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Thomas Brunner was an English-born surveyor and explorer remembered for his exploration of the western coastal areas of New Zealand's South Island.
Brunner was born in April 1821 in Oxford. When he was fifteen, he began to learn architecture and surveying. In 1841, he joined the New Zealand Company in its venture to establish a settlement in the north of the South Island of New Zealand, to be called Nelson. As well as working as an apprentice surveyor and laying sections and roads for the new settlement, he explored the interior, seeking pastoral land for a growing colony. In 1846 he undertook extensive journeys with Charles Heaphy and a MÄori named Kehu towards and along the West Coast.
In December 1846, Brunner commenced an expedition, accompanied by four MÄori including Kehu, which began from Nelson. The party travelled down the Buller River and along the West Coast reaching as far south as Tititira Head, near Paringa before returning to Nelson via the Arahura River. This arduous journey, which at one stage saw one of his legs paralysed, took him 550 days. He received honours from the Royal Geographic Society and the Societe de Geographie. He continued to work as a surveyor and in 1851 was appointed Government Surveyor. He surveyed the sites, which he and Heaphy had scouted on previous explorations, for what would become the towns of Westport and Greymouth. He retired in 1869 and died of a stroke on 22 April 1874.
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