Baines Terrace

Baines Terrace runs alongside the Huatoki Stream between Redcoat Lane and Vivian Street. It is unformed and forms part of the Huatoki Walkway.

It was named after John Baines, a member of the Plymouth Company’s survey party which arrived on the Brougham from Wellington in 1841. The party was led by the surveyor Frederic Carrington, the man responsible for planning the layout of New Plymouth.

Although not a great deal is known about Baines, Carrington does mention him in letters back to England written in 1842. It’s possible they were acquainted before the expedition and that Carrington may have hand-picked him to assist with the first survey.

Carrington reports that Baines was made the overseer of the labourers on arrival and later appointed as an assistant surveyor at a salary of £150 per annum plus rations. Carrington also writes that “Mr Baines has been so unsettled with his regard to him remaining here or returning to England”.

Other than sketchy reports that he had set up a store and possibly a hotel, his name disappears from the records after about 1844. Perhaps the restlessness Carrington wrote about surfaced once again and he returned to England.

An important landmark along Baines Terrace are the remains of the Alpha Flour Mill. New Plymouth’s first flour mill, it was built by Samuel Oliver and operated between 1843 and 1880. Mill stones and remnants of the dam are still visible along the bank of the Huatoki Stream.

Although there is nothing now to mark the location of Baines Terrace, proof of its existence can be seen on Carrington’s early map of New Plymouth held in the archives at Puke Ariki.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.