For Roy Collett – grandson of Ernest Kemp, who spent a lot of time with his grand-father – Ernest was a childhood hero. One stand-out memory was catching a shark with a rod and reel in the Bay of Islands and bringing it home to the house. 

“He was a top guy – friendly with everyone, and always willing to share stories with people who came to visit Kemp House,” he says. 

“He spoke fluent Te Reo from his years spent farming on the East Coast where there very few Pakeha around, and was a leader in the community – widely respected by everyone.”

Another grandson, John Robson, remembers Kemp House as ‘grand-dad’s house’ – and also has fond memories of his adventurous grandfather. 

“Ernest served in Palestine during the First World War. He was an outdoors man and was never seen without his enormous knife, which he made himself – probably from a tempered steel saw blade,” says John. 

“The local police were sometimes a little worried about Ernest’s knife, though they needn’t have been. He was a farmer, and his knife was really a part of him – an important tool he liked to have on hand. Many people remember him sitting on the porch of Kemp House whittling a piece of wood, or peeling an apple with it.”

John remembers when his grandfather stayed with his family for a brief period before moving to a retirement home in Whangarei. The ever-helpful  Ernest had sharpened the family’s bread and butter knives to a state of combat-ready keenness – much to the horror of John’s mother. 

Another grandson, Nigel Robson, who remembers staying in one of the bedrooms on the top floor of Kemp House as a boy, also recalls a barrel of missionary-era cut nails splitting open spilling its metal contents all over the ground. 

“If you ran a metal detector over the place, you’d almost certainly find them there, buried today,” he says. 

All of Ernest’s grandsons remember playing with a toy Noah’s Ark when they were children – an artefact dating back to Charlotte and James Kemp – and the recent visit to Kemp House provided an opportunity for them to reacquaint themselves with the wooden toy. 

The Ark is now a precious collection item representing a strong connection with the original missionary family. 

Jim Kemp – another grandson of Ernest – took the opportunity on behalf of the Kemp family to present a framed facsimile of some pages from the original Kemp family Bible to Kerikeri Mission Station Manager, Liz Bigwood.

“This was a wonderful gesture on behalf of the Kemp family, and we will make sure that it is displayed in an appropriate place inside Kemp House,” says Liz. 

“This is an important year – the 200^th anniversary of the establishment of the mission at Kerikeri and also 200 years since the arrival of James and Charlotte Kemp in New Zealand. It was a pleasure to share this very special anniversary with so many of James and Charlotte’s descendants.”