Note to accompany a Specimen of Kauri Timber taken from a Cottage erected more than Fifty Years ago.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 24, 1891, Page 706

7. “Note to accompany a Specimen of Kauri Timber taken from a Cottage erected more than Fifty Years ago,” by Dr. J. L. Campbell. “The accompanying piece of kauri timber was this day—the 24th October, 1891—in my presence and in the presence of the Curator of the Auckland Museum, taken from the front wall of a cottage standing on the business premises of Brown,

Campbell, and Co., Shortland Street, and was then and there handed over to the Curator. The cargo of timber from which the cottage was built was purchased by me in February, 1841, at the sawpits in Whangaroa and Tutukaka Harbours, and was put on board the schooner ‘B lack Joke,’ which I had chartered to bring it to Auckland. It was all carried up from the beach in Commercial Bay by myself and partner, William Brown. We became the purchasers of the allotment on which the cottage stands at the first Government land-sale, which took place on the 19th and 20th April, 1841. The cottage was first occupied on the 24th June of the same year. In case of accident by fire consuming the house, this piece of weatherboard has been removed, and is now presented to the Museum to testify to the durability of heart of kauri after fifty years and four months' exposure to sun, wind, and rain. The cottage is still in a perfectly sound condition, and is occupied by the firm's storeman and family.”