History: How the Faulkner’s came to Wakefield

Faulkners Bush in Wakefield has been a popular reserve for the public to enjoy since the 1960s, but who was the family that gave the reserve its name?

Charles Faulkner, after his wife died, left England with his two sons Frederick and Henry for the colonies, sailing on the ship ‘Prince Regent’ in 1852 and heading for Australia.

Arriving in October, Charles went to the goldfields in the Bendigo and Ballarat districts.

They were at Ballarat during the Eureka rebellion riots but took no part in them.

The rebellion was a series of events involving gold miners who revolted against the British administration of the colony of Victoria, during the Victorian gold rush.

Later they went to Bathurst district in New South Wales, where they had some luck, and after wintering in Sydney, moved to Melbourne.

Deciding then to come to New Zealand, they left Melbourne by the Gil Bias and arrived in Dunedin in 1855.

The family took up land at Waihola, south of Dunedin, where they secured a property, and went in for both cropping and raising cattle and sheep.

Frederick and Henry made several long trips to the Dunstan, when the goldfields were in full swing.

Charles returned to England for a time but returned later to Otago, where Frederick and Henry were still living, and in 1874, being tired of the winters, they sold the property and returned to Melbourne.

Not liking Australia, they returned to New Zealand, looking for a place to settle, selecting Nelson.

For a while they lived in the Wood suburb of Nelson city, but soon bought 46 acres of land, known as Treton Park at Wakefield.

Charles passed away in May 1888 and was buried in St Johns Cemetery, Wakefield.

Youngest son Henry, born about 1840, had married Eliza Clegg in Dunedin and had nine children, four of whom were born in Wakefield.

On 7 April, 1892, the two-storey, 11-room wooden homestead was completely destroyed by fire along with all of its contents.

At the time of the fire breaking out Henry was some distance from the house and happened to look round to see some smoke and almost immediately saw the building in flames.

Eliza and two of the couple’s daughters were in the house when they heard the noise which they thought was caused by an earthquake.

The family lost everything in the house and had the mammoth task of rebuilding their lives.  The foundations of the home can still be seen near the Scout Den.

Henry was a well-known churchwarden at the local St Johns Church and a member of the vestry up to the time of his death in 1935.

Older brother Frederick was born on 30 March, 1834 (in the reign of William IV) at Oxford, England.

Frederick lived at Treton Park for 58 years, never married, and in his later years lived very quietly in retirement.

He was a great reader and for a time was a librarian at the Wakefield Institute. Being a very healthy person, he was rarely sick and could remember having a severe attack of smallpox as a child and the doctor commented that if he pulled through that attack, he would probably reach 100, a prophecy that came true.

On 3 April, 1934, residents of Wakefield gathered at his home to congratulate him for attaining the age of 100 years.

Frederick died nine months later in 1935 and the family were all reunited in death, buried in the church cemetery.