Thomas left, bearing Governor Fitzroys note for his
land, fully aware that he would be required to apply for proper title to
the Government Lands Office which had been set up, at a later date. The
schooner LUCIDAN, which he had re-possessed from the maori chiefs was
returned to them as he had been instructed.
In July,1845 to protect his interests, he began
posting notices around the boundaries of his land, threatening prosecution
for the cutting and taking of timber from the property without his
authority.
Purchasing a small cutter, Thomas employed men to cut
timber for firewood and sold this around the Auckland harbour and gulf.
His venture did not succeed and he was forced to sell off his timber at
auction to an old friend, David Nathan, at 2/6 per 100ft. At the end of
the month, Henry Macfarlane decided he would leave New Zealand and take up
residence in Honalulu, where he was later to become a high government
official.
Thomas Henderson [right] joined Henry's brother, John Macfarlane, in a
new partnership.
Aware of the large stands of kauri timber on his
land, which were well known in the shipping trade to make excellent spars
and masts, Thomas was determined to open a market for this. The firm
purchased the schooner ISABELL to carry timber, freight and passengers
around the Auckland harbour and gulf and north to the Bay of Islands.
Capital began to flow in again.
Mr. Henderson decided to sail to Sydney to
investigate the building up of trade between the two ports. Whilst there
he bought the 17 ton schooner JOHN BULL and brought her back to Auckland
with a general cargo. Loading up with pitsawn kauri timber, John
Macfarlane set sail for Hobart Town, Tasmania, where he hoped to find a
buyer.
Arriving he found the market depressed and could not
make a sale. He was offered an exchange of his cargo of timber for a
consignment of flour by a welknown trader. John decided to accept the deal
and on arrival back at Auckland the flour sold for a high price and made a
handsome profit.
Adding to the fleet another brigatine named the FANNY
they began to trade regularly between New Zealand and Australian ports.
Catherine Henderson was expecting her third child in New Zealand. Thomas
was presented with a daughter in 1844 whom they named Mary.
Using the profits of their trading and the flour
shipment, the partners decided to set up a timber mill. Henderson &
Macfarlane employed the services of a Canadian immigrant timber worker to
set up and build a Timber Mill at the junction of the two creeks running
through the land which became tidal into the Auckland harbour. The site
lay some 13 miles west of Auckland Township below the ranges.
Under John McLeod's management a large water wheel to
drive the saws and a dam was constructed, along with some small workers
cottages and a cookhouse. The beginnings of Henderson's Mill was taking
shape from the bush as the trees and scrub were cleared.
Large timber dams were built in the bush as the trees
were felled to retain the cut kauri logs before they were flushed down the
creeks to the mill.
In later years a steam engine was installed at the
Henderson Mill, which reached a cutting capacity of 9000 super feet of
timber per day.
Cutters from the fleet, the TRUSTY MILLER and TARTAR,
plied up the creek from the harbour to the mill bringing supplies for the
settlement and returning fully laden with cut timber to be loaded aboard
the schooner and brigatine for overseas cargo.
As production stepped up a community began to form.
Since the land was fertile, John McLeod suggested to Thomas that they
could begin farming the area. Fruit trees were planted together with
crops. A flock of sheep was brought in from Melbourne and a shepherd named
John MacLeod (a scotsman) employed to tend them.
Gradually the Delta farm, as it was called, supplied
the needs of the community. Crops of apples, pears and peaches, all grew
well in the rich riverbed soil, the surplus sent by cutter to the Auckland
markets.
In 1849, the partners loaded up two more vessels they
had purchased for the fleet, the brigatine's SUSAN and JOSEPHINE, with
timber from the mill. One was bound for California, the other for San
Francisco. Both found the American markets depressed and were forced to
sell off their timber at £12 per super feet.
Finding the Californian goldfields opening up, the
vessels returned to Auckland with general cargo and returned with a full
passenger compliment of goldminers from Australia and New Zealand, all
eager to seek their fortune.
The vessel FANNY, arriving at the goldfields with
miners and supplies, had barely tied up to
the wharf , before the entire crew deserted the ship along with the gold
hungry passengers. Thomas and Catherine had another son in April, 1848
whom they called Thomas jnr. after his father.
Barque ALICE CAMERON
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