Avid local history fan Chris Bedford was researching online a few months ago when he came across a historic gem for the area — an early map of Katikati Ulster settlement.
The 1878 map is of Katikati district and was made very shortly after the arrival of the second group of settlers. The map shows the settlements established by George Vesey Stewart with the first settlement (1875) coloured in green and the second settlement (1878) in pink.
The Athenree Homestead historian says the map is important because it clearly shows the two settlements within the boundary of the Te Puna Katikati purchase.
"This is the earliest visual record we have of the two parts of the Stewart Settlement, with the boundaries and key landholdings clearly marked. It is easy to see that the first group of settlers got the best land, around the estuaries and along the harbour shore."
The map was a copy sketched from an original made in 1878 by John Da Vinci Louch (1854-1837), oldest son of Fitzgibbon and Isabella Louch who came to New Zealand in 1875 as part of George Vesey Stewart's first party of Katikati settlers.
