There is a link between South Arm and the Omokoroa Peninsula in New Zealand. The peninsular is in the north island on the Bay of Plenty.
Rev. Joseph Tice Gellibrand, grandson of William Gellibrand and son of Tasmania's first Attorney-General Joseph Tice Gellibrand, was Omokoroa's first European settler.
Joseph married Selina Evans in December 1849. He was a Church of England Minister and was also listed as farmer owning house and land at South Arm in 1866. Joseph and Selina decided to move to New Zealand. They departed in March 1876 and their family friend Elizabeth Winspear, travelled with them. She was 28 years old and became their 'adopted' daughter. Elizabeth was the eldest daughter of William and Martha (nee Watson) Winspear, Martha being the sister of Hannah Calvert (nee Watson). Elizabeth's younger sister Hannah married George James Morrisby. Elizabeth became known as Elizabeth Winspear Gellibrand and married Arthur Crapp in Auckland in February 1878. Arthur had been a soldier and originally came from Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.
Elizabeth and Arthur had a family of eight children. Gerald Vivian Crapp was their youngest child. In 1975, Gerald Crapp gifted to the nation a reserve an area of just over two hectares and this has become the Gerald Crapp Historic Reserve. He was born on the property and lived at Omokoroa Beach all his life. The reserve is in Gellibrand Place, Omokoroa. In the reserve, there is a carving of Rev Joseph Tice Gellibrand made from the stump of a felled tree that commemorates his settlement of the area.
In 2010, descendants of Elizabeth and Arthur Crapp visited South Arm to investigate the background of the Gellibrands and Elizabeth Winspear.
More information can be found on the Western Bay of Plenty District Council archives website.