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Biography on Thomas Brunner

Thomas Brunner was born in April 1821 in Oxford in England.

A son of William Brunner - who was a attorney at law and Oxford county coroner and his mums name was Elizabeth Ann Fraser.

Thomas was baptised on 22 August 1821.

When he was 15 years old he began to learn architecture and surveying.

In 1841 his father signed him on as an apprentice surveyor with the New Zealand company. That September he arrived in Port Nicholson (Wellington) with 77 strong farmers for the Nelson settlement - they reached Nelson in November and Thomas stayed there for 2 years helping lay out Nelson's sections and roads.

Nelson didn’t have enough land for pastoral farming. In August 1843 Thomas was a member of survey parties, exploring the interior of Nelson and it joined forces with Kehu, of Ngati Tumatakokiri.

February 1846 Thomas and Kehu joined with Charles heaphy and William Fox to explore the upper Buller River and tributaries which took them to the Maruia River, near Murchison, taking them a month.

17th March Thomas, Kehu and Charles Heaphy left Nelson and travelled the length of the West Coast as far as Hokitika. On their 5 month journey Thomas and Charles Heaphy were the first Europeans to visit the Poutini Ngai Tahu Settlements at Mawhera (Greymouth), Taramakau and Arahura and to also identify Mount Cook as New Zealands highest mountain.

11th December 1846 Thomas began his greatest journey determined to trace the Buller river to the sea and travel the West Coast as far as the Milford Sound and to find a pass across the Southern Alps - During this journey Thomas and the rest of his party were forced to eat Thomas’s dog to survive. 

Early 1848 Thomas began his journey back to Nelson via the Grey and Inangahua valleys. Thomas suffered from a stroke which left him paralysed on one side in the upper Buller Gorge, Kehu helped him back to Nelson, arriving in June 1848.

1850 Thomas received an award from the Royal Geographical Society because of his expedition.

1851 Thomas appointed surveyor of Crown lands in Nelson.11th October 1855 Thomas got married to Jane Robson - they didn’t have any children.

1846 He became chief surveyor, commissioner of public works and commissioner of native reserves in Nelson provinces.

1862 he returned to the West Coast to lay out the towns of Westport and Greymouth.

1869 Thomas retired.

22 April 1874 - Thomas Brunner died in Nelson. His funeral was at Nelson Cathedral. His funeral was attended by several hundred people including a large number of Maori people. Kehu was chief mourner.