About Robert Young Kernohan.The bare facts are noted.The following information is additional.
Robert was the only son of JOHN and ELIZA Kernohan.He had twin sisters,Ellen and Agnes; their baptisms are noted in the registers of the 1st Church,Ahoghill.
Robert decided to emigrate to New Zealand in 1878.New Zealand was not an unknown destination for an Ulsterman;many have achieved distinction including John Ballance and William Massey,both prime ministers. Robert,when he left,was seventeen years old.(His sister,Ellen,followed him in 1879 on the ship 'Fernglen')
Robert voyaged on the emigration barque 'Hermione' which left from Queenstown (Cobh)for Wellington and New Plymouth.The trip was uneventful.The passenger list which denoted his status-assisted immigrant- and occupation-farm labourer,gives no further details.His obituary in 1927 mentions that he had travelled with kinsfolk but these if any are unknown nor are his sponsors/referees.On his arrival at New Plymouth,he secured immediate employment but soon after he moved north to the Northern Wairoa district.He became what was later called a 'Kauri Bushman'.The cutting and milling of the Kauri (Agathis australis) a magnificent tree,was then and for the next forty years,a major industry in the 'far north' and provided New Zealand with its first international company,The Kauri Timber Co.However Robert as a young man contracted for The Mitchelson Timber Co which had its mill at Aoroa on the Northern Wairoa River.Eventually Robert employed a gang of up to fifty 'bushmen' felling the kauri and floating it in rafts down to the mill at Aoroa.The Kernohan name is marked on his government concession for logging in the Mangakahia Block-lands and Survey Department cadastral map, North Auckland division.
Having cut out this section Robert obtained a Crown Lease later freeholded over much of the former bushland to convert it in to a farm.He is then denoted on the electoral rolls from 'contractor' to 'settler'-at Houto an isolated district to the west of Whangarei and rather closer,timewise,to Dargaville the largest milling centre.
At this point,after about twenty years 'in the bush',Robert married,built a large house,still standing, in Whangarei and with his wife,Cecilia,became the father of seven,four boys and three girls.Large families were then common.He also entered local body politics and local affairs.
The following is not exhaustive.The then longest serving member of the Whangarei County Council;A member of the initial Wairoa-Whangarei Hospital Board and the first chairman of the newly established Whangarei Hospital Board; a member of the Whangarei Harbour Board.He was appointed as a Justice of the Peace.
A primary interest was racing.He was for many years a committee member and steward of the Whangarei Racing Club and separately the Whangarei Trotting Club.
He had continual public support in his promotion and interest in his Council roles especially securing the addition of much of the Mangakahia district into the Whangarei County.His local government activities sometimes excited controversy,publicised by the local newspaper,'The Northern Advocate' which once editorialised that he was not a fit man to be in politics,but on his eventual retirement mentioned his outstanding service to the public as well as a fulsome obituary.
Politically,he belonged to the Liberal Party of Ballance and later Ward which was socially 'progressive' as opposed to the Reform Party,headed by Massey (a confirmed Ulsterman !) and in the 1918 election was the chairman of the local Liberal party.(Reform won the Marsden seat.) I do not think that he maintained any direct and immediate contact with his homeland.But there are a couple of indications of awareness.In 1911 a group of INP politicians ,the 'envoys',headed by Redmond jr. toured New Zealand.Robert with others was on a welcoming committee to host Hazleton, (Redmond and Donovan were the other two) when he visited Whangarei.Whether this was a support of Home Rule or just a matter of local courtesy is not known-Massey was a Unionist- but Home Rule which New Zealand had had since the New Zealand Constitution Act of 1852(UK) had general and popular support in New Zealand and Australia.In 1921 during the 'troubles' Robert mentioned to his family that a workplace during his youth,Galgorm Castle,owned by the Young family of Unionist fame,had been arsoned.Robert obviously followed Irish politics.
He died in 1927.Obituaries appeared in the 'New Zealand Herald','The Auckland Star'.and the local 'Northern Advocate'.
He has many descendants,but the surname, Kernohan, of his family no longer exists in New Zealand.
Not bad for a 17 year old!
