William James "Bill" Kennedy (1910 —1979)

Bill Kennedy (left) discusses the bush area he developed with Bill Turner
Bay of Plenty Times, 29 Jul 1989. Courtesy of Tauranga City Library

This dynamic man was a friend of my grandfather Duff Maxwell of The Elms. I well remember they spent quite a lot of evenings together in the 1960s as both were interested in the development of McLarens Falls Park as an Arboretum. In 1965 the Bay of Plenty Tree Society was given approval to begin planting and the Tauranga City Council undertook to cover the maintenance. It is now a world class facility with many thousands of trees covering 500+ species and a well known and popular recreational area covering some 190 Ha.

Another of this man’s enduring achievements was the establishment of Ngatuhoa Youth Lodge in the Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park in 1967. It was his vision to establish an Outward Bound facility.  Many thousands of school children and other groups over the past 53 years have stayed there and enjoyed the confidence boosting outdoor activities, beautiful bush and the Te Rere I Oturu Falls.

So what was the background of this man and what drove him to do these things. It is quite hard to find information on him but he was a family man, Crete veteran, local farmer, poet and city councillor for at least one term retiring from Council in 1968.