The Historical Society began after a visit to Miss Emilia Maud Nixon by Dee Collings, Eileen Martensen and Alwyn Zellman. Miss Eileen Martensen and Alwyn Zellman. Miss Nixon had been the motivating force in preserving much of the history of Howick in her Garden of Memories, which she established over 30 years in honour of the Tainui Maori and as a memorial to early European settlers who built Howick in the vicinity of Ngai Tai’s Owairoa .
Unfortunately, Miss Nixon died 2 weeks later but she had left her property to the Howick Borough Council in the hope that her garden and folk museum would endure.
