I am UK modeler and would like to build a model of the Coromandel, a 68 ton steamer which plied the NZ coast between 1879 when it was built by Jas Holmes at Auckland and 1912, when it was dismantled.

I have one picture of the boat which gives me some idea of what is was like but there is not much detail.

I assume that a number of boats of similar form were built and some one out there may have some information on them. I have tried searching the web for NZ model clubs with no great success so can any one help.

The reason I am interested in this boat is my great grandfather who emigrated from the UK in 1873 appears to have worked on the Coromandel and ended up by drowning in a dock in Auckland alongside the boat in March1880.