OLD WAIKATO SETTLER

Taranaki Daily News, 5 July 1932, Page 5

OLD WAIKATO SETTLER

MRS. GEORGINA LAWRENCE

MAORI TROUBLES RECALLED.

DANGERS OF PIONEERING.

Vivid recollections of the Maori War and of pioneer life are held .by Mrs. Georgina Lawrence, one of the oldest surviving settlers of Cambridge, who is now in her 87th year. Mrs. Lawrence was born at Nelson on October 31, 1845, her father being Captain John Dalton, who in after years commanded a cutter in which Bishop Selwyn voyaged among the islands of Melanesia. Captain Dalton was accidentally killed by falling down a shaft on the Bendigo gold diggings. When only- nine months old, Mrs. Lawrence was taken to Auckland by her parents. The family made the trip in a cutter, and on the way were obliged to call at Waitara because the vessel’s supply of water had given out. She spent her childhood in Auckland and well remembers the embryo city as it was 75 years ago. She has a vivid recollection of the hanging of a murderer named Bowden at the old gaol, which stood at the junction of Queen and Victoria Streets. Bowden was .the, first, white man to be executed in Auckland.

A HURRIED FLIGHT.

As a young woman she went to live at Cambridge, and in 1864 she was married to her first husband, Mr. Thomas Beresford, who was drowned a few years later near Christchurch. Mrs. Laiyrence recalls the turbulent days that followed the Waikato War of 1863-64 and the period when hostile natives repeatedly threatened the white settlers near Cambridge, When her eldest son was nine days old she was obliged to leave her bed at her home at Leamington and seek succour in the more thickly-populated area across the river at Cambridge. About this time the Maoris overtook an acquaintance of the family’s, one Timothy Sullivan, and killed him. He was decapitated, and his heart was taken out. Sullivan had stayed behind to help a settler who was suffering from heart trouble and was unable to keep up with the others, who had made their escape from the territory threatened by the Macris. On July 25, 1869, Mrs. Beresford was married by the Rev. (later Archdeacon) Lonsdale Pritt to the late Mr. Frederick Janies Lawrence. Mr. Lawrence, had had an adventurous career as a naval seaman and had taken part in the Crimean and China Wars. When the Maori War broke out he enlisted in Captain F. M. P. Brookfield’s company of Onehunga volunteers. A month later he joined the Third Waikato Regiment, his first share in the-war being at Kennedy ? s Farm at Clevedon, where two of the sons of the manager, Mr. Trust, were shot by the Maoris.

BURNING OF A REDOUBT.

Later Mr. Lawrence joined a boat corps which had been formed for the purpose of delivering supplies at the camps all. the way up the river as far as Mercer, but after the fail of Orakau he returned to the forces, becoming a member of No. 6 Company, with headquarters at Cambridge. It was at the Pukekura Redoubt that the company met with disaster. The redoubt was set on fire by a soldier. It happened that the magazine was to windward, but-the rest of the hutments were totally destroyed. Shortly after Mr. - Lawrence married and settled at Cambridge, the Maoris made a raid on the district, and the Lawrence family was awakened at dead of -night by a Miss O’Neil, the ■ daughter of a neighbour. The women and children were hurried across the Waikato River, but Mr. O’Neil and Mr. Lawrence, in spite of orders to the contrary, cut a tunnel into a patch of gorse hear the house and rigged up a tent. Every morning a ’ patrol of cavalry reconnoitred to make sure that there were no Maoris lurking in the vicinity, and on one occasion a trooper fired at Mr. Lawrence, mistaking him for a Maori. The natives were eventually quietened by Mr. James Mackay, who entered into a pact with the famous Rewi Maniapoto that there should be no more attacks.

VARIED LATER LIFE.

After other exciting adventures with hostile natives, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence and theii* children moved to the Te Aroha goldfield, wher.e they opened dining rooms. At the conclusion of. the gold rush they followed a farming life for 11 years a,t Herekino, North Auckland. During that period Mr. Lawrence was three times elected' as the representative of the Whangapehi riding on ,the Hokianga County Council. Over 30 years ago Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence went to Auckland and established an orchard at Henderson. They later lived at Onehunga, and two years ago removed to Newstead. Mr. Lawrence died at Newstead on May 14 last, aged 91 years. Mrs. Lawrence has four surviving children, 21 grandchildren arid 12 greatgrandchildren. Except for partial deafness and a little rheumatism, she enjoys good health.