Catherine Crescent

The residents of Catherine Crescent enjoy spectacular views over the northern coastline. They also look down on bustling Port Taranaki.

In 1918 new port engineer J Blair Mason outlined ambitious expansion plans for the port, including new wharves and extensions to the breakwater. As a result, local landowner Robert Scott developed plans for a new subdivision, Port View, on the slopes of Mount Moturoa. When the proposals for the port were scaled back plans for the subdivision were quietly shelved.

Robert Scott was born in South Canterbury in 1867.

He moved to Hawke's Bay in his teens, where he gained prominence as a champion blade shearer. Robert married Kate Catherine Fahey in 1894 and the couple had three children - William, Arthur and Kathleen. In 1907 the family moved to Taranaki. They lived at Ōhura and Ahitītī before buying a farm in Moturoa. This would, in time, become home to the Port View subdivision.

Sadly, Kate Scott died on May 18, 1933, aged 68, at her home in Breakwater Road. Although her husband, Robert, lived for another 20 years, he did not live to see work begin on Port View either. When, in the late 1950s, New Plymouth urgently needed more residential land, plans for the development resurfaced.

At the suggestion of Kathleen Delicich, daughter of Robert and Kate Scott, the New Plymouth City Council decided to use the street names from the original plans.

This made the choice of Scott, Findlay and Simons streets quite straightforward.

However, the updated plans included a short cul-de-sac on the northern slopes. As a tribute to her late mother, Kathleen Delicich suggested that the new road be named Catherine Crescent.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.

Related plan:

Port View Estate (1928) DP5074, ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)