Named after Richard Rush who was murdered with a tomahawk i while working on his land (near Station Village) on 15th June 1846, the day before the attacks at Boulcott Farm.
”Rush’s Corner” was opposite the Valley Inn on the corner of Railway Avenue and Marsden Street. ii
Richard Rush arrived in Wellington around 1840 after serving a 7-year sentence in New South Wales after he stole three pigs in England. He married Cecilia Rodgers in 1841 and had four children in Lower Hutt.
On the 15th June 1846, aged 47 years. Full details of his death and his New Zealand family are recorded in Chapter 2 of A Humble Beginning, 2nd edition. A further newspaper report on Saturday 20 June stated:
“The funeral of the late Richard Rush, whose barbarous murder by the rebels was recorded in our last number, took place on Thursday afternoon. The body was interred in the Public Cemetery and was followed to its last resting place by a considerable number of settlers. The Rev R Cole performed the burial service.
It is intended to raise a subscription for his widow and children and we earnestly solicit the attention of our fellow settlers to the appeal made to them in this day’s Spectator on their behalf.”
The charitable assistance of the Inhabitants of Port Nicholson is
requested on behalf of the widow of the late Richard Rush who
was murdered at the Hutt on Monday last. The unhappy event is fully before the public. The unfortunate widow being left with four young children (and nearing confinement with the fifth) dependent on her for support.Subscription lists are lying at the bank: Mr C Mills, Lambton
Quay; and at Barrett’s Hotel.Wellington, June 20, 1846