New Zealand - View of Parawai, Thames - Distant view of Parawai, to the south of Thames, taken from a vantage point just below Totara Memorial Park - Circa 1962 - Gyde, Jack Photo Thames - A town at the southwestern end of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island - It is located on the Firth of Thames close to the mouth of the Waihou River. The town is the seat of the Thames-Coromandel District Council. - The Māori iwi are Ngāti Maru, who are descendants of Marutuahu's son Te Ngako. - Ngāti Maru is part of the Ngati Marutuahu confederation of tribes or better known as Hauraki Iwi. - Formed from two historic towns, Grahamstown and Shortland, of which many original buildings still stand. Shortland was to the south of Thames and was founded on 27 July 1867 when James Mackay, civil commissioner for the Hauraki District, concluded an agreement with local Māori. - The town was initially built during a gold rush, with the first major discovery of gold being made on 10 August 1867 by William Hunt, in the Kuranui Stream at the north end of Thames. - The subsequent mine produced more than 102,353oz bullion and was known as the Shotover. - The land involved in goldmining in Thames was Māori-owned; important parts of the goldfield were owned by the Ngāti Maru rangatira (chief) Rapana Maunganoa and the Taipari family. - In 1878, when Wiremu Hōterene Taipari married a woman of the Ngāti Awa tribe of Whakatāne, Ngāti Awa carvers arrived at Thames and built a meeting house at Pārāwai. (Reference: Wikipedia) ------------------------- Image source: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 931-082 https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/photos/id/61584