The Gilfillan farm at Matarawa

Matarawa, the Gilfillan family farm, c. 1845. John Alexander Gilfillan was an artist of some ability and his work provides a useful insight into Wanganui's colonial history.

Gilfillan, his wife, Mary, and their six children settled in Wanganui in late 1842. They secured an allotment of 110 acres in the Matarawa Valley near Wanganui and moved onto their farm near the end of 1845.

On the evening of 18 April 1847 a party of six young upriver Maori attacked the Gilfillan farm. Mary Gilfillan and three children were killed in this attack and another daughter was badly wounded.

According to the missionary Richard Taylor, one of the Maori involved in the attack later confessed that the Gilfillans had not been the original target. Their isolation had made them easy prey.