HISTORY OF TEMPLETON

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29778, 22 March 1962, Page 16

HISTORY OF TEMPLETON

Research By Mr A. C. Loach A comprehensive history of the Templeton township has been written for the district centennial celebrations by Mr A. C. Loach, for the centennial committee. Mr Loach’s search for welldocumented facts and authen. tic accounts of Templeton’* early years took him to old books, newspapers, land titles, records of land transactions. old minute books, and “the few old maps, letters and photographs that somehow had been saved from the incinerator.”

He compiled his story with the help of museums, libraries, and the records of land, local body, and company offices. Other help came from descendants of pioneers who settled the district.

Mr Loach found that the “New Zealand Cylopaedia.” published in the early 1900's, was not entirely accurate in its details of the founding growth of Templeton. "They used to send travellers out to all the towns, and if you gave a £5 or £lO subscription, you would get a mention in the book,” he said. "They gathered their information from the local residents of the time.” Mr Loach said that all his material came from authentic sources. He invites corrections, but says these must be supported by documentary evidence. “In some cases family Bibles and tombstones have proved unreliable.” he adds in the foreword to his history.

Mr Loach said the original Templeton district Included the areas now known as Sockburn, Hornby. Islington. Yaldhurst and part of Harewood. “But the complete history will have to wait until the history of the Paparua county as a whole comes to be written.”