DINED WITH ROYALTY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 720, 20 July 1929, Page 16

DINED WITH ROYALTY

DIAMOND WEDDING OF VETERAN

COLONiSING ADVENTURES

Mr. F. J. Lawrence, of Onehunga, veteran of the Maori War, has the distinction of having dined with the King and Queen, the Prince of Wales, Lord Ranfuriy, Lord Liverpool, Lord Jellicoe, and

therGovern‘or-G'eneral, Sir Charles Fergusson. FURTHER, he was an eye-witness W'hen H.M.S. Orpheus was wrecked on the Manukau Bar with a heavy loss of life.

Sixty years ago Mr. Lawrence was married in Cambridge. On Saturday, July 27, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence will celebrate the diamond jubilee of their wedding at the residence of their daughter, Mrs. L. M. Brown, Onehunga. Mr. Lawrence was born on the Isle of W'ight in 1840 and joined the navy at 15. Four years later he reached New Zealand on H.M.S. Elk, and was so impressed with the country that he left the vessel. His first employment was on what is now the Langholm estate, at 55 a week. Later, he was occupied as soldier, boardinghouse keeper, gardener, sexton and county councillor. Mr. Lawrence saw service in the China war.

Early settlers on the Manukau were well acquainted with Mr. Lawrence’s cutter, Waterlily. In the Manukau in those days, it was a. common sight to see four or five men-o’-war anchored off White Bluff, while native canoes swarmed in the harbour. When Mr. Lawrence saw the Orpheus wrecked he was standing on Puponga Hill. Sailors were clambering into the rigging, he said, when a huge roller swamped the vessel.

When the Maori War broke out, Mr. Lawrence joined the Waikato Militia, and fought at Hunua, Rangiriri and Orakau. After the fall of Orakau he was stationed at the Papakura Redoubt, near Cambridge. When peace was declared Mr. Lawrence took 1 up a small farm and built the first European house at Leamington, Cambridge. ‘ ESCAPE FROM MAORIS Despite the formal peace, a few of‘ the Han Han chiefs still holding out for war determined in their fanaticism on the extermination of the Pakeha.‘ Two of them, Kereopa (the murderer‘ of the Rev. W. Volckner) and the; notorious- Titokowaru, had joined‘ forces at Maungatautari, with the ob? ject of sacking Cambridge, Hamilton, and ultimately Auckland. One night the Lawrence family were aroused with the cry that the Maoris were coming, and that a man named Tom Sullivan had been killed. The family escaped through the back door as the muzzle of a native gun was poked through the front door. ‘ The discovery of gold at Te Aroha attracted the Lawrences. They stayed therefor seven years. In 1890 they took up land at Herekino and experienced a period of 11 years of privation and hardship incidental to pioneering life. Mr. Lawrence sat for three years on the Hokianga County Council as member for the 'Whangape Riding, and for the first few meetings, before he could get a horse, was forced to walk the entire distance of 60 miles from Herekino to Rawene in one day. The family came back to Auckland about 30 years ago, when Mr. Lawrence took the position of sexton at Purewa, afterward planting an orchard at Henderson.

He returned to Onehunga about 10 years ago, and still leads an active life. In his spare time he is employed in writing an account of his experiences for his family. Mrs. Lawrence was born at Nelson 84 years ago, her father being one of the original settlers. In 1846 Mrs. Lawrence’s parents set out for Taranaki in an open cutter, but being unable to land at New Plymouth on account of the rough surf, they went on to the mouth of the Waitara River, where they obtained wood and water. One night they were warned that a. Maori war party was approaching, so they hoisted the anchor and made sail for Auckland.

Mrs. Lawrence says that her father was the Signalman for some years on Mount Victoria, and that her mother was then the only white woman living on the North Shore. Four of the nine children are living, and there are 16 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.