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Lands and Survey Department in Blenheim
I joined the Public Service in 1953, becoming a clerk in the Lands & Survey Department. The offices were on the upper floor of the old Post Office building overlooking Market Place, where the Forum...
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Wreck of the City of Newcastle
City of Newcastle was a three-masted barque, 133 feet long and, at the time of her wreck, 39 years old. A frequent traveller between New South Wales and New Zealand ports, she left Wellington on...
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Fred Gibbs
F. G. Gibbs' life never lacked adventure, drama and determination and, as Gibbs enthusiast Nigel Costley writes, Nelson would have been much poorer without him.F G Gibbs. The Nelson Provincial Museum,...
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Wreck of the Queen Bee
The Queen Bee was a wooden barque of between 700 and 800 tons. A fine, roomy ship, she was one of the earliest vessels to bring immigrants to New Zealand and had made eleven passages from England, when...
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Waimea Plains
From Grain and Cows... to Vegetables and WineOver the years land use on the Waimea Plains has changed to meet changing markets and lifestyles. In the early days of Pakeha settlement, grains,...
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The Great Blenheim Flood of 1923
Blenheim was built at the junction of two rivers as a river port, close to sea level.1 Blenheim's early history was one of frequent flooding until extensive river works and diversions managed to tame...
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Albert Branton Doidge
Eight Stoke men are known to have died fighting in World War One. Seven of these are listed on the Stoke Memorial Gates, but Albert, for some reason is not. He was the first of the men to die, in July...
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John and Ann Doidge nee Branton
Seaview Cemetery Block 24, Plot 475 John and Ann (née Branton) Doidge, pioneer immigrants from Launceston in Cornwall, England, arrived in Nelson on board the Inchinnan in 1856 with five children:...
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Sydney Grey Davis
Sydney Grey Davis, 1896-1917, is one of the eight Stoke men known to have died in World War One. He is commemorated on the Stoke Memorial Gates.Corp. Sydney G. DavisClick image to enlargeSydney Davis,...
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William Stud Bovey
William Study Bovey, 1872-1917, was one of the eight Stoke men who died in World War One. He is commemorated on the Stoke Memorial Gates.William Stud Bovey. Image supplied by authorClick image to...
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Ernest Guy Giblin
Ernest Guy Giblin, 1892-1916, is one of the eight Stoke men known to have died in World War One. He is commemorated on the Stoke Memorial Gates.Ernest Guy Giblin. Courtesy of J and D Giblin.Click image...
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The deer park in Todds Valley 1910-1916
When settlers arrived in Nelson in 1841 there were few animals or game birds readily available as a source of food. Some animals and plants were introduced in a random way in the early days. This...
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Dick Roberts
Photographer, teacher and experimental farmer, Dick Roberts, is regarded as a leader of the organic and alternative lifestyle movement in New Zealand. He came from England to New Zealand in 1964,...
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Robert Tod of Todds Valley
Merchant, shipbroker and commission agent, Robert Tod, left his home in Glasgow in the 1820s and lived in Egypt prior to coming to New Zealand. He arrived in the 1840s, when land was being opened up...
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Branford Park
Branford Park lies alongside the northern banks of the cherished Maitai River close to the city of Nelson. The park has a history of conflicting rights and needs which created a decade of legal...
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Fruit for the picking
There is a little known secret in the Top of the South - Free Food for the picking. Yes, fruit trees are now being grown in public places, parks and schools, for us to enjoy. Over the past 20 years the...
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School Bugs
Regular users of the Nelson Railway line (closed since the 1950's) included Nelson secondary school students from Stoke, Richmond and the countryside. They were called “school bugs”, named for their...
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Anzac Old boys - World War II
Grenville McFarland with the College Rugby teamClick image to enlargeThree of the young men from Nelson College who lost their lives in World War II, as recorded in the Nelsonian, the Nelson College...
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Taonga Pūoro or Singing Treasures
The first Polynesian settlers in Aotearoa were greeted by a noisy soundscape and a plethora of new materials for making musical instruments. Centuries later, the botanist Joseph Banks described the...
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Nelson School of Music
A Unique VisionWhen Nelson's European settlers wanted music, they had to make it themselves. By 1852, the small Nelson community, then numbering more than 2000, had formed a short lived Philharmonic...
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