Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District]

Ngawha

Ngawha.

Ngawha is a trading-place on the northern gum fields twenty-two miles from Kawakawa. It is celebrated as the scene of a fierce struggle with the Maoris in 1845, when 100 British and Colonial soldiers were killed or wounded in an attack made upon the Ohaeawai Pa during Heke's war. The churchyard contains a monument gracefully erected by the Maoris in honour of the troops who fell in the attack on their pa. There is a public school for Maori children, and also a church for Maoris who belong to the Church of England. The Maoris depend chiefly on the kauri gum, collected in the district or near it. They do but little in the way of cultivation, but they have a goodly number of horses and cattle.

Dickeson Bros. (F. Dickeson, proprictor), General Storekeepers and Gum Buyers, Ngawha Branch. Bankers, National Bank of New Zealand, Auckland. This important business was established by the late Mr. W. E. Goffe, and taken over by Messrs. Dickeson Bros, in 1890, with headquarters at Kaikohe.

Mr. John McNamara. Manager for Messrs. Dickeson Bros, at Ngawha, took up his present position in 1895 and has been in that firm's employment since 1885. He was born in Auckland in 1850 and educated at St. Paul's school, afterwards finding employment in Walker's gum store, Auckland. He joined the Armed Constabulary in Wellington and saw active service in Taranaki in quelling the native disturbances at Burley's Farm, Opunake. In 1875, he left the force and went to Russell, where he was engaged in Messrs. Salmon and Co.'s store, and in 1885 went to Kaikohe and joined the service of Messrs Dickeson Bros. Mr. McNamara takes great interest in sporting matters and is enthusiastic in athletics being secretary of the Kaikohe Football Association. He is married to a daughter of the late Mr. Whittingham, of Mahurangi.