Lyn Johnston

Rev William Gittos was a renowned Kaipara missionary. First stationed at Waingohi, he and his family moved to Otamatea not long after the Albertlanders arrived...

Most Albertland settlers had a few milking cows to provide their families with milk and cream. Surplus milk was “set” in large tin milk pans...

The wind had veered round from East to South as the Brookes brothers left Auckland in the afternoon, the breeze fairly light. Rounding North Head,...

Next time someone you know says they have to go to Auckland on business, compare their journey of an hour, in air-conditioned comfort, to one...

Some 20 years after the Albertlanders arrived and families grew, many daughters left home to go into “service”, usually in Auckland. These girls, often friends...

In the age in which we live we are presented with myriad means of connecting with friends and family. How different it was for our...

Among our museum’s treasures are the Brookes family archives. These letters, manuscripts and news clippings all portray New Zealand life in the late 1800s. Edwin...

The first steamer arrived in Port Albert on December 14, 1866, although the channel had been buoyed some time earlier. A newspaper cutting in an...

In Wharehine, as in most of Albertland, schooling was initially held in one or other of the settler’s homes. The first school with Mr Steventon...

Mildred Bennett was one of the many children of prominent Port Albert pioneer John Shepherd, who was manager of the Port Albert Co-Operative Store in...