Reprint of New Plymouth history

Taranaki history buffs will be heading to New Plymouth bookstores this week for the second edition launch of the Tales Of old New Plymouth.

The book was written in 1991 for the city's 150th commemorations by the late Murray Moorhead, respected local author, artist and journalist.

Long since out of print, there were several inquiries about copies over the years, said Ormond Greensill, secretary of the Taranaki branch of the New Zealand Founders Society.

The society arranged for a re-issuing of the book, with 500 copies arriving back from the Christchurch printers last Friday to be distributed into local book stores. "We hope to catch the Christmas trade. It wasn't commercially motivated entirely, we wanted people to be able to access the book," Mr Greensill said.

The official launch will now be at Benny's Books in New Plymouth tomorrow at 11.15am.

Attending will be Mayor Peter Tennent and Mr Moorhead's widow, Eleanor Moorhead.

Tales of old New Plymouth is 112 pages plus index, outlining some of the great stories and photos from the early Taranaki settler period in the 1800s.

There are chapters like When the Haka Shook Brougham St, Here's A Church, There's A Church, Contraptions That Brought A Smile to the Public's Face, Murder Most Foul, The Ghosts of Old Prospectors May Linger Still, and He Saw The Light But Was It The Right One?

"We're pleased with it, the printers have done a good job. I think it will sell," he said.

Mr Moorhead was editor of several Taranaki community newspapers including the Midweek. He wrote two books about New Plymouth and North Taranaki, and another focusing on the 140-year history of the Wellington West Coast and Taranaki Regiment, with whom he served in the 1950s. He was a long-serving secretary for Taranaki Regional Committee of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust and secretary of the Taranaki branch of the New Zealand Founders Society.

Mr Moorhead received national awards from both those organisations, was a life member of the New Zealand Army Association and in 2003 received a New Plymouth Citizen's Award. He also belonged to the Taranaki Society of Arts and painted miniatures of historical army photos which were commissioned for the Army calender in 1998.

- © Fairfax NZ News