History – Mr Cray and the silk top hat

Over the years, many items have been given to the Albertland Museum which remind us of those early settlers who came to Albertland 159 years ago under the leadership of William Henry Brame. One, a man’s top hat made of black silk, came to the fore after it was found sitting in its original box, accompanied by a handwritten note which read, “This hat is over 100 years old and has been in the Cray family for years and used for dress-ups and concerts.” After some research, we found the hat was donated by the Ward family after a brief time as a ‘prop’ at the Wellsford Drama Club. Our volunteers began to think the hat had been on quite a journey over time.

On May 29, 1862, two of Shaw Savill’s finest sailing ships set sail together for Albertland – the Matilda Wattenbach, with 352 passengers and the Hanover, with 336 aboard. They were farewelled from the East India Docks in London by a crowd of 15,000 people all shouting and cheering, accompanied by bands playing and cannons firing. On board the Hanover was Charles Doudney Cray, from Southampton in Hampshire, accompanied by his wife Margaret (nee Wheeler) and their seven children. Like all the other men then, Charles would have been wearing his black silk top hat while the ladies wore their crinolines. Among the assorted baggage, boxes, trunks and household goods on board, his hat would have been carefully preserved until they reached their destination. After their arrival, the men soon realised that these hats were out of place in Auckland which was, at that time, just a small village with arum lilies growing in the gully where the town hall stands today, and fern and manuka scrub covering landmarks that are now busy inner-city roads.

With no transport organised from Auckland to Albertland, the settlers made their own way north. This journey would prove long and arduous. Some took a barge from Auckland to Riverhead to await transport by bullock team, which took them overland to Helensville, a difficult journey on muddy, rain-sodden tracks in early spring. From Helensville, the settlers boarded boats to take them to Albertland, where they made camp on the banks of the Oruawharo River. On the first Sunday after they arrived, the Rev. William Gittos came across from Oruawharo with a group of Maori and they all took part in a church service on the beach.

For the first few years, Charles owned a store in the new settlement but soon moved to land in Wharehine where he ran another store. His children married into other local families including the Grice, Day, Worker, and Levet families, to name a few.