Butler's Point

Butler Point: Colonial Store

Project Background

Captain William Butler

Captain Butler(1814-1875) married Eliza Merritt and moved to Mangonui permanently in February 1840. In 1845 Captain William Butler bought 20 acres of land in Butler Point and by 1848 was settled in and living on the premises. During his time in Mangonui, Captain Butler ran his store, was a Justice of the Peace and for a short period a member of Parliament. AFter resigning from Parliament he went back to working at the store and trading with chips that came in. Finally, on March 4th, 1875, due to an accident he had a year earlier that severely damaged his chest William Butler died at the age of 61.

Proof of a Store

• In her book "The Butler House, Mangonui 1847-1990", Janice Mongford notes that there was a store on the foreshore during Butler's time.
• 1986 Site Report by Joan Maingay that site N7/326 was the possible location of this store

Historical Records

• A watercolor done by John Kinder in 1858
• Sketch of the foreshore by Henry Wynard
• An Advertisement for Butler's Store in "The Daily Southern Cross"

Location and Date

• Excavation N7/326
• Butler Point, Northland Region, New Zealand
• February 6-22, 1999

Excavators

Project Directors:

Tane McManus,Harry Allen

Archaeologists

• James Robertson
• Joan Maingay
• Brenda Sewell
• Greg Walters
• Stuart Hawkins

Other contributers:

• Rod Wallace-Technical Director
• Geoffrey Irwin
• Tim Mackrell-Photographer
• Charles Lindo, Leticia Ferguson- Property Owners

Methodology

• Excavation 2-3 weeks
• Materials taken back to the university and analyzed--cleaning, sorting, restoring
• Artefacts Documented and reported on
• Artefacts dated and linked to historical context

Findings

Glass

Unidentified Glass

The majority of the glass found at the site fell into this category. Most of the unidentified glass found was in areas one and three. Area four also contained a large amount of unidentified glass.