The willow fringed banks of a New Zealand river
William North and his family narrowly escaped a terrible death in November 1874 when their plans to immigrate to New Zealand from England didn’t materialise. They had originally booked their passage on the Cospatrick which caught fire off the Cape of Good Hope, leaving only three survivors out of 472 people. Although it happened far from New Zealand the tragedy was described as our worst civil disaster.
William, his wife Maria and their seven children had sailed a month earlier on the Dilharee. After arriving in January 1875 they lived at Mechanic’s Bay, Auckland where William, a brick maker, began work. In 1879 they settled at Te Rahu and moved six years later to Te Awamutu. William’s home and brickyards was near the railway station.
Over the years he and Maria had six more children. As his business grew, he provided employment. In the early 1880s he made bricks for Auckland’s Chelsea sugar works and a few years later for the large railway tunnel at Poro-O-tarao in the King Country. With this contract he succeeded where others failed, although it caused him much anxiety and expense.
He purchased some land which was largely swampy and covered with ti-tree, and contained a lake 60 acres in extent. It became one of the best holdings in the district due to the work put in by the North family.
In 1902 Maria died and in 1905 William married Mary Bridgman. William was civically minded, participating in several local committees and boards, always working consistently for the advancement of Te Awamutu. The Mangahoe Drainage Board was formed through his perseverance and it was in connection with drainage matters that William turned his attention to willow trees.
The tree, beloved of poets, was now recognised as a destroyer of roads and an obstructer of rivers. Extensive planting of willows on the river banks had increased the danger of floods due to their dense masses of foliage blocking water courses. The willows also interfered with navigation. Many of the finest rivers in the country were now partly blocked by overhanging trees, and by the growth of the willow in shallows.
Rivers which in the past could carry a large sized craft or steam launch with perfect safety could not be navigated even by canoe. Hundreds of islands had been formed by the branches of millions of willow trees taking root in the shallows and silt lodging round them. William discovered a poison for the extermination of willows and patented his invention in 1907.
At the beginning of 1910 William began ailing and by September his illness became more serious confining him to his bed. By October complications set in and he died. Hopes had been held for his recovery until the week before his death. The ranks of Te Awamutu’s pioneer settlers and most esteemed residents were gradually thinning,2 noted a local newspaper.
William and Maria are buried side by side at St John’s cemetery, Te Awamutu.
St John’s Anglican Church cemetery, Te Awamutu
