The first European to settle in Waitahora, Southern Hawkes Bay. He descended from a distinguished Scottish family.

He was born on the Franco-Belgium border on 15^th July 1835 and spent some seven or eight years of his early years in Belgium. He had many relations in the British Army and was himself educated for the military profession.

After spending a term at Edinburgh University in 1851 and perhaps briefly considering a military career, he spent some four or five seasons on Scottish sheep farms.

For reasons unknown HAMILTON decided to journey to NZ. Taking passage from Liverpool in the 1070 ton Alma, he arrived in Wellington Harbour on 15^th May 1857 after a favourable passage of 92 days, carrying in his possession a letter of introduction to Dr Earl Featherston, the superintendent of Wellington Province. He decided to take up farming pursuits and on the strength, it seems, of his previous farming experience he was appointed stock manager of Featherston’s 3700 acres Akitio run, then carrying 6000 merino sheep and 100 cattle. One of his first duties, he later recollected, was to help build the homestead, woolshed and stockyards.

In 1858 HAMILTON was offered and accepted the management with stock and interest of the 11000 acres Tuki Tuki Station belonging to Ashton St Hill. Setting out from Porangahau with a thousand sheep without a guide or other help, he managed to reach Tuki Tuki without losing a single sheep.

A man of some means, he was in 1863 recorded as having stock and property to the value of 2000 pounds, no mean sum in those times, never the less, he was not afraid of hard work, recalling later that:

A rather adventurous spirit, he had soon made friends with the Maoris while at Akito and watched their life with some interest. He went with them ‘pig hunting, cattle shooting, canoeing, camping out, building shelter huts, learning their language, customs, tracking, and ways’, in doing so laying the foundations of the specially amicable relations he was to enjoy with members of the Maori race in later years. It was from the Maoris at Akito that he first heard of Mangatoro.

HAMILTON later stated that he was shown the area that ultimately became his run while on this expedition, but he probably did not actually set foot on it at this time. It was not until he was at Tuki Tuki and met Ihakara Whaitiu that he raised the possibility of leasing the area. Negotiations followed and after visiting the block, probably in 1860, he signed a lease with six Maoris to the open ground. The boundaries, stated only generally, were ‘Ongaha stream through a point on Waipawa called Orangamai or Pureore, thence to Oporae all to the east of that to the bush.

HAMILTON stated in the Native Land Court, Dannevirke, 21 September 1891 that the parties to the lease were: Paora Te Rangi Whakaaewa, Wi Huata, Aperahama Te Rautahi, Ihaia Te Ngarara, Haira Tamanoho and Ihaka Whaitiu.

Thus the original run encompassed basically the eastern half of that section of the Mangatoro Estate sub-divided in 1902 – in effect the Waitohora area. In 1863 HAMILTON was recorded as being in possession of 13,000 acres of land belonging to the Ngatikahunga Tribe. The rental being 100 pounds per annum.

HAMILTON ventured into the real wilderness when he occupied his run in 1861. By his own recollection, more than forty years later, there was:

Hamilton’s first residence, the first european dwelling in Waitahora and indeed the whole of southern Hawkes Bay, was on what is now James McGibbons property, close to the Mangatoro Stream. Built of heart totara, with a totara bark roof. It was by his own account a very primitive affair. He subsequently built a more substantial six-roomed dwelling that he occupied until the 1880; its site is not known but it was probably several miles to the north near the Dannevirke-Weber road.

The conditions in which HAMILTON sought to establish himself must have been extremely difficult and trying. According to his own later recollection:

There were also difficulties with the local Maoris. In these early years, the only outlet for wool was down the Mangatoro, thence to Foxton thence by Maori canoe on the Manawatu River.

This was beyond his capacity to pay, but he could not ignore the threat of interference: to send Maoris of another tribe down river with his wool would be practically giving a challenge of war.

When Kainokopuna realised that HAMILTON would not pay for use of the river, he made claim for rent, ‘demanding as a great chief, equal payment to that which my Maoris were receiving from me’. HAMILTON, according to his own testimony would have none of this. He knew that Kainokopuna had no right of ownership over Mangatoro and was determined as a matter of principle not to be imposed upon by the Maoris.

Nothing happened for some days. But the Maoris were busy. His lessers, fearing strife, sent off for support from friendly tribes on both east and west coasts. Eventually, a conference was called at the marae of Te Kaimokopuna. Several hundred Maoris gathered and HAMILTON was invited to attend.

In his 1909 account of these proceedings, HAMILTON recorded that Te Kaimokopuna rose and offered him a mere, handle first, which he took. ‘Taka Moana’ (presumable Karaitiana Takamoana) the imposing chief of one of the visiting tribes, then explained that the Maoris had reached agreement amongst themselves. The rent would be paid to him with a view to its beneficial use. According to HAMILTON, this arrangement lasted some six years until the settlement of the title by the Native Land Court.

The Maoris put one significant limitation on Hamilton’s activities. They forbade him to build any new tracks or roads connecting Mangatoro with other European lands. As Karaitiana Takamoana explained:

During the 1860s other Europeans began to filter into Seventy Mile Bush, reducing HAMILTONs loneliness. About 1864 HAMILTON acquired a partner, one John Wilkinson, about whom little is known. The pair were listed as lessees of 8000 acres of Maori land. Following a crown grant on 8 September 1868, a new lease was drawn up, this time for an area of 30,750 acres, for 21 years at 230 pounds per annum.

Transport was another major problem. The difficulties over the use of the Manawatu River have already been noted. These were overcome to some extent when HAMILTON and Wilkinson leased 906 acres of Mangapuaka Block from Te Kanimanu and Te Ropiha. Subsequently, the wool was packed out by an unformed track through the Ngapaeruru Bush to a nearby station and thence to Takapau. As HAMILTON recalled:

The trip to Takapau required some 10-20 horses. The going was very rough, with the horses having to jump many dangerous places when crossing the creeks. The had to be unloaded at various stages of the journey. In this way 32,000 lbs of wool was being carried out in the early 1870s.

The shearing was done by the same Maori shearing gang for 25 years. The apparently did the job at a rate substantially below that which they charged his neighbours. ‘One advantage that the Maori shearer had over his Maori counterpart in the early days, was that he was less troubled about accommodation, for the European would not have shorn without shelter, horses and suchlike’, HAMILTON recalled. By 1873 the Mangatoro flock had grown to 5909 sheep and the clip in that year averaged him 15d a lb ‘in the grease’.

At this time HAMILTON was involved in negotiations with the Maoris for the purchase of Seventy Mile Bush, some 250,000 acres between the Gorge, the Manawatu River and the Ruahine Ranges.

The earliest settler in Southern Hawkes Bay, he thus also played a significant role in the founding of Dannevirke.

HAMILTON returned to Britain in 1872. On 10 March 1873 at Edinburgh he married Gertrude Helen Alicia Gwendoline HUGHES. While overseas he also took the opportunity to send out 6 cotswold stud sheep, fencing materials and 2 foxhounds. Returning to Mangatoto in 1874 he embarked on a large-scale development encouraged by the Bank of NZ (BNZ) and by a prospective 40 year extension of his lease. By 1884 he owed 44,000 pounds. When the bank demanded immediate repayment he was unable to refinance the property, partly because of the depressed conditions and continuing difficulties with the lease. The bank thereupon took possession of the station. Five years later it took possession of the station at auction after no bids were forthcoming. In 1890 Mangatoro was transferred to the BNZ Estates Company. These dubious proceedings were later described as a standing disgrace and one of the worst blots in the history of banking.

HAMILTON, who had been appointed manager at Mangatoro in 1886 and carried on in that capacity until he was fired in 1890, was left in financial disarray. The HAMILTON family moved to Tiratu, near Dannevirke. He was adjudged bankrupt in 1896, but may have received assistance from family in Scotland.

The results of the development, of the land in the 1880s was impressive. Several thousand acres were cleared of bush and another 10,000 sown with grass. By 1888 the number of sheep on the property had increased from 17,000 to 26,000 and the amount of fencing had almost doubled, from 40 to 75 miles. The 1888 wool clip took first prize, silver medal, at the Melbourne Wool Exhibition for the most value for unskirted crossbred wool, per fleece, by the bale, of not less than three hundred weight. At the Dunedin Exhibition on 1889-90, ‘with the judging open to some doubt’ according to HAMILTON, third prize was taken for a similar entry.

HAMILTON spent the rest of his life seeking redress for what he regarded as a sneaking theft. He took his case, not only to the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, but to Parliament, which he petitioned in 1900, 1902, 1909 and 1910. In the 1910, the second of two commissions which examined the case concluded that he had suffered a serious wrong, but the government, frightened by creating a precedent, declined to act on its recommendation for compensation.

Meanwhile political developments had already set the stage for the next major event in Waitahora’s history. In 1891 the Liberal Party had come to power. The new government had soon introduced legislation aimed at establishing and protecting the small farmer and reducing the pretensions and estates of large owners. Part of its programme was a new form of leasehold, the lease in perpetuity, a lease of 999 years at a fixed rental. The government actively promoted closer settlement and by 1907 5000 tenants held some 2.5 million acres under this form of tenure.

Mangatoro seemed an appropriate property for settlement under the new legislation and the Bank was hopeful that the government would acquire it for that purpose. These hopes were raised when Prime Minister Sneddon and Hall, the local Member of Parliament, looked over it in 1895. The Chairman of the Land Purchase Board, James McKerrow, subsequently inspected the estate but no further action was taken, mainly as it seems because of the complications regarding title. It was not until 1901 that the government showed renewed interest, by which time the Assets Realization Board virtually had acquired the freehold for the whole Waitahora area. On 15 April 1901 McKerrow wrote to the Surveyor-General in the following terms:

HAMILTON took part as an unofficial volunteer in the skirmish with Ngati Hineuru adherents of Pai Marire¬ Omarunui, near Napier on 12 October 1866. His militia troop of horsemen, armed with sabres engaged the Maoris at Omarunui. They were detached to seize Maori canoes at Parks Island, which were believed to be intended to enable the Hau Haus to escape or to cross the harbour to attack Napier. Following this action he was commissioned as an Ensign in the NZ (Napier) Militia on 27 November 1868. He remained in that rank until 1 October 1905, when he was posted to the retired list as a lieutenant.

The NZ Militia formed a number of units of special forces during the NZ Wars. These units were bushmen who could live of the land and track Maori guerillas. HAMILTON commanded the Forty-Mile Bush Detachment; this special force carried out several scouting missions in the Taupo area in 1869 in search of Te Kooti.­ Te Kooti, a Maori guerilla had escaped from the Chatham Islands in 1868 and was in action in the central North Island from 1868-1873.

HAMILTON later claimed to have been captain in command of the native contingents of Te Arawa and Ngati Kahungunu and was generally referred to as Captain HAMILTON, although never officially holding the rank. He claimed later he was given the rank because he had Maori lieutenants under is command and stipulated that due to the secret nature of his service he should not be gazetted as a Captain. He always described himself as late captain of the Maori contingents and this was never challenged. When seeking a grant from the government in 1911 on the basis of his Maori war service the Department of Defense was unable to corroborate his claims.

Whatever the exact truth of his Maori war service, there is no doubt that with his early military training, his knowledge of the Maori and his ways, his ability with firearms (he was Hawkes Bay rifle champion in 1870) he would have been a very useful man in the bush. It seems quite plausible that the authorities would have made use of him.

His amicable relations with the Maori was reflected in the invitation to assist in dividing up the 16,000 pounds paid to them for the 250,000 acre Tamaki block in 1871.

A keen sportsman, HAMILTON may have been the first to establish a trout hatchery in the North Island. When not engaged in his legal battles he occupied himself in later years with stocking the rivers of southern Hawkes Bay with trout. In 1904 the government printing office published his Trout-fishing and sport in Maoriland. He presided over the Hawkes Bay Bush Districts Acclimatization Society in the 1890s, the Bush Districts Farmers Club, both the Woodville District and Dannevirke Jockey Clubs and the Hawkes Bay Angling and Shooting Club from its inception in 1901 until his death.

George HAMILTON died of heart failure at Dannevirke on 29 November 1911 after several months of ill health. Gertrude died on 20 September 1914.

George and Gertrudes daughter Gertrude Laura married Matthew PRICE.