Down your street
Behind every street name is a story. Every month we look at some well-known Taranaki streets and the origin of their names. If you want to know more about a particular street, please email us.
Aubrey Street, New Plymouth
Mr RH Aubrey was attached to Frederic Carrington's surveying party, which arrived at New Plymouth from Wellington in the barque Brougham on 12 February 1841, for the purpose of marketing and the town of New Plymouth prior to the arrival of the early settlers. He was the son of the Hon. Colonel Aubrey of the Horse Guards.
Barrett Street, New Plymouth
Richard (Dicky) Barrett was one of the best known of the very early white inhabitants of the Taranaki coast. He had a whaling station at Moturoa. Barrett was established at Moturoa before the arrival of the immigrant ships. In 1832 he led the successful defence of the Otaka Pa at Moturoa, when the Waikato tribes descended upon Taranaki.
Read more...
Brown Street, Inglewood
Charles Brown was a pioneer who arrived on the Amelia Thompson. He beacame teh Superintendent of the province of Taranaki.
Domett Street, Waitara
Named after the Hon. Alfred Domett, statesman and poet. Colonial Sec. at the outbreak of the Maori war. He became fifth Premier of New Zealand.
Did you know?
Edgar Roy Brewster was a passionate man.
He believed that humans should look to nature for guidance. More specifically he pointed out that nature has:
No corners
No errors
No ends
No fractures
No self-starters
No self-control
Nothing independent
He also believed in bees; everything the bee did was perfect, from the way it flew and gathered food, to the way it conducted its social habits. But it was the way a bee constructed its house that impressed and consumed him most.
He lived what he believed and built himself a hexagonal house - even the Mona Lisa hung in an hexagonal frame. Photos, saved for posterity, had all their corners cut off. In the master bedroom the bed bore an hexagonal quilt and the cover a scalloped hem. Mirrors on the wall were round. Everything about the house was hexagonal, diamond or triangle shaped, nothing at all was square. The roof was an hexagonal pyramid and outside the front door lay hexagon paving with the odd one omitted and small gardens planted in the space.
Read more: Heaven could be shaped no other way – the story of Roy Brewster and the Beehive house.
Taranaki Teaser
As a child this famous Taranaki son was evacuated during the Land Wars. While on the ship he fell ill with seasickness and diarrhoea. The doctor decided not to 'bleed' him, which he would have done for most ailments, and instead fed him arsenic and mercury. After eight doses of poison, his father told him to leave the boy alone to die in peace.
He survived but was a sickly child and adult.
He is most famous for founding a well known New Zealand child welfare organisation.
Can you name him?
The answer will be revealed in the March edition of Taranaki Trivia!
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