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HistoryThe history of Settlers' Bush is as colourful as the birds nesting there and as old as many of the venerable native trees. Early artifacts, including pottery, tools and military boots, have surfaced to tell a story of life and battles in the area. Originally Te Ati Awa land, a tract of this prime Taranaki coastland was settled on famous whaler Dicky Barrett when in 1828 he married Rawinia, daughter of Eruera Te Puke ki Mahurangi, a leading Ngati Te Whiti chief and granddaughter of Tautara, the ariki or principal chief of Te Ati Awa. In 1844, too, Dicky Barrett was awarded 73 hectares at Ngamotu under land ownership settlements at the time. Settlers Bush is part of the Barrett holding, steeped in the history of Te Ati Awa, Barrett and his daughters' families, the Honeyfields, and their relations by marriage, the Newmans. At the age of twenty one, Dicky Barrett had left England for Australia, and then continued to New Zealand on the trading schooner Adventure, captained by John Agar (Jacky) Love. Along with Jacky Love, Barrett established a trading post at Ngamotu, trading flax for muskets. Flax was a sought after commodity in Europe, for making naval rope and sails. This was the beginning of an enterprising career of whaling, trading and negotiating and Dicky Barrett played an active role in the early settlement and distribution of land in Taranaki, Wellington and Marlborough, acting as interpreter for the New Zealand Company in negotiations. A vital player in Taranaki and Te Ati Awa history, Dicky Barrett is also associated with the early colonisation of Wellington, acknowledged in many local landmarks, not least Barrett's Reef in Wellington. Marrying into Te Ati Awa, he was given the name of Tiki Parete. In the 1830's, Barrett and his associates helped Te Ati Awa defend their lands against a prolonged Waikato invasion, deploying muskets and cannons to fend off the invaders. Rawinia and Dicky Barrett had three daughters, Caroline (Kararaina) born in 1830, Mary Anna born in 1832 and Sarah (Hera) born in 1835. Little Mary Anna died aged only eight and half. Dicky and Rawinia (shown as Lavinia on the headstone) are buried with their daughter Mary Anna in the Waitapu urupa at Moturoa, New Plymouth. Dicky died in 1847 and Rawinia in 1848. Caroline and Sarah Barrett married the Honeyfield brothers, both originally from Gillingham in Dorset, UK. Caroline married James Charles Honeyfield in 1865 and Sarah married William Henry Honeyfield in 1853. James and William's sister, Harriet Matilda Honeyfield, married another early settler of significance, John Litchfield Newman who had settled in Taranaki in 1849, trading then farming at Omata. Matilda and John Litchfield had to flee Omata with their children during the fierce land wars in 1860, returning to New Plymouth a few years later. These are the families whose lives and activities are entwined with the history of this Barrett land. The 1800's continued to be eventful as settlement in the area developed and land war activity continued. James Honeyfield received the New Zealand Medal, cited as having been under file or attached to Her Majesty's Imperial Forces during the war of 1860 and 1870, as a private in the Taranaki Military Settlers. In the early 1900's, a Honeyfield descendant gifted part of the land as a reserve to the people of New Plymouth. This is the area now know as Barrett's Domain, encompassing Barrett Lagoon. Part of the land, as well, became Barrett Road. The remaining holding passed through generations of Honeyfields until the late 1950s when the land was sold to Robert Trimble and his sisters Ruth and Annie, then later to the Megaw family. This land harbours some of the most vital early colonisation and Maori history in Taranaki. Because it has remained in family ownership over nearly 200 years, much of the pristine native flora has been sheltered from the ravages of urbanisation. And so it remains, with its history respected and its superb bush replenished and protected.
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