90 YEARS OLD

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 249, 20 October 1937, Page 6

90 YEARS OLD

MR. W. H. CHURTON EARLY DAYS RECALLED A well-known resident of Wanganui, Mr W. H. Churton, of Wikitoria Road, Putiki, celebrated his 90th. birthday. Born in Brixton Road, London, on October 18, 1847, Mr Churton sailed from Gravesend in the sailing ship Asterope and arrived at Wellington in 1862 after a voyage of 110 days. From Wellington he journeyed to Wanganui in a ship called the Wanga-Wanga. When he arrived, Wanganui was an important military township and in it were garrisoned about 5000 troops. He remembers distinctly the Rutland and York Stockades. There was a large pa at Putiki and a wharf was located on this side of the river where cattle were shipped to Hokitika and Greymouth, In reply to a question, Mr Churton said he remembered the famous battle of Moutoa in May, 1864. At the time he was living in a house at a point opposite the residence of the late Major Lomax, on the Wanganui East side of the river, and remembers the war canoes of friendly natives going up the river to give battle to the fanatical Hau Haus who had threatened the destruction of Wanganui. “I had a broken leg 1 at that time and the house was barricaded in case of emergency.’’ A well-known figure in Wanganui in those days was Rev. Father Lampila, who built a mission station on the banks of the Wanganui River back in 1852. It was he who gave the warning about the intended raid on Wanganui by the Hau Haus. Mr Churton said before the Town Bridge was built, people used to cross the river in the ferry, while horses <\na stock were conveyed across in punts. In 1868 news of a gold find at Thames swept New Zealand and lured hundreds to that centre, among them Mr Churton. “It was a wild and rough place, believe me,” he said.

Tom Adamson, the famous Maori scout and holder of the New Zealand medal, was a friend of Mr Churton, and both used to go shearing together in the old days. Mr Churton worked for a time on the construction of the railway when it was being put down at Okoia, and later at the cutting at Brunswick. An uncle of Mr Churton, Mr Henry Churton, came to New Zealand in 1830, and walked from Wellington to Wanganui in the company of Mr Wicksteed in 1840. Churton’s Creek is named after him. It was he who built the Maori Girls’ College at Upper Aramoho, which to-day is the Jubilee Home. In his younger days Mr Churton was a member of the Wanganui Rifles and was a “crack shot,” being a past New Zealand rifle champion. Mr Churton’s father was Mayor of Wanganui in 1874 and 1875.