Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Former sports stars on display at Marton and District Historical Society for Rangitikei Heritage Weekend

Jesse King
By Jesse King
Reporter·Whanganui Chronicle·
19 May, 2019 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Pat Hayman and The Marton and District Historical Society put on a display of Marton's former sports stars as part of Rangitikei Heritage Weekend. Photo / Bevan Conley

Pat Hayman and The Marton and District Historical Society put on a display of Marton's former sports stars as part of Rangitikei Heritage Weekend. Photo / Bevan Conley

A historical cottage surrounded by scaffolding and in desperate need of a new coat of paint sits on Marton's Wellington St.

Behind the cottage is a building that was once a jail and backing on to that is an old stable containing a large wooden horse cart.

Then you pass the workshop, the fox room and the fusilier room before arriving at the final building - the records room, full of thousands of photos and documents.

The Marton and District Historical Society was open all day Saturday and Sunday as part of Rangitikei Heritage Weekend, an event that happens every May.

"Every year has a theme and this year it's sports," treasurer Pat Hayman said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"One museum's going in for rugby, one's going in for their marching band, but we've done a board because we have had some famous sportspeople from Marton."

Museums from Bulls, Marton, Hunterville, Mangaweka and Taihape participated in and celebrated the event as they are all a part of the Rangitikei Heritage Group.

One prominent figure on display in the records room was long distance runner Gordon Bromley who won five national marathon titles.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Born in Scotts Ferry in 1916, Bromley spent most of his life in Marton and placed seventh at the 1950 British Empire Games. He died in 2006 aged 89.

Hayman said Bessie Fullerton-Smith was another important part of Marton's history with sport.

"She represented us in Australia, England and France and she won all sorts of stuff as a golf player.

"She only died a few years ago and she was 101."

Discover more

Reforestation in the pipeline for Marton dams

20 May 10:44 PM
Lifestyle

Best of 2019: Whanganui woman graduates with Master of Nursing while raising five children and working fulltime

03 Jan 11:11 PM

Mae finally hangs up the towel

18 May 12:34 AM

Car flips on Puriri St in Whanganui suburb Gonville

17 May 12:09 AM

Fullerton-Smith was also a keen horsewoman, riding in hunts from the early 1940s until the 1990s.

Notable clubs on display were the Marton Bowling Club and the Marton Cricket Club.

"The Marton Cricket Club has been going since 1875, but when they started they had to go to Wellington to play games and it took them four days on horseback," Hayman said.

"The bowling club's been going since 1906. I'm amused, I said 'was the uniform in those days that you always had to have the same moustache and beard'."

The Marton and District Historical Society has a committee of eight and approximately 60 members who are mostly in their 70s, 80s and 90s.

As well as upgrades to the historical cottage and jail, which will require some help from grants, Hayman is on a mission to find young new members.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Hayman said Saturday had been quiet, but the people that had come through were all interesting, with a combination of researchers and new faces dropping by.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Body of missing man found

Whanganui Chronicle

End of the line for former St George's School buildings

Whanganui Chronicle

Netball: Kaierau edge Pirates in thrilling Premier 1 clash


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Body of missing man found
Whanganui Chronicle

Body of missing man found

Kahu Gill's body was recovered near the Cobham Bridge on July 14.

16 Jul 08:34 PM
End of the line for former St George's School buildings
Whanganui Chronicle

End of the line for former St George's School buildings

16 Jul 06:00 PM
Netball: Kaierau edge Pirates in thrilling Premier 1 clash
Whanganui Chronicle

Netball: Kaierau edge Pirates in thrilling Premier 1 clash

16 Jul 05:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP