Murdoch Street (Hāwera)

Murdoch Street snakes its way from Murray Avenue to Rata Street in Hāwera. The road was formed in the middle of the 1970s and named after John Bryson Murdoch, a long-serving chairman of the Hāwera County Council.

His father emigrated from Ayrshire, Scotland to Australia where John was born in 1872. The family then moved to New Zealand when Murdoch was a young boy and he was one of the first pupils at Okaiawa School. After leaving school he farmed with his father before buying his own farm near Toko. Once this was cleared and productive John moved back to South Taranaki, buying a farm at Okaiawa.  

Murdoch was elected to the Hāwera County Council in 1906 and eight years later succeeded Mr W. Goodman as chairman. He resigned from this position in 1919 to travel to England with his wife but returned to Taranaki the following year and was elected chairman again, a role he went on to hold for the next 27 years.

His assured leadership was in demand and Murdoch served as chairman of the South Taranaki Electric Power Board, the Taranaki Local Body’s Association and the New Zealand Rennet Company. The experienced farmer and businessman was also on the board of the T.J. Joll and Riversdale Dairy Companies, the Egmont Box Company and the South Taranaki Shipping Company.

John married Margaret Cameron in 1898 and the couple had two children, son Roy and daughter Ethel. Margaret died in 1935 and was described as a quiet person with little interest in public life. However, she was an avid gardener, a popular member of the Hawera Croquet Club and a foundation member of the Hāwera Women’s Club.

John Murdoch passed away on 2 June 1949, aged 76, and was buried alongside his wife at Hāwera Cemetery.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.