A SETTLER OF '77

Hawera Star, Volume L, 10 April 1930, Page 18 (Supplement)

A SETTLER OF '77

HAWERA AND ITS ENVIRONS

RECOLLECTIONS OF MR. CHARLES CURTIS.

Mr C. W. Curtis, of Princes (Street, Hawera, arrived in this neighbourhood in March, 1577, coming from the Tataraimaka district. He journeyed on horseback by way of the Harriet beach, there being as yet no formed road round the mountain. Arriving at Opunake he put up at Bartlett’s Hotel, then kept by the parents of Mr Jas. .Bartlett, carrier. No other accommodation house was encountered till Oeo was reached. Here there was a small licensed house, situated on the opposite bank to the present hotel. Captain Good was the only European settlor in the®district, residing’ further down towards the sea. 'From this point- to the Waingongoro river there was no European settlement at all. Multitudes of wild pigs abounded on the plains in rhose days, and it is recorded that when the telegraph poles were erected there later on that many

of them were almost worn through at the base by the pigs rubbing and scraping them. No bridge spanned, the Waingongoro, but. a good ford existed just, a little above the present bridge, and here our visitor crossed, the water reaching the pommels of his saddle. On the opposite hill he found a party engaged in excavating the cutting there, and had a chat, with Mr Tom Twigg, wlvo was the foreman in charge. Messrs J. Livingston, Moore Hunt eland Mo’Michael occupied holdings between the Waingongoro and Hawera, and a large force' of constabulary was stationed at Waihi.

FIRST GLIMPSE OF PLAINS On reaching our little town Mr Curtis booked a room at a hostelry where the White Ilart Hotel stands to-day, and stabled his horse at Bailey ’s Stables opposite. Next morning', bright and early, he saddled up, and took a ride around the adjoining plains. Never before, he relates, had he seen such luxuriant pastures, excelling evon the Lincolnshire farms from whence.he originally came. So enamoured was the young man with the prospect of the fertile fields steeped in the morning sunshine and the condition of the stock grazing thereon, tnat he decided to remain in the district and establish himself here. 'He was particularly struck by the beautiful karaka groves which then existed on the -right of the road to Normanby. Acres of this "beautiful introduced tree (Corniocarpus laevigata) then flourished ■along the edge of the virgin bush, but were later exterminated bv the stock, as also was the immense quantity of heavy flax which then abounded across the Waingongoro stream. Young Curtis found a boon companion in “.Attic” Newell (an old and respected resident of Fraser Road for nearly 50 years since), and the two had many lively experiences together, hunting pigs on the plains, or gathering peaches from Maori clearings. The old blockhouse still existed opposite the Council ’Chambers, but was unoccupied, except for the purposes of meetings. Only the main street, and the portion of Princes Street in front ol’ the Post Office were metalled. Regent Street was Out a. rutty track between rambling black-wire fences. 'Mr Black was postmaster and was succeeded shortly afterwards by Mr Chaney. Mr Davidson's was the principal store and a concrete post in the side-walk in front of Blair’s ironmongery still marks the spot where his hitching-post stood, and to which noar-

3y all the early settlers of the district had at various times tied their horses. Mr Furlong carried on another general store across the street, and Perry, Siggs and Co. conducted a butcher s sitop on Strange's corner, the late Mr W. C. Adamson being their slaughterman. No abbatoirs existed in those days and the .primitive “gallows,” with windmill sail attachment, was the method used in hanging the carcases. One such was located in what is now Princes Street Extension (then called John Toole’s paddock) and another (Winks’) near the present Manse Street. 'The late Mr Max. D. King carried on a considerable , drapery business and there were three hotels, Espagne’s, Prossers’, and Quinlivan’s. A large timber yard operated on the site of the Commercial Hotel stables, the proprietors being Messrs Marnes Brothers, with Mr -R.

Marnes as yardman. Mr W. Graham was in the tailoring business, and Mr Oock'burn worked a smithy on the site or MeGruer Bone’s premises. A hairdresser’s shop, managed by a Mr F. ©sterling, occupied the space where the Bank of Australasia now stands. Next, door Mrs J. O’Reilly conducted a boarding-house, while her husband helped to keep'-the home fire burning (by assisting to lay the metal on the site of the projected railway station. Prominent outlying settlers were Messrs Dive (at the Lakes), W. Douglas (Nolantown district), M. J. Gooclsan (Waihi Downs), and Robertson (South Road). Lat.cr on Messrs ißorrie and* Oughton came up from the south and settled iu the neighbourhood.

AN ORIGINAL SUBSCRIBER Patea was still the only town cf importance on the coast and it was thought nothing t’D ride there and back in the course of the day to do business, or even on to Wanganui. Ladies, too, often rode 20 miles and upwards to dances or evening - entertainments, using the obsolete sidc-sacldle, and attired in the becoming blue-serge habit. A couple of years after our informant’s arrival ,a young man named Patrick Galvin came around making a house-to-lionse canvass towards the foundation of a newspaper he was thinking of starting here. .Mr Curtis readily fell in with the idea, and when on April 10, 1880, the “Hawera and Normanby Star” first appeared, became a regular subscriber, and remains one of a number who have supported the local publication throughout the whole term of its existence.