Stone Wharf, Ferry Landing

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The oldest stone wharf in New Zealand was built by Gordon Davies Browne. Browne was a Sydney timber merchant who made land purchases in New Zealand in the 1830s. In c.1836 he established a timber mill, shipbuilding yard and wharf at Ferry Landing on behalf of Ranulph Dacre, a merchant based on the Mahurangi River. This was the first permanent European settlement on The Coromandel. After several years of poor health Browne died in the Bay of Islands in 1842. The wharf is still in use and was built from local stone. The timber mill was in the vicinity of the present carpark.