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The Waterfront, Town Basin, Whangarei Harbour - photo Chris Ball February 2014
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Whangarei in 2015 -
a population of about 50,000 and the
largest city in Northland New Zealand. Back 175 years ago, a number of early European Settlers arrived
in 1839 and 1840 - amongst them my own
kin - the Scottish families of Carruth,
Gorrie, Morton, Wall, and later in the
1850's to the area, came the Wilson and
McKenzie families. These families were
linked and interlinked by marriage, friendships, occupation, community and
church. For those early European
settlers in 1839 and 1840 it was a time when the Treaty of Waitangi was being
signed. For all it was a time when all were learning to live with each other in
a place. A period of adjustment to each
other's ways and culture.
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| Waitangi Monument which has stood at Te Tii Marae since 1880's bears full Maori text of Treaty of Waitangi photo Chris Ball February 2014 |
Those first European settlers must have wondered what they had come to in the Whangarei area. For accounts tell of an area covered in bracken, tea tree scrub and Tutu. William Carruth was said to have been the first European settler to the Whangarei Area and Gilbert Mair the second. By 1845 twelve families were known to have lived in Whangarei Area. Besides my own kin, were also the families of Dent, Runciman, Greenhill, Pollock, Mair, Holman and German, Cook.
Voyage from Scotland
to Australasian Waters:
Carruth Family :-
The first of my
kin arrived from Scotland in 1835. They settled firstly
in Illawarra in New South Wales before venturing further to New Zealand. William and Robert Carruth arrived at Port
Jackson, Sydney, Australia aboard Royal Saxon
on 2 February 1835. Both farmers, they
followed farming pursuits until 1838
when the two brothers sold the
Illawarra farm, along with the
cattle.
Robert Carruth
headed back to London and home country , a passenger aboard the barque Hope on 23 February 1839. On 30th October 1839, Robert left Glasgow with his brother
John aboard the Bengal Merchant, a ship
bound for Wellington, New Zealand. A voyage chartered and organised by the New Zealand Company, Bengal Merchant arrived at Port Nicholson,
Wellington on 20th February 1840.
Both brothers did not stay in the new
settlement of Wellington, but headed up to Whangarei, joining their brother
William Carruth, who by then, was living there. Robert built a little 6 ton
cutter called Trial, which he sailed regularly between Whangarei and
Auckland.
William Carruth
headed for the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, left at the end of February 1839
aboard the cutter Aquila of 43 tons burthen. The newspaper reported in the shippping intelligence:
"Same day, the cutter Aquila, Francis master, for New
Zealand, with sundries. Passengers-Messrs M'Leod, Fulloon, Bird, and Carruth."
The Sydney Monitor
and Commercial Advertiser, Friday 1 March 1839 Page 4
The following year
the cutter Aquila was shipwrecked with
the loss of three lives:-
"We report the loss of the cutter Aquila,
Captain Mark, belonging to Mr Scott, on Monday evening. 11 persons on board.
She left the Harbour in the afternoon for the Thames, and almost ten or eleven
o'clock in the evening the Captain mistook one island for another, in
consequence the vessel was driven upon a reef. Three passengers perished. Mr
McLeod, Mrs Garling and Mr Henry. The captain returned to Kororareka to
announce the disaster"
July 2 1840 page 2
New Zealand Advertiser and Bay of Islands Gazette
By then , William Carruth was settled in the Whangarei Area, having made his way after arrival , down
the coast in a hired 6 ton trader, from the Bay of Islands as the Kororareka
area did not appeal. Anchoring at the heads overnight till morning, the trader
then proceeded up river.
Gorrie Family:-
William Gorrie Snr arrived at Kororareka, Bay of islands, a passenger aboard the Brigantine Deborah on 26 November 1840. Captain Thomas Wing master of Deborah, was to make a valuable early contribution to the exploration , navigation and cartography of New Zealand Waters, one of his last roles being Harbourmaster of the Manukau, Auckland. William Gorrie Jnr. was born on arrival at Kororareka.
Sherrin,
Richard Arundell, Wallace J.H. Edited by
Leys, Thomson W . 1890. Early
history of New. Auckland, New Zealand: H Brett, printer and Publisher. https://archive.org/details/earlyhistoryofne00sher
With William Senior ( previously a widower ) travelled, newly married second wife Mary Gorrie ( nee Morton ) , and children from his first marriage - eldest son John Gorrie, daughters Elizabeth AKA Eliza, Mary and Dinah. Elizabeth AKA Eliza Gorrie married Edward Wall, shipbuilder, at Kororareka ( Russell) in 1841. Mary Gorrie married Wellesley Hughes, merchant in 1846 at Auckland. Unfortunately Wellesley died in 1854 and Mary remarried Neil Murray McFadyen in 1861. McFadyen, shareholder of the Mercury Bay Sawmill Company ( Auckland Saw Mill Company ( Limited),Coromandel Peninsula did not survive the shipwreck of the timber laden schooner Rapid in March 1864. Accounts in newspapers of the time, described the shipwreck as " calamitous" Mary remained a widow until her death.
John Gorrie, eldest son married Elizabeth
Thomson Stewart soon after her arrival
at Auckland aboard Whirlwind in
July 1859. Elizabeth was daughter of John Stewart and Christian Stewart nee
Morton. Christian was sister of Mary Morton and Margaret Johnston Morton. John became the first ordained Minister of
the Presbyterian Free Church of New Zealand on 8 January 1862 . He returned to
the Whangarei area where his father had first settled. Here Reverend John
Gorrie administered to a widespread parish, riding around the churches of the
district. From St. Andrews at Whangarei, to Mangapai, and Kaurihohore.
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| Whangarei Harbour - Photo Chris Ball February 2014 |
The Morton siblings originally came from Gallomuir, Forgandenny in Scotland.
Travelling to New Zealand, with their sister Mary Gorrie ( nee Morton), were Margaret Johnston Morton, Dr. Andrew Morton and brother William. Margaret Johnston Morton, youngest sibling of the Morton family married John Carruth at Kororareka in 1841.
The Morton brothers
- Dr. Andrew and William, a vet, finding not enough remuneration for their
occupations, moved to Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia. William Andrew
Carruth, youngest son of John and Margaret Johnston Carruth was to settle in Whangarei where he practiced as a solicitor.
Whangarei Area 1840 - 1845
William Carruth took
up land which were the Awatawhiti and Tiongongo blocks between the Hatea and
Waiarohia Rivers (now city central,
Whangarei ). William's brother John and his wife settled nearby. Peter and
James Greenhill took up land on the Awaroa River, a short distance down
harbour. Part of the Greenhill Land at Awharoa was sold to William Gorrie Snr.
Gilbert Mair took up the Hatea Block
(now Mairtown, Kensington and Otangarei) and was a near neighbour of William
Gorrie.
Times were difficult
for those early European settlers with the friction that was occurring between
Maori and these newcomers over belongings and property. Finally in March 1845 when all was coming to
a head at Kororareka and the settlers decided to leave Whangarei area for
Auckland.
Robert Mair
reminiscing at the opening of Christ
Church Parochial Hall in 1914 was
reported as saying:
"The passengers who left Whangarei in the cutter
Trial included the following: —Mrs Gorrie and 4 children;' Mr Carruth, wife,
and child; Alison, wife and 3 daughters; Mr William Carruth; Mr Cook, wife,
'and 2 boys; Mr Runciman, wife, and. 4 children; Mr Holman, wife and child; Mr
German; Mr Nelson and partner; Mr Mair, wife and 9 children.
This gives a total of 43 out of about 48 all told.
The balance of the names Mr Mair was unable' to remember"
LOOKING BACKWARD. Northern Advocate , 18 June 1914, Page 11
A number of the settlers did not return to the
Whangarei Area, settling instead in Auckland, Papatoetoe and for a time further
afield overseas. Edward Wall took his family to America, returning to Auckland
in 1848 when things had quietened down.
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| In The New Zealand Insurance Company Limited. Bold Century. Auckland: The New Zealand
Insurance Company Limited, 1959. (Shareholders Copy) |
Families Spreading Further Afield
As most early settler families, descendants moved to other areas. A number of
my kin were to settle on the Coromandel Peninsula. Bought there by occupation,
marriage, church, community. Their names sometimes overlooked or forgotten in
this part of the past NZ History - William John Gorrie who settled at Tairua
during the 1880's, where he was clerk and bush manager at the sawmill there.
Morton Gorrie who settled at Coromandel for a number of years farming, taking
part in Council and helping to start a Cooperative Dairy Factory. James
Stewart, Charles Vickerman, Jack Longbourne Vickerman who played a part in
engineering and railways of the area as Engineers and or Surveyors, Ethelwyn
Carruth who passed State nursing examinations
at Thames Hospital in 1913 , nursed on
the New Zealand hospital ship Marama during WW1 and later after marriage
settled at Ngatea. Jessie Stewart ( nee Murray ) who attended school in Thames
where her father was a long serving Bank Manager at Thames and a long serving member of the volunteer
militia. Jessie married John William Stewart, a solicitor in Auckland and who had also practised in Thames and Paeroa for a time.
- Reed, A.H., The Story of Northland, A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, facsimile edition 1975
- Rust, A.M. , Whangarei and Districts’ Early Reminiscences, Mirror Printing and Publishing Co., 2009
- Sherrin, Richard Arundell, Wallace J.H. Edited by Leys, Thomson W . 1890. Early history of New. Auckland, New Zealand: H Brett, printer and Publisher.
- Ward, Louis E. 1928. Early Wellington. Auckland: Whitcombe and Tombes.
- NZBDM
- The Sydney Monitor Wednesday 22 August 1838 Page 4
- The Colonist Wednesday 27 February 1839 Page 2 ( Trove newspapers)
- The Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser, Friday 1 March 1839 Page 4
- SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, Volume I, Issue 4, 2 May 1840, Page 3
- New Zealand Advertiser and Bay of Islands Gazette July 2 1840 page 2
- The Colonist Tuesday 29 December 1840 Page 4 ( Trove newspapers)
- Daily Southern Cross, 19 July 1859, Page 3 Shipping Intelligence. PORT OF AUCKLAND.
- Daily Southern Cross, 29 March 1864, Page 5 DREADFUL CASUALTY TO THE SCHOONER 'RAPID '—SUFFERINGS OF THE CREW— SIX LIVES LOST
- LOOKING BACKWARD. Northern Advocate , 18 June 1914, Page 11
- Family papers and documents
