Awaroa Legacy

About Awaroa Legacy 

Awaroa Legacy tells the story of Lynette Wilson — co-founder of Wilsons Abel Tasman — and her family, beginning with her great-great-great grandfather, who arrived in New Zealand with the first official British settlement fleet to Nelson in 1841.  

Co-authored by historian and novelist Carol Dawber and Lynette Wilson, the book traces the lives of the first European farming families at Awaroa — a story deeply woven into the landscape of what is now Abel Tasman National Park. 

The first families of Awaroa

Lynette’s great-grandparents, William and Adele Hadfield, were the first European farmers in the Awaroa Inlet. 

In 1863, William and his brother Harry arrived to break in the land — tending stock, planting gardens and building boats. By 1878, they had brought their brides, Adele and Annie, back to Awaroa, where they raised their families in two remote households.

Together, they invested their hopes and dreams into the nineteen children who grew up in this isolated but remarkable place.

A changing landscape

By 1900 the world had changed, families had come and gone from Awaroa, there were sawmills, shops and schools and a new generation of Hadfields was ready to raise their own families.

However, poor granite soils and the economic depression in the 1930s dashed all hopes of a thriving settlement at Awaroa and the forest began to reclaim land broken in by the ill-fated settlers.

A place that endures

Today, our Meadowbank Homestead stands as a connection to that history — a place where the stories, challenges and lives of those early families are remembered.

Awaroa Legacy brings these stories to life, capturing both the personal journeys and the wider history of the area.

The legacy today

Abel Tasman National Park is now a place to slow down, reflect and reconnect — much as those early settlers experienced it, over a century ago.

The same beaches, bush and sense of quiet remain.

This is our Awaroa legacy.