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Thomas Lochhead married wife
Elizabeth Low in 1885 at Dunsandel south of Christchurch. He was born
in Canterbury and brought up in an atmosphere where Church and School were
important institutions. This ideal of a christian community was translated
throughout his life in his work in the Te Puna district.
The property was the area opposite the present Te Puna
School and having come from Canterbury, Thomas was an agriculturist,
growing and harvesting crops. He had five sons and four daughters. As well
as farming the 600 acres, Thomas Lochhead gave service to the district.
First chairman of the school committee, a school commissioner, hall
committee and local affairs he ensured the progress of his home district.
When the Post Office was in danger of discontinuing, he arranged for its
transfer to a hut on his property with members of his family staffing it.
He gave much enjoyment at local dances playing his Stradivarius violin.
In a wider sphere, he was Chairman of the Hospital Board and
of the Power Board from 1923 to 1932; a strong advocate of the farmer's
Union and the establishment of the Dairy Factory in Tauranga and was a
Justice of the Peace.
Thomas Lochhead gave 55 years of public service to both Te
Puna and Tauranga with the able support of wife and sons working the
farm.
Ref. Tauranga Historical Society The Tauranga Library holds Thomas Lochhead farming diaries - recording his years 1880 to 1940.
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Thomas had the wish to own his own land
and with his wife and family came to the Bay of Plenty in 1893.
Confiscated land was being made available to settlers and he walked from
Tauranga to Whakatane but the portion that took his eye was owned by
absentee owners and it took him 6 months a acquire ownership. The only
other European families at Te Puna were the Armstrongs and the Davidsons.
