In conjunction with the Highwic Sweetpea and Plant Fair (Sat 22 Nov) we are holding a temporary display of pressed plants preserved by the Lush family in the 1800s.
Vicesimus Lush was an Anglican minister who became the first resident Vicar of Howick, a position he held from the time he arrived here from England in 1850, through until 1865. During that time, he built a house in Howick, and Ewelme Cottage in Parnell.
The pressed plants will be on display in the Highwic Drawing Room and include specimens collected and pressed by the family in England in the 1830s before they emigrated; and local plants collected and pressed in the 1850s.
Ewelme Cottage became the family’s permanent home in 1865, and members of the family lived there almost constantly until 1968. It is now a house-museum owned by Auckland Council and managed by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, who are the guardians of the collection.
