Family toasts Coates brothers landing in NZ

More than 200 descendants of Edward and Thomas Coates celebrated the arrival in New Zealand of the two brothers 140 years ago at a recent gathering at the Matakohe Hall.
While some had travelled from as far away as America, some descendants still reside locally. A visit to Ruatuna Homestead now owned by the New Zealand Historic places Trust and the Kauri Museum was a highlight for many.
The younger sons of a landed gentry family of Eyton, Herefordshire in England the Coates brothers made the decision to immigrate to New Zealand under the Albertland scheme. Unlikely to inherit, their prospects had been reduced even further by land lost to gambling debts.
Arriving in Auckland in 1866 the men travelled north to stay with Francis Hull a family friend who had established a thriving business at Mangawhai. In 1867 Mr Hull purchased the 2420-acre (979-hectare) Unuwhao block, near Matakohe, on behalf of the Coates brothers, sponsored by their brother-in law George Charters.
Later in 1869 local chiefs leased 10,410 acres (4212 hectares) to Edward and Thomas Coates with the rights to purchase a 1060-acre (429-hectare) portion. Initially living in a shack on the eastern edge of the block they later built a four-roomed house and stable.
In June 1871 the brothers purchased a 294-acre (119-hectare) portion of the Hukatere block. With the new land secured, Thomas Coates made arrangements for his fianc?e Elizabeth Phillips, a schoolteacher in Gloucestershire to come to New Zealand. They were married in 1873 and Thomas took his new wife to Matakohe where a new house named Te Kawau was built for the couple.
Thomas and Edward continued to work the Unuwhao property together and Thomas established an orchard on the Te Kawau property.
In 1877 Edward Coates married Eleanor Aickin and they moved to the newly erected Ruatuna, perched on the hill above the Rua Tuna Stream. This house was located in 297 acres (120 hectares) of the Hukatere block that was leased from Maori until its purchase in 1886.
In 1878 the first of Edward and Eleanor's seven children arrived, delivered by Edward himself. Thomas and Elizabeth were already the proud parents of three children with six more to follow.
By now Edward and Thomas Coates were well integrated into the community and their influence on New Zealand history had begun.
In 1886 Edward left Te Kawau to pursue the timber trade at Pukekaroro. He remained a "sleeping" partner in the farm until 1900 when he sold his share in Unuwhao to his brother.
Thomas died in 1905, his widow and two sons continued to farm the property until their deaths. Under the terms of Eleanor's will Ada inherited the farm along with her sister Dolly in 1935. Dolly died in 1947 and Ada along with her niece Joy Aiken continued to farm the property until Ada's death in 1976. Joy eventually retired in 1996 selling the farm to the Historic Places Trust in 1997.
* Coates grandchildren gather for reunion
Six of the surviving grandchildren of Thomas and Edward Coates were present at the recent family reunion.
Pictured are Beatrice Foote, Hamish Neale, Mary Ashford, and Margaret Rambaud, who are Thomas's grandchildren, while Pat McCulloch and Coreen Patterson are Edward's. Mrs Rambaud's wedding dress and her mother and grandmother's wedding dresses are currently on display in the Boarding House of the Kauri Museum.
Mrs McCulloch is the daughter of the first New Zealand-born Prime Minister Gordon Coates.
She married an American and left New Zealand 65 years ago but remembers vividly staying with her grandmother at Ruatuna, the home where her father was born.
Her cousin Coreen, daughter of Gordon's brother Rodney, married Jim Patterson and has lived locally almost all her life.
Mrs Patterson recalls her grandmother's flower gardens, her aunt Dolly's bees, the wool shed and Dutch barn with a roof that could be raised or lowered by turning a handle and the numerous tennis parties and dances held at Ruatuna homestead.
The cousins are all in their eighties apart from Mr Neale who is 92.