The arts and crafts era (1880’s – 1920’s) takes a side step from the traditional New Zealand home. Recently I have spoken about The Modern Townhouse, The Transitional Home, The New Zealand State House, Art Deco Homes, Beautiful Bungalows and The New Zealand Villa. But both before and during the time of the Villa another style of house was built in New Zealand which is now dubbed the Arts and Crafts.
The Arts and Crafts architectural styles were being driven by British architects back in the years between the 1880’s and the 1920’s. The houses of the Arts and Crafts Movement were informal and unpretentious, sophisticated in a very subtle way and designs suggested handcraftsmanship and a “harmony with the setting”
Arts and Crafts homes were built in a time in New Zealand when there were a number of other styles emerging. Art Deco was a spring off from the Arts and Crafts home and also we saw the transitional time from the New Zealand Villa to the Bungalow.
The Arts and Crafts movement sought to reunite what had been ripped asunder in the nature of human work, having the designer work with his hands at every step of creation. These types of homes were built off ideas, they followed a trend which was followed by the British architects but there were a lot of variances depending on the person building the house.
This period of home was the first to use mass machined wood within the homes. The industrial revolution was changing the way homes were built and builders of this time were experimenting from traditional ways of building homes with at the time new and experimental ways of putting together the house. This resulted in simple, sturdy and functional furnishings. But there were still the elegant and grand designs that preceded this time as many designers were still holding onto these craftsmanship skills.
Good Points:
Usually large and grand designs in good areas of towns
Simple designs makes it easy to add own touch.
High pitched roofs allow good water runoff.
Large eaves so moisture doesn’t get into structure
Built with native timber and with larger than normal thickness of wood. usually by craftsmen
Rooms are usually large and have a high stud.
Not So Good Points:
Rooms are all built separate with no flow from one room to the next.
No thought for indoor outdoor flow.
Can be drafty and have little or no insulation.
Can be dark inside and rooms aren’t not positioned well for the sun.
It’s fair to say these homes are of a grand design. Built in a similar age of when the Villa and Bungalow were built all these homes are generally well loved by their owners and are well looked after. Maintenance can be high but the rewards for living in one of these beautiful pieces of history would be priceless.
November 28 2008 | Buyers and houses | 2 Comments »
Over the past few weeks we have been speaking about New Zealand houses and their designs.
We have covered The New Zealand Villa, The New Zealand Bungalow, The Art Deco Age, The New Zealand State House, The Transitional Period Home and we are onto the Modern Townhouse.
Modern Townhouses from the 1990’s to the early 2000’s are the houses of today. This is where modern architecture and trendy thinking comes into the picture of housing. There were many different types of designs that made it to play in New Zealand. Some were single level, some were multi level, some were made of permanent materials and some not. Houses were built to budgets in this age. The ones that were built with larger budgets were built with good standards and will generally last a good lifetime. But the downside is that many houses in this time are built with a developmental focus and on tight budgets which meant that in some cases the quality was sacrificed. Many of todays townhouse designs are built of the in the shadow of Joe Eichler who was in the 1970’s a revolutionary architect who designed houses that at the time were considered way before their time. But today these designs are now are much more seen, in different variances. The modern Townhouse is a good family home and is equally secure for the elderly or security conscious person.
Good Points:
· Very easy a functional designs to live in.
· Large open plan living areas with thought to sun positioning and indoor outdoor flow for entertaining.
· Further incorporation with internal access garaging for more security and comfort.
· Economical and dry to keep warm with most houses with full insulation.
· The modern building styles offer much greater scope house profiles and styles.
Not So Good Points:
· Multiple roof angles with multiple leak possibilities.
· Single sheet monolithic cladding, often poorly applied which when expands and contracts, leaks can form.
· Limited or no eaves and overhangs (excessive water cascading down exterior faces seeps in around windows and joins and cracks in cladding).
· Decks and parapets attached directly to exterior cladding can leak; framing can rot.
· Wide use of untreated timber framing (particularly houses built 1998 – 2004)
· Timber pile foundations in many free-standing houses where the exterior piles are subjected to constant wet and drying which can lead huge movements in the building.
· Insufficient “ground clearance”; concrete bases are built quite low and the cladding is very close to ground on many houses, this can cause water to seep in.
Although there were a number of building issues mentioned with these properties, it doesn’t mean they all have these issues. It is important, like with most properties to get a building inspection done. This will answer any questions you may have to do with the building and give you peace of mind in the buyingprocess.
These homes are very elegant and look the part for someone to live in. People who live in these homes usually take pridein them and the gardens and exterior of the houses kept in very good order.
November 26 2008 | Buyers and houses | No Comments »
In the Past four posts I have spoken about The New Zealand Villa, The New Zealand Bungalow, The Art Deco Era and the New Zealand State House. Now we move into the transitional era of housing for New Zealand (1960’s -1980’s). This is the time when we saw the beginning of the developer driven construction. Houses of this time we still built by qualified builders but there were some compromises the durability of materials used. For example pine or particle board flooring material was used instead of tawa or matai, window frames were made from aluminium and many buildings used artificial weatherboards.
Houses of this time were very much family orientated. This was the time when many of the baby boomers were in the prime of their child bearing ages. One of the major reasons of this time becoming developer driven was because of this huge demand for family homes to house the baby boomers families. There were a lot of homes all built in a very close time frame. The properties of this time had larger living rooms than previous homes and were more integrated into living areas.
These homes built in this era are considered by many to be the good ol kiwi family home. We all have at some stage of our lives lived in one. Here are a few points on these homes.
Good Points:
· Family orientated, often had larger living spaces for families to congregate in.
· Mostly northern facing and positioned good for the sun.
· The first homes to start having good indoor outdoor flow.
· Were cheaper to construct than all the previous homes, but are easy to modify if needed later in the years.
Not So Good Points:
· Was the first time pressed iron tile roofing was used. Was weaker than other materials but if fitted properly still had good durability.
· Some problems with condensation and insulation. Especially homes fitted with gas heaters.
· Homes were still plain in design and rectangle. Most had a similar floor plan with slight variances.
These homes are a good family home. Although not as grand as any of the previous homes and built with more of a budget in mind they still offer a good solid and fairly cost efficient home to own.
November 24 2008 | houses | No Comments »
In the previous posts we have spoken about The New Zealand Villas and Bungalows and Art Deco, now we get into the era of The State Home (1930’s – 1960’s).
The first state houses in the 1930’s were designed and constructed to the highest possible standard budgets permitted. They were built so that no two houses would be exactly alike, so that their occupants would not be identifiable as state tenants.
Similar sentiments guided the first Labour government’s scheme. State housing areas would contain both better-off and poor workers to avoid the creation of single-class neighbourhoods. As with the workers’ dwellings, each house would be constructed using quality labour and materials, and designed to last for 60 years and more if maintained.
Internal planning was important. Kitchens would face the morning sun and living rooms would form the centre of family life, arranged so that easy chairs could encircle the fireplace. This is the typical design of the New Zealand State House.
Good Points:
· The construction was always done by well trained people.
· Building material was strong, usually brick, matai and tawa – rimu was used as well.
· Eaves were still large which means the homes are very watertight.
· Mostly single storied with simple floor plans.
The Not so Good:
· Properties are usually small and not suited to larger families.
· Style and shape often don’t suit modern lifestyles – no indoor outdoor flow and spate kitchens and dining rooms.
· Bathrooms often face the road and are next to the front door.
These houses are easy to change and are made to last. A well looked after state home can be one of the smartest buys you can make as the costs involved with maintenance can be less than the previous styles of homes.
November 23 2008 | Buyers and Uncategorized and houses | No Comments »
In the previous posts I have spoken about The Villa and The Bungalow. Now we move onto the Art Deco (1920’s – 1940’s). This style of home originated in Europe in the early years of the 20th Century. It became widely known following the great Exposition des Arts Modernes Decoratifs et Industriels, held in Paris in 1925 and from which its name was ultimately derived. By the late 1930s it was in its streamlined phase and after World War 2, the International Style, devoid of all decoration, held sway. Many of them built for war people these homes are both built strong and built to last.
People built these homes to express themselves in one way or another. They have great artistic flares and a presence about them that no other home has.
Good Points:
· Mostly Rough-cast over native timber framing; well braced with solid diagonal. If over time the studs do rot the sarking will hold the house together.
· Usually coated with 4 coats of plaster for strength, so are very strong.
· Well detailed flashings and eyebrows over the windows.
· Flat roofs, but used full length industrial profile iron with good flashings, they are virtually leak proof if maintained well.
· Solid concrete foundations.
The Not so Good Points:
· Design not necessarily suitable for modern lifestyles.
· Exits are not well designed for having too many people over.
· Bathrooms are generally small.
Art Deco homes to me are one of the more character homes of New Zealand. There are areas close to where I live that have whole streets of these homes on them and these homes can be painted in very extravagant and bright colours and get away with it. They form a great part in any community and there are some people that really love them.
November 21 2008 | Buyers and Uncategorized and houses | 9 Comments »
The Bungalow (1930’s – 1940’s)
Yesterday I talked about the Villa. The Next to Come in New Zealands Housing History was the Bungalow. The evolution from villa to the bungalow was interesting. The ceilings were lower and double-hung windows replaced with casements, lead lights made an appearance, fretwork was phased out, the front door moved to the side of the home, the entrance adorned with a porch. The gable ends and the roofs over bay windows were shingled (timber tiles) and the eaves were exposed. Halls and lobbies were still panelled in Rimu or Kauri and a telltale sign of the bungalow is the old picture rails being replaced by a shelf.
For the first time the houses were oriented towards the sun and the floor plan more user friendly and for the first time New Zealanders could order window frames, doors and balustrades out of a catalogue.
Good Points:
· Solid Concrete Foundations and native timber framings firmly attached these houses together
· Strong level native timber tongue and groove floors, often separately constructed on spaced floor joists.
· Sufficient Roof Angles ranging from 12 – 15 degree angles. Usually iron or tiles
· Rain deflecting eaves and eyebrows. Window frames built to let wood expand and contract.
The Not So Good Points:
· Functional, but fairly standard floor plans.
· Can be very dark if not north or east facing.
The bungalow in my view is a great New Zealand home to get hold of. They have stood the test of time and if well looked after will last for a long time to come. They are of high demand by many. The people who love them think they are cute and for this reason most owner occupied bungalos are in very good condition and these houses look great with a nice garden.
November 20 2008 | Buyers and Uncategorized and houses | 1 Comment »
The Villa (1900’s – 1920)
The New Zealand Villa is probably the first English influenced home to arrive into New Zealand. These grand homes are set amongst the more older neighbourhoods of the cities they reside in. Many villas were built for the more dignified communities of their time. Many of the Villas we see today that have stood the test of time are very well loved and are homes the owners generally are proud to own. Today we see these areas still in good demand for housing in New Zealand as the area and location is generally a good one to live, and well established. Here is a quick overview of the New Zealand Villa
Good points:
· Durable native hardwood construction, usually built by craftsman.
· Wide construction with at least 600mm eaves over windows and doorways to defect rainwater.
· Wooden Weatherboards, durable and easily replaced individually.
· Pitched roofs of about 30% to deflect rain, made from sturdy corrugated iron. If painted would last approx 40 years unlike today’s thinner roofing iron which usually only give a 15 year warranty.
Not So Good Points:
· Draughty, but easily modified with modern insulation materials.
· Fairly compact, simple designs with little thought to indoor outdoor flow.
· Northern aspect placement was usually not considered. So be careful to know where its sun goes as it could get cold.
November 19 2008 | Buyers and Uncategorized and houses | 3 Comments »
Labour Day in New Zealand falls on the 4th Monday of October each year, as opposed to 1 May in Malaysia. And because Kiwis love long weekends, it’s great to have a break as we haven’t had a long weekend since Queen’s Birthday (which fell on 4th June this year — 1st Monday of June).
To the left are the founders of New Zealands first Labour Day
Labour Day in New Zealand commemorates the struggle for an eight-hour working day. Thanks to SamuelParnell, New Zealanders were one of the first in the world to claim the right.
Labour Day commemorates the struggle for an eight-hour working day. New Zealand workers were among the first in the world to claim this right when, in 1840, the carpenter Samuel Parnell on an eight-hour day in Wellington. Labour Day was first celebrated in New Zealand on 28 October 1890, when several thousand trade union members and supporters attended parades in the main centres. Government employees were given the day off to attend the parades.
The date, 28 October, marked the first anniversary of the establishment of the Maritime Council, an organisation of transport and mining unions. The fledgling union movement was decimated by defeat in a trans-Tasman Maritime Strike in late 1890 but, despite this, the first Labour Day was a huge success. In Wellington, the highlight was an appearance by the elderly Parnell, who died just a few weeks later. From the mid-1890s the union movement began to recover slowly under the Liberal government. The Liberals’ industrial conciliation and arbitration system, introduced in 1894, earned New Zealand a reputation of being a ‘working man’s paradise’ and a ‘country without strikes’.
Early Labour Day parades drew huge crowds in places such as Palmerston North and Napier as well as in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. Unionists and supporters marched behind colourful banners and ornate floats, and the parades were followed by popular picnics and sports events.
These parades also had a political purpose. Although workers in some industries had long enjoyed an eight-hour day, it was not a legal entitlement. Other workers, including seamen, farm labourers, and hotel, restaurant and shop employees, still worked much longer hours. Many also endured unpleasant and sometimes dangerous working conditions. Unionists wanted the Liberals to pass legislation enforcing an eight-hour day for all workers, but the government was reluctant to antagonise the business community.
What the Liberals did do was make Labour Day a holiday. The Labour Day Act of 1899 created a statutory public holiday on the second Wednesday in October, first celebrated in 1900. The holiday was ‘Mondayised’ in 1910, and since then it has been held on the fourth Monday in October.
In the first decade of the 20th century industrial unrest reappeared. The Liberal government was in decline, prices were rising and the Arbitration Court was seen as reluctant to raise wages. The more militant labour movement that emerged from around 1908 rejected the Liberals’ arbitration system and condemned the increasing commercialisation of Labour Day parades. Many floats advertised businesses as well as temperance organisations, theatres, circuses and patriotic causes. Some socialists promoted May Day (1 May) as an alternative celebration of workers’ struggles. Although unionists and their supporters continued to hold popular gatherings and sports events, by the 1920s Labour Day had begun to decline as a public spectacle. For most New Zealanders, it was now just another holiday.
October 16 2008 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
New Plymouth, a great city to live in. And as a lot of New Zealand locations there is a great deal of history here. This post is here to help better inform you on how our city was moulded and the history of our great city.
The city of New Plymouth, New Zealand, has a history that includes a lengthy occupation and residence by Maori, the arrival of white traders and settlers in the 19th century and warfare that resulted when the demands of the two cultures clashed.
European settlement began in the early 1840s at a time when many original Maori inhabitants were absent, either because they had been taken captive by northern Maori warriors or had migrated south to avoid war. The rapid growth of the colonist population, coupled with insatiable demands for land by the New Zealand Company and the dubious practices it employed in purchasing it, created friction with local Maori, leading to war in the 1860s. New Plymouth became a fortified garrison town and its residents suffered hunger and disease. Farming was impeded and immigration and trade came to a halt.
In the aftermath of the war, as improved road and rail links with other towns resulted in a rapid growth of population and economic stability, the town became a major exporting port for dairy produce from the Taranaki district and the administrative centre for Taranaki’s petro-chemical industry.
Before 1838: Early contact and inter-tribal conflict
The area where New Plymouth was founded had for centuries been the home for several Māori iwi (tribes). From about 1823 the Maori began having contact with European whalers as well as traders who arrived by schooner to buy flax. In March 1828 Richard “Dicky” Barrett (1807-47) set up a trading post at Ngamotu after arriving on the trading vessel Adventure.
View of the New Plymouth shoreline. The city is to the left and in the distance is Ngamotu and Sugarloaf Islands, scene of the first European settlement.
Barrett and his companions were welcomed by Te Āti Awa tribe, who realised that the Europeans, with their muskets and cannon, could assist in their continuing wars with Waikato Maori, as well as providing cloth, food and utensils. Following a bloody encounter at Ngamotu in 1832, most of the 2000 Āti Awa living near Ngamotu migrated south to the Kapiti region and Marlborough, leaving about 300 to live on the newly fortified Moturoa and Mikotahi, two of the Sugarloaf Islands west of Ngamotu. Barrett also left the area. The Waikato Maori returned in 1833, laying siege to the Āti Awa remnant until their surrender almost a year later.
1838-1840: New Zealand Company’s first land purchases.
In 1838 the New Zealand Company was formed in England with the purpose of facilitating and encouraging migration from overcrowded cities to New Zealand, selling land to settlers who would work as farmers and labourers. A separate enterprise, the Plymouth Company, was established in Plymouth in February 1840, where it was run under the guidance of agent Thomas Woolcombe. (Many streets in New Plymouth bear the names of the company’s directors, including Woolcombe, the Earl of Devon, Thomas Gill, Sir Anthony Buller, Lord Eliot, George Leach, Sir Charles Lemon, Edward St Aubyn, E.W.W. Pendarvis, Lord Courtenay and Hussey Vivian.) The company merged with the New Zealand Company in April 1841 after suffering financial losses through the collapse of its bank.
Barrett returned to Ngamotu in November 1839 aboard the Tory, a vessel carrying out an exploratory expedition for the New Zealand Company. With him was Colonel William Wakefield, a land purchasing agent for the company. A month earlier Wakefield had claimed to have bought 80,000 km² (20 million acres), comprising one-third of New Zealand, from certain Taranaki and other Maori in Wellington. The area extended from Aotea Harbour near Waikato to Hurunui River in north Canterbury in the South Island.
Barrett, who could speak some Maori, acted as the sole agent for the New Zealand Company, negotiating the purchase of Taranaki land on behalf of the company and on February 15, 1840 – the month the Treaty of Waitangi was signed – a formal Deed of Sale was signed by 75 Maori individuals, with payment made with guns, blankets and other chattels. Many witnesses later testified that Barrett had not read out the deed or adequately explained it at the time of signing. Included in the purchases was a vast area in central Taranaki extending from Mokau to Cape Egmont, and inland to the upper reaches of the Whanganui River including Mt Taranaki; a second deed, the so-called Nga Motu deed, included New Plymouth and all the coastal lands of North Taranaki, including Waitara. The company had already begun on-selling the land to prospective settlers in England with the expectation of securing its title.
J. Houston, writing in Maori Life in Old Taranaki (1965), observed: “Many of the true owners were absent, while others had not returned from slavery to the Waikatos in the north. Thus the 72 chiefs of Ngamotu cheerfully sold lands in which they themselves had no interest, as well as lands wherein they held only a part interest along with several others.”[8] The poor understanding by Maori of the nature and extent of the sale – confusion that later led to tension and warfare over land – was not aided by Barrett’s translation skills: at subsequent Land Claims Commission hearings in Wellington he was invited to demonstrate his translation ability on a lengthy, legalistic document and was said to have “turned a 1600-word document, written in English, into 115 meaningless Maori ones”.
The Waitangi Tribunal noted that Wakefield’s purchase, and the company’s subsequent sales, were patently invalid: on January 14, 1840 George Gipps, Governor of New South Wales, of which New Zealand was a dependency, had issued a proclamation that purchases of Maori land by private interests after that date would be null and void and not recognised by the Crown. In November the company renounced its initial large-scale “purchases” in a deal that provided it with four acres (1.6ha) for every pound it had spent on colonisation.
1841: Selecting a sit
e
Eleven months later, on December 12, 1840, Frederic Alonzo Carrington, the 32-year-old Chief Surveyor for the Plymouth Company, arrived in Wellington with the task of creating a 44 km² (11,000 acre) settlement in New Zealand for people of the West Country. Wakefield had already been informed that the Plymouth Company was to take over some of the New Zealand Company land. He urged Carrington to select a site at Ngamotu.
The pressure on Carrington was intense: the first settlers’ ship had sailed from Plymouth on November 19 and was already en route to New Zealand. Carrington invited Barrett to join his team and about January 9, 1841, the pair arrived at Ngamotu with a party of assistant surveyors on the barque Brougham, ready to choose a site for the new town.
Carrington inspected the area around Moturoa, then set out by whaleboat to examine Waitara, rowing 5 km up the Waitara River. He returned to Wellington, determined to examine sites in the South Island before making a final decision. Barrett guided the Brougham around barren areas near Nelson, highlighting swampy areas that would be unsuited to settlement.[1] Biographer Angela Caughey claimed Barrett’s choice of locations to show Carrington was part of a strategy, motivated by self-interest, to discourage the surveyor from siting New Plymouth in that area instead of Taranaki. On January 26 Carrington informed Wakefield that despite his reservations, he had opted to site his town at Ngamotu.
He wrote to Woolcombe in Plymouth: “I have selected a place where small harbours can be easily made and with trifling expense, close to an abundance of material being on the spot … I have fixed the town between the rivers Huatoki and Henui … two or three brooks run through the town and water is to be had in any part of it. The soil, I think, cannot be better. There is much open or fern country and an abundance of fine timber.”
Carrington told Woolcombe he had wavered on the site of the town after making two forays up the Waitara River, where he discovered beautiful country. “I once had made up my mind to have the town there,” he wrote, “but the almost constant surf upon the bar has caused me to prefer this place … the New Plymouth Company has the garden of this country; all we want is labour and particularly working oxen.”
New Plymouth was laid out over 550 acres (2.2 km²), with additional rural sections proposed along the coast beyond Waitara, covering a total of 68,500 acres (274 km²). By year’s end his map of the town showed 2267 sections ready for selection by settlers, with streets, squares, hospitals, schools and parks surrounded by boulevards that separated the town from the suburban districts. For decades, however, Carrington would come under attack from settlers who thought the location of New Plymouth had been poorly chosen because of the lack of a natural harbour.
1841: The first settlers
The first of the town’s settlers arrived on the William Bryan, which anchored off the coast on March 31, 1841. In steerage were 21 married couples, 22 single adults and 70 children. George Cutfield, the head of the expedition, wrote a letter home, describing the settlement as “a fine country with a large quantity of flat land, but every part is covered with vegetation, fern, scrub and forest. The fern, on good land, is generally from four to six feet high. There are thousands of acres of this land which will require but a trifling outlay to bring into cultivation.”
Temporary housing sites had been provided on Mount Eliot (the present-day site of Puke Ariki museum), and frustrations mounted as settlers were forced to squat in homes built of rushes and sedges through winter, amid flourishing numbers of rats, dwindling food supplies and rising unease over the prospects of a repeat raid by Waikato Maori. The first suburban sections were not available until October, while those who had bought town sections were forced to wait until mid-November.
The second ship, Amelia Thompson, arrived off the Taranaki coast on September 3 and sat off shore for five weeks because its captain feared Ngamotu’s reputation as a dangerous shipping area. Its 187 passengers were helped ashore by Barrett and his men over the course of two weeks, each small boatload taking five hours to row from the vessel to the shore. The ship’s precious food cargo, including flour and salted meat, was finally brought ashore for New Plymouth’s starving residents on September 30. The loss of its baggage ship, the Regina, which was blown ashore on to a reef, contributed to New Plymouth’s reputation as a dangerous area for shipping, discouraging other vessels from berthing.
By one account, settlers were by now “moaning vociferously about having ever left England. Living was a continual battle to shield themselves against the elements and their food supplies against termites, insects and hungry animals. Drunkenness was rife among the labourers in a dreary existence with too little to do. Flour supplies had run out again and there was no likelihood of more until the next boatload of settlers arrived. Te Ati Awa, too were hungry. The co-operative ones had planted more crops than usual, to feed the coming Pakeha, but so many more Europeans had turned up than they expected, that they also were short of food.”
As summer arrived, buildings began to be erected, gardens planted and wheat sown. Other ships soon arrived to provide more labour and food supplies: the Oriental (130 passengers) on November 7, 1841; the Timandra (202 passengers) on February 23, 1842; the Blenheim (138 passengers) on November 19, 1842; and the Essex (115 passengers) on January 25, 1843, by which time the town was described as a collection of raupo and pitsawn timber huts housing almost 1000 Europeans.
1842-1866: Land disputes
As settlers arrived, they occupied allotments throughout the coast to beyond Waitara. Many had bought land from the New Zealand Company before the company had purchased the land itself. Tensions between Maori and settlers soon became evident: a party of settlers were driven from land north of the Waitara River in July 1842 and surveyors were obstructed by a group of 100 Maori in 1843.
Yet the town continued to thrive: by 1844 it had two flour mills on the Huatoki River and by 1847 it was recorded there were 841 hectares of land in cultivation.
In May 1844 William Spain, who had been appointed Land Claims Commissioner to examine New Zealand Company land claims, began inquiries in Taranaki. The company withdrew its two large land claims of 1840, restricting its claim of “legitimately purchased” land to Nga Motu. Spain ruled in its favour, endorsing its claim to 24,000 ha extending north from the Sugar Loaves, except for pas, burial places and land in cultivation (48ha), native reserves of 10 per cent of the land (2400ha), land for the Wesleyan Mission Station (40ha), and land for Barrett and his family (72ha).
On July 2 Spain wrote to Governor Robert FitzRoy advocating the imposition of a military force to persu
ade the Maori that everything was in their best interests, or as he put it, to demonstrate “our power to enforce obedience to the laws, and of the utter hopelessness of any attempt on their part at resistance …” As Spain saw it, New Zealand had been colonised for philanthropic reasons, “to benefit the Natives by teaching them the usefulness of habits of industry, and the advantages attendant upon civilisation.”
The award, wrote J.S. Tullett in his history of the city, “was received with great hostility by the Maoris”. They wrote letters of strong protest to FitzRoy, who responded with sympathy. After visiting New Plymouth in late 1844, FitzRoy formally set aside Spain’s award, acknowledging that the land had been sold without the approval of the absentees. He substituted it for a 1400ha block that became known as the “Fitzroy block”, which included the town site and only the immediate surrounding area. Many settlers who had taken up land outside the Fitzroy block were thus forced to move back within its boundaries, fostering widespread hostility towards FitzRoy.
According to the Waitangi Tribunal, the Fitzroy block deal was less a purchase than a “political settlement based on the reality that there were already settlers on the land, who had to be either accepted or driven out … (the sale was) more akin to a treaty, because Maori also imposed two significant conditions. The first was that settlers still outside the Fitzroy block would be brought back into it and the second was that the settlers would expand no further.” A 12-metre high boundary mark, known as the FitzRoy Pole, was later erected on the banks of the Waiwakaiho River to indicate the limit of Pākehā settlement.
Still, however, migrants continued to arrive. In 1847 Fitzroy’s bellicose successor, George Grey, responded to settler resentment by pressuring Te Atiawa leaders to sell more land. Firmly rebuffed, he then turned to individual Maori who were prepared to accept payment. By means of these secret deals Grey bought 10,800ha in five blocks: two were at Tataraimaka and Omata to the south-west of New Plymouth and thus beyond the scope of FitzRoy’s accord, but three were in Te Atiawa territory – the Mangorei or Grey block to the south of the Fitzroy block, plus Cooke’s Farm and the Bell Block between New Plymouth and Waitara. The sales triggered fighting among Maori sellers and non-sellers, but the Government succeeded in its aim: by 1859 it claimed to have bought a total of 30,000ha. (The New Zealand Company had surrendered its charter in July 1850, with all its land holdings passing to the Crown).
Grey’s determination to secure more land despite Maori opposition had been made clear from the outset: in an 1847 letter to his newly appointed Inspector of Police, the former Sub-Protector of Aborigines Donald McLean, he said that apart from reserves set aside for resident Maori and those returning from the south, “the remaining portion … should be resumed by the Crown for use by Europeans.”
On February 22, 1860 mounting tensions over the sale of a 600 acre (240 hectare) block of land at Waitara led to the declaration of martial law in Taranaki and three weeks later, on March 17, Governor Thomas Gore Browne ordered a military assault on Te Atiawa chief Wiremu Kingi and his people at a defensive pā. War had officially begun in Taranaki.
1860-1866: Wartime crisis
Map of New Plymouth, 1860, showing entrenchments around the town.
As more than 3500 troops poured into Taranaki, New Plymouth was transformed into a fortified garrison town. Most women and children were sent to Nelson while the men joined the military forces. For more than two years all farming was carried out under military protection, with farmers returning at nightfall to the security of the many military forts. More than 200 farms were burnt or plundered while the war raged. By July 1860 the town was reported to be in a state of siege. One soldier wrote: “The natives have come close up to the town, murdering every soul who is fool enough to go half a mile outside the ramparts.”
Disease, a result of extreme over-crowding, was rife (121 died from disease during the war, 10 times the annual average), food was scarce and the settlers were bordering on despair. There were widespread fears the town would be attacked by Maori warriors, especially when two strong pa were built within 3 km of the town. The wave of immigrants quickly evaporated. In October 1860 a settler wrote: “Little remains of the settlement of Taranaki outside the 50 acre section to which the town is reduced.”
The war ended with an uneasy truce after a year, although later skirmishes, described by some historians as a second Taranaki war, later took place.
Sourced by the encyclopedia of New Zealand and Wikipedia.
September 06 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
The arts and crafts era (1880’s – 1920’s) takes a side step from the traditional New Zealand home. Recently I have spoken about The Modern Townhouse, The Transitional Home, The New Zealand State House, Art Deco Homes, Beautiful Bungalows and The New Zealand Villa. But both before and during the time of the Villa another style of house was built in New Zealand which is now dubbed the Arts and Crafts.
