Thursday 7 January 2021

Okaihau settlers memorial 1868





During Winter last year after we came out of our national lockdown before I started working I visited the nearby town of Okaihau. A tiny settlement, the name of "Okaihau" means "place of feast of the winds" and at the time of the 2018 census the population was 1,236 people. 

This memorial in front of the rugby club commemorates the first settlers to the area who arrived in 1868 from Canada.  



Linking up with Skywatch Friday.

20 comments:

Tom said...

...this is history that we never learned about in school.

Tigger's Mum said...

Nice piece of research. Imagine what it must have been like to be a settler!

Susan Heather said...

That is so interesting. I have not seen the memorial.

Pauline said...

Hi Amy, Interesting that the first Okaihau settlers came from Canada. Were they Scottish who came via Nova Scotia like the first settlers of Waipu?

Billy Blue Eyes said...

Odd looking memorial for the settlers. You lucky to have come out of lockdown we have just started our third

Amy said...

Interesting you say that, I was thinking that as well but I could'nt find anything on line to verify it so I'll have to do some more digging, you're probably right.

At Home In New Zealand said...

It must have been so hard for some of the early settlers.
Speaking about them coming from Scotland, the name Michie is Scottish so they may well have originated from there.

Graham Edwards said...

Certainly the name Michie is an old Scots name and the families bearing that name that I know of came from the area North of Aberdeen.

Jim said...

Great memorial.

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

Very interesting. Early settlers everywhere had it fough it seems.

eileeninmd said...

The memorial is interesting. I wonder where we would all be if not for the settlers.
Take care, enjoy your day! Happy weekend to you!

Vicki said...

Interesting, thanks for sharing!

Spare Parts and Pics said...

Really interesting history. Sounds like things have changed tremendously (doesn't look like dense forest any more!). I wonder what a corduroy road is?

Amy said...

So apparently a corduroy road is a type of road or timber trackway made by placing logs, perpendicular to the direction of the road over a low or swampy area. The result is an improvement over impassable mud or dirt roads, yet rough in the best of conditions and a hazard to horses due to shifting loose logs.

Iris Flavia said...

A nice story. I wish we had this here, also. Well, with some we do! Polish, Asian people are no problem :-)
Oh, and here is the recipe:

The onion cake is easy, you need:

- ca 350 g onions (of course, LOL)
- 200 g almond flour (or any other, I guess)
- 3 eggs
- 1 TS psyllium (don´t think it´s essential)
- 100 g ham/Prosciutto (whatever you like)
- 150 g curd cheese (20%)
- 150g Crème fraîche
- 100 g cheese (cheddar or such)
- Salt/Pepper/oil/butter.

Here is a video on how to make it.

First the dough:
Mix the almond flour (I took less, some 150g) with 2 of the eggs (in the video they show one, you will need two), the psyllium and salt, mix well, then fill it in a buttered form and bake for 10 minutes at 180C.

Cut the onions (half and then just slices), cook in a pan with oil till golden. I also added white wine. Because I had it... add salt and pepper, of course, just choose when.
Add the cut meat.
Then... well I mixed it first, the curd cheese and Crème fraîche, add.
Next 80 g or such of the shredded cheese.
Mix all that and put it in the form.
Top it with the rest of the shredded cheese and bake for another 20 minutes at 180C.

Let it cool down a bit (essential for the taste of the onions).
Enjoy :-)

I think most people have a white wine with it (I just need that for cooking and have a beer).

Iris Flavia said...

Oh, I have to add, sorry:
cut all the other stuff first and frying the onions took (me) more than 10 minutes, too, and you don´t want to waste energy on the oven...

Amy said...

Thank you, I'm going to make that and it's gluten free - even better!

Bill said...

Great memorial and a nice story about the first settlers.

Sharon said...

A very nice memorial for these settlers. New Zealand has seen settlers from very far away places.

Lady Fi said...

What a lovely name!

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