Kete New Plymouth

Regular readers of this column may recall that Norman Street in Vogeltown was named after the son of John and Henrietta Buckman. As it happens, Olivia Street was indirectly named after another of their children, but curiously not their well-known daughter, the opera singer Rosina Buckman.

The short-lived Taranaki Central Press reported on 23 December 1936, in an article about the history of Stratford street names, that in 1910 “the father of Rosina Buckman, the famous singer, opened up for building an area of land in Hamlet

A recent publication explaining the origins of Hāwera street names suggests that Morrissey Street was named after local blacksmith and borough councillor Edward Morrissey.

However, Edward’s obituary, published in the Hawera Star on 28 April 1933, makes it clear that the street was in fact named after his father, William Morrissey, who had owned the block of land that was later subdivided. Morrissey Street was part of this residential development.

William Morrissey (1834-1904) hailed from Waterford, a county in Ireland. Trained as a blacksmith he spent a

Edna Wills Place in Hāwera is named after a well-known Hāwera woman who spent her life in voluntary work for many local organisations, including the Egmont A&P Association, the Women’s Division of the Federated Farmers, the Presbyterian Church and her favourite sport, croquet.

Edna was born in Hāwera in 1912, the only child of Ann and Ernest Washer who farmed at Okaiawa. Her mother died when Edna was 17 years old. Edna married Harold Wills, a farmer, when she was aged about 48.

She was very

Source: Facebook (July 2021)

Okato's Stony River Hotel was built in 1875, just ten years after the establishment of the town, with 16 rooms and 30-40 acres of land opposite the saleyards. It is located a few hundred metres from the Hangatahua River, which was nicknamed the Stony River by early mailman Thomas Heale. The business has also been known as Stony River House, the Okato Hotel and the Okato Tavern under various owners and proprietors over the years:

1876-1907: owned by

Byron Place was created as part of a multistage subdivision by Beazley Homes Limited in the late 1970s. Operating under the slogan “more home for your money”, Beazley Homes was established in Mount Maunganui in the 1950s by father and son Fred and Barry Beazley. Twenty years later they had 80 franchise builders around the country, constructing more than 1500 prefabricated homes annually. The company became Fletcher Homes in 1992.

Byron Place and several of its surrounding streets in Whalers Gate were copied from names in the Devon city