Maire Nelson was born in Aurora St. Petone. He lived in a family of fourteen. He and his brother Harold loved the outdoors, fishing, hunting, and tramping. Maire joined the Te Puni Scout Troop in 1912 but unfortunately the group closed. He wanted a Scout uniform so badly he got his School teacher to measure him up and sent away for it. He loved his uniform and wanted to wear it all the time. He became the first Lone Scout in the Wellington Area.

When Maire came back from WW1 where he served as a medical orderly, he and two other leaders formed the St. Augustine’s Scout Troop. Also at this time he and his brother decided 14 people in the family home was very crowded so they built another house on the section next door. (This house was moved to Brookfield on Maire’s death.)

About this time Maire started taking his Scouts to Brookfield – as such it is on record that St. Augustine's Scouts were the first Scouts to camp at Brookfield. They walked over the Wainuiomata Hill to the camp carrying their gear on a trek cart. At the end of the camp the Scouts made sure Mary Crowther had an adequate supply of firewood.

Because of his involvement with Scouting he also became president of N.Z Forest & Bird, an appointment he held for 20 years. Maire served more than 50 years as a Scout and became Chief Warden of Brookfield. He was awarded New Zealand’s highest Scouting award – the Silver Tui. He was also award the Silver Acorn from the Scout movement in England.

Maire was laid to rest at Taita Cemetry.

Conservation and Ecology

Brookfield is rich with native Flora and Fauna, below are some of our conservation projects.

Predator Free Brookfield

Over 300 traps and growing

iNaturalistNZ

Tracking plants @ Brookfield