Morrin Museum

Anzac Day 25th April 2013

Thomas Morrin — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:15:32 +0000

Anzac Day opening

Musuem with be open 7.00am – 1.00pm

Special Remembrance Ceremony 12.00 noon
in the museum

Morrinsville Residents from 1852 to 1912

Thomas Morrin — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:44:05 +0000

To search for name, Click on the letter of the Surname:

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I
J	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q	R
S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z

Notes:

These files were started on 30 September 1990 and updated since then as names and references became available. If you have any family members that you wish to add to the list please leave a comment at the bottom of this page or send us a message through our contact form.
Names are listed according to the earliest written record or family information obtained. Not all arrival dates are accurate – in one occasion there were 20 years between the first written record and the actual arrival to Morrinsville.
Departure date is either the date of death or the date recorded as leaving the district.
Names marked with (*) indicate that the museum holds further information or photographs of this person.

The references used in the list are as follows:

A Electoral Main Roll 1894	M Newspaper Waikato Times
B Electoral Main Roll 1898	N Newspaper New Zealand Herald
C Electoral Main Roll 1899	O Morrinsville Town Boards Rate Book, 1911
D Electoral Main Roll 1902	P Cyclopedia of New Zealand Auckland Ed. 1902
E Electoral Main Roll 1908	Q Newspaper Morrinsville Star
F Electoral Main Roll 1911	R Book Early Morrinsville by S Allen.
G Electoral Supplementary Roll No1 1907	S Dated photograph held in Museum collection. eg P/095
H Electoral Supplementary Roll No1 1908	T Newspaper Weekly New
I Electoral Supplementary Roll No2 1909	U Morrinsville School Reunion Booklet
J Book Diamond Jubilee of the Piako County	V Information from a family member
K Book Land of Three Rivers	W Information supplied by a non family member
L Land Title Records

Morrinsville: A Town named after Thomas Morrin

Mike Gribble — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 16:41:53 +0000

The Ngati Werewere people of the Ngati Haua Iwi were resident in Piako when the first trader, John Johnson, came to the district in 1852. Contractors such as Harp and settlers such as Turnbull, Walker, Murray, Horrell and McDonald followed in the 1870s. Thomas Morrin purchased the Kuranui No 1 Block in 1873/4 and founded the Lockerbie Estate.

He built the blacksmith’s shop, manager’s house and a bulk store and donated land for a school. Two years before the railway arrived in October1884, Morrin laid out a town that was to become Morrinsville. The arrival of the railway line saw the first population boost for the town.

The 1885-1895 depression saw Morrin and his partner, John Studholme, lose their land. It passed into the control of the Bank of New Zealand’s Asset Realisation Board. The Board farmed the Lockerbie estate and in the 1900s began subdividing it into single-family farms which were mainly used as dairy farms. This began an expansion of housing and buildings in the district, including churches, a courthouse, a police station, the Phoenix Hall, a town water supply and the Lodge building. In the 1920’s two dairy factories, Morrinsville Dairy Company and New Zealand Dairy Company, were built to service the
growing dairy industry.

The town’s growth slowed during another depression and the Second World War.

After the war many of the original buildings needed expanding or replacement. The expansion continued in the 1950’s and 60’s with State Houses and the growth of service industries such as the Kiwi Fertilizer Works. Since then there has been a steady growth of new housing, businesses and community facilities in the town.

Contact the Morrin Museum for further information.