Outhwaite Park was the site of the Outhwaite family home, “Eden Hill” for eighty years.  Thomas Outhwaite and his wife, Louise, arrived in Auckland aboard the Tyne in 1841 and a few years later bought this land, then an area of 4acreas extending from Carlton Gore Road to Khyber Pass Road.  They paid ₤175, buying it from George Larner who obtained it shortly before as a Crown grant for ₤64.

The Outhwaites built an elegant 2-storied house, kept horses and dogs, and planted an extensive garden.  Old letters tell of gathering baskets of peaches, figs and pears and of many beautiful trees.  It is likely that some of the original trees brought over from France by Madame Outhwaite are still growing today.  These include the two Olive trees along the back boundary fence, two Camellia and a Bay Laurel.  Volcanic activity contributed to the commanding view enjoyed from this site.  It is situated on the tuff ring surrounding the wide Domain crater, which exploded more than 60,000 years ago.

Thomas was born in Liverpool in 1805 although his burial stone states that he was from Ormeside Hall in Westmoreland.  Louise was born in Besancon in France in 1811 and had a family name of Rochet.  When the Outhwaites came to New Zealand, thinking they were coming to a primitive and dangerous place, they left their four year old daughter, Victorine in Paris with her grandmother.  They surely did not think that it would be 14 years till they saw her again. 

By the time they arrived in Auckland, Mrs Outhwaite was expecting another baby, and their daughter, Louisa (always called Isa) was born in 1842.  Two years later Charles Outhwaite was born, followed by William in 1847.  It was only when the family, with the three New Zealand born children, went to Europe on leave for two years from 1856-58, that they were reunited with Victorine.  She returned to New Zealand with them and lived here for the rest of her life.  William went to England, studies at Oxford (like his father) and qualified as a lawyer.  None of the rest of the family left New Zealand again.

Thomas was one of the 12 lawyers in New Zealand admitted when the Supreme Court opened in January 1842.  He was appointed Registrar of the Supreme Court and held many other official positions in ensuing years.

His hobby and great passion was for music.  He founded several early musical societies, including the Auckland Philarmonic Society, which were the precursors of the Choral Society.  He gave a weekly lecture on music at the Mechanics Institute, and organised concerts which were well attended and widely reported in the newspapers.

The Outhwaites were part of the social elite of early Auckland and attended Government House functions during the terms of a succession of Governors.  The Frenchness of the family set them apart.  They were all bilingual, and Madame Outhwaite’s French court gown brought a touch of Paris to the Auckland scene.  There were elegant receptions at “Eden Hill”, and Carlton Gore Road was lined with carriages of these occasions.  Sir William and Lady Martin and William Swainton who were fellow passengers on the voyage out remained close to the family all their lives.  Sir George Grey and many prominent Auckland settlers were friends of the family.

Mother Aubert was a French nun who was a close friend of the Outhwaite family, particularly Madame Outhwaite and her daughter Isa.  Mother Aubert lived with the Outhwaites for a period in the 1870s and the Outhwaites supported her financially and her Maori school in Auckland and Hawkes Bay.  She took her pupils to the Outhwaite family home in Grafton to see the gardens.  She and Madame Outhwaite collected pipis from the harbour and they would cook them outdoors in an old frying pan.  The two French women could be seen sitting outside cooking and enjoying a plate of pipis.  In the years she was at Jerusalem on the Wanganui River, she proved herself to be a teacher, nurse, pharmacist and writes.  It was there that she founded the Order of the Sisters of Compassion.

William became severely disabled with a complaint exacerbated by surgery in London in the 1870s.  After his return to New Zealand he always used crutches or a wheelchair, and his aunt, Ann Jane Outhwaite, Thomas’s sister, lived with the family and acted as Williams nurse.  Thomas died in 1879 at the age of 74, and his sister two years later.  They both rest in the little churchyard at St. Stephens, Parnell.  William died in 1900, and his mother Louise in 1905.

A fire partially destroyed the house and no repairs were made, but Victorine, Charles and Isa lived on in increasing disorder until1925 when old and ill, they died within months of each other.  Isa ensured that the house and garden were bequeathed to “the citizens of Newmarket for a park”.

Many other generous bequests were made in Isa’s will.  The island off the coast of Whangarei, Taranga, known as the Hen, which her father had bought in 1871, was left to the Crown for a bird sanctuary.  A great deal of family property including the land where St. Peter’s School now stands, was left to the Catholic Church and sums of money went to seven Auckland charities.  Archbishop Liston of Auckland knew the family in the 1920s.  He wrote:

“On coming to Auckland at the end of 1920 I came to know Charles Outhwaite and his two sisters very well…People of culture.  Charles, a musician of high quality, a recluse.  Miss Isa, a fine lady of fine intelligence, gracious ways, profound religious beliefs, devoted to charities, a friend of prisoners, Mt Eden, weekly visitor there, most generous to ex-prisoners, men and women in providing for their needs and finding work for them.  Disappointments – left her heart open.”

Isa Outhwaite was a significant landscape painter and has paintings in the Alexander Turnbull library in Wellington.  She was also a landscape gardener and designed the pubic park in Te Aroha

The house was demolished after Isa’s death, and the park had a chequered career.  At first it was tended carefully, but later when neglected and overgrown, rumours circulated about a resident ghost.  Mrs Ferner briefly established a children’s playground, but during the war the ground was dug up for air raid shelters.  It was not until the 1970s that the Mayoress of Newmarket, Mrs Sydney Lumsden, and an energetic women’s committee transformed the wilderness.  She said that the team collected enough wine bottles to fill a room.  They also renovated a small clubroom for the elderly of Grafton, built a new children’s playground and planted three totara trees in commemoration of the late Prime Minister, Norman Kirk.

As part of the Millennium celebrations, the Grafton Resident’s Association raised funds to erect a notice board at the park, which provides information of the park and its history.  One of the Totara trees that had died was also replaced.  The Park contains trees listed in the Auckland City Council District Plan – five English Oaks, a Cedar Deodar and a Nettle Tree.  Other fine trees include Karaka, Kohekohe, Puriri, Pohutukawa and Norfolk Pine.  Today, Outhwaite Park at the corner of Park Road and Carleton Gore Road in Grafton is one of Auckland’s most delightful open spaces.