Laurence Cussen collection of drawings of the Volcanic Plateau.

Thomas Ryan, 1864 to 1927. Sportsman, artist and master mariner. Thomas Ryan, often known as Darby Ryan was born in England in 1864 and arrived in Auckland, New Zealand with his mother in about 1866. Educated at the Church of England Grammar School, Parnell he also attended the Académie Julian, Paris in 1892-93 where he became friends with fellow student Charles F. Goldie.

As an artist Ryan is best known for his portraits of Maori, and his New Zealand landscapes and seascapes. He worked mainly in watercolour, but his 1891 Oil painting Champagne Falls, Wairakei Geyser Valley is in The Auckland Art Gallery’s collection.

Ryan was also an outstanding sportsman. He represented Auckland and New Zealand at Rugby during the 1880s and was a member of the first-ever New Zealand representative rugby team which toured NSW in 1884. Furthermore Ryan also played cricket, was a keen yachtsman, was a member of the Auckland Amateur Athletics and Cycle Club, and a member of the Auckland Rowing Club.

During the 1890s Ryan moved to the Taupo-Rotorua area and in the early 1900’s Ryan established the first public launch services on Lake Taupo and Rotorua. In 1920 he settled on Great Barrier where he farmed at Whangapara. In 1903 Ryan married to Mary Faith Murray daughter of Nga Puhi leader, Kamareira Te Hautakiri Wharepapa. Together they had two children. Ryan died at Parnell, Auckland in February 1927.

N. A. C. McMillan. Ryan, Thomas - Biography, from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 1-Sep-10 URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/biographies/2r35/1

Laurence Cussen 1843 -1903. Surveyor and geologist. Born in October 1843 in County Limerick, Ireland, Laurence Cussen arrived in New Zealand in March 1865 and settled in Auckland. In January 1869 Cussen was licensed as a surveyor to survey lands under the terms of the Native Lands Act 1865 and began surveying in the Thames district. In July 1874 he was appointed assistant engineer to the Public Works Department and worked on the South Island main trunk line until October 1875 when he returned to Auckland and surveying. In March 1877 Cussen became the Department of the Surveyor General’s district surveyor for Auckland.

As district surveyor Cussen was responsible for the first triangulation survey of the King Country from Kihikihi to Mt Ruapehu including the installation of 43 trigonometrical stations by August 1884. As part of his work Cussens climbed Mts Ngauruhoe, Tongariro and Ruapehu, and produced the first topographical survey of the area in 1891. Cussens also examined the geology of the area, collecting rock samples which he sent to Professor Algernon Thomas at Auckland University College for analysis.

Cussen was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a member of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia and an early member of the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors. He also had an interest in ethnography and recorded and photographed many aspects of the lives of the Maori inhabitants of the King Country.

In 1877 Cussen married Annie Wallnutt. The couple settled in Hamilton and together had 11 children, eight girls and three boys. Cussen died in Hamilton on 9 November 1903.

R. D. Stanley. Cussen, Laurence - Biography, from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 1-Sep-10 URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/biographies/2c43/1