THE GOLDEN WEDDING OF MR AND MRS C. W. HARDWICK

Northern Advocate, 27 March 1937, Page 3

THE GOLDEN WEDDING OF MR AND MRS C. W. HARDWICK

Tuesday was a significant occasion for Mr and Mrs C. W. Hardwick, of Morningside Road. It marked the golden jubilee of their wedding day in the little Pukeroro Church in the Waikato. Through all those years they have had their home in this district and have watched the development of Whangarei from the days when the capital of Northland was merely composed of Cameron and Walton Streets, They have seen the transformation of this one time riverside village, with its few buildings and wide open spaces, into the fine municipality it is today. Despite their advanced years, # Ihis genial couple are still able to recount, in interesting manner, incidents or rather highlights of their life as pioneering settlers, as two who played their part in the blazing of the trail of settlement in the North and who by honest toil laid the foundation of success for succeeding generations. Both Mr and Mrs Hardwick migrated to New Zealand with their parents when young children. >, Start At Maungatapere. Mr Hardwick was born at Yatton, Somerset, 78 years ago. His father died when young Charles William was four and it was two years later that he accompanied his mother dnd sister to the South Seas. They landed at Auckland. His sister was the late Mrs Peers-Adams, who passed away at Maungakaramea last year. Young Charles’ mother was a school teacher before her marriage and, of course, he had a home education. When his mother married Mr Joseph Land, a farmer at Maungatapere, his working days started. The Maungatapere property was then more or less “in the wild” and he assisted in its clearing and development. Mrs Hardwick was born in 1861, the eldest daughter of Mr and Mrs W. B. Morgan. At the age of 12, she emigrated with her parents and they landed at Nelson in 1874. The family settled at Pukeroro, then known as Hautapu, about a mile from Cambridge. The romance had its beginning when the then Miss Morgan met Mr Hardwick during a holiday in this district as the guest of friends. The marriage took place at Pukeroro in 1887 and the young couple started off their wedded life on the farm at Maungatapere. After six years there, they took up 56 acres of land at the foot of the Maunu mountain. This property is now occupied by Mr P. H. Bourke. Before many more years had elapsed another change was decided upon arid they farmed the Maunu property how owned by Mr J. H. McCarroll. Then Mr Hardwick took over the farm at Maungatapere and he and his wife settled down there until just before the outbreak of the Great War. They resided at Mairtown for nine months but acquired 2| acres of land in Morningside Road and have lived there for the last 22 years. Mr and Mrs Hardwick had a family of four, two of whom are living. They are Mrs Allan Davidson, of Titoki, and Mrs E. H. K. Johnson, of Maungatapere. The only son, William Charles, the third eldest of the family, died in 1899 at the age of two, while the second daughter, Elsie, succumbed to injuries, received when she fell while playing on a swing. That was in 1905 when she was 14 years of age. Mr and Mrs Hardwick have four grandchildren. Reminiscences of Whangarei.

When an “Advocate” reporter called on Mr and Mrs Hardwick at their home this week, he enjoyed a very pleasant half hour’s chat with them. Both are still hale and hearty. They have five cows and Mr Hardwick milks them regularly night and morning. He and his wife depicted Whangarei as it was when they first arrived here. The layout of the budding town was restricted to Cameron and Walton Streets. In the latter, near the wharf, was situated the Post Office, opposite Cafler’s Hotel. The only means of communication with the outside world was by boat, which ran once a week from Auckland. It was only natural, therefore, that the business centre should be in the precincts of the wharf. Mr Hardwick told of how Walton Street was lined on one side by big gum trees, how in those days there were no such things as footpaths and of how the settlers used to ride into town on their horses. Now, he said, Whangarei is all cars. He was one of the farmers who banded themselves into a committee and built the Maungatapere Hall, which is still serving its purpose. He also attended the first agricultural show ever held in Whangarei, but had only faint recollections of it. It was staged in Rust Lane, on the property where the late Mr A. M. Rust’s house now stands, and he admitted that it

was not a very comprehensive affair. The golden jubilee of the wedding was the occasion of a family reunion and it was a happy gathering which assembled at the Morningside road home. The cake was made by Mr and Mrs Hardwick’s daughter, Mrs Johnson.