Harry Roodhouse HADFIELD

   Another name for Harry was Henry.

  General Notes:

In 1863 Frederick Brown Hadfield obtained in partnership with a Mr H.D.Jackson and a Mr W Lightband a grazing licence for 20,000 acres in Golden Bay. Frederick Brown HADFIELD purchased 1,000 acres at Awaroa. Harry with his father and brother William along with a Mr Lightband landed at Tonga and set up a camp. They walked two miles over the hill to Awaroa and took the first flat land. Their father and Lightband then returned to Nelson .They had a hard time clearing and breaking in the land and making a living which strained their later marriages .Wool was 4 pence per pound and they sold butter and hop sticks. They built a fine and stately house on a low promontory at Awaroa Inlet and Harry's brother Frederick George joined them They also went into timber milling and boat building. What is thought to be the last large trading vessel built at Awaroa was the scow "Venture",a 46ft ketch rigged vessel of 19 tons launched in 1905. It was owned by Frederick George Hadfield and a Mr W. Winter. Frederick also owned another Auckland built vessel the Orakei which was built in 1882 and was also used for trading between Golden Bay and Nelson. Both these vessels were wrecked on a reef outside Awaroa Inlet, the Orakei in 1909 and the Venture sometime prior. The Venture was towed into Awaroa Inlet but never re floated while the Orakei was salvaged and later reregistered in Nelson. Harry moved to Blenheim where he became a Market Gardener.
Awaroa Schoolhouse postscript
An experience in 1962 left park rangers, Neil and Jim a little spooked. They were cutting a track through tall Kanuka when they were shocked to come across, deep in the thicket a hut with a chimney. They identified it as the old Awaroa schoolhouse last used in 1931.
"To open up the door, it was literally just as if the children had left it the day before, There was a 1914-18 war map on the wall, and pictures of Edward VI and the old Queen. All the desks were still there. The inkwells and the pens and the books were still in the desks.
"On the wall next to pictures, and maps was Charles Dickens' motto 'If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well'. It was quite an eerie experience in its way, this little schoolhouse in the middle of the tea tree."
A. H. Reed in his book Nelson Pilgrimage said, the scene was reminiscent of one of those mysteries of the sea, where a derelict vessel is found with all the evidences of an unaccountably hasty abandonment."
Sadly the schoolhouse burned down seven years later.

Evening Post, 21 December 1889, Page 2

The following telegram has been received by the Marine Department from the Collector of Customs at Nelson: Have received by letter from H. R. Hadfield, who states it was found in brandy bottle on beach at entrance Awaroa, a stained paper, with the following writing on it in pencil:? 'Off Sydney, 10th Nov., 1889.? Fishing boat Kate sinking : God help us,' on one side; and on the reverse, 'Captain Harris, four men, and cook.'
T

Harry married Mary Anna REYNOLDS, daughter of John REYNOLDS and Mary, on 28 Aug 1878 in Nelson,Nelson,New Zealand. (Mary Anna REYNOLDS was born on 30 Aug 1846 in Redruth,Cornwall,England, died on 8 Aug 1894 in Awaroa,Golden Bay,Nelson,New Zealand and was buried on 10 Aug 1894 in Awaroa,Golden Bay,Nelson,New Zealand.)

  Marriage Notes:

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