HISTORY BYTES

Stone Store, in the early 1900's, with KEMP House on its right and
               St. James Church top right. Painting by W. BEERE.

2005	Celebrating steam in Kerikeri
	The Kerikeri Festival of Steam & Heritage last weekend drew good crowds and was declared a huge success. Kerikeri's town crier is seen here with a 1903 steam tractor from Kawakawa which made a guest appearance at the Kerikeri Basin.

2004

Pilgrimage marks Marsden's arrival The 190th anniversary of the arrival of Samuel Marsden in the Bay of Islands will be marked with a pilgrimage to Oihi Bay on December 27. The Waimate Archdeaconry and Te Pihopatanga ki te Tai Tokerau are holding a service and a picnic. Diocese of Auckland Archdeacon Chris Honore said, "It is a chance for us to stop and take stock. An opportunity to remember the remarkable mutual regard between the entrepreneurial Maori chief Ruatara  and the bluff, forthright Samuel Marsden. Marsden wanted  to plant Christianity by way of agriculture, technology and education, Ruatara, on the other hand, mostly wanted the advantage  of cutting edge agricultural practices which would advance his people. We celebrate Ruatara as the gateway for the gospel, because in every way it was his permission and patronage which enabled the mission to start." Marsden left a small community of missionaries, their wives and families along with some ex- convicts and the first pioneer family of this country.  Members of the first Christian community included the Hansen family,  carpenter William Hall and his wife Dinah, rope maker and shoemaker John King and  his wife Hannah, and  teacher, magistrate and farmer Thomas Kendall and his wife Jane. At Oihi Kendall did  work in identifying Maori Grammar as a preparation for the writing of the Maori language and the translation of Christian texts such as the Prayer Book and the Scriptures. Saturday November 6th was held the 2nd Annual Kerikeri Steam & Heritage Day

Resource consents have already been granted for the bypass, designed to help protect the Stone Store and Kemp House from damage caused by flooding and vibration from vehicles and to enhance the heritage values of the Basin. The consents allow for removal of the existing single-lane Kerikeri Basin bridge, construction of a new two-lane bridge over the Kerikeri River about 1.5km upstream, earthworks, vegetation clearance and permission to divert and discharge stormwater. Construction of the bypass, 15 years in planning, is  now a reality, with Transfund providing 75 per cent of the funding and the remaining 25 per cent ($2..7 million) coming from the government's Arts, Culture and Heritage funding vote.  Maintenance of the road will be the ongoing responsibility of the Far North District Council. Prime Minister Helen Clark who is also Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage announced the news to a small group of invited guests in the Stone Store on Wednesday.The $10.8 million Stone Store bypass will be totally funded by Government and work could start as soon as April next year.

Mystery sightings at Stone  Store The NZ Historic Places Trust wants to hear about strange sightings at the Stone Store and Kemp House, after an unusual security callout recently. HPT Staff were alerted that a woman with grey hair had been seen standing in the central dormer window of the Stone Store at 10 o'clock at night. The store was secure. There was no sign of entry through doors or windows and alarms had not been set off. A thorough check turned up a blank but the person who reported the sighting insisted he had seen someone in the Store. The figure, he said, had looked straight at him and then moved away. There were no mannequins in the Store that night. HPT Northland Area Co-ordinator Stuart Park says he has since been told that visitors occasionally mention that they have seen an old man on the top floor of the Store or a woman in a bedroom in Kemp House. Among those who have seen something is long time Kerikeri resident Mark Turner, whose family once lived in what is now the basin restaurant. Mark says, "Funny, but when I was about 16, I was crossing the bridge one night when I saw someone walking past the window. I put it down to a figment of my imagination or a trick of the light." Mr Park says, "If you have had such an experience, we'd love to hear from you." The Bay Chronicle Ghosts? Yeah right! While a Kerikeri resident has added one more strange sighting at the Stone Store and Kemp House, former heritage consultant Fergus Clunie says from Australia, Yeah right! Mr Clunie, who supervised the restoration of the Stone Store, says reports of ghostly figures at the Stone Store and Kemp House are shades of the 'little grey nun' who “allegedly peeped out the dormer windows at Pompallier, where sadly there weren't no nuns never. Desperate stuff. Having worked once in a place that was most disturbingly and emphatically - I almost wrote physically - haunted, I can tell you for sure that the Stone Store just ain't in the running in the spook stakes. Nor the house next door neither.” Following the Chronicle article, Mystery figures seen at  Store, March 11, a Kerikeri resident related how she had seen a woman dressed in period clothing, unlocking the front door of Kemp House at about 9pm one night. There had been no lights on at the time. The Bay Chronicle

  

Inaugural Matariki Festival (Maori New Year) was held in June at the Basin & around the Bay of Islands

2003

Saturday August 23rd was held the inaugural Kerikeri Steam & Heritage Day

2002

In the early hours of Wednesday April 3rd, the Homestead Restaurant & Bars was destroyed by fire. Appliances attended from Kerikeri, Paihia and Okaihau. The original Homestead was built as a farmhouse in the early 1880s. In 1914 it was converted to a hostel. In the 1920s Kerikeri settlers formed a Saturday night club. The old building was sold and removed from the site in pieces some years ago and the current building was built 44 years ago.

On Saturday, March 23rd,  was held the 180 year anniversary of the oldest building in New Zealand, Kerikeri's Kemp House. Many descendants of the original missionaries' families and of Maori chiefs associated with the area, gathered to celebrate the occasion.

1981

A severe flash flood hit Kerikeri causing the river to overflow its banks with such force it brought mature trees crashing down. The debris was swept by a torrent of water under the bridge, through the basin and down the inlet, causing severe damage to boats, which were ripped from their moorings. They were swept downstream where many of them foundered on sandbanks and some were hit by cars, trees and other objects carried by the torrent. From NZ's Bay of Islands by Claire Jones pub. By Port of Opua Trading Co. The rainfall total was at least 448 mm, and was between 13 & 21% in excess of any previous recording. 174 mm fell within 2.5 hours. Ministry of Works & Development

1976

Stone Store bought by the Historic Places Trust.

1974

The Kerikeri Chronicle came into being, because it was felt that... "the population now being nearly 900 Householders"... it was more able to support a Local News-paper..  Today we have a population of approximately 5000 and the Chronicle, still a Free Paper, arrives in every letterbox once a week.

1969

Kerikeri's 150th anniversary was held in August, with a week of celebration that included an historical parade, a ball, numerous sporting features, a Maori concert and a hangi, tree-planting and a church service. From Kerikeri Heritage of Dreams by Nancy Pickmere - Northland Historical Publications Society

1968

A tornado cut a swathe of destruction and struck St. James Church. Some ladies inside arranging the church flowers were very startled indeed when the building lurched; and when they tried to escape, they found the door had jammed. The church teetered on its foundations till it could be braced and moved back, and not much harm was done. From Kerikeri Heritage of Dreams by Nancy Pickmere - Northland Historical Publications Society

1950

Kerikeri Inlet School roll 1950

 

1940

The Kerikeri  Domain was bought for sport and recreation by the Kerikeri Recreation Reserve Inc Society from the North Auckland Land Development Corporation

  

1939

Hereward Pickmere – known as Pick – made his first chart of the upper reaches of the Kerikeri inlet. He sailed all his life exploring caves, creeks and inlets and working indefatigably to survey and chart the Bay of Islands and the east Northland coast. Pickmere’s Atlas of Northland’s East Coast, NZ, is a monument to his work, enclosing between hard covers thirty detailed charts of the area. Their extent and detail open up additional cruising grounds for adventurous sailors and provide reassurance for the cautious. He became a founding member of the Kerikeri Cruising Club and its commodore for years. From NZ's Bay of Islands by Claire Jones pub. By Port of Opua Trading Co.

 

1937

The European population of Kerikeri reaches 600.

 

 

1936

Kerikeri Players' first production was held in the Red Barn on Kerikeri Rd. Seats for the audience were bales of hay. "There is not even a village here. One store where you can buy anything within reason, or they will get it. The butcher and baker will bring your meat and bread on Mondays and Fridays – weekly deliveries from the store. You fetch your own mail and milk - when you can get any! None too easy. Cook with the wood which the men-folk gather and chop in odd spare moments and I have even had to go and pick some up to keep going. Ihave a little oil stove, but there is lots of wood lying around and it is easy to cook with and clean. Coal, with the heavy freight, is beyond our means." Grace Waters in Women of Kerikeri 1994 by Kerikeri Business & Professional Women

1928

Edward Little wrote: "The champagne climate of Kerikeri is the elixir of life." He and George Alderton formed the Alderton Utility Co., with Little as chairman and Lloyd Mandeno was employed to install the Electricity Scheme at Kerikeri.

 

1927

George Alderton had published a booklet on "The Group Settlement Scheme" and received hundreds of letters from interested people, both in NZ and overseas. Now he formed the North Auckland Land Development Corporation and bought George Riddell's Manako Estate. Of the 6,817 acres, the Corporation reserved 1,600 acres of which 1,000 were to be afforested, 200 to be planted in citrus, 50 in passionfruit and 350 acres were set aside as a site for "Kerikeri, the Garden City." This was planned for the area at Riverview and the Stone Store. The remaining 5,217 was to be subdivided into lots and sold. The key point and most appealing feature of the scheme was that the Corporation, in the case of absentee ownership, undertook the work of planting and supervising,    from A Lamp Shines in Kerikeri by Nancy Pickmere

1926

Kerikeri Inlet School

 

1925

Grandad would bike to Waimate North to work on the roads and in the quarry where he earned 2/6 a day. He filled his bike tyres with bracken so he wouldn’t get punctures and tied the tyres to his wheel rims with rope. A large part of Nana’s day was spent amongst the bush and scrub as they attempted to clear their family land, cutting, burning off, then collecting up the stones and sticks to allow the grass to come through. Nana swears they worked hard "…just like the men…very long time…many hour after hour…boy, we worked hard…" and I have never doubted it, not once. The farm I lived on as a child was flat and green without bumps and hollows and that is the only way they would have had it. Eva Klinac, Women of Kerikeri 1994 by Kerikeri Business & Professional Women

1919 - 1925 The Cream Trip

Edmund Lane operated the 28ft launch, the Dairymaid for the Hikurangi Dairy Co., collecting cream three times a week from the small farms scattered round the Bay of Islands.    His day started at Opua where he picked up the empty cans which had come by rail from Hikurangi. The next stop was at Russell for mail and provisions.    From there he crossed to Moturoa, up the Kerikeri and Te Puna Inlets then eastwards to Te Rawhiti and the islands and bays on each side.    After a stop at Wardell's farm on Tapeka, Edmund Lane returned to Russell to leave the outgoing mail and the orders for provisions. He then picked up more cream at Uruti and Orongo Bays before unloading the accumulation of 50-60 cans at the railhead at Opua. To round off his day he made an evening trip collecting from farms in the Waikare Inlet and took those, too, to Opua.  - from New Zealand's Bay of Islands, The Land and Sea Guide. By Claire Jones. Published by Port of Opua Trading Co.

1906

A few days before the wedding, Agnes and Harriet set off in a small sailing boat for Russell, to purchase the 'finishing touches' to the dresses. The wind direction was quite wrong so they had to row the whole way to Russell. They completed their shopping by about 4pm, leaving for home in an easterly gale. Seven hours later they arrived home...

Click link for 1819 - 1900