More Info →Stephen Charles Hartley

Mr Hartley was an early trader and ropemaker in the Manawatu District, settling at Pohuetangi (near the present town of Shannon) about 1845. He is traditionally credited with being the first European to see the Papaiōea clearing, in which the settlement of Palmerston North was later surveyed. Stephen moved down river to "Hartley's Bend" below Foxton about 1875 and settled in Palmerston North about three years later. He was a well-known Licensed Maori Interpreter until his death in 1897.