Umere Land of Promise | |
|---|---|
Locality | |
 | |
| Etymology: chosen randomly | |
  Umere | |
| Coordinates: 41°15′S172°10′E / 41.250°S 172.167°E | |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Region | West Coast |
| District | Buller District |
| Electorates | West Coast-Tasman Te Tai Tonga |
Umere is a town in the Karamea area of New Zealand. Umere is a farming community on the north side of the Karamea River, upriver from the main Karamea township. [1]
The settlement was originally named Land of Promise, in contrast with the slightly earlier settlement on the south bank of the Karamea River named Promised Land (later redubbed Arapito). The name was changed to Umere in 1912 when a post office and telephone bureau was established in the town. One account has it that the name was chosen at random from a dictionary of Māori words. [2]
The original "Special Settlement" of Karamea in 1875 was on the South Terrace, which although safe from floods had infertile soil and was worthless for agriculture. Local tradition holds that the King brothers were out searching for pigs that had strayed from the Terrace to the south side of the Karamea River, and discovered the fertile flats there. Edward King, who had worked on a Sutton's Seed Farm in England, cleared a patch and sowed seeds, which showed such progress that the settlers moved down from the Terrace to this "Promised Land"—aside from the Biblical reference, the settlers had been promised a further allotment of 5 acres from the Government. [3] The name also refers to the "irritating delay" between applying for sections on this land and the final allotment. By the early 1880s the settlement had expanded and settlers had spread across the river to new farming country, which they dubbed the Land of Promise to distinguish it from the Promised Land. [2]
Early attempts at agriculture in the Land of Promise included the planting of hops by Robert McNabb in the late 1880s. Others followed suit, hop kilns were built, and hop production continued until the Great War, slowly being displaced by dairying. A small cheese factory set up in 1917 persisted for a few years, but most farmers eventually supplied milk to the Dairy Company butter factory. In the 1890s a flour mill operated for a few years. [3]
As early as 1892 the Land of Promise School was hosting religious services until the Holy Trinity Vurch was opened in Karamea in 1908. Teacher Bob Tunnicliff was a stalwart of the Umere rugby team, and a Buller representative 1922–28, playing for the All Blacks in 1923. Another Umere teacher, Mildred Cawley, introduced field hockey to the district in the 1920s.
The first school building in the area was across the river in the Promised Land, but was destroyed by fire, and in 1884 a replacement was approved and built for £150. The Karamea School Committee complained that pupils were being drawn away from their school district, and the Land of Promise residents argued that the school should have been sited further upriver at a more convenient crossing. Pupils from Land of Promise crossed the river in canoes, and often missed a day of school when the river was impassable. In 1887 a school inspector was petitioned and £110 was allocated to a school building. The school was finished in 1889, and the first teacher, Susan Blane, appointed in 1890. The school roll varied between 19 and 22, later falling to 12–14. With declining rolls from dwindling population after WWI the school closed and from 1926 children attended Karamea School. [3]
A species of milk-cap mushroom, Lactarius umerensis, was collected in the area in January 1968 by Ross McNabb and named after Umere. [4]
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The Karamea River is a river of New Zealand. It is located in the Tasman and West Coast Regions of the South Island. The river rises within Kahurangi National Park in the Matiri Range of the Southern Alps. The river rises to the east of Mount Allen, meandering west briefly before turning north. After some 25 kilometres it again turns west, to enter a series of small lakes where its waters are joined by those of the Roaring Lion River.
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The Crow River is a river located in Kahurangi National Park in the West Coast Region of New Zealand. It arises in the Wharepapa / Arthur Range and flows south-west and then north-west into the Karamea River. The river may be named after the South Island kōkako, sometimes called the orange-wattled crow.
The Group Settlement Scheme was an assisted migration scheme which operated in Western Australia from the early 1920s. It was engineered by Premier James Mitchell and followed on from the Soldier Settlement Scheme immediately after World War I. Targeting civilians and others who were otherwise ineligible for the Soldiers' scheme, its principal purpose was to provide a labour force to open up the large tracts of potential agricultural land to ultimately reduce dependence on food imports from interstate. It was also seen by Australians as boosting the ideals of the White Australia policy by strengthening the Anglo-Australian cultural identity of Australia. High levels of post-war unemployment in Britain saw the UK Government seizing on the scheme as a way to reduce dole-queues. Over 6,000 people emigrated to Western Australia under the scheme which was funded jointly by the state, federal and UK governments.
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Captain Joseph Thomas (1803–?) was a British explorer and the chief surveyor for Lyttelton, Sumner and Christchurch in New Zealand. He took up surveying after service in the British army, gaining the rank of lieutenant. In the 1840s, he explored many parts of New Zealand and worked for the New Zealand Company. This gained him employment with the Canterbury Association, which sent him to New Zealand in 1848. Thomas' role was to find a suitable site for their proposed settlement, and what became the Canterbury region with Christchurch as its capital was the result of his efforts. He was dismissed in early 1851 over quarrels with John Robert Godley, the agent of the Canterbury Association, just after the first settlers had arrived in the colony. Thomas' life after 1853 is unknown. Having allowed for Hagley Park as a generous central city green space is regarded as his major achievement, and it is his lasting legacy.
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Karamea Centennial Museum is a museum in Karamea on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand.
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