• Charles Gould: a farmer living near Te Aroha 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  Coming from a wealthy business family and with a brother who became a successful businessman, Charles Gould left the South Island to settle in Waitoa with every prospect of making a success of the large estate he had ...

  

• William Buchanan Maxwell: a veteran who became ‘Te Aroha’s pet adornment’ 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  Famous in Te Aroha as a veteran soldier, Maxwell had fought in the Crimea, China, and India before fighting against Maori in New Zealand. Proud of his four wounds, he would lead a detachment of volunteers marching off to ...

  

• William Archibald Murray: a Piako farmer who invested in Waiorongomai mines 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  Proudly Scottish and from a sheep-farming family boasting a distinguished lineage, William Archibald Murray settled in Otago with his brothers in 1858 and acquired a large estate. A successful farmer, he was elected to ...

  

• Maori and mining in New Zealand and beyond 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  Before the arrival of Europeans, Maori had known of the existence of gold but did not mine it and had no understanding of its value. Once mining commenced in California in 1849 and Australia in the early 1850s, many Maori ...

  

• George Devey: a Te Aroha carpenter and his family 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  A cabinetmaker, George Devey brought his wife and young family to New Zealand in 1864, accompanied by his brother Jess, a blacksmith. After settling in Thames, from 1883 onwards they lived in Te Aroha, where George erected ...

  

• Edward Kersey Cooper: mine manager and mine owner in Hauraki 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  After having a variety of occupations in several countries, Edward Kersey Cooper arrived in New Zealand in 1880 to manage a manganese mine. From 1881 onwards, he was involved in Hauraki mining, commencing with the Waiorongomai ...

  

• The strike at Waiorongomai in 1884 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  After the initial crushing produced lower returns than expected, the decision of mine owners to reduce costs by cutting wages provoked a strike to retain the former rates of pay. A particular cause of the sense of injustice ...

  

• Social relations and class divisions in the Te Aroha district 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  Although the nature of mining encouraged mateship amongst miners, this ideal was weakened as companies increasingly dominated mining districts. As miners liked to work for themselves to obtain the highest possible financial ...

  

• James Gordon: a ‘useful all-round man’ at Te Aroha and elsewhere 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  Some confusion over the early details of James Gordon’s life is unavoidable because his birth was not registered and there were several namesakes. Born to an Irish father and a Maori mother, after the latter reputedly ...

  

• Private lives in the Te Aroha district, mostly in the nineteenth century 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  This paper is based mostly on gossip – deliberately so, for gossip can reveal details of the private lives of people who are otherwise lost to history. Usually it is not possible to identify them, but even if this is not ...

  

• Hone Werahiko: the discoverer of gold at Te Aroha 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  Originally Hone Kahukahu, when he was living at Ohinemutu in the 1860s he became known as Hone Werahiko, an Arawa name he retained for the rest of his life. His father, a member of Ngati Kahungungu, had been captured by ...

  

• The Te Aroha hot springs (mainly in the nineteenth century) 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  Unique amongst New Zealand mining districts, the hot springs sited at the base of the mountain were popular with miners, residents, and an increasing number of visitors. Highly valued by Maori for their medicinal qualities, ...

  

• Mokena Hou and his wife Rina 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  Mokena Hou had a distinguished whakapapa, but as nephew to Hou was subordinate to the latter’s son, Karauna Hou. He was born near the Te Aroha hot pools, and his future wife, Rina, who also had illustrious ancestors, ...

  

• Te Karauna Hou: the senior Ngati Rahiri rangatira 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  Te Karauna Hou, the principal Ngati Rahiri rangatira living at Te Aroha in 1880, had a distinguished whakapapa linking him to several hapu. Before settling permanently at Te Aroha in the 1870s he lived in several places, ...

  

• Lavinia and Henry Dunbar Johnson 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  Rawinia Manukau, of Ngati Tamatera, married Henry Dunbar Johnson in 1868, when aged 21. Johnson had been a storekeeper at Coromandel from 1863 onwards and after 1866 had the first store at the site of the future Paeroa. ...

  

• Joseph Campbell and his thermo-hyperphoric process 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  Joseph Campbell was both an Anglican clergyman and a scientist, with a preference for the latter. Actively involved in educating the masses in scientific matters, and particularly those, like miners, with particular problems ...

  

• Merea Wikiriwhi and George Thomas Wilkinson 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  Merea Wikiriwhi was one of the few women to invest in Te Aroha mining. Her life has been traced in as much detail as can be found because so little has survived about the lives of Maori women. As George Thomas Wilkinson’s ...

  

• William Nicholls, Hera Te Whakaawa, and their children 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  Two years after arriving in New Zealand in 1840, William Nicholls married Hera Te Whakaawa, who had an illustrious whakapapa. For the rest of his life he lived as a Pakeha Maori, trading and farming on land owned by his ...

  

• William Sharman Crawford (Billy) Nicholl, the prospector who discovered the Martha lode at Waihi: his life, told largely in his own words 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  Billy Nicholl was that rare miner, one who recorded his life. Born in Ireland, when still a boy he arrived in New Zealand in 1862. After his father died at an early age, he acquired a step-father, whom he disliked, with ...

  

• Black Americans and Te Aroha mining 

  Hart, Philip (Historical Research Unit, University of Waikato, 2016)

  Although no black Americans lived in the Te Aroha district, several, including some miners, lived in Hauraki and elsewhere in New Zealand. In general, blacks were stereotyped as figures of fun (as were the Irish often), ...

  

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