Messrs Strange and O’Halloran made strong representations to the Government on this matter; and they, supported by the united efforts of others – particularly Mr Mackay – were successful.⁴⁸

(Frederick Strange arrived in the district in 1876 and purchased land west of the Waihou River, near Te Aroha. Captain G S O’Halloran had arrived earlier at Omahu and had settled in Te Aroha by 1880.) Harris noted that the Crown had purchased the title to Morgantown (section 15) and that Lipseytown (section 17) was gradually acquired in a series of purchases, but he still regarded parts of these purchases as gifts’:

The native owners were generous, however. Morgan [Mokena] gave the domain, the hot springs and the area now known as the Herries Memorial Park, as well as the site for the Roman Catholic Church; whilst Mrs Lipsey gave the sites for the Anglican and Methodist churches and that for the school.⁴⁹

In an obituary for George Lipsey, published in Te Aroha News in May 1913, credit for the gift of the domain and other sites is attributed to George and Ema Lipsey:

Mr George Lipsey was the son of Thomas Lipsey Esq, Lipsey Park, Newtown Gore, County Leitrim, Ireland. Born in 1846, he came to this colony when he was 21, and joined the police force in Auckland. On the opening of the Thames Goldfields he made his way there, and for some years he and his brother Frank conducted the Bendigo Hotel. After coming to Te Aroha he married Miss Ema Mokena, and became possessed of a very considerable tract of native land, including what is now the borough of Te Aroha. In true generosity of spirit Mr and Mrs Lipsey made a gift to the New Zealand Government of the present beautiful and picturesque Domain grounds. This gift should ever stand as a monument to the generosity of the givers, and it would at least be an appropriate act on the part of the Government to erect a tablet in the Domain setting forth the fact herein noted.

Among other gifts well worthy of mention are the sites on which St Mark’s Church and the State School now stand. An action by Mr Lipsey that again went to prove his generous spirit was that of his successful effort in getting the extension of 21 years’ lease of town sections to 99 years.⁵⁰

Similar local perceptions, probably from the same local history sources, are repeated in the centennial history’ of Piako county:

Mr George Lipsey, who came from Thames and owned the building later to become the first Hot Springs Hotel, is claimed to be the first European to settle permanently in Te Aroha.

48.C Harris, Diamond Jubilee of the Piako County Council: Settlement and Development of the Upper Thames Valley (Te Aroha: Te Aroha News Printing and Publishing Company, 1937), p 41

49.Ibid, pp 41-42

50.Document J18, app 2