Mangawhai historical account a must-have

Author Bev Ross, a descendant of four pioneering families, has spent much of her life absorbing stories of times past and vowed to document and verify these in book form for us all to share.

Ripples from the River is described by Bev as a history of those who sailed into the river and created ripples, while their arrival and actions connected surrounding districts of Mangawhai.

Covering early Maori activity and European settlement from 1840s onward through several generations, her extensive research has drawn heavily on oral histories and newspaper items of the time. The contributions of many whose roots lie in the soils of Mangawhai ensures that it is a book to be treasured by anyone whose ancestors contributed to community of the time. You need only to open this book at any page to have story revealed. Page 139 for example. A wharf for Mangawai, 1875, our correspondent writes:

"Mangawai being the only outlet by water for a very large district where a considerable trade is caried on between it and Auckland, and settlers having been residernt for fifteen or sixteen years, it is high time that the settlers and store keepers should bestir themselves and cause to be erected, that extremely necessary adjunct to every port vis a wharf, when an immense amount of time and labour would be saved, and a much less quantity of goods damaged by water and breakage...."

This first reprint of Ripples from the River has a stronger binding and also includes corrected errors. With the opening of the new museum this year, this is one book every Mangawhai resident should peruse in order to better understand and appreciate our community.

■ Ripples from the River, by B.C. Ross. First published 2011, reprinted 2013. $79.99 from Books and Gifts, Wood St, Mangawhai.