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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]
Packwood, Eaton
Packwood, Eaton , Dairy Farmer, Kakanui North. Mr. Packwood was born in Bedfordshire, England, in 1843, and became conductor on a coach that, in the early days, connected the London and North-Western and Great Northern railways. Afterwards he learned the business of a landscape gardener, and was apprenticed as such for five years, and held important situations in the Old Land before coming to the colonies. Mr. Packwood landed at Moreton Bay, Queensland, in 1885, and was engaged to lay out a large market garden at Ipswich. Subsequently, he worked on the construction of the first line of railway made in Queensland. In 1868 he arrived in New Zealand, spent a year on the West Coast diggings, and afterwards walked across the mountains to the river Selwyn in Canterbury, and on to Temuka. He became gardener at the Levels station, and was afterwards employed in Dunedin in a similar capacity. For a year later he was employed in the Albion Soap Works, and removed to Kakanui in 1371, under engagement to the New Zealand Meat Preserving Company to lay out gardens round the manager's residence, and held the position for four years. Mr. Packwood settled in Kakanui North, on a freehold section of four acres in the township. As an Oddfellow, he is attached to the Kakanui Lodge, in which he has passed the chairs, and has held the position of Permanent Secretary. Mr. Packwood was married, in 1872, to a daughter of the late Mr. Thomas Gaffney, of Derbyshire, England. Mrs Packwood died in 1884, leaving one daughter.