Descendants of Jock McGregor at his memorial stone in its new location. Photo / Bevan Conley
Descendants of Jock McGregor at his memorial stone in its new location. Photo / Bevan Conley
The memorial stone for John “Jock” McGregor has been moved to accommodate developments at Te Pūwaha - the city’s port redevelopment.
McGregor was Whanganui’s first European settler.
His descendants gathered in town this week to commemorate his life and watch the stone be moved further up the Whanganui River -under the watchful eye of Cashmore Contracting.
Kahurangi Simon, a member of hapū representative group Te Mata Pūau, told guests that McGregor worked alongside Chief Te Peehi Tūroa, whose descendent Hayden Tūroa was now leading the Te Pūwaha project.
“It is very fitting to have the McGregor family as part of this,” Simon said.
McGregor family spokesperson Aarona McGregor said Jock arrived in New Zealand from Scotland.
“He built his own boats, and a schooner named Surprise was his first one.
“He was in Wellington when [Edward Jerningham, New Zealand Company agent and explorer] Wakefield was looking for a ship to transport him to Whanganui [in 1840]. No one would dare because of the sand bar, and all the boats that had tried had sunk.
“Jock took up the challenge.”
Cashmore Contracting workers carefully move the stone up Tregrenna Street. Photo / Bevan Conley
Aboard the Surprise were Wakefield, chiefs Te Kurukanga, Tōpine Te Mamaku and Te Kiri Karamū, Captain Edward Chaffers and John Brook.
With the help of a chief who climbed the mast to guide him through the sand, Jock and his passengers made it over the bar unscathed, Aarona McGregor said.
Jock went on to become a friend to the chiefs in the area and continued to trade between Whanganui and Wellington.
“He married a South Island princess, Hinekawa, who he helped escape from Te Rauparaha, and they had one son named Teone.”
Aarona McGregor said Teone was taken by another chief to an area near Foxton and his father didn’t see him for many years.
“By the time he saw his son again, Teone had 20 kids of his own.
“Because he was white, Jock became Santa Claus to all his grandchildren. They didn’t realise who this old man was who showed up every Christmas with a wagonload of stuff.”
Jock McGregor eventually opened the Rob Roy Hotel, which became the Red Lion and is now The Cobb and Speedway Garage, and owned Cherry Bank Farm at Okoia.
He died in 1881.
While in Whanganui, Aarona McGregor said the family would also be visiting Jock’s headstone on Heads Road and the Whanganui Regional Museum, where a lot of his ancestor’s artefacts were on display.
He said the issue of naming a street after Jock was raised when the stone was first put in place, in 2006.
“It just died, but what a good kaupapa [topic] to raise again.
