History

The Thackers of O'Kains Bay

The Thacker Family have a long history with this bay. The prodigious J. E. Thacker was an early sawmiller, who was responsible for much of the early clearing, and transformation of the land. His descendant, Murray Thacker established a Maori and Colonial Museum that includes an extensive collection of Maori artifacts.

Okains Bay itself, remains a quiet unspoilt part of Banks Peninsula. The broad sandy beach still has remnants of an old wharf from days gone by, and the volcanic rock on either side of the bay hides many caverns and crevices.

Largely unchanged in recent times, most of the settlements in the bay date from Victorian times, like most of the families here too. Your hosts at Rowandale for example, Angela and Luis Thacker are fifth generation descendants.

But what of the name "Okains Bay", well, it is generally accepted to be a corruption of 'Okens Bay', a name appearing on the earliest French and British charts.

Rowandale homestead is set among established trees, including rowans after which the homestead is named, with large rolling lawns and a formal white garden. Of a tripled bricked design, construction began in 1908, using bricks made on site and clay roof tiles. Eight years later, in 1916, the home was completed, to a design by architect Cecil Woods.