Life in Early Poverty Bay
Plan to Visit England Frustrated
Plan to Visit England Frustrated.
William Brown sustained a heavy blow when his wife died in the middle 60's. For a long time he had contemplated re-visiting England, but his love for his wife and children restrained him from taking the step. Up till then, he and his relatives in the Mother Country had maintained correspondence. When Mrs. Brown died, he firmly made up his mind to return Home, but the elders of his late wife's tribe would not agree to his proposal to take with him two of the boys. They told him that if he wished to go he could go by himself. Off he went, but on reaching Melbourne, he began to miss his family so much that he retraced his steps. It seems that the elders were afraid that he would not return if he took any of the children with him. His relatives abroad now ceased to write to him and their identity remains unknown on account of the destruction of all his correspondence in the fire at Makaraka.
In later life, William Brown became a most conspicuous figure on the streets of Gisborne by reason of the fact that he wore his hair long. After the death of his wife, he would not suffer his hair to be cut and it hung down to his waist. This decision on his part was questioned by members of his family, but he would invariably reply that keeping his hair long was a token of respect for his dead wife. He lived to the advanced age of 87, dying at his home, “Brown's Point,” not far from Makaraka, and near the old Kia Ora Coy.'s factory, in 1889.