Uawa County was one of the counties of New Zealand on the North Island. Today a part of the Gisborne Region, the county was constituted on 10 December 1918. The area had previously been a part of Cook County, and became a part of the county again when the two councils were amalgamated on 1 April 1964.
Early settlers
Andrew Reeves reached Wellington in 1857, bought a horse and rode to the Hawke's Bay region. There, he was a manager for Purvis Russell and in 1863 bought a property near Wairoa. Reeves and his wife went to Tolaga Bay in December 1865, and were the first Europeans to settle there permanently. For many years, Reeves leased a total of. He had trouble obtaining title to Wharekaka, but his rights were upheld in court. Reeves was long the only Justice of the Peace at Tolaga Bay, and held a seat on the Cook County council for several terms. He died on 5 November 1903. For her service in the early days treating the sick, Margaret Lockwood of Tolaga Bay was long remembered by many east-coast families. She attended cases from Pakarae to Waipiro Bay, and her skills as a midwife were renowned. A daughter of Robert Espie and Ani Umutopua, Lockwood was born at Mawhai in 1839. Her first husband was Abraham Moore of Auckland. After his death she married his partner, William Lockwood, and in 1875 they moved to Tolaga Bay. Granny Lockwood died on 15 December 1932, leaving over 100 descendants. Captain William Henry Glover was born in Newcastle upon Tyne. Before settling at Tolaga Bay in 1855, he had a store at Waipare. He was the district's first sheep farmer and its first publican. His daughter Lucy married Edward Robson, who held a seat on the Cook County council for several years. His son Henry was a noted boatman. Captain Glover died on 24 November 1881. Edward Murphy obtained a lease of Paremata in 1873 and was appointed a Justice of the Peace at that time. With his family, he returned to Australia in 1882; in 1884, he returned and settled in Panikau, making his home at Manutuke. In 1891, Murphy became an original lessees of Tauwhareparae. For a number of years, he served on the Cook County Council. Among Murphy's gifts was the Bethany Hospital at Gisborne, which was opened on 14 December 1920. He died in Auckland on 27 June 1919. Henry Williams migrated with his parents to Australia in 1853. He came to Wellington in 1865, and was apprenticed in the tannery business. In 1875 Williams moved to Poverty Bay, where he was a shopkeeper and butcher. Four years later he moved to Tolaga Bay, settling about seven miles upriver and opening a general store and butcher shop with a partner. In the early 1880s he acquired Taumatarata, which was then undeveloped. He added Waiomoko to this holding, and named his entire property Waiomoko. Williams moved to Gisborne in 1912, and died on 26 October 1934. Edward Brabazon Boland began his public service in 1907, when he was elected to represent the Tolaga Bay riding on the Cook County council. He was the first chairman of the Uawa County Council and the Tolaga Bay Harbour Board. Michael Mullooly lived in Tolaga Bay. Born in Ireland in 1836, he tried his luck in the and at Gabriel's Gully. Mullooly served in the East Cape War, and was a guard on the Chatham Islands when Te Kooti and his group escaped. In 1873 he opened the Sea View Hotel at Tolaga Bay, providing his guests with simple, adequate accommodation. One morning a guest complained that his boots were not cleaned, although he left them outside his bedroom door. Mullooly could hardly believe that anyone would have taken the risk of losing his footgear. “You are very lucky,” he told him, “that you found them there in the morning!” What he had in mind was that some of his patrons were noted for their light-fingered habits. Mullooly was described as “a little man who revelled in litigation, but was apt to grasp at the shadow and lose the substance.” His guests could depend on being regaled with his version of his latest battle in the courts. Mullooly died on 13 June 1912.
