An early photo of Hastings, showing the Railway Hotel on the left of the photo in the early 1880s. Photo / Michael Fowler Collection
An early photo of Hastings, showing the Railway Hotel on the left of the photo in the early 1880s. Photo / Michael Fowler Collection
Opinion by Michael Fowler
OPINION
A bold claim was made by Napier auctioneer Edward Lyndon on June 7, 1873 ‒ that 100 acres (40.4ha) of valuable agricultural land, to be sold on July 8 in 198 lots from quarter of an acre to five acres (1ha to 2.02ha) would form a township that “will,at no distant day become THE CAPITAL OF THE PROVINCE”.
Commenting on the claim made by Lyndon ‒ and aware of auctioneer “puffery”, the Hawke’s Bay Herald hoped the claim of a nearby capital to Napier wouldn’t be realised, as shifting their office out to Karamu would be “a rather expensive operation”. (The Hawke’s Bay Herald went to Hastings soon after the February 3, 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake, and is now part of its ancestor paper, Hawke’s Bay Today.)
The land referred to was owned by Francis Hicks, who had opportunistically given the railways 1.5 acres (.61ha) of his land at Upper Karamu to site a railway station and goods yard at a place of their choosing on his land.
His 101.5 acres (41ha) had been planted in 2500 forest and fruit trees, and an artesian well sunk, but when he heard the railway was to pass through the Karamu junction, the opportunity to have the railway station on his land, and then build a town around it by selling sections off, was too strong to resist.
The Herald announced on June 7, 1873, “The name of the new town is to be ‘Hastings’. We hear it now for the first time; it will no doubt be familiar enough to us before the months are over.”
While there has – and to this day – been a persistent belief that before Hastings was named, the land Hicks owned was called “Hicksville” ‒ but it was never officially known as this. This area of the Heretaunga block was called “Karamu”, and Hick’s land was at “Upper Karamu”. Historian J G Wilson claims that in the deed of transfer for the land to the railways, that the town was stated to be Hicksville, but any other mentions of the location at this time refer to Karamu.
Francis Hicks, the founder of Hastings, not 'Hicksville'. Photo / Hastings District Council
Thomas Tanner who sold the land to Hicks, claimed credit in 1884 for naming the town Hastings, after Warren Hastings, who like established towns Napier, Clive and Havelock were named for prominent governors or military men associated with the British rule of India in the 1800s.
The Hicks auction went over two days, over July 8 and 9, and he was in a generous state, providing a champagne party at night on the first day, and for lunch the next day. He was right to be, as the land that he bought three years earlier for £3 an acre, was sold for £46 an acre.
Names of the streets in his subdivision were typically Victorian – Queen, King, Nelson, Market St, and Avenue Rd. St Aubyn St was named after the English seaside location.
The first store in Hastings was on the former ANZ bank site on the corner of Heretaunga St and Karamu Rd, and operated by his nephew, Tobias Hicks, who was appointed postmaster at Karamu in February 1872.
Frederick Sutton paid the highest price of £97 for a section for a hotel, that would be named Railway Hotel.
Francis Hicks, having made his fortune from the sale, went to an area close to Cambridge, Waikato, and bought 700 acres of land to farm – and it is a shame Hastings lost such an enterprising settler, as he did well in Waikato.
Other landowners saw the success of Francis Hicks’ auction, and in August, neighbouring property owner James Boyle subdivided his land for sale – Hastings, the “City of the Plains”, was on its way.
Michael Fowler is a Hastings-based historian. He will be taking special walking tours around the Hastings CBD on Saturday, July 8 for the 150th anniversary of the founding of Hastings. The 9.45am tour has sold out, and a new tour added for 2pm. Book at www.eventfinda.co.nz
