The New Brandon

The whole family threw themselves into hard work, mostly of their own choosing. Clearing, burning, and planting went ahead, and whenever possible, they bought more stock—both sheep and cows—for the acres already in grass. The garden and orchard thrived, both from the careful cultivation and the shelter the trees afforded them.

From the time his family joined him, Francis was harvesting many fruits, and much of it was sold to the local market, where there was keen demand. Few people in those early years had the foresight to plant orchards, and so in 1857, Francis became the nurseryman of the district.

On December third, 1857, an advertisement appeared in the Whanganui Chronicle which spoke well for his efforts. Under the simple heading ‘Orchard’ appeared the following notice:

Francis Williamson begs to call attention to his apples, pears, plums, peaches, nectarines, cherries, also white dessert grape vines and beehive raspberries, specimens of which may be seen and orders taken at Messrs Taylor and Watts store, Taupo Quay.

Like most of the early pioneers who came from the ‘Old Country’, the Williamsons were all lovers of trees. They planted the trees of ‘England’ in place of many of the New Zealand trees. In fact, large groves of English trees grew amongst or beside the lovely natives.

One of the loveliest of those trees, an Aspin Poplar brought out as a cutting in 1852 by Alexander Williamson, still stands as a magnificent memorial to the family. Its height is one hundred and thirty feet; its circumference, four feet from the base, is twenty-five feet. But this is only one of the many wonderful trees growing there.

Planting never ceased. It continued over the years, including both fine British and Australian species, and beneath them were carpets of violets and masses of bulbs to create an English setting. Amongst the plantings were trees that could not be expected to outlive those who were busy planting them. There was Magnolia Grandiflora, Lombard Poplars, Norfolk Pines, Deodars, Bunya Bunya, Monkey Puzzle, Holly, a Yew tree, Mulberries, a Plane tree, Camellias, and fruit trees, including a whole line of figs.

If you were to visit Brandon today, you would find most of these—now giants—and still producing fruit.