Jade River: A History of the Mahurangi
Ronald H LockerFirst published 2001. Published online 2014–. This online edition is a work in progress…
Part 6 Settlers and services
1865 Mahurangi Regatta comparable with Cowes
The first Mahurangi Regatta is not remembered, but Joseph Gard noted in his diary that he saw the event in progress on New Year’s Day, 1858, while passing up-river on his way home from Auckland. The regatta of 1865 almost did not occur. On 28 December, the New Zealand…
Once veritable Rodmersham art gallery
Had the settlement of Nelson been sited at Mahurangi as Hobson had urged, the class structure of England would have been transplanted to the Mahurangi. But the New Zealand Company would have none of it. Instead, Mahurangi became an egalitarian…
Mountain chief of Kennedys Hill
There is a bold hill by the McElroy boundary, to which hangs another interesting Irish biography: Kennedys Hill. Terence Kennedy was born of a poor family in County Clare in west Ireland. He was snatched early from the grave when a winter storm in 1824…
Rex Fairburn and his Mahurangi friends
Realising that winning recognition as a poet and writer was no easier in England than in New Zealand, A R D (Rex) Fairburn sailed for home in 1932, with his wife Jocelyn and child. On the ship he met Terry Bond, a New Zealander who had been successful…
Coastal path and the ferrymen
Reports of Rodney County Council meetings often mention ferries. (e.g. Weekly News, 8 December 1877; 2 March 1878). With the setting up of highways boards in the 1860s, there emerged a chain of ferries over the estuaries that obstructed coastal journeys…
Introduction
Page 189
Choosing whose story to tell from the rich array offering, is both necessary and difficult. The descendants of those who do not appear should not be offended. Some of those chosen led interesting lives in the earliest days of the colony, some gave special service…