By Judy Waters
Recently I introduced my granddaughter to her great, great, great grandparents. It was, of course, a virtual meeting, as the good folk had been resting in the Leigh cemetery for many a long year. John and Maryann Wyatt from Portsmouth, England, left Gravesend on 6 May, 1863. They travelled on the Queen of Beauty, a ship of 1234 tonnes, with Captain Chapman in charge. The voyage of 116 days ended when they came to anchor in the Auckland harbour about midday on 30 August 1863. Also on board the Queen of Beauty as a cabin passenger was a remarkable young man named Charles Septimus Clarke who, a few years later, became son-in-law to the Wyatt’s when he married their daughter Maryann.
John Wyatt and C.S Clarke called on the Waste Land Commissioner and found that purchases in Omaha (Leigh) and selections of rural land under the 40-acre scheme were in order. C.S Clarke described the district as hilly and broken, intersected by many gullies. The mixed bush included rimu, puriri, tawa, tarairi, rata, riwariwa, manuka and some kauri. His impression of Leigh harbour was of a safe deep-water anchorage, sheltered from northerly gales, but exposed to south-west winds. It is said that the women in the Wyatt family sat down and wept when they first saw the site of their new home.
Comparatively speaking, the family came well prepared for pioneer life. The men had seen pit sawing done in England and had brought equipment with them to cut suitable trees and begin building houses. The whole process of pit sawing is described in a paper written by Mrs Joyce Wyatt in 1950. Given four days to dig the pit and the breaking down, flitching and ripping that followed it would take more than 20 days to process one tree. This long and tedious operation was reduced to one to two days when power-driven sawmills came into use. The three sons, John, Joseph and Thomas, who had come with their parents in 1863, continued to work tree felling and pit sawing. The logs were hauled out by bullock teams and taken by scow from Mathesons Bay and Whangateau. Kauri was also shipped by scow from Pakiri.
As time went on, the next generation were drawn into the timber trade. In 1923 it was reported that J.C. Wyatt and sons had erected a steam sawmill at the head of the Leigh Harbour. Logs could be floated up to the mill at high tide. The district had by then become a prosperous fruit growing area and the sawmill produced boxes to supply the orchardists. With improved road transport available, the sawmill operation was moved inland in the 1930s. Steam power was used until 1944. Pine replaced the native timbers formerly milled and more modern machinery was installed until competition from larger mills forced closure. The mill site is now occupied by the Sawmill Café, which incorporates some of the original building, where the vertical breakdown saw can still be seen.
References: Charles Septimus Clarke diaries, Papers Past, paper written by Mrs Joyce Wyatt
History - Warkworth & District Museum
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