One of a series of simple, easy to find, caches at railway stations in and around Tasman.
Welcome aboard the New Zealand Railways service to Gowan Bridge! Last stop Spring Grove, next stop Foxhill.
Captain Arthur Wakefield
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Arthur Wakefield (1799-1843) is the brother of Edward Wakefield, the founder of the New Zealand Company. Wakefield joined the navy at age 11, and saw action in Dutch East Indies, Algiers, and various wars of independence of United States and of South America. Although given his own ship, in 1837 Wakefield was passed over for promotion and, realising his career was going nowhere, left the navy in 1841. His brother Edward immediately recruited him to join the New Zealand Company, tasking him to select settlers for a new settlement to be named Nelson, escort the party to New Zealand, and supervise the growth of the new town. Wakefield arrived in Nelson in 1841, and over the next three years oversaw the arrival of 18 ships transporting 3000 colonists. Wakefield had made extravagant promises to the settlers about the availability of land, but had nothing like the amount required available and the local Maori were unwilling to trust the promises of the New Zealand Company as the company had purchased land in other parts of New Zealand without full agreement or knowledge of some the chiefs. This distrust eventually led to Wakefield's death in Blenheim during the Wairau Affray (see the geocache Ko Te Rauparaha ahau) in 1843.
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Arthur Wakefield
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Wakefield
The town of Wakefield was established in 1843 and originally named Pitfure. It was soon renamed to Wakefield after the town Wakefield in Yorkshire, England, although Aurthur Wakefield's death in the Wairau Affray that same year would have been a significant factor confirming the town's name.
Wakefield was actually two villages. Lower Wakefield had the shops and the railway station, Upper Wakefield eventually petered out. Upper Wakefield was serviced by the Foxhill railway station, which probably increased the decline in the name. The region was eventually renamed to Wai-iti.
The railway station was adjacent to the petrol station here. It was one of the original stations on the line, and used until the line was closed in 1955.
Wakefield Station, about 1920.
References:
"Wakefield, New Zealand", wikipedia.org
"Arthur Wakefield", wikipedia.org
Stevens, J: "Captain Arthur Wakefield", theprow.org.nz
Mitchell, H and Mitchell, J: "Te Tau Ihu tribes", teara.govt.nz
Voller, L: "Rails to Nowhere: The History of the Nelson Railway", published by the Nikau Press 1991
O'Donnell, B: "When Nelson had a Railway", published by the Schematics 2005
Scoble, J: "Names and Opening and Closing Dates of Railway Stations", published by the Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand, 2010.