The following excerpt from the journal of Augusta Breese (nee Wyatt) recalls experiences common to a number of families who settled in the Kaipara Flats area in the 1860s. They came to virgin land without roads or bridges.
“We came to Mahurangi from Auckland on the cutter Pegasus, a journey taking two days. Landing at Southgate’s hotel we found a long wharf supported by sticks over the mud to deep water. The hotel was a row of huts standing where Wilson’s lime works were later.
“Previously my father had travelled to our land at Kaipara Flats, and, with the help of a bushman, built a large whare 9.1 by 4.3 metres. They had cleared the heavy timber of a space just big enough for the whare.
In the morning we set off from Warkworth, Mr Pulham and his man leading the way with eight working bullocks pulling a two-wheeled dray loaded with provisions, bedding and pots and pans. The family followed walking, carrying the two youngest sisters.
“Mabel, aged sixteen, carried a box with a pigeon, Laura,11, a basket holding a kitten, Ernest,14, had a puppy named Carlo (afterwards the best pig dog around). I was eight years old and led a red dog on a rope. “The ten mile walk was taken over high ground avoiding swamps and streams. It was late afternoon when we arrived at the hut. The mattresses were placed on the bare earth. I shall never forget the first night on the hard clods.
History - Warkworth & District Museum
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