until 1866, when he wrote to his friend Nathaniel Levin, of Wellington expressing concern about an outbreak of Rinderpest and the rumblings of a potential Fenian uprising in Ireland. His wife Mary was very ill, but seemed to be recovering –  he planned to return to New Zealand as soon as she was well enough to travel: “I am glad to say that Mrs. Trolove is much improved in health since my last communication and should she continue to keep well, we intend making a start for New Zealand this summer.”⁴

He arrived in Wellington with his family in December,1866 and returned to Woodbank Run. His experience at sea was deeply unpleasant, and his wife and sons became ill. On arrival in New Zealand, he wrote “I hope never to put my foot on board an emigrant ship again, the miseries of the past 5 months have been unexampled.” ⁵

Joseph Dresser Tetley, Miss Dodsworth and Jessie Cruickshank Crawford. Crawford family :Photographs of James Coutts Crawford and family. Ref: PA1-f-019-18-2. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.

Trolove met with Levin and Joseph Tetley–  a well-regarded landowner who was also in business with Levin. Trolove warmed to Tetley immediately, and took advice from him on the business of farming: it seemed the price of wool was dropping rapidly. Trolove wrote to his uncle and suggested selling all their sheep, and renting out the land. His uncle disagreed –  their contract was for wool, and it would remain for wool. Despite the market slump, Trolove did good business for two more years, with the help of Messrs Levin and Tetley.

Tetley’s wife died in 1868, and he returned to England for the funeral. While he was away, Levin and others realised that Tetley was a conman, who had absconded with over £40,000. As the scandal unfolded over the next two years, Trolove discovered that he had lost £1,800 and 1,900 sheep. He wrote to his uncle and asked him to fulfil his side of the contract, and cover half the loss. His uncle refused. ⁶

Indeed, the uncle wrote back to Trolove in early 1870 and apparently accused him of “subterfuge [...] wicked evasion of the terms of agreement”. He didn’t believe the news of Tetley’s con, and still wanted the 9,000lbs of wool he was owed for that year.⁷ Trolove struck back in September 1871, saying in no uncertain terms that he could not send his uncle the wool and still service his new debts sustained in the deception.⁸

Although many of the victims of Tetley’s con turned on Nathaniel Levin, Trolove did not. He remained a loyal client of Levin’s for the rest of his life.⁹

Woodbank Homestead. NZETC

Using the wool intended for his uncle and with some help from the bank, Trolove managed to right his accounts. When Trolove announced his intention to sell Woodbank Run to square the rest of the debt, his uncle responded tersely but positively, and Trolove wrote back “for more than 20 years I have been trying to do my duty to you, and never before have I received any token of your appreciation. I need not say how grateful I am to you for having at length written me these lines.”¹⁰

As he was developing the potential of his land, on May 29th 1872 he wrote to Marlborough’s superintendent, possibly Arthur Seymour, to save the job of a Clarence River ferryman, and to secure more funds to replace the dilapidated ferry. His letter read “The boat is old & rotten & cannot be repaired […] I fully see the almost necessity of keeping Tyford as Ferryman inasmuch as he has hitherto proved himself quite competent & moreover he has the confidence of the public.”¹¹

By 1876, the flow of letters between uncle and nephew had slowed. Trolove was in the black again, making good money selling wool. His wife Mary had established a trust under her will, to fund the Picton choral society. Trolove wrote to the trustees, asking them to buy a new harmonium for the church.¹² He had earlier written to them “I have a strong repugnance for any instrument save the harmonium or organ.”¹³

Although his life was difficult, Frederick Trolove remained a hard-working and devout man. He twice pulled himself back from nothing, and left a lasting legacy. Trolove descendants live in the area to this day

 2017

A busy settler in early Marlborough and Nelson

Dr Thomas Renwick was born in Dumfries, Scotland in 1818, trained as a doctor and quickly rose through the ranks of the Royal Navy as a ships’ doctor. On May 26, 1842, he set sail for Nelson on the New Zealand Company ship Thomas Harrison. Under his steady and methodical hand, there were only two casualties during the long and hard voyage. The Thomas Harrison arrived in Nelson in October of the same year.¹

Dr. T. Renwick. Hand coloured photograph [1942] Renwick Museum & Watson Memorial Library

Later in 1842, it is believed that Renwick helped a young Chinese ship’s steward, Appo Hocton , who was charged with desertion from the Thomas Harrison and sentenced to 30 days in the ‘house of correction’ on Church Hill. Family stories persist that he was freed without serving his sentence, possibly assisted by Renwick.  In any case, in 1843 Hocton began working for Renwick as a housekeeper, saving enough money to buy a bullock and cart and setting up his own business.²

Dr Renwick set up a medical practice in Nelson and used his modest profits to buy livestock: cattle, pigs, ducks and merino sheep. He also supplied money to George Hooper, a passenger from Thomas Harrison, to establish the region’s first brewery.¹ Despite several changes of name and ownership, Hooper and Co. was a stalwart Nelson institution until it was finally bought out by DB Breweries in 1969.³

Adeline Renwick. Renwick Museum & Watson Memorial Library. Courtesy Marlborough Museum & Archives

In the four years that followed, Renwick became an influential Nelsonian, and a member of the Nelson Provincial Council. He married Adeline Absolom on August 11th 1846. In 1849 he was appointed a trustee of the Kirk (Church of Scotland) in Nelson after helping to build the first Presbyterian Church in the region.⁴

Adeline Renwick was a wealthy woman, and her money allowed Thomas to first lease, then purchase, a large amount of land in the Awatere in 1848. He named this 8500 hectare parcel of land Dumgree after his home in Scotland.  He went on to buy the Delta Dairy (originally owned by the Honourable Constantine Dillon), a 4800 hectare run at Waihopai in 1855. While Renwick lived in Nelson, he spent much of his time travelling around to survey his Marlborough properties.

Dumgree shepherd. Marlborough Museum and Archives

Dr Renwick was noted for his meticulous scientific mind, which he applied to all things, including farming; he left detailed notes for his staff on how to complete specific activities on the farm.⁵

In the years that followed, it became apparent that Renwick wanted a self-sufficient and self-governing region of the Wairau - separate from Nelson. In 1853, while a member of the Nelson Provincial Council, he, along with other Wairau settlers, pushed hard for the establishment of a separate province of Marlborough, which they achieved in 1859.

After visiting Europe with his family, Renwick returned to New Zealand some time in 1862-1863, and was summoned to the Legislative Council in Wellington in October 1863.⁶  He was a senator in the Upper House of  the New Zealand Parliament until his death in 1879.⁷

Anne Renwick. Marlborough Museum & Archives

Adeline Renwick’s health was failing and she did not enjoy New Zealand, which she found unstimulating and devoid of culture. She returned to London, divorced Thomas in 1869 and died⁸  a year later. He married the young Anne Smith⁹ just after New Year’s Day 1872.¹⁰ 

Newstead, or Renwick, House, April 1911. Marlborough Museum & Archives

They bought Newstead House in 1877 and renamed it Renwick House. It was Thomas' home for just two years, but Anne lived on to 1939, at which time, the Government bought the two-acre property comprising Renwick House and surrounding grounds to support the growth of Nelson Central School. The house is still a part of the school.

Thomas Renwick died on May 29th 1879 and is buried in the old Presbyterian section of Nelson’s historic Wakapuaka Cemetery. Renwicktown would later be renamed Renwick and sits on the banks of the Wairau to this day.

Mrs Anne Renwick owned Dumgree until her death in Aberdeen in 1937. It was later farmed by a nephew, until it was sold out of the family in 1977.¹¹ 

The Marlborough Museum holds photographs, clothes and about 700 letters relating to the Renwick family.¹²  

2017 

A slice of early colonial life

The Marlborough Museum Archives collection has digitised hundreds of letters donated by Annie Ball, which relate to the life of Dr Thomas Renwick’s family.

Renwick family group. The elderly lady sitting is probably Anne Renwick. Marlborough Museum & Archives.

In 1846, Dr Renwick married Adeline Absolom. Her money enabled them to buy land in Marlborough’s Awatere and Waihopai Valleys and, while their home was in Nelson, Thomas spent a lot of time travelling to their properties in the Wairau. By the late 1860s, Adeline’s health was poor and she returned to London. On 5 November 1868, Thomas wrote to her expressing concern about her health:

Thomas Renwick letter to Adeline 1886. Marlborough Museum & Archives

“My dearest Adeline……It would be unkind of me in your present weak state of health to ask you to undertake the fatigue of the voyage out, although I should be glad to see you out here. Unless your health is improved by your trip to the Isle of Wight, I feel that I cannot expect you to undertake the voyage.”  He continued: “Nelson is very dull at present, and everyone is complaining of the badness of the times, but the same is the case all over New Zealand both politically and commercially, and now to add to our troubles, the Natives are becoming troublesome in the Northern Island, which means more money to be borrowed and more taxes to be imposed on a colony already suffering from too heavy taxation – all this tends to lessen the value of property.”¹

Dumgree. Front of house. Marlborough Museum & Archives

Adeline divorced Renwick in 1869 and died a year later. In the mid-19^th century, all of a wife’s money and property, whether acquired before or after marriage, was her husband’s. It is unclear how the divorce (which was almost unheard of at that time) affected Renwick’s rights over his wife’s property, except that it all seems to have remained in his hands after Adeline Renwick’s death. The Married Women’s Property Act came into effect in 1884 and gave married women a legal existence and the right to own property for the first time. However, by this time, Renwick had also died and all of the properties came to his second wife.²

Anne Renwick at Newstead. Marlborough Museum & Archives

On 3 March 1871, Renwick wrote to a Mr Sclauders expressing great disappointment about bequests from his ex-wife to Mrs Sclauders.  “(You are) well acquainted with all the peculiar circumstances under which I have been unfortunately placed.” He notes that his ex-wife has left him entirely in the hands of the executors of the Will. “My late wife in making her Will, believed that she was dealing fairly with my equitable claims on her estate, as has always been her intention, but not being able to realise the great depreciation that has taken place in the value of her property, she has unintentionally done me a wrong, by leaving the most valuable part of her personal effects to Mrs Sclauders, who has no claim of any kind upon her.”³

Thomas Renwick letter to Sclaunders. Marlborough Museum & Archives

Whether or not Renwick got any satisfaction from Mr and Mrs Sclauders, his life was to take a happier turn and, at the beginning of 1872, he married Anne Smith.⁴ It is clear he found love with Anne, as his letters show a different side to the reserved Scotsman who wrote business-like letters to his first wife.

In a letter dated just ‘Blenheim, Thursday morning’, he wrote: “My own dear Annie, How glad darling I should be if I could return on Saturday, but I have to go to Delta (a farm they owned in the Waihopai Valley) again and it will take me two or three days to finish there……no end of love to my own dear wife, I am your own hubby. Thomas”⁵

And on 22 December 1873 he began a letter from the Delta Dairy: “My own darling Annie, mine you observe and no other bodies…”⁶

The couple bought Newstead House in central Nelson in 1877 and on February 28, 1878, Renwick received a letter from John Scott, builder and contractor of Nelson with a quote of three shillings sixpence for ‘executing Plaster Cornice in the hall at Newstead in accordance with the plan supplied by John Scotland…..An early answer will oblige as the plasterer will finish by midday tomorrow.”⁷

Phyllis Renwick's wedding at Newstead 1887

Renwick died on May 29 1879 aged 61. Mrs Anne Renwick did not remarry and seems to have capably taken up the reins of the life Renwick and she had been making together. On 6 April 1887, she hosted the wedding of her niece Phyllis Renwick to Mr A. Hamilton at Newstead House.

Several letters from 1902 show her to have been fully involved in the life of Dumgree in the Awatere Valley. On 23 January 1902, she received a letter from the manager of Dumgree (also her nephew) R. Young. He wrote: “Therefore I do not expect high prices for stock this year even with the price of frozen meat advancing in London.”⁸

Mr Young wrote again on 10 May 1902. “I have just received a letter from the Seddon Sports committee asking if you would be willing to dispose of 60-70 acres near the Dumgree Railway Station….and if you are not prepared to sell, would you let or lease. This I take to be a formal request such as was made to me unofficially last year when I obtained your permission to allow them to hold Boxing Day races and sports in the Manuka paddock.”⁹

Mrs Renwick letter to Ms Inglis. Marlborough Museum & Archives

In 1902 (date unknown) Mrs Renwick wrote from Newstead House to a Miss Inglis who had  responded to an advertisement for a nursery governess: “The advertisement which you replied to was for a nursery governess for the three children of my niece Mrs Young who resides at Dumgree in the Awatere. Since the insertion, the circumstances have changed. Owing to Mrs Young’s health, the children have come to stay with me for six months. For that time the duties required will be those of a nurse.” She explained that the oldest child, a boy, would go to school and the two younger girls would not require teaching. She added: “I should wish the nurse to take complete charge of the children with the exception that I shall have the baby at night.”¹⁰

Anne Renwick died in 1939 and Dumgree was farmed by a nephew until it was sold out of the family in 1977.

2017

(Randall) George Cannon McMurtry and Templemore Homestead

George is 87 years old [in 2006]. He was  born in 1918 in Templemore Homestead,  that still stands today on 126 Salisbury Road.  His grandfather, of Irish descent, came to Nelson in 1907 at the invitation of Maoriland Copper Company.  George McMurtry Sr. had much to do with the local copper mines at Aniseed Valley and the Champion Mine, being General Manager at both.

George McMurtry with stone adze 1250 AD found at Templemore Ponds

In 1907 George's Grandmother Annie purchased part of section 69 [see Reservoir creek story for map] from Henry Holdaway.¹ Annie supervised the erection of a spacious 14-room dwelling that was completed at Christmas, 1907.  The new home was given the name “Templemore”, a nostalgic reminder of a small Irish village near Limmerick in County Tipperary .  The people of this village had treated George’s grandparents with kindness when they were on a family pilgrimage in the 1880’s. 

McMurtry’s soon joined the orchard boom and planted 25 acres of apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, quince and plums.  There was also a small herd of dairy cows.  George's father Lawrence was born in 1890 and George senior passed away in October 1918.

The names Reservoir Creek and Templemore Pond did not exist when George was a young boy.  They were known simply as the pond and the creek.  The pond in particular was a favourite haunt for George and his friends.  A lot of time was spent paddling around on rafts.  The pond was located on the Huffam's boundary² with McMurtry’s where two streams came together.³  Near a large poplar tree at the pond George found a very large archaic flint adze which has been dated to 1200 AD.  It is presumed that waka were made at this site from former stands of local Totara trees.

Catching eels, whitebait and koura were also popular activities on Reservoir Creek.  George can remember taking home kerosene tins full of koura to cook up.  At the estuary off John Sutton's farm, sizable quantities of whitebait were taken.  Beyond the mudflats flounders were plentiful.

George McMurtry Senior and his wife Annie

In 1929, Lawrence experimented with plum wine and by 1933 major production of apple (and some pear) wine began.  It wasn’t long before thousands of gallons of the popular wine were being produced annually, the income being twice that of the dairy cow production.

Following a tour of duty in World War II with the British army, George took over a town supply herd of dairy cows and grew peas and beans on Templemore farm while his parents continued with the wine making.  George left Templemore and moved to Cushendall Homestead (Upper Moutere) in 1951 where he bred ponies.

Templemore was bought by a local land agent following George McMurtry’s departure and leased to Colin Bolitho who cropped barley from the property.⁴  On 20 February 1961 Warwick Marshall took over the lease and he reports that the property and plant were in a fairly run down state.  At this time the Reservoir Creek riparian zone was covered in blackberry. Warwick reports that his two sons caught 10-12 inch Kokopu in the creek during the early 1960’s.

Trevor Ivory purchased the Templemore property from a syndicate in 1970.  Again the property was run down.  The land was mostly in gorse and dry ground.  Some peas were still grown.  The homestead was also in a sorry state with dead sheep in the kitchen.  Fortunately, however, a decision was made to restore the original homestead rather than to tear it down.

Trevor built a very large dam on the property and connected this to a smaller one.  By now the “pond” was nothing more than a ditch.  The new ponds became irrigation water supply for strawberries and boysenberries.  Trevor reports there were trout and a lot of ducks in the pond and his staff did some hunting.

Today the Templemore Pond lies within a new subdivision and is part of the Tasman District Council Reserve system. It is enjoyed by thousands of residents for their recreation and well being.

There are many more additions to the story of Reservoir Creek and a lot of individuals who are eager to provide additional pages to the story.  I hope that this brief overview will be useful for any person who takes on the challenge.

A leading voice in the separation of the Provinces

Eton and Oxford educated barrister, William Adams was a leading voice for the Wairau’s discontented settlers and became the province’s first Superintendent after the province separated from Nelson in 1859.¹

William Adams. Marlborough Museum & Archive

William and Martha Adams arrived in Nelson on the barque Eden in 1850. They went to the Wairau and settled on the Redwood Run in the Avondale Valley.² In 1851, Adams sent a man to select a run for him in the Awatere Valley. He was possibly put off by the report Stephen Nicholls wrote on his return, as nothing came of it.  Nicholls wrote: “And if anyone offered me a flock of sheep to go and live there, I would not.” He described ravines and precipices and great chasms made by earthquakes which were “both frightful and awful to look at”.³

Adams applied for the Langley Dale run on the north side of the Wairau River in about 1853. Its 6000 hectares was covered in heavy bush fern and scrub, while the long narrow flat near the river was largely swamp occupied by numerous wild cattle and pigs.⁴

Martha Adams. Marlborough Museum & Archives

The original building at Langley Dale (named after Martha’s maiden name) was a single room cob dwelling and the Adams family extended it by four large rooms when they arrived in 1857. Additions over subsequent decades show four distinct periods from mid-Victorian to Edwardian architecture. Much of the building remains in its original state.⁵

By the 1850s, the Nelson Provincial Government had begun a programme of land sales in the Wairau raising nearly £160,000 but nearly all of this revenue was spent in Nelson. Justifiably the Wairau settlers felt a deep sense of injustice and Adams led the campaign for reform with great vigour and success.⁶

On 4 July 1857, Adams wrote to the Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle: “ In answer to your remark, that before any portion of the Colony should be erected into an independent Province, there should be some considerable amount of population within it, &c. Now, -sir/if these districts are to wait for separation until their plains are populated by agricultural labourers, and possess a town and port, why then it will never be; for until local inducements are held out — good roads made, a certain transit for our produce to colonial and home markets, punctual and direct postal communication, schools for our children, protection for all, and confidence in the management of the affairs of the districts, every care and possible advantage being given to small agricultural settlers — these districts will never be anything more than merely pastoral ones."⁷

First painting of Langley Dale. 1890-1900. Marlborough Museum & Archive

By September of that year, Adams was in Auckland delivering a petition to the General Assembly seeking Marlborough’s separation from Nelson.⁸

The province of Marlborough was gazetted on 4 October 1859 and in December, Adams travelled with Thomas Gore Browne, the Governor of New Zealand, from Nelson to Langley Dale, where he signed the document separating Marlborough from Nelson. You can read the full account of his visit and Adam’s account of events leading up to the separation of the two provinces here.⁹

Langley Dale Estate - c1890-1920. Marlborough Museum & Archive

On 1 May 1860, Adams was elected the first superintendent of the new province.  He said: “I very reluctantly left (my farming pursuits), but when I saw year after year our district drained of its resources for the benefit of Nelson and its neighbourhood, I joined with others to gain what we now possess – the management of our own affairs.”¹⁰

The year 1861 was full of political interest and intrigue¹¹ with fierce rivalry between Adams and Provincial Council member,William Eyes, combined with bitter local jealousy between Picton and Blenheim.¹²

Langley Dale. c.2010

At the second session of the Provincial Council at the new Council Chambers in Picton, Adams outlined the advantages of a rail connection between Picton and Blenheim and later travelled to Auckland to promote the Picton Railway Bill. However Eyes had links to the new incoming Government of William Fox. He was strongly against Adams and the railway, and the Bill was killed. Adams also became aware that the Fox government was against him holding the two roles of Superintendent and Commissioner of Crown Lands for Marlborough and he resigned from the former role, retaining the more lucrative commissioner role.¹³

“He abandoned a position for which he was eminently suited, possessing a comprehensive grasp of the principles of Government, and a practical mind to apply them to local circumstances, wrote Lindsay Buick in Old Marlborough.¹⁴ However in a later Marlborough history, Alister McIntosh noted that Adams’ resignation adroitly retained the substance of his power as land commissioner while getting rid of a fractious executive: “Adams’ high handed administrative methods had caused much irritation and a split within his executive…”¹⁵

After resigning as Superintendent, Adams was appointed legal adviser to the Provincial Council, but when his political opponents voted for a reduction of his provincial emoluments he resigned the commissionership and moved to Nelson, where he founded the legal firm of Adams and Kingdon.¹⁶

Meanwhile, his son William was doing a very good job improving Langley Dale, clearing and developing the run, draining swamps and planting trees. By 1903 the run was carrying 7,000 sheep and 400 cattle, while a water wheel drove an electric generator and a flax mill.⁴

Adams was the MP for Picton from July 1867 to May 1868.¹⁷  William and Martha retired to live at Langley Dale in 1872. He died there suddenly in 1884 and was buried on the "rock" near the homestead, Martha was buried beside him when she died in 1906.⁴

2017

Pragmatic and political early Spring Creek settlers

New Zealand provided plenty of opportunities for four of Joseph and Isabella Dodson’s nine children¹ to shine, with Thomas and Joseph settling in Nelson and Henry and George making their homes in the Wairau.

Born in Wiltshire, the brothers all seem to have arrived in New Zealand under their own steam. Thomas arrived in Nelson in 1841 on the Will Watch and Joseph arrived in 1854. Thomas was a member of the Nelson Provincial Council and various other bodies and Joseph became a brewer and Nelson’s first mayor.²

J R Dodson, Mayor: The Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection: 32005

But this story will deal with younger brothers, George and Henry and their part in the development of the Wairau.

Henry Dodson. NZETC

Henry Dodson

Henry Dodson arrived in Nelson in 1855 via an unsuccessful period at the goldfields in Ballarat, Australia. He joined his brother Joseph and worked at his brewery, before moving to the Wairau in about 1857. He set up a brewery, which is now Marlborough’s oldest commercial building and houses a beer garden.³ He was a member of Marlborough’s first Provincial Council established in 1859 and was one of the ‘Blenheimites’ who wanted the provincial seat of government to be in Blenheim,⁴ not Picton which was Marlborough’s capital until 1865.

“The object of the sheep farmers (large runholders like William Adams) was to draw off the population from Blenheim to Picton so that a few scabby sheep might run on these plains, and the advance of small agriculturalists, be retarded in the vicinity of their runs,” he told a large meeting at Blenheim’s Royal Oak Hotel in Blenheim in 1860.⁵

In fact Henry could have been Blenheim’s first mayor, as he and James Sinclair had an equal number of supporters. A compromise was reached and F.J. Litchfield was Blenheim’s first mayor.⁶ Henry was Blenheim’s second mayor from 1870-71 and again from 1883-84.⁷

Henry became Marlborough member of the House of Representatives in 1881. Historian Lindsay Buick wrote: “His advanced views he had imbibed when amongst the diggers of Ballarat, and although he was not a polished speaker, he had a rude eloquence that often carried conviction where more flowery language might have failed.”  Henry was described as one of the most skilful ‘election engineers’ the Wairau had ever produced and held the Wairau seat until his retirement in 1890.⁸

In 1884 when addressing a meeting of electors at the Marlborough Public Hall, he said that he had been accused of putting members of his family into public positions. He countered this by saying his brother George had been put on the Lands Board without his knowing anything about it, and that the Government had actually objected to another person he had suggested, whom they passed over in favour of his brother, George.⁹

Henry died suddenly in May 1892 of a ‘paralytic stroke’ and his obituary in the Marlborough Express noted that he had worked hard to secure the future prosperity of Marlborough. “It says much for a man that his death should cast a gloom over a whole community, but much more, when it can be said that he leaves no enemy behind, and has left a record, public and private, of which any man may well be proud.”¹⁰

George Dodson. Marlborough Museum & Archive

George Dodson

George Dodson arrived in Nelson in February 1842 on the Fifeshire and was  soon working with the New Zealand Company’s survey staff.  He joined chief surveyor Frederick Tuckett on an expedition down the south coast to find a new settlement to be named New Edinburgh (Dunedin) in 1844.¹¹

He farmed at Spring Grove in the Waimea district prior to relocating to Marlborough. When the Wairau was opened for settlement in 1854, George was the first farmer to settle in the Spring Creek district.¹² Spring Creek was very swampy and in the early days, George was one of many farmers who raised cattle there. However the Australian goldrush created a sudden demand for grain and George ploughed his paddocks and became a grain grower.  He was the first in the area to plough with horses, the first to import a traction engine and an early adopter of a manual reaping machine.¹³

• Spring Creek's original railway station. The Station Master had his office inside and there is a waiting lobby, necessary in the absence of a platform veranda. George had already been in Spring Creek for 20 years when the Blenheim to Picton railway line was opened in 1875. Marlborough Museum & Archive

His interest soon turned to provincial politics, although a report in the Nelson Examiner and NZ Chronicle of 1865 makes one wonder how keen he really was when he stood as Blenheim candidate for the Marlborough Provincial Council in 1856.  A ‘Blenheimite’ like his brother Henry, George was keen for the seat of Government to be based in Blenheim but when quizzed on topics other than the merits of the two rival towns, confessed he had not thought about other issues. In what sounds like a bruising encounter as he fielded questions, he said he was opposed to taxation in any form and had left the old country on that account and would vote with the majority on rates issues.¹⁴

The opening of the Ferry Bridge at Spring Creek, March 1885, with guests on the old Ferry punt. George was chairman of the Spring Creek Road Board from 1875. Marlborough Museum & Archive

George represented Tua Marina on the Marlborough Provincial Council between 1869 and 1874.¹⁵ As chairman of the Spring Creek River Board for 25 years from its inception in 1875, George did much to alleviate devastating flooding in the area.¹⁶ As the settlers burned off scrub on the Wairau Plains, water flowed freely into the rivers and floods were becoming more frequent and disastrous. George is described as being at the ‘head and front of all the river protection work carried out in the district’.¹⁷

As well as being a member of the Spring Creek River Board, George was a member of the Spring Creek Road Board, the Waste Lands Board and a Justice of the Peace for 18 years. He died in 1905.¹⁸

2017

Wild frontier for Blenheim’s first storekeeper

How James Wynen ended up in a Nelson hotel where he died in 1866 is a mystery.¹ But the story of the ‘decent and respectable native of the Netherlands’², is touched by tragedy.

James Wynen, Marlborough Historical Society - Marlborough Museum Archives

In 1839, Wynen came to New Zealand to buy land for a Sydney syndicate. He took up residence in Port Underwood and, like many European men of the time, took a Maori wife, who ‘proved to be a faithful and devoted helpmeet’.³ Rangiawa Kuika, a Ngati Toa chieftainess who was related to Te Rauparaha, was to be brutally murdered just a few years later.⁴

Wynen lived happily among local Maori at Kakapo Bay according to explorer Dr. Dieffenbach who wrote in September 1839: “the natives have just built a house for him…he occupies himself much with those people, whose disposition he praises very much and upon them, he exercises a happy influence.”⁵

The Reverend Samuel Ironside and his wife Sarah arrived in Port Underwood in December 1840 and held the first Christmas Day service at Wynen’s house. Ironside described the storekeeper as ‘about the only decent and respectable man on that (whaling) station’.

One square gin (case gin) glass bottle c 1850s. Dutch. Diamond pontil mark. Pig snout. . Found at the Wairau Bar. Originally from the Wairau Bar Hotel, after they have been discarded they came up out of the mud after a flood in the Wairau river. 2007.Marlborough Museum and Archive

Wynen had married spinster Bethia Virtue in the county of Middlesex on 11 May, 1830 and the couple had one son, James Virtue Wynen who was born in August 1833.  It is unclear what happened to Bethia⁶, but Rev Ironside married Wynen and Kuika in New Zealand.²

Tragedy struck in December 1842. Wynen was rumoured to be wealthy and when he took one of his regular trips to Nelson, a fellow Port Underwood settler Richard (Dick) Cook murdered Kuika and their infant son. He ransacked the hut, finding only a bag containing useless coins.⁷ A distressed baby girl, who was looked after by Sarah Ironside, died some weeks later.⁸

Cook’s wife, Kataraina was the chief prosecution witness and said her husband was the assassin but, as his wife, she was disqualified from giving evidence and Cook walked free.⁸ This lowered Maori respect for Pakeha justice.⁹ After the Wairau Affray six months later, the chief Te Rangihaeata claimed one of the reasons he had killed Arthur Wakefield was because Richard Cook had not been punished.⁸

In about 1847, Wynen moved from Port Underwood, to the north side of the Wairau River mouth.¹⁰ At the time, the Boulder Bank was a primitive frontier settlement where bullock drivers, boatmen and whalers ‘revelled in drunken orgies’.¹¹ A series of rough drinking houses, stores and wharves served the small sailing vessels which plied their trade exporting wool and importing supplies for the fledgling pastoral runs.¹²

With his brother William, Wynen operated a virtual monopoly in the Wairau, included shipping and receiving goods, a store, accommodation house and drinking shanty. Boats from Wellington and Nelson moored outside the Wairau River mouth and cargo was discharged into Wynen's whale boats and taken up the river to be stored at his large raupo warehouse located on the banks of the Omaka River, which he eventually converted into a shop.¹³

On the other side of the Wairau River mouth, Francis MacDonald operated a hotel and relations were strained between the two businessmen. Both were seeking liquor licences and Wynen told the authorities that he had gone to Wellington leaving a man named Smith in charge. Smith had got Wynen’s young Maori housekeeper intoxicated and taken her across the river to MacDonald’s hotel where he made her work as a prostitute.¹⁴

The Kennedy at Blenheim's first wharf, April, 1866- the year James Wynen died. One of the earliest shipping photographs showing the old port of Blenheim. The Kennedy is upstream of today's railway bridge on the Omaka (Taylor) River at Wynen's wharf. This was at the end of Wynen Street on the true right bank of the river.. Marlborough Museum and Archive

In December 1849, Wynen applied for a liquor licence, writing to Nelson’s superintendent that he wished to operate a respectable hotel: “The whole of our natives have become drunkards, and then as well as the drunken Europeans, come to my place to get sober.” He continued: “I look forward to murder, robbery and crime as inevitable if some restraint is not put upon the sale or gift of liquor to the natives.”¹⁵

Gold, Charles Emilius, 1809-1871. [Interior of the house or hotel of an early settler on the Wairau plain. The painting is  thought to show Wynen and his Maori housekeeper.] Wining's Wairau New Zealand. April 1851.. Ref: A-447-002. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/29942216

Scotsman, James Sinclair and his wife Christina arrived at the Boulder Bank in 1852 and soon headed up river to the junction of the Omaka and Opawa Rivers. With the bed of the Wairau Lagoons lowered by the 1848 earthquake, Wynen also saw an opportunity to establish a base inland, although his business at the river mouth continued until he sold it to Captain Samuel Bowler and his brother-in-law, Captain George Jackson in 1855.¹⁶

An 1851 painting is thought to show Wynen and a Maori woman sitting in a large fireplace in an early hotel on the Wairau Plains.¹⁷  Wynen also had a ‘Gin Palace’ at Beavertown made from red gin cases, which was notorious for the number of drunks to be found there. He would not do business on Good Friday, although he would offer a free drink from the gin bottle he always had with him.¹⁰

We know that Wynen’s rival, James Sinclair became very successful.¹⁸ But we don’t know when Wynen ceased to run his empire and left Blenheim. Did the demon drink combined with personal tragedy break him?

On September 22 1860, a report from the Magistrate’s Court in Nelson places him at the Wakatu Hotel earlier that month, where he claimed he was trying to help the publican deal with a drunken fight. Wynen pleaded not guilty to resisting arrest by a policeman but was fined £10 for a breach of the peace.¹⁹

James Wynen died aged 60 at The Fleece Hotel in Waimea Road, Nelson and is buried in St Paul’s churchyard, Brightwater.¹

2017

Fiery, ambitious Scotsman was ‘King of the Beaver’

Born in Caithness, in the north of Scotland,¹ James Sinclair was described as a clear-headed, strong-minded Scotsman, who, by his dominating personality and magnificent energy, became known as the King of the Beaver.² Early local historian, Lindsay Buick also commented that he influenced the early settlement to a marked degree, but “whether for weal or woe will perhaps be the subject of divided opinion”.³

James Sinclair, Marlborough Historical Society - Marlborough Museum Archives, 0001

The Sinclairs (James, wife Christina and their firstborn) arrived in Wellington on the Agra on 3 March 1852. They brought goods from Manchester to sell and it has been suggested they had £5000 capital to invest- an enormous sum for that time. While they sailed into Nelson, it was clear that the Wairau and Awatere were developing steadily and Sinclair saw that a key priority was the safe storage of goods waiting to be exported or imported through the Wairau River mouth.⁴

Mrs James Sinclair. NZETC.

Soon after arriving in Nelson, Sinclair sought permission to build an accommodation house, with stores for wool and dairy produce, on the south bank of the Wairau River mouth.⁵ The Sinclairs were strong Presbyterians who couldn’t abide the debauchery of the frontier river mouth settlement.⁶ The wild and drunken habits of the patrons of McDonald’s grog shop horrified Mrs Sinclair and, before the year was out, they had moved up the Opawa River. Apart from James Wynen’s raupo shed on the south bank of the Opawa River, there were no other signs of the future township of Blenheim at the confluence of the Opawa and Omaka Rivers.⁵

James Wynen, Marlborough Historical Society - Marlborough Museum Archives

Sinclair set up business as a merchant and soon became a land agent. The land where Blenheim now stands was owned by Messrs Alfred Fell and Henry Seymour of Nelson and from 1857, Sinclair was entrusted with the sale of the town sections which were selling for £10 per quarter acre.⁷

The wharves and Fells Store, Blenheim, 1872 paddle steamer Lyttelton and schooner Falcon at berths. Lockup Creek bridge right hand side. Marlborough Museum & Archives.

In September 1854, when the settlers requested a custom house at Blenheim, Sinclair was willing to become the collector of fees, but Edward Stafford, the superintendent of the Nelson Province, favoured Port Waitohi (Picton) as port of entry for the province. He also described Sinclair as a recent settler who was committed to so many business interests that he would likely have conflicts of interest in this role.⁸

Sinclair's land holdings eventually included a wharf, wharf shed, stock yards, his own house, a hotel, the first courthouse and police station, Marlborough Provincial Council Office and a hall for hire. These were all, unsurprisingly, along Sinclair Street.⁹

Sinclair was one of the movers and shakers involved in the separation of Marlborough from Nelson and also having Blenheim made the capital of the province.¹ A member of the Marlborough Provincial Council from 1860 until the abolition of the provinces in 1876, his obituary said ‘prospering greatly he put himself in the forefront of every movement to send the district ahead.” It further eulogised: “Many a one he has helped, never a one did he knowingly do an ill turn too.”¹⁰

James and Christina Sinclair, who was also from the north of Scotland¹¹, were known for their generosity. “Whatever differences may have arisen to the wisdom of Mr Sinclair’s political views and actions, none will withhold from him and his amiable wife the virtue of unbounded hospitality during the early stages of the early settlement.”³

Dr. S.L. Muller, Marlborough Historical Society - Marlborough Museum Archives

A search of the Paper’s Past website shows that Sinclair could be opinionated, difficult- and litigious.  In 1873, he was plaintiff in a case for unpaid rent and money owing on a chair to a total of just over £2. Sinclair spoke for two hours and the judge, Stephen Muller said that the way he had given evidence must have been painful to his own defence counsel and that he was sorry that such a paltry case had been brought to court.¹²

A most telling case was in 1870, when Henry Dodson, who was mayor at the time laid a complaint against Sinclair for publicly using offensive and insulting expressions calculated to breach the peace. Dodson told the court that he had to call Sinclair to order in a Council meeting. Later Sinclair returned to the room “in a violent temper” and fairly hissing through his teeth, said that “he knew who I (Dodson) was and that I had to slink away from Ballarat for murderous proceedings.” Sinclair’s defence was that Dodson had called him a blackguard. Sinclair was bailed to the sum of £25 to keep the peace, and in particular to Dodson, for 12 months.¹³

Blenheim 1870. Marlborough Historical Society - Marlborough Museum Archives. 19950150191

While he took no part in politics after 1876, Sinclair displayed a keen interest in Blenheim’s municipal affairs and the Presbyterian Church, which his obituary said ‘owed its existence in Blenheim to his open-handed liberality’.¹⁰

A few years before his death in 1892, Sinclair wrote to the Marlborough Express to put the record straight. The newspaper had reported that when laying the foundation stone of a new Presbyterian church, the Rev Robb, said the land (section 452) the church would be built on had been gifted by Alexander McLachlan and Archibald McCallum. Sinclair wrote that the Rev Robb had been misinformed: “Now the truth is that Mr A. McLachlan did not gift as much ground as the point of Mr Robb’s walking cane would cover.” He went on to say that he had assigned the land to the Church in 1869 and that the land for the new building and existing ‘ald church and school’ had all been gifted by him.¹⁴

Christina Sinclair died on the 23rd of December 1895, aged sixty-eight, and James died on the 9th of August 1897, aged seventy-nine. They were survived by four sons and one daughter.¹

2017

The rise and fall of a colourful and controversial colonist

A cast of hardworking ‘alpha’ men dominated the early days of settlement in the Wairau.  And none was more keen to get to the top than William Henry Eyes.

William Eyes. Cyclopedia of New Zealand, 1906 NZETC

Eyes was born near Liverpool in 1819 and arrived in Sydney in 1839. On 18 July 1844 , Sydney’s Hawkesbury Courier and Agricultural and General Advertiserfeatured this story: "WILLIAM HENRY EYES, indicted for a rape, was found guilty of a common assault on one Rosina Thomas, a girl under ten years of age, and sentenced to be imprisoned for three years in Parramatta Gaol.¹  He was pardoned after one year of the sentence and travelled to New Zealand with his cousin, the Revd C. L. Reay, arriving in Nelson on 9 August 1845.^2"

Eyes was in Marlborough by 1852, when as manager of Richmond Brook, he wrote to Major Richmond: ‘….there is no keeping the Flaxbourne sheep away. During the time that I have had the charge of your flock, I have had to draft Clifford’s sheep eight times…”³ He built a mansion Netherfield (later named Blythfield) in New Renwick Road in the late 1850s.⁴

William Eyes. Alexander Turnbull Library. Wikimedia

By 1861, his daughter’s governess wrote to a cousin about Eyes, that he was handsome and a natty dresser with enormous yellow moustaches; but that he was ‘most bearish in his manners and conversation’. She wrote that he had arrived in New Zealand penniless, but was now one of the wealthiest settlers in the Province. “I cannot make out the number of his acres, but he has just shipped off the wool of 17,000 sheep…he has 12,000 acres freehold and rents several of the neighbouring runs.⁵

Political clash and clamour

A ‘roads and bridges’ candidate, Eyes contested the election for the General Assembly in 1861, beating the popular Frederick Weld  by just four votes. He made capital out of the fact that Weld didn’t live in his constituency, was frequently absent from New Zealand and neglected local needs.⁶ He was to represent the Wairau for 10 years.⁷

Eyes was involved with the Marlborough Provincial Government for nearly its entire turbulent 17 years,⁸ with historian Alistair McIntosh suggesting that his whole career was marked by “extreme self-assertiveness, energy, shrewdness - and often unscrupulous behavior”. McIntosh went so far as to say that prior to Eyes becoming superintendent in November 1865, four administrations had unsuccessfully tried to govern the province and all had ultimately been wrecked by Eyes.⁹

Marlborough’s capital was established at Picton in 1859, where a town had been laid out in 1851. The Provincial Council buildings are on the right of this picture (with the jail in the centre). Picton Maritime and Heritage Museum

At the beginning of the Province’s history, there was fierce rivalry about where the seat of Government should be – Blenheim or Picton. The battle saw the mainly English pastoral landowners supporting Picton as the capital and the mainly Scottish settlers, who were townsmen and small farmers, supporting Blenheim. Eyes was the leader of the Blenheim party.¹⁰  Dr David Monro commented that the name of Picton was like a red rag to a bull for Eyes. It seemed that he and his party would do anything to harass their opponents and bring about the dissolution of Council.¹¹

Eyes was also a thorn in the side of Marlborough’s first superintendent, William Adams and was largely responsible for the 18610Picton Railway Bill  being killed by the incoming William Fox.¹²  It was said he opposed the railway tooth and nail merely because it had emanated from the Picton party, although he and Arthur Seymour withdrew their opposition to the railway in 1876 when it was clear the Government would bear the cost.¹³

The first Marlborough Provincial Council buildings, Blenheim, operating from 1865 until the provinces were abolished 1 November 1876. That day the building, along with much of the town centre, was destroyed in a fire. Alexander Turnbull Library.

In his first speech as Marlborough’s fifth superintendent, Eyes rebuked the extravagance of his predecessors saying that nearly £12,000 was overspent and announcing a vigorous policy of retrenchment with all public works to cease.¹⁴ Being a man of great executive ability, he instigated the Marlborough Waste Lands Act in 1867, which assured an annual revenue of £3000 for the province.¹⁵

Eyes held his party together by his overpowering will and unceasing energy¹⁶  but his strong personality made him enemies and in 1870 he was voted out of the Provincial Council.¹⁷ Upon finding himself in a minority, his request to the Governor, Sir George Ferguson Bowen, for the Council to be dissolved was agreed to on the condition that he resign if the election went against him. He lost a second time, but  didn’t go quietly and he and his party devoted their attention to obstructing Council business for four days.¹⁸

Personal strife

Personal scandal again raised its head in 1873. On 13 January, a notice in the Marlborough Express signed by Eyes, claimed that his wife Eleanor had left their home with his children without his consent and that he was no longer responsible for her debts. Another notice dated two days later saw Mrs Eyes claiming he had ordered her out of his house and the children had freely gone with her.¹⁹

The plot thickened when Mrs Eyes filed for divorce in June on the grounds of his adultery. The detailed newspaper account told the story of Eyes conducting an affair with one Charlotte Johnston in Wellington, Picton and finally Blenheim, with Eyes apparently goading his wife by saying that ‘he would soon be walking arm in arm with her (Johnston) through Blenheim.’ The jury found in favour of Mrs Eyes that she had not condoned the affair and that Eyes had committed adultery.²⁰

Page 3 Advertisements Column 4 (1873, January 25) Marlborough Express. Papers Past

Eyes sued a Mr G.Henderson in May of that year for libel, claiming that Henderson had published a ‘false, malicious, scandalous and defamatory libel’ about him in a resolution, put to a public meeting in Blenheim, that a person such as Eyes holding high colonial and provincial appointments should not be able to carry on in such a flagrantly immoral way.²¹

Life after politics, and death

In July 1873, Eyes resigned from the Executive Council and as Provincial Secretary.²² In October he filed for bankruptcy.²³ The politician who threatened to turn Picton into ‘a deserted village’ throughout his political career ²⁴ contested and lost the Picton seat in 1881.²⁵

We next see Eyes at the end of 1901 when Premier Richard Seddon  visited Marlborough: “Quite a feature of Mr Seddon's meeting on Thursday evening was the presence on the stage of Mr William Henry Eyes, formerly Superintendent of Marlborough, and who at one time or another held nearly every public position in the place. To him is due the gratitude of Blenheim for having the seat of Government shifted back from Picton to Blenheim. Mr Eyes was specially invited to a place on the platform as some recognition of his many services to the district in the past.”²⁶

Eyes died in April 1907 in a boarding house in Wellington, where he had lived for about 12 months. He was survived by six of his eight children. While noting his achievements, Eyes’ obituary noted that ‘early he showed the political fight that was in him and afterwards made such clash and clamour in the halls of Provincial legislation’.²⁷

2017

Queen Street is the long street that runs through the heart of Richmond, from the foothills in the east, to the Waimea River in the west.  As the commercial centre of Richmond, Queen Street has naturally seen many changes over the decades. Countless businesses have come and gone, but some of the buildings constructed to house them have had a lasting presence.

The Henley Store. Photograph from Jill and Bill Knowles. Ref: QSHP 2 on Kete Tasman.

The Henley Store

2 Salisbury Road, northeast corner of Queen Street and Salisbury Road, Richmond. 1910 to the present

The Henley Store was originally built in 1910-11 by Herbert Lusty and his apprentice Wilfred Busch for Herbert’s brother Francis (Frank) Lusty Jr..  The general store and tearooms was a family affair with Frank’s wife, daughter and other family members assisting in the business. The store served the families in the Upper Queen Street Henley area, and was an important meeting place for that zone.¹

Herbert Newport took over the business in 1920, and ran it until his death in 1931, after which the building had a number of owners and operators. Mr Goddard established a second hand shop in the building, and today it operates as the Richmond Antiques & Curios.²

Warring’s Garage

231-235 Queen Street, Richmond. 1926 – 1969, and ongoing

Warring's Garage and Service Station. Tasman District Council Archives on Kete Tasman.

John Warring (known as Jack) established the first petrol station in Richmond. He started his business in 1923, with a bicycle shop near the Gladstone Road intersection with Queen Street. In 1926 seeing the potential market in motor vehicles, he moved his bicycle business further up Queen Street and extended it to sell petrol in four-gallon tins. Later he employed a motor mechanic and installed petrol pumps.

By Council decree, the garage had to be equipped with a large wooden turntable, so that cars entering the site for service could be turned around on the platform and exit onto the street front first, rather than backing out, which was seen as a danger.³

After Jack retired, the business passed to his son in law Ray Williams, and later to Mr Porter, until it finally closed in 1969. Around that time, the family sold the land at the rear of the business for development, with a clause that a free car park would be established for the public as well – this exists today as the Warring Car Park.

The family home was built next door to the garage, and the house still stands today. At some point, the house was divided into commercial stores, and over the years, it has been tenanted by many businesses including real estate agents, and by a succession of travel agents.⁴

Star & Garter Hotel, 1940, by R. C. Alexander. Ref: QSHP 4.1 on Kete Tasman.

The Star & Garter

252 Queen Street, Richmond. 1846 to the present

The Star and Garter is one of the oldest hotels in New Zealand still operating on its original site and (mostly) still using its original name.  It was originally built as the home of William Harkness and in 1845 the building was remodeled and expanded. By 1846 The Star and Garter had been granted a licence to sell beer, wine and spirits and was operating as an hotel.

According to varying accounts, the Star and Garter was named after either an inn or hotel in his home town of Richmond-on-Thames, or in a tongue-in-check manner after a grand hotel of the same name in London.

The original wooden building was set back from the road and had many alterations over its first century. Most of the building, excluding the bar itself, was gutted by fire in May 1950, and a roughcast building was built to replace it in 1953.⁵

The Brick Building

265 Queen Street, Richmond. c.1920s-2007

Queen Street shops, 1980s. Tasman District Council archives on Kete Tasman.

Thought to have been built by G. M. Rout and Sons in the 1920s, the regal brick building in central Queen Street housed numerous businesses.  Tenants included the Waimea Electric Power Board, who had their first office on the upper floor of the building in the 1930s.

The building is most often associated with Dentist Raymond Burnet Beresford (Known as Burnie). He ran a dental clinic in the building for over fifty years, from May 1948 until December 2003, when he retired due to ill health.

In 2007 the brick building was demolished. With its unreinforced brickwork walls and simple wooden construction, it was seen as a potential earthquake risk.⁶

Gladstone House

315 Queen Street. Southeast corner of Queen Street and Gladstone Road, Richmond. 1857-2003

Hodder’s store, Richmond, by W Maguire. Nelson Provincial Museum. 56532.

In 1857, a large two-storied general store and drapery opened on the southeast corner of Gladstone Road and Queen Street. Operated by Thomas Hodder and George Talbot, a sign on the building identified it as Gladstone House, although it appears to have been referred to more often as Hodder’s Store, or Hodder's Corner and later on as May’s.

William R. May purchased the business in 1893, and by mid-1897, had expanded the business and built a butter factory and a bacon factory nearby.  May’s store sold a large range of goods, from basic groceries like flour and eggs, to axes and farm supplies, to crockery and luxury goods like music boxes, dolls and 21 different kinds of sweets! May’s also employed a large number of workers. At the turn of the century, there were 54 seamstresses employed in the dressmaking department upstairs alone.⁷

In 1944 the business was sold to Les Wells and Joe Hill and they renamed it Waimea Stores and set about modernising parts of the building.  The building was later sold to Mr King-Turner who opened a second hand business in around 1970. For the next thirty of so years the building housed a variety of businesses and shops including a Tattoo and Body Piercing, Village Cycles and briefly Radio Fifeshire.

In January 2003 the building was demolished by owner David Lucas as it was becoming difficult to maintain because of its age. The 1656sq m site retail was sold and is today the site of a retail complex and car park.⁸

The Railway Hotel

321 Queen Street, Richmond. 1883 –2009

Railway Hotel, Lower Queen Street, Richmond, by W Maguire. Nelson Provincial Museum. 57260.

Located on the corner of Queen Street and Gladstone Rd, the Railway Hotel was well placed to attract customers from the Railway Station across the road. It also catered well to country folk, providing stables for customer’s horses, and a large stockyard on site where weekly sales of cattle and sheep were held.¹⁰

The Railway Hotel building had many renovations and alterations over the years, until last drinks were called in June 2009. Being in a prime location the building was demolished to make way for a McDonald’s drive through and multi-store food outlets.¹¹

2017

Sardines, pilchards, herring – the famous ‘Picton Bloaters’ were variously called all of these names. From earliest settlement there were huge seasonal shoals of them in Queen Charlotte Sound, close to the town, so a thriving industry was established as early as the 1870s.

The Perano nets for catching Picton Bloaters. Picton Historical Society Inc.

Every few years huge numbers of the fish would strand themselves on the Picton shore, to the great disgust of the inhabitants. Local papers reported them as plagues, and they were dealt with by shovelling them on to punts and carting them out for dumping in the outer Sound. This dismayed the agricultural experts who believed they should be harvested as fertiliser.

Apparently when the shoals arrived in winter they were accompanied by huge flocks of gulls and gannets. In 1909 the Marlborough Express reported: “on Thursday last, during a high tide, large numbers of them found their way into the lagoon near the Domain bridge. Messrs Perano and Blake, fishermen, were on the alert, and each obtained a fine haul, so good indeed that several tons of fish were allowed to escape before the nets could be got ashore.”¹

There were a number of businesses working the sardines in Picton. John Heberley (son of the original ‘Worser’ Heberley) was catching and curing them from about 1872. A Mr Turner had a cannery from 1880, as did Norgrove Brothers, who smoked the fish in brine and sent them to Thompson Bros. in Dunedin.

The Norgrove fish curing factory was on the western side of Picton Harbour, and employed three or four boats. About 1885 Agostino Perano moved his family to Picton from Port Chalmers on behalf of Thompsons, and took over their plant, building up an extensive business here. His family netted the sardines from rowboats, mostly within eight km of Picton.

Picton bloaters on the beach. Picton Historical Society Inc.

The prime fish were smoked and sold locally – not gutted, just salted and strung on sticks and hung in the smokehouse. Smaller sardines were packed in wooden kegs and salted down. Later, John McManaway as a young man sometimes helped his brother who caught the fish for Brown Barrett’s cannery in Picton. “Just out in the Sound,” he told me, “and they had a big ring net and just set around the shoal. You’d see them at night time, because the fire in the water would show them up. Just set around this glow, and you’d get a hundred cases a night. This went on for years – beautiful fish. They only could take a hundred cases a night, and you’d shoot around a shoal and there might be two hundred cases in it. So you’d only dip out a hundred cases and let the rest go. They didn’t want to catch too many at once, because they were wasted.”

Are the big herring shoals still coming in? I asked this question at the Picton Department of Conservation office, and was told, ‘no one can remember seeing fish in Picton Harbour for many, many years in the quantities you are talking about.’

2017

With the outbreak of War in 1939, there was an urgent need for all primary produce and to introduce more products for home consumption and export. The Auckland-based Brown Barrett Company established a cannery in Picton to take advantage of the plentiful supply of pilchards in Queen Charlotte Sound and adjacent waters, the same small fish which brought the Perano family to the area many years earlier.

Brown Barretts Cannery in Picton. Marlborough Historical Society Inc.

The cannery was set up in the shed and grounds adjacent to the Holy Trinity Church in Devon Street. The equipment was very basic, an assembly of whatever could be located or made in the country. The cans were produced in Wellington, packed in boxes in which the canned product was eventually shipped from the works, and delivered to Picton by the Tamahine.

Once a canning line is established, the equipment can be used to can many products, and Brown Barretts encouraged farmers in the Wairau Valley to grow vegetables or fruit to supply the cannery, but only tomatoes were available at first. It is not certain when the cannery started; it is unlikely to have been earlier than the beginning of 1942. When there was a fall in the volume of the pilchard catches, other fish were tried, including eels from Lake Ellesmere (marketed as Kai Tuna) and shoal barracouta, sold as deep sea pike. All manner of New Zealand fish, including oysters and paua, were tried, and permission was obtained to trial both salmon and trout.

Fish pie using local cod, potato and various spices was canned but never got past the first ‘tasting.’ About 1946 the sale of frozen crayfish tails to America became wildly successful. Trial runs of canned whale meat for human consumption was made about 1948: a 45-ton humpback whale produced 5 tons of relatively light-coloured meat. At the cannery the meat was processed into suitable pieces for hand filling into cans, which were then topped up with brine producing a corned meat product. An alternative product was created by adding a small amount of onion oil to the can which then sold as corned whale steak and onion.

Brown Barretts Cannery in Picton. Marlborough Historical Society Inc.

The factory was losing up to 10% at the works, but the loss of product was a staggering 40% of the whale meat on inspection at arrival in the UK. The overall loss was catastrophic, but not picked up until the consignment arrived in the UK. By the time the factory commenced the 1950 whale meat run, production losses were well within acceptable limits, but the whale meat market had been lost. In the end the only profitable line was the frozen crayfish tails and that did not warrant retaining the factory, particularly as Nelson Fisheries had established a factory in Picton.

About 1954, the old canning works property was taken over by the J. A. Perano Company who, in conjunction with Crown Chemicals of Sydney, set up a works to produce whale oil products.

2017

The giant gum and Kingsland Forest in Richmond

The Barrington Gum was named after a farm which was once located further down the Reservoir Creek valley from about 1850 to 1914.

The Eucalyptus or Gum species of Australia number over 500 different varieties and this is the tallest of them all, known for fast tail growth. It is a Eucalyptus Regnans (Mountain Ash), a native of Victoria and Eastern Tasmania, which is the tallest non-conifer in the world, reaching heights of nearly 100 metres (over 300 feet). This specimen was measured in 2009 by Richmond arborist Brad Cadwallader and climber Menno Kluiters. The height was 72.1 metres and the diameter 1.4 metres at 2.35 metres above ground. The first branch is 30 metres above ground. This made it the second-tallest measured tree in New Zealand behind an 80 metre Mountain Ash in the Orokonui Eco-sanctuary near Dunedin. Brad says “that the big gums in the Waimea College bus bay are only about 26 metres high, so that puts it into perspective.” Data can be found online at www.notabletrees.org.nz in “The New Zealand Tree Register” Ref. TSR/0687.

Barrington gum looking up from base. Photo by Lindsay Vaughan

Very little is known of its history or age. It was probably planted as a seedling sometime between 1860 and 1920, so it is 100 to 150 years old. The timber is valued for structures and

interior finishing but it is not fully weather and ground durable. It is sold as “Tasmanian Oak” with other similar species.

When it was planted, the Barrington Gum was probably with a few other farm trees on the steep rough sheep pasture hillside that had been burnt off, leaving native forest only in the bottom of the gully. In 1926 Richmond Borough Council owned this upper Reservoir Creek land and more was added over the years to the south between the lines of Queen Street and Hart Road, approximately 1.5 km, and approximately 1.5 km from the foothills to the summit.  The land was mainly farmed with sheep producing coarse wool, with the north facing frost-free patches growing early potatoes. When this became uneconomic the first pine forests were planted.

Barrington Gum showing full length. Photo by Lindsay Vaughan

Gradually plantation blocks of Pinus Radiata trees were planted in the 1960s-1970s, to give Tasman District Council timber and income, as they are harvested and replanted every 25 years or so. The town also gained a green backdrop above the lower reserve land that is named Dellside after the Griffin family farm that included the Barrington farm from 1919.

Harry Kingsland

Kingsland was chosen by Tasman District Council as the name for the whole plantation area in recognition of the pioneering work done by Harry Kingsland and his son Tom over many years with the Radiata pine industry. Harry had a milk run in Richmond and learned about these successful trees from Mr G. N. Hunt in the 88 Valley area near Wakefield soon after 1900. He was active in collecting cones from good trees, extracting the seed and raising seedlings.

In 1907 he bought a section on the corner of Appleby Highway and Blackbyre Road, where he lived and built a pioneering coolstore in 1915 to store apples through the winter. Becoming involved in the newly developing apple orchards he realised the need for timber for apple boxes as local native timber was running out. Rabbit/Rough Island was unused and he convinced authorities to start planting. In 1920 Harry was contracted to supply trees and labour to plant the first blocks there and one of the roads on Rough Island is named Kingsland.

By 1922, with a group of businessmen, Harry organised a large plantation between Belgrove and 88 Valley on the Rutherford’s farm “Kainui” which became the start of Nelson Pine Forests Ltd. He must have given many people employment over the years. Using the brand name “Kainui” Harry and Tom supplied seed and seedlings throughout the Nelson region in very large numbers. From 1946 to 1980 Tom sold seed all over New Zealand and numerous countries overseas. They inspected local superior Radiata trees, had their cones collected and dried them in their own specially built kilns to extract the best quality seed.

To get to this giant tree follow the path from Easby Park to the site of the old Reservoir. From the Barrington Gum Information Board follow the track for a few metres, then take the steep left fork to “Cavers Track”.  About another 100 metres up take the right fork at the sign.

This information was researched by David Burt (Keep Richmond Beautiful) for the Tasman District Council, 2016

Diarist, runholder, forthright politician

Born in Staffordshire in 1817, Joseph Ward arrived in Nelson in December 1842 with his parents-in-law Henry and Mary Redwood. He had married his cousin Martha, prior to the long voyage¹ which he found intolerable. He came close to blows with the ship’s master- ‘all think me very hot’, he wrote in his diary.²  [View Joseph Ward's family tree - PDF].

Joseph Ward. Marlborough Museum and Archive

Joseph and Martha first settled in Waimea West with her family, where he farmed and took responsibility for the education of the younger Redwood children.³  Joseph and Martha were to have 12 children.⁴

Ward was an assiduous diarist, with the Marlborough Museum and Archives holding transcripts⁵ of his diaries from 1847 to 1890. Between June and August 1844, he recorded day to day activities in Nelson from killing a pig, making an oven door, making pork pies and baking bread. On 7 August 1844, he wrote that Mary (his cousin/sister-in-law) had returned from Nelson with ‘a full view of marriage to the calm, cautious, untalkative Mr Lawyer Greaves. May she be happy.”

Henry Redwood, standing in front of a tree and his daughter Mrs Joseph Ward of Blenheim. Marlborough Museum and Archives

In August 1844 he noted that the New Zealand Company had ended and that he hoped a rumour that Colonel William Wakefield and Frederick Tuckett were killed by Maori in Otago was not true. It turned out not to be the case, but shows the anxiety felt following the murder of Captain Arthur Wakefield at the Wairau Affray a year earlier. Tuckett was also at the Wairau Affray but survived and eventually returned to London.⁵

In the winter and spring of 1847, Ward was employed by New Zealand Company surveyor, William Budge, who had the contract to survey the Wairau sections at sixpence an acre. Ward worked in tandem with his brother-in-law and close friend Cyrus Goulter on most of the Marlborough surveys.⁶

The Omaka River in flood, Blenheim. Taken from the supplement to the Auckland Weekly News 14 July. 1904 p11. Auckland City Libraries.

He is credited with Blenheim’s original name The Beaver. Located at the junction of the Omaka, now known as Taylor, and Opawa Rivers, the area was prone to flooding and when he came across his survey crew perched on their bunks threatened by swirling waters, he said: “They sat like a lot of Beavers in a dam.”⁷

Cyrus Goulter Fellow surveyor and longtime friend

While surveying the Wairau, Ward selected a pastoral run, which he named Brookby, near Hawkesbury which was owned by his good friend, Goulter. The two families were very close.⁸

When a magnitude 8.1 earthquake shock Marlborough in 1855, Father Antoine Garin left his home in Nelson and headed east to inspect the damage and see if he could help. He was accompanied by Ward and a servant and when they arrived at Brookby, they were greeted by a frightened Martha Ward who had endured the tremors alone with her children.⁹

Ward was forthright and somewhat rigid in politics and religion. He was a stern disciplinarian, who avoided contact with non-Catholics, disapproved of novel-reading, and held fast to his religious principles; yet he was cultured and widely read. A moderate conservative in politics, he was a fluent orator with a ready wit.¹⁰

Ward’s local government service spanned 49 years. He was the only member for the Wairau on the Nelson Provincial Council and was a champion of Marlborough’s separation from Nelson, declaring at a public meeting that if necessary ‘we’ll take up our rifles and fight for it!”¹¹ He was a member of the Marlborough Provincial Council from 1860 to 1876¹², a Marlborough deputy superintendent and a member of the Marlborough Roads Board for a continuous 16 years. He was still an active chairman of the board when he died of influenza in 1892.

Father Antoine Garin, circa 1870. Photographer unidentified, Alexander Turnbull Library, 1/4-016333-F http://mp.natlib.govt.nz/detail/?id=22471

He was described as a ‘strident voice in the slanging match that sometimes passed for politics in Marlborough.¹³  “Bold and outspoken, he scorns to fire from behind a bush, but steps at once into the open to give and receive fire.”¹⁴

Ward’s outspoken views saw him vote against the abolition of the Provinces in 1875. Ward wasn’t convinced of the benefits of centralising Government saying: “the working settlers - the men who will really make the money and make New Zealand - would be little better than beasts of burden.¹⁵ After just six months, he resigned from the House of Representatives as he was opposed to the abolition of the provinces.¹⁶ He unsuccessfully stood for the House in 1878 ¹⁷and again in 1884.¹⁸

Ward had his critics. Pro Bono Publico wrote a caustic letter to the Marlborough Express on 9 June 1875 sarcastically describing Ward as a ‘local genius’ and ‘a shallow, pretentious windbag’ who ‘can be very eloquent on the subject of the poor man paying for the rich.”¹⁹

The Marlborough Express of July 19, 1884 must not have been a good read for Mr Ward.  On noting Ward standing for the House of Representatives, the Evening Post newspaper was quoted: “it would be nothing less than a disgrace to the constituency and a misfortune to the Colony if Mr Ward were to be returned. Happily there is not the least fear of it.²⁰  On the same day, in an article entitled ‘Mr Ward is the God of the Day’, the newspaper argued that a statement from the Kaikoura Star that Ward had done more for the Wairau than Henry Dodson was ridiculous. “Why Mr Ward has done absolutely nothing, and all he could do in the future would be to render the constituency the laughing stock of New Zealand.²¹ A letter to the editor on July 19 from Henry Dodson also noted that Ward was ‘somewhat reckless in his public utterances and does not seem to improve with increasing age.” ²²

Joseph Ward died on 12 November 1892 and Martha died less than five months later, ‘grief for her husband having broken her constitution.²³ Joseph and Martha are buried at the Omaka cemetery.²⁴

Note: this Marlborough politician is not Joseph Ward, 17^th Prime Minister of New Zealand. In fact the Marlborough township of Ward was named after the Prime Minister, not the local politician profiled here.

2017

A solitary grave stone perched on a lonely grass and flax covered coastal terrace 1km north of the Anatori River, North West Nelson, marks the final resting place of miner James Durden.  The Epitaph reads:

“SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF JAMES DURDON NATIVE OF N.S.W DIED 27 AUGUST 1872 ERECTED BY HIS FELLOW MINERS AS A MARK OF RESPECT."

James Durden's headstone. Photo Ken Wright

His headstone is wrongly named with Durdon, rather it is Durden.  James was born in Field of Mars, Parramatta, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on 3 May 1845 and was baptised on 19 May 1845 in the Parramatta Catholic Church.¹ The Field of Mars is now known as Ryde City, a suburb of Sydney.  Durden originally came to New Zealand from Sydney in 1863, to serve, as a volunteer military settler, in the Waikato Maori Wars.

On Wednesday 29 July 1858 at the Water Police Court Sydney:  Henry Smith, Ralph Greyston, James McEwen, George Miller, William White, Andrew Fenn, and James Durden, seamen belonging to the ship Stately, were convicted of continued disobedience of lawful commands on the high seas, and were sentenced to twelve weeks hard labour in goal.²  If this is our James Durden he would have been 13 years old.  As a thirteen year old he certainly could have been at sea.  It is also conceivable that this was another person.

James Durden enlisted at Sydney on Saturday 10 October 1863, Regimental number 547 and his occupation at time of enlistment was a bushman.³  He was 5 foot 9 inches tall and was 18 yrs old.  On the same day the Kate, 341 Tons, embarked at Sydney with seventy-six volunteers, under the command of Captain James Holt (Former NZ resident) and Lieutenant Duncan Michie Brown,⁴ cleared the Heads at 2 pm with light easterly winds, which lasted till midnight of the following day, when the wind veered to North. 

"Experienced moderate northerly winds and rain, with thunder and lightning the whole passage.  Sighted no vessels.  Made the Kings on Saturday 17th October, at 6 pm.  The Kate  arrived at Auckland on Tuesday 20 October 1863.  The volunteers are described as a fine body of men, and to have behaved remarkably well.  The following are the passengers by the Kate —Cabin Passengers. — Captain Holt, Mrs. Holt and Son, Mr and Mrs. Wilson, Mr. and Mrs Diore, Lieut Brown Steerage.⁵

List of Troops Arriving on the Kate October 1863 Sailing.

Initially, recruiting for the Waikato War was carried out in the Otago Gold Fields, (which had attracted many young Australians), Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney.  In August 1863 Member of Parliament, Francis Dillon Bell and John Gorst, the Civil Commissioner for the Waikato, were sent to Australia to recruit men and purchase arms, ammunition and military stores.  Lieutenant Colonel George Dean-Pitt assisted with recruitment in Australia.⁶ His father was Major-General George Dean-Pitt (Preferred just Pitt).  In 1847 when New Zealand became a separate Army command, Major-General George Dean-Pitt was appointed as commander and Lieutenant-governor of New Ulster Province (North Island).  George Junior was his father's private secretary.  In June 1863 G Dean-Pitt Jnr was appointed Lieutenant Colonel by the New Zealand government for special service in the 1st Auckland Militia.⁷  There is no connection with Nelson's Colonel Albert Pitt, who served at Parihaka as a Lieutenant Colonel responsible for 1,200 men.  Albert was born and educated at Hobart Tasmania.⁸

Each Regiment was formed with three Companies, comprising; 1 Captain, 1 Subaltern, 5 Sergeants, 5 Corporals, 100 Privates.  There were four Regiments in the Waikato 1st to 4th.⁹

An oath of allegiance was sworn by the troops upon arrival in Auckland.  A Nominal Roll of those present on the Kate, sailing from Sydney, was prepared and each soldier signed beside his name, agreeing to the following oath:  "We the undersigned do sincerely promise and swear that we will be faithful and bear true allegiance to her majesty the Queen and that we will serve in the Waikato Militia on the terms and conditions published in the New Zealand Government Gazette of the fifth of August 1863, until lawfully discharged in writing whereof we leave herewith affixed our names this 21st day of October 1863...27 Durden James.....".¹⁰

These conditions included those under which land in the Waikato Country in the Province of Auckland would be granted to Volunteer Militiamen willing to perform defined military services, primarily how the land would be laid out into towns.  Key conditions were that according to rank, higher ranks received more land.  A private upon completing three years of service from his enrolment and having been issued with a certificate of good service, would be allocated a town allotment of one acre and a farm section of fifty acres.  It was a requirement of his allocation of land, that he must occupy the land for three years and must not absent himself for more than one month, in any one year, without the leave of the Governor first obtained.  They would also receive free rations for a year and be able to retain their arms and accoutrements and be supplied with ammunition.  They must also agree to be trained and serve as militiamen as required.  The conditions also outlined that a private would be paid two shillings and six pence per day, with rations and other allowances.

Upon boarding the ship from Australia each recruit was issued with a pair of blankets, a knife, fork and spoon, tin plate and a pannikin.  On arrival at Auckland they were marched to the Albert Barracks, a short distance out of town and issued with two pairs of blue trousers with a red stripe down the leg, two blue serge jerkins, two pairs of boots and a forage cap together with other necessaries and arms.   After a few days of elementary training they were marched nine miles to Otahuhu the main British encampment.  From here they were posted south to various redoubts.¹²

The Waikato Wars, began with a massive British Army invasion in July 1863 of the Maori King’s avowed home area, the Waikato.  Skirmishing at Koheroa and Meremere followed by a major engagement at Rangiriri.  With Rangiriri taken, the British Army pushed south, ultimately defeating Waikato and allies at Orakau in 1864.  The Maori King Tawhiao fled west, and took refuge amongst Ngati Maniapoto in dense bush country, later known as the ‘King Country’.¹³

"On the 9 August 1867, Crown grants (Militia) in favour of the following are now ready for delivery at the office of the Registrar of Deeds, High-street, Auckland; A list of 92 men with their Regiment 1st or 2nd Waikato listed.   James Durden (2)".¹⁴  So because of the conditions,  that a volunteer allocated land must remain on the land for three years, James Durden remained on his land at least until August 1870.  However New Zealand's military settlement schemes were generally a failure and by the time of the formal disbandment of the Military settlers units on 22 October 1867, social and economic depression had fallen over the sparsely settled European claim on the Waikato.  By the late 1860s many military settlers had either abandoned their lands or sold up and moved to other activities such as the Thames goldfields, while others returned to Australia.¹⁵

The making of a New Zealand War medal, covering service in the NZ Wars of 1845-47 (and for 1848) and 1860-66, was authorised in 1869.  One was allocated for issue to DURDEN James private of the 2nd Waikato Regiment.  This medal was not collected and was re-engraved and was issued to KARAWRIA Hohepa of the Native Contingent, in 1914.¹⁶

Death in the Anatori goldfields

Durden's 1872 journey from Collingwood to the West Whanganui goldfields

Early gold prospecting by James McKenzie and party in Anatori River, or the West Whanganui region of North West Nelson, initially showed promising alluvial gold in January 1863.¹⁷  In July 1869 a new rush was reported at Anatori River, where there were 300 men present on claims seeking alluvial gold, with stores being moved in by sea.¹⁸  In April 1872 it was announced that after many fluctuations in the course of these digging.¹⁹  In May 1872 a gold bearing quartz reef was reported in Friday Creek, about seven miles from the mouth of the Anatori River.  About 40 men were working on the reef and others were doing well in alluvial workings, two stores were located at the Anatori River mouth.²⁰  This gold field was isolated and could be reached by sea from Collingwood, or overland some 35 miles via Whanganui Inlet, a journey which took at least two days and was tide dependant.  (See Map, Walking from the Collingwood to the West Whanganui Goldfields during 1872).

The following death notice appeared in local newspapers.  "On August 27 1872, at West Wanganui, James Durden, native of Sydney, of heart disease, aged 25 years.²¹ James's actual age at death, was 27 years."

There were two accounts of James's death.  The first was from the Collingwood newspaper correspondent: "On September 2 1872.  A gentleman arrived at Collingwood from Anatori on Saturday, to report to the Coroner a case of awfully sudden death at the reefs.  A man named James Durden, while sitting and chatting with his mate, suddenly fell over dead.  The cause was most likely heart-disease." The body was transported, with great difficult through dense bush, and money raised from the local miners for a headstone and railing to mark the grave - on a terrace above the river near the sea. The article also took the opportunity to complain about the lack of resources and facilities in the area - with a fast-growing population following the discovery of gold.²² 

A similar account but a very different story of his death, was recounted in 1911, by Anatori store (Anatori River Mouth) proprietor Harry Louis Moffatt.  "Just before I moved to the Lake Store (Lake Otuhie) we had a funeral.  A man was working by himself in a remote and inaccessible gully where there was only one other man about half a mile higher up.  One day he went up to his neighbour to tell him that, as he had a few ounces of gold, he was going into Collingwood for a spell and would be back soon.  He evidently got on the spree, then with his money done, he started to come back and ultimately arrived at his camp one evening.  His only neighbour saw the smoke from his fire and thought he would go and see him first thing in the morning and hear the latest news.  When he reached the tent and looked in the man was lying on his stretcher, apparently asleep, but he did not move when spoken to.  Getting no answer his neighbour went in and found him dead and stiff.  He came down to the store and we sent word round and soon a big muster of men were on their way to bring the body out.  They arrived at the store after a terrible journey over rocks and through bush.  We laid him out, rolled him in his blanket and placed him in a roughly made coffin.  We concluded that an inquest was out of the question and that it was evident that the man had died from exhaustion after a drinking bout.  A written statement was made to that effect and signed.

Next morning some of us went along the beach to choose a place in which to bury him and about a mile to the northward of Anatori a grave was dug on a low terrace overlooking the sea.  Next day about sixty men followed him to the grave at which the funeral service was read by a descendant of one of the oldest Scottish baronetcies....   It was decided to put a mark on the grave, a subscription was taken up and twenty-five pounds collection.  A suitably inscribed tombstone was brought from Nelson in my next and last cargo and a fence put round the grave.  No doubt by this time it is over grown and hidden by vegetation but someday it will be found and people will wonder about its history."²³

J N W Newport noted: "One finds that James Durdon (sic), Tipperary Jack and Con Driscoll, all Australian mates, worked in the Cockabully Gully."²⁴  Today there is no Cockabully name in this area, but there is a creek named Kokopu Creek, which fits the generally described location.  Kokopu is a native galaxiid fresh water fish variety and is the adult form of whitebait.  While a Cockabully is a small native fish found in tidal rivers.  In the upper reaches of Sandhills Creek is a side creek named soldiers creek.  Perhaps this was named after former soldiers such as James.  These names mentioned by Newport could be significant, however he has left no reference of where he got that statement about three Australian mates.  Tipperary Jack is difficult to attach a surname to, presumably originally from Tipperary Ireland.  However you will note in the list of troops arriving on the Kate October 1863 sailing (above), there is a John Driscoll named and when he signed the Nominal Roll and service oath he was listed 26th immediately before 27th James Durden.  Certainly Driscoll and Durden may have been acquainted.  However John Driscoll on the day of his arrival at Auckland 20 October 1863, whilst the troops were station at the Albert Barracks, Auckland, stabbed fellow soldier John Brown.  At the trial the jury found the prisoner, John Driscoll, was guilty of intent of doing grievous bodily harm.  The prisoner was sentenced to be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for the term of three years.²⁵ So for John Driscoll the war was over and he subsequently did not serve in the 2nd Waikato Regiment and was discharged for bad character.  In 1873 another John Driscoll and Cornelius O'Driscoll are mention in connection with a Catholic Church service at Hokitika.²⁶  Could this be Con Driscoll?

The following advertisements appeared in the Waikato Times, in an attempt to contact the deceased:  "On 3 August 1876, James Durden late of the 2nd Waikato Regiment, if you wish to sell your Military Occupation Land in the Waikato Region, communicate with W. B. HAWKINS, Solicitor, Tauranga."²⁷  And on 18 July: "1885 NOTICE OF ISSUE OF SUMMONSES AGAINST RATE DE-FAULTERS.  PUBLIC NOTIFICATION is hereby made, in terms of Section 34 of The Rating Act, I882, that summonses have been taken out on behalf of the chairman, members, and inhabitants of the Tuhikaramea Road District, against the under mentioned persons, or owners of the under mentioned lots in the Parish of Tuhikaramea, to attend the Resident Magistrate's Court holden at Alexandra on Friday, the 31st July, I885, at 11 o'clock in the forenoon, to answer the demand of the said chairman, members and inhabitants for rates due to the said chairman, members, and inhabitants.  The said defendants are also required to have and produce to the court the original notices of demand.  (28 land rate defaulters were listed):  James Durden or owner of Lot 120, Tuhikaramea,  the amount of 12 shillings and 6 pence.  W. JONES, Bailiff R.M. Court. Alexandra, 15th July, 1885."²⁸  The township of Alexandra was renamed Pirongia in 1896.

On 16 November 1887 James Durden's brother William, made a legal application through a Sydney lawyer, to claim James's deceased estate.  Part of the paper work involved having a formal death certificate issued for James Durden's death.  This was issued at Wellington on 10 September 1887.²⁹

On 24 August 2011, Nigel Mountfort reflects on James Durden's headstone. Ken Wright

Legal probate documents were prepared on 2 December 1887:  "From Probate of James Durden miner Anatori creek in the Provincial District of Auckland (sic), deceased intestate.  William Durden (brother of James) of Field of Mars near Sydney claiming all and singular the property estate and effects of the said James Durden under the value of 100 pounds.  Power to sell the Real Estate of the said diseased.  James a bachelor without a father his only brother William (labourer), Emily Bowman wife of George Bowman shipwright of Millers Point Sydney his only sister and Mary Durden widow his mother of Field of Mars Sydney, surviving him."³⁰  This application was submitted to the Judge's Chambers Auckland, on 20 Dec 1887, before His Honor Mr Justice Gillies: "Probate, etc. re James Durden (deceased) the letters of administration was deferred.³¹  On the next day the same judge granted the Letters of Administration to James Durden's estate."³²

James Durden's family

After initially consulting Ancestry.Com and later The New South Wales State Library, James’s parents were Joseph and Mary Durden (nee Sweeny) who were married at St. Johns Church Parramatta NSW on 10 September 1838.³³  James's brother William was born in 1839 at Hunters Hill NSW.³⁴  James was born in 1845 at Parramatta NSW.³⁵  James's sister Martha E Durdan (sic) was born in 1852 at Parramatta.³⁶

Both of James's parents were transported convicts and, as a result, very good descriptions are recorded of them.  Joseph was transported on the Heroine to New South Wales in 1833. He was 22 years old, could read and write, a protestant, single, from Middlesex and a farm servant. The crime was house breaking, tried on 3 January 1833, sentence 7 years, no former crimes, 5'10½" high, brown hair, ruddy complexion, dark grey eyes, and he had several described tattoos.  The section listed as Particular Marks or Scars; "Scar left side of upper lip, flag, ------,-------,-------, and man with flag in hand on right arm.  JD MD SD ND WD, two pipes, bottle and grass, heart pierced with two darts, lower left arm, and MD and two flags on same."³⁷  As far as the significance of the tattoos, I am not sure whether they show that Joseph had undertaken service in the navy or army.  An Australian book published in 2016, entitled Convict Tattoos: Marked Men and Women of Australia, gives some explanation of Tattoos.  For example, The Crossed Pipes and glass and bottle were a symbol marking a person coming of age.³⁸  Perhaps the initials are family members as they all end in D, for Durden? 

Mary Sweeny was transported from Ireland on the Margaret to New South Wales in 1837. She was; "20 years old, grey eyes, brown hair, height 5 foot 6½ inches, crime of stealing swine, sentence 7 years, tried at Tipperary in Spring 1836."³⁹

James's father, Joseph was listed in the 1851-52 census as a leaseholder at Kissing Point Road Parramatta.  He died in 1854 at Parramatta,⁴⁰ seven years before James left Sydney, to serve in New Zealand.

2017

Marlborough’s first decades after European colonisation were rather rocky. The Wairau Affray  in 1843 badly frightened potential colonists to the Wairau. Strong earthquakes in 1848 and 1855 and severe flooding showed the power of nature as the settlers tried to build their new lives. Marlborough achieved separation from Nelson in 1859, however 17 stormy years of provincial government followed until the provinces were abolished  in 1876.

The Marlborough Museum’s Archives hold a rich resource of diaries and letters which provide an insight into life in the colony at the turn of the 20^th Century.

Lucy Dobson. Marlborough Museum & Archive

Lucy Dobson (1838-1916) was married to an early Blenheim surveyor Alfred Dobson and they had six children. New Zealand women had gained the right to vote on 19 September 1893 and Lucy was involved in women’s suffrage and the Temperance movement.  One month later, on 19 October 1893, she wrote in her diary that after dinner with Mrs Scott, she and Mrs Rose went to meet Mr Buick (a Labour candidate) to arrange for him to hold a meeting for ladies. On 27 October, she wrote that the meeting was good and very well attended, with the speeches not over until 11pm.¹

One of Lucy's Diaries. Marlborough Museum & Archive

The Marlborough Express of 28 October 1893 reveals more details of the ladies’ meeting including a letter to the editor from ‘Polly Franchise’, no doubt a pseudonym, written in a satirical vein about the ladies’ voting meeting.  The letter described Mr Buick as a Labour (or Liberal) candidate who wanted to encourage women to vote for him: “He said it was a novelty for us to have votes, but we would soon get accustomed to it.”  It was noted that Mrs Dobson proposed the vote of thanks. The meeting clearly caused some discomfort in Blenheim as it featured several times in the Marlborough Express including another letter entitled ‘A Hole and Corner Meeting’.

Lambert Family. Standing, l-r: Thomas Robert Lambert, John Allison Lambert, John Alfred Lambert. Seated, centre: Mrs Annie Lambert, The two other women are Elizabeth Alice Lambert and Margaret Anne Lambert. Marlborough Museum & Archive

For many of the early settlers, an interest in local body politics and establishing essential infrastructure was combined with developing their farms. In 1871 John Allison Lambert JP (1845-1934) bought Shrublands, a 1200 acre farm at Kaituna where he lived for 64 years until his death. He and his wife Ann had four children and he served on many public bodies including the Picton Hospital Board, the Marlborough Education Board; and he was a member of the A&P Association for 30 years.

On April 10, 1888 he wrote: “Went down to Blenheim to Education Board meeting, but not so satisfactory as I could have wished as far as the books etc. are concerned. Got home about 8pm.”  Before the first Wairau River Bridge was opened in 1913, the Wairau River was crossed by horseback and as it was subject to flash floods could be very risky.  A week earlier, Lambert noted he had to spend the night in Renwick after an Education Board meeting because of high river flows.

On 31 December 1889 Lambert wrote in his diary: “Threshing peas seeds- got about 12½ bushels instead of double that amount. Here endeth the last of another year of labour and toil but with fair prospects in some points, waiting time and patient development.”² 

John Fawcett. Cyclopedia of New Zealand NZETC

Builder John Fawcett brought his tools and trade to Marlborough arriving in 1887.  He soon had his own business and erected some of the largest and best-known business premises and private residences in Blenheim and the district, such as the new Club Hotel, the Grosvenor Hotel, the second Express building in High Street and the Redwood Brothers' flourmill. The Fawcetts lived at Grovetown, and John was secretary and inspector of the Spring Creek Road and River Boards. In 1905 the family moved to St. Andrews, where timber supplies could be landed by the river boats on the Opawa River directly into his private yard.³

Fawcett quickly found work in Blenheim, writing in his journal in September 1887 that he and a fellow builder were going to the Awatere to build a seven-room house for Mr McRae. After several weeks of progress, he wrote on 11 October 1887: “Still rainy hard. The Arwatere (sic) River in flood, there are also hundreds of mountain streams flowing into the same over the perpendicular bluffs, some of them between 2 and 300 feet high, forming beautiful cascades and waterfalls. We are all scattered about in our worrie (sic). Some reading, some sleeping, smoking, talking by the wood fire and I have just finished stitching in the lining of my jacket sleeves. Taking all in all we are more or less miserable.”

His wife and baby eventually joined him from England, but on February 12, 1888, he forlornly wrote: “This is my 30^th birthday and very quietly I spent it thinking of my Darling Wife and child far away over the sea.”⁴ 

Turner family standing outside the cottage at Carluke. 737 Back: Frances McKenzie (Mrs Turner’s niece), Charles Turner, Emily Maule (nee Turner). Marlborough Museum & Archive

Matilda and Charles Turner lived at Carluke in the Rai Valley - their pioneer’s cottage[   has been restored by descendants and can be visited .  At the turn of the century, the Turners were clearing their thickly forested land and got most of their income from selling butter and turkeys, which was Martha’s domain while Charles (named Dad in her diaries) worked the land and did a little contracting and surveying work. While there was some social life in the valley, life must have been lonely at times for Matilda who was 48 in 1898. Their four children had all grown and left home.

Turner family cottage at Carluke. Marlborough Museum & Archive

On 25 March 1898, she wrote in her diary: “Haddy took 30lbs butter, a very fine and hot day. Dad at his paddock all day and in such a very pleasant mood all afternoon because I asked him what Arthur (his brother who lived nearby) wanted.  Dad is off at Willies spending the evening leaving me alone. It’s very lonely. I think the best thing I could do would be to go and spend the evening with Arthur.”  On 1 June, she noted a wretched day with showers and bitterly cold wind. “Dad put washer on kitchen door and locks on dairy and safe doors. Dear old Laurie came to stop until Friday as he is off to Richmond in a week and they all go soon after. It makes me sad to think of it.” Turner Diaries

Th excerpts in this story are from diaries which can be found in the Marlborough Archives. For more information, contact:  archives@marlboroughmuseum.org.nz

2017

The first Stoke library was opened in the 1940's, thanks to the commitment of a group of residents, led by Fred Reed, who were mainly connected with the Stoke School board. The group applied for access to the Country Library Service.  A subscription service was established in the Sunday School room at St Barnabas Anglican Church and run by a committee which appointed a librarian.

Centenary of St Barnabas Church, Stoke. Nelson Photo News No 40 : March 7, 1964

In 1953 the Stoke Memorial Hall was completed, and realising an opportunity for growth, the committee applied to rehouse the library in the Hall. In 1957 it moved into  the cloakroom  - 183 square feet (17 square metres) in area, and larger than the existing premises, but it did have to move out every time a formal ball was held in the Hall.¹

Stoke Memorial Hall. Nelson City Council

Stoke became part of Nelson City in 1958 and its library was no longer entitled to use the Country Library Service. It would have disappeared if the Nelson Institute had not stepped in and agreed to take over its management, alongside the Nelson Library which was then housed in Hardy Street.

In 1965 the library gained its own home, when it was moved into the recently vacated Methodist Church building on Bail Street, which was modified for the purpose but retained its original features: ".. a building that was once a spiritual centre is now a place for knowledge."²

The doors from the Stoke Library, once in the Methodist Church, currently at La Capilla Restaurant on the Appleby Highway

The Library in the Church was opened by Mayor of Nelson, D.N. Strawbridge and Chairman of the Library Committee, Sonja Davies on 18 August  - serving the "young"³ district of Stoke. Designed with families in mind, it had a separate children's area, was open "every afternoon, Friday morning, Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights" and there was a huge increase in size. It was now 1055 sq feet (98 square metres)!

In the same year that the new Stoke Library opened (1965) , Nelson City Council took over the running of Nelson Libraries from the Nelson Institute. In 1972 the Nelson library service became a free, and not a subscription service and the following year Stoke got its first qualified librarian - Paula Friend.

Stoke Library Nelson City Council

In a major and much discussed development, a  new Stoke Library building was opened on 9 December 1993 on the proposed Strawbridge Square shopping precinct - on the corner of Putaitai Street and Neale Avenue.  The 1228 square metre site was purchased from New Zealand Post and designed by architect Warren Wiggens with Marian Gunn as Nelson Public Library Manager. It was opened by Mayor Philip Woollaston and he spoke of the building as representing Stoke's "coming of age."⁴

Grant Palliser's The Oracle-The future is in our hands. Cast Bronze, located adjacent to the Stoke library in 1996. Roxy Matheson

The Library building, while being praised for its interesting roof and building shape,  has provided some challenges. In 2011 there was a major refurbishment, which gave the Library a brighter and more modern feel, however the main challenge of its small size remained. It was apparent that Stoke was the fastest growing area of Nelson, due to the comparative amount of vacant flat land in that area of Nelson City, and the library was unable to provide adequate space for resources and activities for the community. An extension is proposed in the Nelson City Council's Long Term Plan 2015-2025 for 2020/21."⁵

2017

Peril and Pennies from the Skies

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a growing threat to Richmond’s prosperity darkened the skies. A small number of house sparrows – as few as 100 – had been introduced to New Zealand between 1866 and 1871 to help control insects. Their numbers grew rapidly thanks to plentiful food, lack of competition and few predators. And rather than eating crop-destroying pests, the sparrows preferred to feast on the crops themselves, laying waste to the grain fields and fruit orchards around Richmond.

Advertisement. Colonist 9 Sep 1903 p.2. Papers Past

“The birds were doing a lot of damage to the crops – they were pretty thick. The sparrows ate oats. There’d be a strip right around the outside of the paddock where all the oat seeds had gone.” Bob and Mona Pugh.¹

The feeding frenzy could not be allowed to continue, the authorities decreed, and in 1882 the Small Birds Nuisance Act was passed, allowing councils to levy rates to fund the destruction of sparrows and other crop-hungry birds. In 1889, that Act was replaced by another allowing councils to lay poisoned grain to control sparrow numbers.

From then on Richmond’s sparrows had a price on their heads. The Richmond Borough Council paid several pence a dozen for sparrow eggs and heads, and the enterprising children of the borough responded with enthusiasm forming a local "sparrow club" to hunt for eggs (known as "bird nesting") and small birds.

“The hedges were marvelous for bird nesting. I learnt there how to ring a bird’s neck and it was no trouble at all!” Muir McGlashen.²

The town clerk – the equivalent of a chief executive in today’s terms - oversaw the slaughter from the back of the new Borough Council building (opened in 1904) on Queen Street. 

“He had a hole dug in the ground and we had our golden syrup tins full of eggs or birds’ heads. You had to tip them out, and then old E.J. Thomas [town clerk Ed James Thomas] would flick the eggs and heads etcetera into the hole. We used to get three or four pence a dozen, which was a lot of money in those days.” Ken Beach.³

The young people were happy to get one over the town clerk – any eggs that weren’t smashed by the town clerk were inevitably “recycled” and a second bounty collected.

“Mr E.J. Thomas had a hole there and he endeavoured to break the eggs as we sold them to him, but we ensured that every egg that he didn’t get broken when he bought them, we retrieved about half an hour later or as soon as he had gone back to his office.” Muir McGlashen.

Jones F N. Richmond Borough Council Offices. 1904. Nelson Provincial Museum Photographic Collection. Ref: 310031.

Their efforts seemed to make little difference to the sparrow population. The town clerk from 1902 – 1915, Samuel Fittall, wrote to the editor of the Nelson Mail in response to criticism of the borough’s response to the sparrow menace: “Poisoned wheat has been distributed in the winter months, and birds’ eggs and heads purchased during the season. That the results have been unsatisfactory everybody admits. The nuisance seems to defy all efforts to repress it…”⁴

The Richmond Borough Municipal Chambers Building

The site of Richmond’s sparrow graveyard was behind the Richmond Borough Municipal Chambers building. This building was across the road and slightly west of the current Richmond Library building. The council building was constructed by W.E. Wilkes, and was officially opened in 1904. The new seat of local government cost a total of £295 – including the curtains and fittings.

The Store in Queen Street Richmond

May’s store was an institution in early Richmond. It occupied a large, two-storied building on a prominent site and sold as wide a range of goods as you could get anywhere in the region, from basic groceries, medicines, farm supplies through to toys and sweets – no less than 21 different kinds.

T. R. Hodder Co, Drapers, Richmond (c1857). Nelson Provincial Museum Photographic Collection Ref. 56532. Permission of the Nelson Provincial Museum must be obtained before any re-use of this image

In 1857 the large two-storied general store and drapery opened on the south-east corner of Gladstone Road and Queen Street. The store was operated by Thomas Hodder and George Talbot. A sign identified the building as “Gladstone House”, but it was more often referred to as “Hodder’s Corner”, and later on as “May’s”.

William Richard May purchased the business in 1893 and expanded the range of goods on offer. You could get nearly anything you wanted at May’s – from basic groceries such as flour and eggs, to axes and farm supplies, clothing, crockery, as well as luxuries – including music boxes, dolls and candy.

William’s grand-daughter Muriel recalled: “We had everything there was; nothing that we didn’t have or couldn’t get”. “I was able to remember 21 types of sweets … I can’t remember them all now but some of them were frosted caramels, orange and lemon slices – of the jube type; billiard balls – they were too big, they were huge like billiard balls - and acid drops, black balls, brandy balls, peppermints, licorice all sorts, holiday mixture – great slabs of boiled toffee – you could get a lot for a penny.” Muriel Josephine Canton (William May’s grand-daughter).¹

“It was always a great adventure when I went into May’s store. The drapery side – I can see it now – they had the wool stacked in partitions and how they could take it out and do up a skein of wool so deftly always amazed me. There always seemed to be wonderful things that you’d see that you wished you could buy and never could.” Elizabeth Maude Sampson.²

May’s even offered a delivery service via horse and cart, so you could have groceries or other goods delivered to your door. May’s employed a large number of workers – including 54 seamstresses in the dressmaking department alone at the turn of the century. That was a huge number at a time when the entire population of Richmond borough was 562.³

In 1944 William sold the business to Les Wells and Joe Hill, who renamed it Waimea Stores and set about modernising parts of the building. From the 1970s, under new ownership, the building housed a variety of businesses, from a secondhand store, to a Tattoo and Body Piercing shop, cycle store and, briefly, Radio Fifeshire.

In January 2003 the building was demolished by owner David Lucas, having become increasingly difficult to maintain due to its age.

May’s Butter and Bacon Factories

W R May's butter factory, Richmond, ca 1880s. 1/2-041762-F. Alexander Turnbull Library. http://mp.natlib.govt.nz/detail/?id=27849)

In 1897 William May decided to expand his business, and built butter and bacon factories, along with a piggery, on the opposite side of the road to the general store.

“Alongside the butcher’s shop, on the left-hand side of Queen Street going up, was May’s cream and bacon factory. The dairy farmers from all around the district brought their cream in large cans by cart to the factory and lined up in a queue at the landing platform to deliver their cream to the vat and afterward go to the steam pipe to clean their cans before returning to their farms.” Roland J Papps.⁴

William’s grandson, Denis, later remembered having a fine old time in the factories. “The butter factory, which was opposite the shop, used to be one of my favourite playgrounds. There were no safety precautions. I used to go in and turn machines on, and turn the steam on that cleaned the tanks out, and generally play around without any supervision at all.” Denis May (William May’s grandson).⁵

 Text taken from the May's Store Queen Street Heritage Board 2017