ROBYN PARKES
On the corner of Bateup Rd and Appleby Highway, there once stood three bluegum trees, locally giving the corner the name of Three Brothers Corner, but what is the story behind the name?
In 1844, Richard Hyland, born in County Mayo around 1824, migrated to Nelson via the ship Caledonia.
In 1849, Richard married Elizabeth Brown, daughter of Henry and Sarah Brown, who arrived in Nelson in 1842 on board the ship Bolton.
The couple settled in Waimea East where Richard began farming, and their first child John was born in 1850.
Between 1851 and 1875 another 16 children were born, although not all of them in Waimea East.
Richard and Elizabeth lost three young children, Henry, Mary Jane and Ellen.
As a memorial to each child, a bluegum was planted on the corner of their land.
The trees became known as ‘the brothers’, giving the corner its name of Three Brothers Corner. There was a fourth child who died, and another tree was planted, but did not survive.
The first of the trees was felled in May 1935 with plans made to bring down the remaining two during the winter. This was later held in abeyance lasting until 1956, when the final trees were felled, but the name remains in the memory of locals.
Another two big bluegums that stood as landmarks in Richmond were the Otterson gums. Francis Otterson arrived in New Zealand in 1842, becoming a prominent politician and magistrate in Nelson.
After living for a time in Nelson, Otterson purchased an estate of 100 acres on Queen St, Richmond, which he called Rostrevor. The homestead once stood on what is now Oakwoods Retirement Village.
In the 1850s, Otterson planted a grove of bluegums on Lower Queen St, today being just outside the grounds of the A & P Association.
They grew into large trees with eventually only two left standing, towering over the road, silently witnessing over 100 years of activity and history and recognised as ‘landmarks’.
In later years, the trees were said to be dangerous and became the subject of multiple complaints, dropping branches onto the footpath and road.
In 1942, public were informed that the trees days were numbered and were to be felled, bringing a huge outcry from residents.
Thankfully, in March the following year the A & P Association and council met and agreed not to cut them down, but to remove branches that were overhanging the road and neighbours. However, this was only delaying the inevitable. The trees were regularly pruned and cared for, but in October 2005 the last of the bluegums was felled following concern about the public’s safety and decay in the tree.
The tree was around 158 years old, had a height of at least 40 metres and a girth of 26 feet. What remains today is the stump of the once proud Tasmanian bluegum.
