Our survey of Matheson place names in New Zealand has been expanded to include Mathieson place names: five roads/streets/avenues found so far. Check them out here, with links to Google maps, and let us know if you find any more!
Leave a Comment
Mathieson place names in New Zealand
In our survey of clan-related place names in New Zealand, we’ve so far found five streets or roads with the name Mathieson. Do you know of more?
These are listed from north to south, with links to Google maps.
Mathieson Road, Karapiro, Waipa, is named after pioneer farmers in the area. According to Eris Parker in an article published by the Cambridge Museum: “Mr and Mrs Horace Mathieson arrived in 1907 and in 32 years had transformed their 600 acres of bush and scrub into a highly productive farm. In those days the only form of transport was a pack horse led over a bridle track and the only way to get anything done was with the aid of a sharp axe, strong arms and a stout heart.”
Mathieson Street in Wanganui is named after Captain Kenneth Mathieson, who established shipbuilding yards on both Wanganui and Wellington. There is more about him here.
Mathieson Avenue, Khandallah, Wellington. This short street off Ranui Crescent was originally a private road servicing a subdivision, but was later taken over as a public road. The landowner, George James Macdonald, subdivided the land and the road took the maiden name of his wife. There’s quite a story attached to this landowner, which is told here.
Mathieson Street, Waverley, Dunedin is probably named after John Mathieson and Catherine Mathieson, who farmed Grants Brae farm here in the 1850s and 1860s soon after arriving from Scotland, before moving a little further along Otago Peninsula to establish Springfield farm. They were pioneers of New Zealand’s dairy industry, establishing the country’s first cooperative cheese factory in 1871.
Google maps shows a Mathieson Road at Waipahi in Clutha district, but it’s signposted as Matheson Road so we have listed it on the relevant page.
Hi Mike
Thanks very much for your helpful contribution. I’ll revise the page about Mathieson Street accordingly.
Having done much more research on Kenneth Mathieson since 2017, I’d like to clear up some of the confusion on the linked page ‘Mathieson Street, Whanganui’. First, Kenneth was the builder of the Clydeside, not the master – that was his brother Robert. They had a quarter share each in the Clydeside and arrived in Wellington on 11 October 1841. They were not chartered by the New Zealand Company, it was a private venture. Kenneth did not return to Britain in 1843. His presence in Wellington is well recorded. The Clydeside left Wellington for Britain (Captain Alfred Adams, ex-Indemnity) on 27 April 1843. She was seized by the High Court of Admiralty and sold to Williams of Bristol, registered in that port on 8 May 1844. The reason isn’t clear but might have something to do with reports of water damaged cargo, which might not have been insured (speculation).
I don’t think he had much to do with the flour mill after it was built in 1845 because he was in Whanganui by the end of that year. It seems he only built 1 vessel there which he sold to pay off debt before leaving town in 1846. The mill was known as Schultze’s mill. On his return in 1847, he built the schooner Queen for P.M. Hervey. I’ve found no record or mention of a wife and children.
Kenneth left Wellington for Australia in 1849 or 50 after one last vain appeal to the government for land to build another slip. My last contact with him is the advertisement in Sydney Morning Herald 11 April 1851, so he didn’t drown at sea in 1850. I have sources for all of this but didn’t include them here to save space.
Hi Mike. Correction made; thanks for that, and thanks for the interesting link.
Interesting page but it needs one correction – Kenneth’s ship was a barque called the Clydeside, not Clydesdale. You might be interested in this page of postal history which says he joined his brother, Robert, in Geelong in 1850 and continued ship building there. http://www.ro-klinger.de/NH/1-ph1846.htm