|
Thomas Godsall BROUGHAM [Parents] was born on 09 Dec 1849 in Motueka, Nelson, New Zealand. He died on 21 Aug 1939 in Motueka, Nelson, New Zealand. He was buried in Motueka, Nelson, New Zealand. Thomas married Caroline Jane HEATH in 1876 in Motueka, Nelson, New Zealand.
First settlers: Thorpe- Fearons -Capt. Thoms-Capt Moore-John Brougham-Steven Eginton-Bradleys-Gilbetts(sic) Richard Maund -Williams(afterwards Pilot at Collingwood for many years and Thomas' uncle by marriage.)
Heaphy - Spooner-Sharpe and Lloyd Surveyors who all lived in Motueka for a short time.
David Drummond-Davidson -Staples- Park- Allen-Noden- Atkins-John William Chamberlain- Dashwood of Lower Moutere Dr. and Mrs Greenwood-Alex Wilkie- Lock- Haynes- Guys- Murray- Ross- Rogers- (the last five all of Lower Moutere.
The last 3 had Morrisons' place before Dashwood (this place was lived in by Mr Alfred Edwards family for years.)
Dashwood who had Morrisons' place brought out the first pheasants-three in number. They escaped and bred and as a result hundreds of pheasants were shot as game.
The Allen family lived between Greenwoods and where Thorpes place now is.
Peter Starnes was one of Lower Moutere 's first settlers.
A man named Beresford was an early settler in Motueka- Sarah Beresford married Charles Green.
Another early settler, Capt. Wright lived where the aerodrome now is. A man named Whitehead had the place first and Capt. Wright married his widow.
Park lived at the 'Hen and Chickens' in Greenwood Street. He grew the first apples in the district and for many years they were called 'Parks sort'' although the real name was called David's apple. When the tree first bore fruit there was sufficient to make an apple pie for the family but instead of this being done Mr. Park distributed the apples among his neighbours saying to each one "Here's an apple to make a dumpling for you".It was an illustration of the friendly and neighbourly spirit prevailing in the early days.
Mr Tom Brougham later grew the David's apple in the Moutere and a tree would grow 30 to 40 bushels.
Dr. and Mrs Greenwood and family lived in a log house in Tudor Street for awhile and later acquired the 'Grange'- now owned by Mr. Edgar T. Pratt.
Dr Greenwood was a Police Magistrate and a member of the Nelson Provincial Council and his duties took him away from home very often. Mrs Greenwood was a wonderful little woman - one of natures ladies.
At that time there were no schools and she educated her ten children-boys and girls. She had absolute command over them. Sometimes they were boisterous , but she only had to hold up her hand and say "Now children". and was given instant obedience.
Mrs Greenwood played the piano and her son Alfred played the fiddle, would sometimes go to the Moutere and play for the folk there to dance on the green in front of where Mr. Dick Brougham now lives.
Alfred Greenwood returned to England and became a musician of some note.
Mrs Greenwood would always endeavour to point out the sunny side of circumstances to her children. Her daughter Margaret complained that she had to lace her boots with flax "why Margaret"her mother would reply " you can have a fresh piece of flax to lace your boots with every day but if you were in London, you could not afford to buy new ones so often".
John Brougham, his wife and one boy came out from England on the 'Martha Ridgeway' and arrived in Nelson about February or March 1842.(sic) (7th April 1842)
Miss Franklin , afterwards his second wife arrived a week or two beforehand in the 'Lloyds'. She was at one time a companion help to Mrs Greenwood.
John Brougham poisoned the first rabbits in the district. At the time he was in Nelson and was offered the job as gaoler by the Police Magistrate, Mr Thompson.
In those days a Government job was something to be jumped at so John Brougham said he would take the job if he was competent."I have some rabbits there starving "said the Magistrate "pointing to them "give them a feed will you".
It was spring time and the place was in the vicinity of the Salt Water Bridge and growing there was an abundance of Tutu showing young green shoots and Brougham seeing it thought it was just the thing to give the rabbits so gathered some in a bag to feed them. It was their one and only feed -they were blown up like balloons and died of Tutu poisoning. In consequence John Brougham was not considered competent to take up the position as gaoler.
Capt. Thoms an early settler became mental and John Brougham acted as valet to him. They would sometimes go shooting together. Brougham would have charge of the guns and would put powder but no shot in the Captains' weapon. He would wait until two birds were close together, point them out and say "you shoot that one Captain and I'll shoot the other". always however aiming at the Captain's bird and bringing it down,then the latter would say "what Brougham- missed again!".
John Brougham and David Drummed worked together in saw pits. On one occasion Drummond was using a bill hook to cut a supplejack high above himself when the billhook slipped and split his nose right down the middle. The wound was bound using his lunch cloth- no other dressing being available and that afternoon he and Brougham went pigeon shooting.
Later on they worked in Capt Moores' sawmill in Staples property which stood somewhere near the present sheds. The water to the mill was brought from the river- then running at the foot of Parker Street through a ditch cut through Auty's property and leading to the mill. The water emptied into the Blind River for many years-now called the Swamp.
Thomas Brougham was born in Rumbolds old house on the 9th December 1849. This house was on the corner of High and Staples Streets. His mother was of a most hospitable nature and her home became a half way house for people going to and from Riwaka.
When Thomas was six or seven years of age the Brougham family moved to Lower Moutere to the place now occupied by Mr and Mrs Benseman.
His father John once owned a boat but he unfortunately lost it. Thomas then 13 years old had to leave school and go to work. At one time he and one of his brothers (Edward) worked at Ngatimoti and they walked there from the Moutere. When he was a young man a dancing class was commenced at the Moutere and he acted as secretary / treasurer and musician combined. The music was supplied by a fiddle and the musician could dance with a partner and fiddle at the same time.
Thomas Brougham would at times drive over to Takaka and Collingwood from Motueka in a light trap drawn by a tandem team of ponies conveying passengers and sometimes a theatrical party. The journey would take a full day there and a full day back. On the way to Collingwood the Parapara River which was unbridged had to be crossed and dangerous it was, and it necessary always to wait for the tide. A number of lives were lost in that river in the early days.
Mr Brougham was a breaker in of horses and he attributed his success to firmness kindness and common sense.
Pit sawing was the chief means of existence in those days. Timber was sawn for 3/6d per 199 ft and was freighted to Nelson in open sailboats of 3-4 tons loaded from the beach to which the timber had been conveyed from the sawpits by bullock drays. The time taken to sail to Nelson dependant on the wind, anything from 2- 25 hours.
Most of the settlers in Motueka economized by building their own houses with slabs of wood which they battened inside.
The first port was at Manuka Bush in the Kumaras. The maoris would be employed in assisting to unload the boats when they arrived and would be paid in goods for their services. On one occasion the payment was made in rice which they cooked in a go-ashore pot. It was not properly cooked and they ate large quantities which swelled very much after being eaten, causing the Maoris great discomfort and giving them the appearance of poisoned pups. In those days the Maoris were still at or not far removed from the cannibalistic stage in which they had been accustomed to kill and eat their enemies and drink their blood. To kill a pig in the ordinary way they considered a great waste of blood and to overcome this they would carry a squealing pig to Staples swamp and drown it first.
The Moutere valley was covered in bush from Tennants to Braeburn. There were sawpits in the district also. Jim Lock and Lou Francois had one just above Braeburn.
The Company ditch was formed partly to give employment to men and partly to open up the country by forming a road with the spoil from the ditch.
After the New Zealand Company broke up hard times came. On one occasion potatoes which had been planted were dug up for food as the boat the settlers depended for their supplies did not arrive when expected.
It was said that some people became so weak due to the scarcity of food that two men were required to pull up a dock root. For brewing tea the early settlers used a shrub called Kawakawa. It was rather rare and had a pungent taste.
People walked many miles as they had no means of transport. Mrs Don Drummond who lived on the back road at Braeburn in the home now occupied by her granddaughter Mrs Alec Franklin would walk from there to Wilkie's store in Motueka to do her shopping and walk back home.
The first carriage was owned by Capt. Fearon and consisted of a sledge with a packing case attached on which sat the passenger ,generally Mrs Fearon and drawn by two bullocks driven by Capt. Fearon walking alongside. One Sunday they called on Mrs Thoms and took her for a drive.
The first road to Motueka was formed by digging two ditches a certain distance apart and throwing the spoil into the centre to form the road which was left in that condition until gravel could be afforded. The first gravel was obtained from a pit at the back of the present powerhouse. Another pit was on the property at the Moutere now occupied by Major D W Talbot. Another pit was near Mrs Maurice Staples' house. It was a bank of gravel in the roadway around which the road went until gravel was taken away to bring the bank to road level.
Later farming became the chief means of making a living ,the ground would grow 10-12 tons of potatoes to the acre. Boats conveyed the potatoes to the West Coast and to Australia.
In the early days all mowing was done by hand with a scythe. To mow a quarter of an acre was an ordinary days work for a man which could take from sunrise to sunset. It was said that one man named William Limmer drank 5 gallons of beer and reaped two acres afterwards.
All the wheat from the Motueka side was taken across the river at Douglas' ford to Mickles mill in Riwaka to be ground into flour. A man named Freeman used to grind wheat for his own use in a coffee mill singing"'Rule Britannia'" while he worked.
The Reverend Butt was the first Anglican minister in Motueka. The Reverend Tudor after whom Tudor Street was named had a night school for young men who had not the opportunity for getting education otherwise.
The Reverend Poole lived at the Moutere for a while at the back of Wildmans' place and taught Maoris at the Whakarewa orphanage. The place was given by the Maori Rewi for education and advancement of Maori and white children of this and adjacent islands. Some of the original flooring, Matai-red pine, of the first building was used in the new building, opened by the Bishop of Nelson, Bishop Hilliard at the end of October 1936.
In those early days a bridle track was the only road to Takaka. It started from the end of the road leading from the Riwaka bridge which now branches to the left to Takaka and to the right to Kaiteriteri. The road to Takaka was surveyed by Henry Alexander Tarrant, a good man at his job. The work to form the road was let in contracts of 500-600 pounds. The first contract was started about 1888.
Mr Thomas Godsall Brougham was born in Motueka and lived and worked around the district all his life. After leaving school at age 13 he went to Ngatimoti where he with his elder brother Edward used to cut timber. It is likely that it was there that he may have met his future wife Caroline Jane Heath who lived in that area.
They were married in Motueka in 1876 and had three daughters, Jessie, Laura. and Florence. A son Robert Graham died shortly after birth.
The Broughams were proprietors of the Post Office Hotel( previously known as the Sportsmans Arms) and then the Upper Moutere Hotel for a while prior to the turn of the century.
In later years Thomas and Caroline retired to the house now owned by Mr and Mrs Drury at the back of where Woolwooths now stands, the house having been moved back from it's original site close to the street frontage.
Thomas's second name Godsall was taken after his grandmothers nee name and can be seen in other parts of the Family tree. Thomas and Caroline are both buried in the older part of the Motueka cemetery along with their daughter Laura Olive who died aged 17 in 1897, the plot marked by a single tall monument.
|
