Russell Heritage
Explore our archives of fascinating stories
Heritage Corners
Russell Museum enjoys telling some of the fascinating stories from the town’s history. Over the years, our local paper Russell Lights carries regular feature articles called Heritage Corner which feature these early gems about the town and our people. Some of our earlier articles are reproduced here for information.
A selection of them have been reproduced here. When you visit Russell, look out as you may well recognise some of the places and names from our past. Scroll back to view archived stories from our past.
In Short Supply – #102
Today, food, clothing, furniture, transport and shelter are just a short trip to the shops, internet order or, telephone call away. In the late 17 & early 1800s, new arrivals to Kororareka faced a different reality. Long voyages exhausted provisions and many...
Population Polls – #103
The cancellation of the 2011 census because of the Christchurch earthquake is only the third time a scheduled census has not gone ahead as planned ; the other two cancellations were in 1931 during the Depression and in 1941 because of World War II. The first...
Laws for the Lawless – #104
Although James Busby, the British Resident, lived just across the Bay at Waitangi, lawlessness in the early 1830s was rife in Kororareka. To be fair, the British Government didn’t exactly give him support. The British Government didn’t quite know how to justly apply...
Squares and Compasses: Symbols of Freemasonry – #105
Freemasonry in Kororareka had its beginnings in an initial meeting of those interested, in the Methodist Church Hall on June 14th 1929. Meetings were also held at The Annex (the present Gables) and the Town Hall, where three...
Time for New Owners? – #109
Who owns our cannon? Since about 1840, when Ben Turner did – no-one has owned it. Or perhaps everyone has. Every child that sat on it for a photo, every local who told its story to a visitor, everyone who wondered when, where and what damage its cannonballs had done...
Let the Pictures Tell The Story – #110
After the floods there was no option. Stormwater had to be redirected. The council reserve land at the North end of Kororareka Bay is where some of the water goes. But what has happened to the land there? The wahi tapu area there was specifically excluded from a grant...
Nothing’s Ever New – #111
Did you think the drag race was a 21st Century phenomenon in Russell- Kororareka? That it originated with the Birdman Festival? Not so! Similarly, for many Russellites and visitors the recent performances by our World-Famous-in-Russell Ukulele Orchestra were the first...
A Colourful Character – #115
...with a colourful past. George Calcutta became his name. No-one in Russell ever knew his real name or where he was from. But he told them stories. He came to New Zealand as a body servant to a Captain Johnson, who took the young orphan on as a ‘body servant’. How...
Faces and Vehicles Change but St John Goes On – #116
Russell’s first ambulance was a station wagon. In 1960, when St John started here, there was no official vehicle. Del Harris, one of the foundation members who served for 24 years, remembered “commandeering someone’s station wagon to get people to hospital.”...