PIONEER RESIDENT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19987, 12 July 1939, Page 6

PIONEER RESIDENT

MRS. T. HOLDEN PASSES DEATH UNEXPECTED EARLY HARDSHIPS A resident who was associated with the early days of settlement in the Hawke's Bay and Gisborne districts. Mrs. Thomas Holden, Rimuroa station, Gisborne, died in a private hospital in Gisborne, yesterday, aged 72 years. The late Mrs. Holden passed through the troublous days of the Maori wars during her earlier years in Hawke's Bay, and made her home near Gisborne while the district was still sparsely settled. The deceased was a daughter of an early Hawke's Bay pioneering family, her parents being the late Mr. and Mrs. E. D. Collison. She was born in Havelock North in 1867 and spent her early years at Pakipald, receiving her schooling in Napier and completing her education at. a private college in Waipawa.

During the trouble with the Maoris Mr. and Mrs. Collison's home in Pakipaki was used as a centre at which the surrounding settlers gathered when alarms were raised.

On one occasion Mrs. Collissn was attacked by natives in her home while Mr. Collison was away with the armed forces. The late Mrs. Holden was then a small girl and had vivid recollections of those early experiences.

In 1895 she was married in blastings to Mr. Holden, who had been farming in Hawke’s Bay with Ins brothers and who had moved to the Gisborne district in 1898. Mr. and Mrs. Holden settled on the Rimuroa property, on which they have continued to reside up to the present. When Mrs. Holden came to Gisborne there was no read access to the station, though it was only five miles from, town, and in winter in ry were compelled to follow a track over the hills. The first load or wool from Rimuroa was actually raffre I down the Waimata River. On Horseback Through the U r ewer a During the preliminary steps taken in connection with the setting up oi the East Coast Rabbit Board about 1909 Mr. Holden, a member of that body, made a tour of the country from Wairoa to the Bay ot Plenty I-Ie was accompanied by Mrs. Holden on that occasion and she had the distinction of being the first white woman to ride from Waikaremoana through the Urcwera Country to Galatea. Throughout the Great War Mrs. Holden was an active and generous supporter of the Red Cross movement and she maintained a keen interest in women's activities in the district.. For the last few years she had experienced indifferent health, but she had been confined to bed for only three weeks. Her death came unexpectedly as it was thought she had passed the crisis of her illness.

The deceased is survived by her husband, together with four sons and one daughter, Mr. D. ,J. Holden, Mangateretere, Hastings, Mr. M. L. Holden, Pouawa, Mr. R. F. Holden, Gisborne, Mr. H. T. Holden, Gisborne, and Mrs. W. 11. Hegarty, Waikereru. The deceased also leaves one sister, Miss F. It. Collison, Napier, and a brother, Mr. ,A. W. Collison, Hastings. Arrangements have been made for the funeral to take place in Hawke’s Bay to-morrow. A service will be held at the Methodist Church. Hastings, at 2 p.m., after which the funeral will leave for the Havelock North cemetery.