Veale Road

The name Veale Road is a link to a family on one of the original settler ships that came to New Plymouth.

John and Hannah Veale, with several of their adult children, arrived in New Plymouth on the Amelia Thompson in September 1841. The family were very industrious and soon well-known in New Plymouth commerce. John initially bought land in the town block.

He also purchased rural land on the outskirts of town, in what later became known as Frankleigh Park. Although he and Hannah died in the 1850s, by then several members of his family had settled on the land. The road in the area appears on survey maps in the late 1800s but was unformed for many years. When land was eventually dedicated for the road, it was named after the Veale family, because of their long presence in the area.

As well as the various commercial activities, the name Veale was present in Borough Council politics and school boards.

Since the early 1970s, there has been a lot of subdivision of land on the road, for housing and lifestyle blocks.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.

Related items:

SO1733 Veale Road (1901), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki LT4799 Sheet 1 (1920), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki SO8220 Sheet 1 (1946), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)