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When Warkworth resident Richard Croker organised a 150th reunion for descendants of the pioneering Croker family, held in Matakana in 2010, he didn’t imagine it would result in a book 15 years later.
But the research and work undertaken on the reunion inspired him to commit his family’s history to print and the result, Sweet Hope, was published this month.
It tells the story of Patrick and Janet Croker, who arrived in New Zealand from Scotland in 1859, eventually settling on land on Matakana Valley Road, where they built a homestead they called Sweet Hope.
The book is written in two sections – the first covering the family’s Scottish ancestry and reasons for departure, and the second section looks at life in Matakana up to 1910.
“My great grandparents sailed to NZ on the Tornado,” Richard says. “Alexander Campbell, another Matakana pioneer, came on the same ship and lived with the Crokers. He wrote many letters back home, often referencing the Crokers, so these proved an invaluable reference source for the book.”
The settlers’ arrival in Matakana via the river, as there were no roads at that stage, paints a picture of a fern-clad area around the landing, which then led into the forest – a picture so incongruous with the Matakana of today. It was a time of nikau whare, bullocks and sledges, and dreams of “flourishing” times to come.
Sweet Hope is available to purchase from the Warkworth Museum.
