By EUGENE BINGHAM
They arrived one day in the post from Abu Dhabi in the Middle East, two boxes of papers and diaries.
When Archives New Zealand staff began leafing through them, they discovered a lost chapter of history.
The documents proved to be personal insights of a man who stood centre-stage in New Zealand during the outbreak of the land wars, and other rare treasures such as papers signed by Queen Victoria.
The papers of Sir Thomas Gore Browne, Governor of New Zealand from 1855 to 1861, were donated by his great-great-granddaughter, Penelope Daly, who has always valued them, but decided that they should now be in experts' hands.
Last year, she packaged them up and sent them to Wellington from Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, where she is living.
For Archives appraisal manager Eamonn Bolger, the packages were an exciting discovery.
"When you open up a diary and you start reading the personal recollections of a guy who was the Governor here, it's quite extraordinary," he said.
Sir Thomas and Lady Harriet Gore Browne travelled around the world in the service of the British Empire. As well as New Zealand, Sir Thomas served in the Ionian Islands, Tasmania and St Helena.
The couple lived in New Zealand during its transition from a crown colony to responsible government.
Dr Gavin McLean, a historian at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, said Sir Thomas was in a central seat at an important time.
He was looking forward to reading the documents because there was not much material on the public record from Sir Thomas.
Mrs Daly said the papers were part of a family collection held at an estate in Africa when one of the Gore Brownes' grandsons, Sir Stewart Gore Browne, was alive.
"As a child, I recall the scary excitement of being allowed up into the attic," said Mrs Daly. "We had to climb up a wooden ladder, go through a hatch and up into the dark attic below the tiled roof.
"There was a wonderful smell of history. [Sir Stewart] had a real respect for history and preserving papers and kept not only his correspondence but papers from all over the place."
Mr Bolger said the papers included letters, manuscripts and bound diaries.
"The collection includes a significant quantity of correspondence between Harriet and Thomas, covering several different periods and locations," said Mr Bolger.
Records that relate to New Zealand will be retained by Archives. Others will be sent to other archive agencies around the world or returned to the family.
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