1886: Kimbolton

January 14, 2023

By AHNZ

The pioneering spirit flared up in August 1883 when a syndicate of Palmerston North leaders resolved to open up the district to their north. There were political disputes at the time within Manawatu County that year and the entire northern half of the county split off in rebellion and protest which was not sanctified by Wellington for at least a year after. The fracturing stimulated an opportunity to found a new town, Kimbolton, in August 1886.

The Kimbolton pioneers battled heavy bush, wet weather, and ants in their pants busting through heavy bush with their pack horses. The land they selected is on a terrace above the Oroua River which is also the name of the break-away Oroua County that left Manawatu behind in disgust. Why? Probably over-charging for rates and/or other bad governing. It’s fantastic that our Colonial ancestors had a constitutional way to solve bad local government: They secede and start over!

Initially the place was not to be Kimbolton at all but Birmingham. The logic of this is attributed to one of the founders having a similar sounding name. Also, by antipodean symmetry often used in these cases, it made sense to place a Birmingham between Manchester (the land block to the south where Fielding (18 miles south) had already been founded) and the equator. However, this caused confusion because British people, New Zealand Colony included, were not in the habit of adding destination country to their postal addresses. To stop our mail going to England and English mail destined for the original Birmingham coming to Birmingham Downunder our postal system lodged the town as Fowlers. Hilton Fowler, farmer, was one of the earliest settlers and opened the first store and established the first post office. Fowler refrained from taking any part in public affairs so the final name for the town was still in flux.

On 4 February, 1899, the community settled on Kimbolton for the name of their town. This means that the modern Waitangi Day is a pretty good time for Kimbolton to take a public holiday and mark its Settlers Day. As we will see that idea was shot at most harshly in 2023 by a Maori activist abetted by TVNZ’s One News.

“The northern half of Manawatu County split off to form Oroua County Council in 1883” – Wiki

“Oroua County…was first established in 1883, unilaterally declared as a protest against the local Manawatu County Council.” – Wiki

“In earlier times the district was thickly forested, and only occasionally visited by Māori. The Crown purchased the land in 1866 and 1877…was opened for settlement …from 1886.” – NZ History.gov

“The confusion over correspondence became so great that the Postal Department intimated that the name of the settlement would have to be altered…Finally on February 4, 1899, the change was made from Birmingham to Kimbolton.” – Kimbolton’s Jubilee, Manawatu Times (1936,) Papers Past

“At about midnight we started to scratch, one and then the other would awaken to attack the irritation. On getting up and securing a light we found that an army of ants and other insects had crawled out from the toi-toi to attack us. That was tho end of a peaceful sleep following a strenuous day’s journey.” – ibid

“In pre-European times the district was thickly forested, like most of the Manawatu, and appears to have been regarded as a hinterland even by Māori…. The land was allotted by ballot, in this case the numbers being drawn by an 11 year old boy called Jimmy Brazier who happened to be passing by the town hall on his bike when the ballot was drawn.” – Envirohistory New Zealand (2012) 

“My belief is that Waitangi Day is a holiday set aside for all New Zealanders to celebrate their connection to the land, their tangata whenua, in whatever fashion they wish,” – Tony Waugh, Kimboltonian; Iwi surprised Manawatū town holding Feb 6 ‘Settlers Day’ celebration, 1News (2023)

A great origin story is told of 14 August, 1886, when it was time for the ballots to be drawn for land sections at Kimbolton. Seeking impartiality, the Chairman invited two boys playing outside to come in and draw the names. The first boy tried to leverage the request for a reward saying, “what will you give me?” The other kid,  Jimmy Brazier¹, readily agreed to help out at the head of the meeting by picking out the marbles from the ballot box. Each man, as his name was drawn, tipped Jimmy with a silver coin in thanks. The other kid was kicking himself. It looks as if Brazier ended up living in Kimbolton himself and raising a family there himself. A man by that name now rests in Kimbolton Cemetery. He’s a Founder too.

Outrage Industrial Complex Attacks Kimbolton

The tiny town of Kimbolton wants to remember its heritage on New Zealand’s national day, Waitangi Day. For them this means thinking about their Settler ancestors so they want to have a Settlers Day. After all, they are remote from other, bigger, towns as Kimbolton organiser Tony Waugh points out so why not do something for themselves? Tony innocently pinned up a notice to that effect on a nice dark green bit of A4 to let the locals know.

It was at this point that the Millennial Reporter women pounced! Te Aniwa Hurihanganui and Enya Murphy, with their Communications and Journalism qualifications, inserted their cameras and microphones into the tiny town and put poor Tony on trial.

Hurihanganui, late of RNZ and now Maori Affairs Correspondent for 1News (image, left) filed the report for the 6 o’clock news. The product of a total immersion Maori education, she has written things like Tired of racism – of talking, writing and living it (NZ Herald, 2020) and ‘Who does he think he is?’ Protesters march against Kaipara mayor (1News, 2022) and said that “Judith Collins has…set in motion a wave of hurt…for endorsing the idea of a referendum on the use of the word Aotearoa.” Ref. The racist aftermath of the Aotearoa debate, RNZ (2021)

Murphy (image right) wrote the copy on the 1News website. She says she’s a card dealer at Skycity as well as an assistant at the 1News newsdesk. A head prefect, some kind of ambassador to international students, and Enya is near the end of her own Journalism and PR tertiary education.

The attack on Kimbolton using the massive government media machine of 1News by these two women came during the summer break. Like politicians, the mainstream media are still on Christmas and New Years holidays well into January and February while the rest of us are back at work. This means TVNZ is working on a skeleton crew staff not important enough to take long holidays but young and hungry enough to grab the controls and fire some media bolts for Social Justice. Te Aniwa and Enya, the girl from the casino across the street, found out about Kimbolton and decided to poke their noses in and stir up some controversy.

“Ngāti Kauwhata are the recognised iwi in the area, and only learned about the event after 1News brought it to their attention,” Hurihanganui said, confessing to stirring the whole thing up.

“It’s a time which we recognise things which have been lost…the authority of the land was taken out of our hands,” says Professor Meihana Durie, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Maori at Massey University in Palmerston North. Funny that. Many New Zealanders were laboring under the pretense that Waitangi Day was our national day for all New Zealanders and the replacement for New Zealand Day. Here we have the Professor affirming that New Zealand has a national holiday dedicated to loss and grievance that splits the population.

What chance does poor little Kimbolton have against all this piling on when they just wanted a community day that was by them for them? Already they’ve been piled on by Wendy Petrie (image left) at the anchor desk and the Millennial duo of Te Aniwa and Enya with Professor deputy Vice-Chancellor Durie brought in for air bombardment! All this vs. Tony Waugh and a few drawing pins to hold his bit of coloured paper up….

Not content, the stunning and brave reporter women have another man to deploy on their behalf while they stay aloof. Political activist Rawiri Taonui rains down blows on Kimbolton (population 228) so it will bleed some more ratings for The News and some more notches for the girls’ resumes at the small town’s expense.

Taonui says Kimbolton organising committee must step down or be replaced them with 5-year-olds. Or, are in need of consulting with a Maori tribe. Taonui is of the view that “inclusivity” and “diversity” has a hold on the Kimbolton kids and that they will put end to this sort of heritage for good. Is he right?

Since when did Kimbolton, which has no Maori history at all, or any New Zealanders need to consult with tribesmen before organising as a community? Or, if they don’t, be mocked by being told “The second option is that the Kimbolton organising committee steps down and we replace them with 5-year-olds.”

“Waitangi Day is about New Zealanders and having a white settlers day comes across as mono-cultural, narrow and exclusive and in that context looks racist…The main thing is to be inclusive.” – Rawiri Taonui, 1News (2023)

Rural New Zealand, national identity, and even our very social fabric are there to be stomped on and shredded in the service of filing yet another race-baiting ‘news’ story. The Woke catch-cries of Durie and friends, “inclusivity and diversity,” are only an excuse to abuse others. What’s ‘inclusive’ or ‘diverse’ about barring Kimbolton’s heritage from having a platform? Nothing at all.  Woke terminology is not to be mistaken for the words in the dictionary that happen to be spelled the same way.

Hurihanganui and Murphy ought to feel ashamed of themselves for beating up on a small town with their giant MSM clobbering machine and attack dog Maori men. However, they’re part of a young female set that is encouraged and rewarded for feeding the Outrage Industrial Complex. Far from reflecting on the pain they’ve caused and the disruption to a community they will have experienced a dopamine rush of triumph. The girls probably had drinks after work to celebrate and plot their next victim. The idea, their idea anyway, is that they get their hands on the 1News controls all year round to put out more stories of the same sort. More and more writing, more and more pictures of “shocked” and “saddened” dial-a-Maori-professors and steady progression up the career tree to where Wendy sits. Who watches these watchers? Just Tony in this instance. I hope he’s feeling well.

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1 Most likely this man, James Thomas Brazier (1876 – 1953) Ref. Wikitree

Image ref. Colonists Land and Loan Corporation Accommodation House, c.1874. Feilding Library, Digital NZ; Colourised by AHNZ (2023)

Ref. The Cyclopedia of New Zealand (1887,) NZ Electronic Text Collection

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