Welcome to the Society's web site and blog

Tauranga Wharf and Waterfront, photo by Henry Wright, c.1902 (Courtesy of the Alexander Turnbull Library)

Welcome to the Tauranga Historical Society's web pages.  Using the tabbed links above you'll find brief histories of the Society and the Brain Watkins House, an outline of our objectives and a list of membership benefits, as well as details of how to join.

There is much of interest in the Bay of Plenty's history, both before before pakeha settlement and after the arrival of European traders such as Tapsell and Faulkner, and the founding of the mission station at Te Papa.  There have been intriguing characters, many of whose descendants still live in the area, and a plethora of long remembered events which have shaped the Tauranga that we see today.  We hope you will join us in this exploration of our history.

Our new Blog has been created to provide news and articles relating to Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty's history, which we hope will encourage a returning readership of both members and non-members alike.  In the coming weeks and months, you can look forward to contributions on a wide variety of historical topics written by society members, each of whom have their own varied interests and strengths.

•    Notices of forthcoming events of historical interest
•    Brian Davies and Brett Payne will report on historically related events in the Western Bay of Plenty community, including Society meetings and talks.
•    Lois Hembrow displays and talks about items in the Brain Watkins House Collection that she has found of particular interest during the course of her cataloguing project.
•    Justine Neal shows off a selection from her treasure trove of historic Tauranga postcards.
•    Shirley Arabin enlightens us with her knowledge of and enthusiasm for old Tauranga buildings.
•    Writing as curator of the Tauranga Heritage Collection, Fiona Kean illuminates some of its hidden gems.
•    Stephanie Smith delves into the stories behind the names of streets and roads in Tauranga.

Please feel free to add this blog to your RSS feed, subscribe by email or use the Google Friend Connect button (at right) and recommend the URL to others you feel may be interested.  We also welcome feedback - you'll find the comments box at the end of each article.

If you have information about a planned event that you think we should include, we'd love to hear about it, and if you would like to contribute in any form, again please get in touch with me by email.

Brett Payne
Web Editor