JULY 28 - 2011
Men who made the Northern Wairoa
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by Brian Eastwood If you head down the road to Te Kopuru from Dargaville, you can still see one of the buildings that are a reminder of our Northern Wairoa story. Back off the flats at Aoroa stands the original homestead of well known early settlers, the Harding family. Even now in good order, it was built for them in 1893 by a former Wellington man, Charles Henry Mansill. Mansill was thirty-two, a qualified carpenter and an accomplished cricketer when he came to Northern Wairoa in 1891. Born in Wellington in 1859 he served his time as a builder before spending time in Australia and later going into business on his own account. He had gone into partnership with his friend and cricketing team mate J. W. Brown when they decided to buy a block of 3,147 acres in Northern Wairoa from Dargaville businessman Edwin Mitchelson. They intended to go sheep farming. It was an unusual move for a builder and his partner Brown, who was a solicitor and Chief Clerk in the Wellington Stamp Department. Keen sportsmen, they both played cricket for Wellington at the Basin Reserve in a game against Australia in 1881, Nelson in 1883 and Australia again in 1886/87. The two friends were also keen members of Wellington’s Athletic Football Club. After letting his three rental properties in Wellington, Mansill was the first to come north to start off their farming venture, with Brown arriving three weeks later. Ill health bothered Mansill for a while in 1909 but on the advice of his doctor, a stint in Rotorua cured him. The electoral roll of 1911 puts him in Aranga but still lists him as a builder. He had carried on building and is noted as builder of the Downey homestead.
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LIFESTYLER
Kaipara
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www.kaiparalifestyler.co.nz Charles Henry Mansill
Mansill became a true local when he married Elizabeth Mary, the daughter of Aratapu mill manager Mr. H. E. Stehr. They brought up two sons. An unsuccessful tender in 1902 saw him missing out on the Te Kopuru Hospital job to Tom Heron, coming in second with a bid of £1,737. But Mangawhare Hall and Aoroa School were among the many other buildings that are credited to him. He entered wholeheartedly into community activities, not surprisingly taking on the job of secretary of Mangawhare Cricket Club. He became a member of the Order of Oddfellows Lodge and was a foundation member of Dargaville Club in 1903. Charles Henry Mansill lived in Mangawhare for most of his days in Northern Wairoa but the ex-Wellington man died in Auckland’s Cornwall Hospital in 1945. He was 86 years old.
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