Ezra Brook Dixon

EB Dixon was born in Leeds in 1837 but spent most of his formative years in London. All that is known of his education is that it was a classical one and included mathematics and science. He studied for a short time at London University until his health failed and he was advised to live in a warmer climate.

He arrived in Nelson in 1862 as a young man of 26 on the Edward Thornhill and sailed almost immediately for Waitapu. Early in 1863 he became an assistant to Thomas Brunner for several months during Brunner's survey of the Howard and Lakes area. ¹

Dixon's bride-to-be, Laura Yeo of London, arrived later that year on the Owen Glendower and, after their marriage in Auckland, they returned to the Takaka Valley. Eric and Frederick Sparrow, sons of pioneer settlers George and Harriet Sparrow, met the couple at

Waitapu with a bullock dray and took them to their two-roomed cottage. It was remembered by their daughter, Anne, from childhood as 'near a pretty river and on the lower slope of bush-covered hills and cliffs'. The property bought by Dixon included all or most of the present Paynes Ford Scenic Reserve, and the cottage probably stood on the slope above today's bridge.

Ezra Brook Dixon as a young man in London. H Arthur.