Fortunes won and lost

Ranulph Dacre (1797-1884) was a master mariner and merchant trader who entered the Navy aged 13 years and saw service in the blockade of American ports. Six years later he resigned his commission to become captain of a schooner trading in the West Indies, the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand. His first visit to New Zealand was in 1824. He negotiated with Maori for land and timber rights in the Hokianga, at Mercury Bay and Mahurangi.

His ventures in New Zealand suffered many set backs, including the loss of land and timber rights on the Mahurangi River. These, he claimed, were stolen from him by the captain of the naval vessel Buffalo in 1834. In Sydney, he became a leading citizen with his own wharf, ships and business interests, but when he fell on hard times he returned to New Zealand to pursue claims for compensation.

William Webster, an American associate of Captain Dacre, had bought 4000 acres at Omaha from Maori in the 1830s and this became known as Dacre’s Claim. Possession of the land was continually challenged by Maori and in the 1860s the grievances went back to court. Commissioner Rogan visited and found extensive cultivation by Maori.

He wrote in his report … “I submit it would be very desirable to make some arrangement with Mr Dacre in order to secure the natives in possession of their homes”. The land which had shown such promise had yielded little and holdings elsewhere were sufficient to support his large family, so Captain Dacre relinquished his interest in 1867. It may have been part of the arrangement that land be set aside as cemetery, school and recreation reserves. The Domain (now called Whangateau) was not surveyed as a reserve until 1892, but local legend maintains that the land was gifted to the people by Captain Dacre. The Dacre’s Claim school was opened in 1891 in a Maori cottage on the reserve and in 1895 a school was built and operated part-time with Ti Point. The school closed in 1926 but the name Dacre’s Claim lived on for decades after the lifetime of Captain Ranulph Dacre.