Research Report 3: Waimata River Sheridan Gundry
TE AWAROA: RESTORING NEW ZEALAND RIVERS RESEARCH REPORT 3: WAIMATA RIVER SHERIDAN GUNDRY THE WAIMATA RIVER: SETTLER HISTORY POST 1880 The Waimata River – Settler History post 1880 Sheridan Gundry, Te Awaroa Project Report No. 3 Land within the Waimata River catchment, comprising about 220 square kilometres1, began to be available for purchase after the passing of the Native Lands Act 1865 and subsequent land surveys and issuing of legal Crown title. The lower reaches of the Waimata River – including parts of the Kaiti, Whataupoko and Pouawa blocks – were the first to go into European ownership from around 1880, when John and Thomas Holden bought the 7000 acre Rimuroa block; the Hansen brothers bought about 8000 acres comprising Horoeka, Maka and Weka; Bennet bought the 1100 acre Kanuka block; and Charles Gray, the Waiohika block. The next year, in 1881, the Kenway brothers bought the 3000-acre Te Pahi further upriver. The Kenways gave the property the name Te Pahi, meaning The End, because at the time it was at the end of the road with nothing beyond.2 This soon changed with further purchases of Maori land beyond Te Pahi continuing through to the late 1890s. Further land became available in the south, east and north Waimata with the New Zealand Native Land Settlement Company offering about 20,000 acres for sale in late 1882. The blocks “conveyed to the company” were approved by the Trust Commissioner and titles were to be registered under the Land Transfer Act.3 The areas involved were Waimata South, 9,555; Waimata East, 4,966; Waimata North, 4,828.
[Show full text]