Outhwaite family (Auckland)
They made substantial contributions to the legal, administrative, musical, literary, artistic, social and sporting life of the city.
Their influence still continues, especially in respect of their donation of two areas of land in the central Auckland suburb of Grafton which are now Outhwaite Park and St Peter's College.
[2] Thomas Outhwaite was formally appointed by Lord John Russell of the Colonial Office as Registrar of the Supreme Court (now the High Court of New Zealand)[3] and was the first person to hold that position (apart from Robert Fitzgerald, a planter from the West Indies who had, without the permission of the Colonial Office, just been appointed by Governor Hobson and who resigned in favour of Outhwaite[3]) which he took up on 1 January 1842.
For example, in 1874, he purchased William Swainson's "upper paddock" next to St Stephen's Chapel, Judges Bay and this area was cut up into numerous small building allotments.
[12] Thomas Outhwaite delivered a lecture on 23 May 1843 on the History of Music with the principles he expounded being illustrated by the Philharmonic Society.
[14] Most of this property was subdivided over the years and sold off although a parcel of land on the south side of Khyber Pass Road was gifted by Isa Outhwaite to the Catholic Church and is now the location of St Peter's College.
The remaining portion of the family property included the family house on the corner of Carlton Gore Road and Park Road was gifted to the Newmarket Borough Council as a public amenity, and after the demolition of the house, Outhwaite Park was laid out, retaining as many of the mature specimen trees as possible.
He was educated in Auckland (at St Peter's School) and in Paris; he was, for a period, associate to Sir George Arney, Chief Justice of New Zealand.
[17] "Although a keen sportsman, yachtsman and cricketer, an accomplished musician and a lover of literature, Mr. Outhwaite was of a retiring disposition, taking no part in public life, yet generously interested in the advancement of his country and the well-being of its people.
William Eugene Outhwaite (B.A., Oxon., Barrister-at-Law of the Inner temple) was born in Auckland in 1847[19] He spent some of his early child life in Paris and London.
The libretto, which was written in poetic form, was considered to "have no mean literary merit" (e.g. Weird as the wind in forest pines,/Loud as the dashing, surging sea/Sweet as the bell-bird's matin song/Swell our paeons of harmony).
[25] Louise, Victorine, Isa, Charles and William Outhwaite are interred in the Catholic section of Waikaraka Cemetery, Onehunga.
[27] The blessing was carried out by Monsignor David Tonks, on behalf of Bishop Patrick James Dunn, Catholic Bishop of Auckland, and in the presence of representatives of St Peter's College ("about two dozen boys" who performed the St Peter's College haka at the blessing), the Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion, and the Anglican Church of Aotearoa.
