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.

Simons Street, New Plymouth

As with Findlay Street, this name was adopted from information that appeared on a Lands & Survey Litho of the area about 1937.  T.V. Simons had a timber mill on Carrington Road with a partner named Scott.

Grey Street, Waitara

Named after Sir George Grey, who was twice Governor of New Zealand.  He ended the first Taranaki Land War in 1861 by handing back disputed land to Maori. This was the Waitara land that had led to the declaration of war.

Gossling Street, Okato

Lieutenent Gossling was in the Taranaki military. He and military men (Captains Cumming and Carthew and Sergeant Curtis) were assigned land in the military settlement of Okato.

Clawton Street, New Plymouth

Many of the pioneer families of this district came from the parish of Clawton, near Holsworthy, Devon.  The name of the street is derived from that parish.

Did you know...?

...Taranaki once had a higwayman?.

In broad daylight on Easter Monday 1892, a gun-toting masked man rode into New Zealand folklore.

At 5.10pm on 11 April, New Plymouth settler Henry Jordan was riding his horse towards his Carrington Road home when he was accosted by a mysterious figure, soon to be known as Taranaki's notorious highwayman.
Read more...

Taranaki Teaser

While most of us can only dream of representing our country, this Taranaki-born woman has managed it in three sports.

She has competed for New Zealand in surf lifesaving, basketball and netball. Now she's making her mark as a netball coach.

Can you name her?

The answer will be revealed in the July edition of Taranaki Trivia!

Last month's answer: Chew Chong.

Read more...