HISTORIC PROPERTY

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 291, 4 September 1933, Page 10

HISTORIC PROPERTY

A Valuable Gift Made to New Plymouth FOR INCLUSION IN PARK By Telegraph.—Press Association. New Plymouth, September 2. A property of 53 acres known as Brooklands, the home of the late Mr. Newton King, is to be handed over to the borough of New Plymouth for inclusion in the Pukekura Park. A local Bill to validate this is to be introduced next session. Mr. Newton King left £lO,OOO to the New Plymouth parks, and all the reserves have agreed to the handing over of Brooklands in fulfilment of the bequests. The ground is an historic area, partly in native bush, but largely laid ■ out in gardens and lawns. Contiguous areas of carefully preserved native bush totalling nine acres are also to be presented to the town by Mr. T. C. List, governor of Rotary in New Zealand, and by Mr. C. A. Wilkinson, M.P. This will enable a drive to be made from the centre of the town for over a mile through magnificent parks to the borough boundary. History of Property. The European history of “Brooklands” extends to the earliest days of settlement at New Plymouth. The first selection for suburban and rural lands in the new settlement was made by the ballot system in June, 1842, but in the selection of town sections in November, 1841, the first choice was granted Captain King, the leader of the pioneers and the first governor of the settlement. The privilege was apparently applied to the suburban selection as well, and Captain King procured the two 50-acre sections adjoining the town belt and known as Brooklands not in the lottery but by choice. No time was lost by Captain King in clearing a site and the erection of a residence, for an old journal states on March 29, 1843, that Captain King and his family slept at their new home, “Brooklands.” The ground and estate have retained that name to the present time. / Cannibal Derivation. The Maori name of the locality upon, which the homestead’and gardens of ‘‘Brooklands” are situated was Kaimata. Maori place-names are invariably woven round some story of the locality and, as that story is unknown in this instance, the derivation of Kaimata cannot be given with absolute accuracy. It is thought to refer, however, to some big feast, cannibalistic or otherwise, held in the area. “Mata” is taken to mean a head and “kai” food. Mata has several other meanings, such as face, eye, eharm, and so on, but the feasting theory has been arrived at by its conjunction with kai. Even in its original condition the locality was a beautiful one. The charm of the natural glade or clearing where the homestead stood can be visualised by the present conditions at “Brooklands.” The area covered by the native bush, however,' was much more extensive than at present,, extending from the present fringe both on the east and west side of residence down the slopes of vales into the main Pukekura Valley, t and inland as well. Across the eastern branch of the Pukekura Stream to the-upper portion of the present racecourse .was forest clad, and the same conditions obtained to the west over and beyond Brooklands Road, so that the old Maori clearing was embosemed, as it were, within the encircling arms of the forest, lying sheltered from the biting southerly and western winds, snug and warm, and an ideal spot for garden and orchard, a reputation which it has retained right through'its 90 years of occupation. Maori Ambush Recalled.' The original residence stood behind the present homestead erected by the late Mr. Newton King, and its rear corner is still marked by the massive base of the original double chimney. The house was shaped like an L turned over and inverted, and the chimney was at the right-angled corner. ' ; When Mr. E. J. Wakefield visited New Plymouth to 1843, he wrote: “I found them (the colonists) hard at work . . . hardly a complaint to make and spending homely English evenings round a huge farm-house chimney.” It is believed by several authorities that the fireplace referred to was the one at “Brooklands.”, The sheltered clearing was suitable for the growth of fruit, and at an early date a small orchard was started. During the Maori troubles of 1800-61, a tragedy occurred near one of the Brooklands peach trees. On a Sunday morning in March, 1861, a party of fourteen young men of the Rifle Volunteers left town for the purpose of gathering peaches on Walker's Farm, Avenue Road. Not finding any fruit there, they decided to cross over to Mr. Hursthouse’s orchard, Carring- ■ ton Road, and while on the way they passed through the “Brooklands” orchard, and seeing some peaches there commenced to gather them. While they were intent on this, without warning a volley was fired into them by a body of about 30 Natives, cleverly ambuscaded only ten yards away.