Tairua Heritage Society, Tairua (2026)

26/09/2026

The Gold Rush Days

In April 1875, the Thames Advertiser ran the headline ‘New Goldfield Proclaimed: Rush to Tairua: Splendid reef has been found’. After six years of searching, and secretly disguised as a gumdigger, John Neaves had found what he sought—and it was not gum. High in the mountains above the upper Tairua River, near a peak called Pakararahi, he discovered what he believed was a rich reef. The new ‘Tairua Goldfield’ was officially proclaimed on 9th April 1875. Neaves first pegged out his claim on the 8th, then did so again on the 9th and 10th because pe***ng before the proclamation was illegal.

During the rush, the first arrivals occupied several huts abandoned by gumdiggers. Within eight days, shareholders met to form the Tairua Gold Mining Company. Two settlements emerged. The settlement around the old gumdiggers’ huts became known as ‘Measletown’ after a measles outbreak. The upper settlement was named ‘Neavesville’ in honour of John Neaves. Already affected by measles and then threatened by a severe storm and falling trees, Measletown was soon abandoned.

Although the early gold returns were promising, out of the forty-six leases taken out at the beginning of the gold rush, only three mines were working by April of the following year. Despite this, within six months of the ‘Proclamation of the Tairua Goldfield’, Neavesville was clamouring for a branch post office and a mail service. A thrice-weekly postal service between Puriri and Neavesville was set up. By 1879 this was reduced to twice-weekly and two years later to once-weekly.

In May 1893, Walter Davys, William Tilsey and Robert Worth announced their discovery of gold at Puketui, between the river’s second and third branches. They named their claim ‘Golden Hills’. By 1910, the Tairua area had entered a gradual but steady decline. Mining at Puketui for ten years and at Neavesville for at least thirty years had never proved truly profitable. Despite this, prospecting and the pe***ng of new claims continued, while a few mines pursued new projects and even formed companies into the 1920s, but the industry was generally dying out.

In January 1911, the Tairua Broken Hills Gold Mining Company was wound up, and Golden Hills closed that same month. By the end of the 1920s, only sporadic prospecting by independent miners continued in Neavesville before the forest reclaimed the abandoned goldfield.

Jenny Healey

Photos: (1) Post Office Hotel, Neavesville (1913): (2) Golden Hills Battery, Puketui

Reference: Bennett. F (1986) Tairua. pp 40, 49, 85, 100. Arrow Press, Morrinsville, NZ

Next month I will be taking a break for a bit. I’ve realised that I’ve written around 25 stories so far - almost enough for a book! I’ll be back in November.

Visit us at the Tairua Heritage Society, 223 Main Road. We’re open every Saturday and Sunday from 10:00am to 2:00pm. We’d love to welcome you

19/09/2026

Tairua and Hikuai Police

While researching my latest children’s book, I was surprised to discover that after 1915, our town had no resident police officers for more than sixty years.
Tairua’s first police station opened in 1878 after a letter to the ‘Commissioner of Armed Constabulary’ raised concerns about the lawless behaviour among bushmen and mill workers, largely attributed to excessive alcohol consumption. Constables Joyce and Law were sent to Tairua and stationed in William Jackson’s former home. By 1887, the house needed repairs, and Joyce wrote to Inspector Goodall in Tauranga that it was almost uninhabitable: rain leaked into every room, and the roof needed fixing before winter. After discussions about responsibility—the Sash and Door Company Sawmill who owned the house and provided it rent-free—the police agreed to fund the repairs.
By 1895, Tairua’s population had fallen to just 141. With the mill already closed, authorities decided to close the police station as well. Constable Joyce reported that, over the previous three years, there had been seven arrests, five warrants executed, and two summonses served. In October, Tairua Police station was officially closed and Joyce was transferred to Pahi.
As Tairua’s population declined, Broken Hills and the Landing was buzzing with the gold rush. It was suggested that one district constable could serve both settlements, provided a suitable person could be found. In 1908, 24-year-old Charles Winder was appointed, but he lasted barely a year. He was replaced by Marshall Blaxland, a 33-year-old married man appointed as a full-time constable. The police house and its small six-by-eight-foot lock-up stood on the riverbank.
On 8th April 1915, the last constable was transferred from Hikuai to Tuakau and the police station closed. It would be sixty-eight years before the Tairua area would have a resident constable.
Today, we are very fortunate to have Dylan and Tim working hard to keep our community safe.

Jenny Healey

Photo: Tairua Police Station 1878 – 1895. Originally Jackson’s house, it became the Beach home 1925 – 1978.

Reference: Bennett. F (1986) Tairua. pp 56, 75, 97, 120, 130. Arrow Press, Morrinsville, NZ.

Visit us at the Tairua Heritage Society, 223 Main Road. We’re open every Saturday and Sunday from 10:00am to 2:00pm. We’d love to welcome yous

12/09/2026

The Sir George Grey Hotel

It was in 1952 that the new Sir George Grey Hotel was built much to the delight of Tairua residents, replacing the old tin shed. The Hotel was on the Main Road and just down from the school. According to Viv McNabb, he was asked to demolish the tin shed which was at the far end of the grounds which he did. He remembers the Sir George Grey Hotel as a wonderful place. It was the hub of the town and full of characters with fights breaking out on occasion. Tommy Hunt was the publican and a real character and Viv remembered him as quite excitable. He had been a boxing trainer from Huntly and had broken his back at the coal mine there and got some compensation.

Rex Price also remembers Tommy, plus another publican called Eddie Dey. Back then the pub was often open 24 hours a day but the police would come up from Waihi and we’d get a ring from Whangamata if they were on the way. Rex recalls that once someone dressed up in a policeman’s helmet and a traffic officers jacket and ambled into the pub. The publicans rushed out first, followed by the patrons, who escaped over the back fence!

Bill Brewster recalled how it was the third pub in town. There was the Laycock’s one at the Landing and a pub in the Rewarewa Valley. People would pour across on the ferry from Pauanui which could barely keep up with the demand. He remembers how one night there was a shoot-up outside the Sir George Grey. It was an ex-Aucklander who had a passion for one of the cooks at the mill. She was a Māori lady and her husband wanted to intervene on the matter. Luckily there were no injuries.

The pub’s closure was a sad occasion. In March 2004, it sold at auction for $45,000. A few months later, trucks transported it in five sections to Kihikihi, where it became accommodation at the Alpha Hotel. The removal made way for the completion of the Alderman Villas. It is interesting to note that though the first of the Villas are built on the land, they take a long time to sell and the second stage never went ahead.

If anyone has any anecdotes of the Sir George Grey Hotel, we would love to hear them.

Jenny Healey

Photo: (1) The Sir George Grey Hotel - mid 1970s. (2) Coastal News headline 17/06/2004

References: Rushforth. D. (2011) Tales of Tairua. pp. 51, 69, 109. Moth Publications, Tairua.

Tairua Heritage. (2025) Tairua in the News. p 68, 69. Tairua Print.

Visit us at the Tairua Heritage Society, 223 Main Road. We’re open every Saturday and Sunday from 10:00am to 2:00pm. We’d love to welcome you

05/09/2026

The SS Manaia

Lately I’ve been researching the SS Manaia, which ran aground on 10 June 1926 on a reef near Slipper Island. The story provides the historical backdrop for my latest book: a chapter book for children, set in 1926 and largely in Tairua.

The SS Manaia left Tauranga for Auckland at 7.30 pm on a rainy Thursday night, carrying fifty-five passengers and thirty-six crew. She was expected to arrive early the next morning. Instead, at 11.20 pm, she struck a reef near Slipper Island and became the largest ship ever wrecked in the Tairua area. Captain Norbury was in command. As the weather worsened from rain to dark, squally conditions, it became clear that the ship was badly holed at the bow and taking on water quickly. To stop her slipping back into deep water, the captain kept both engines running.

No one was injured, although some passengers and crew had been thrown from their beds when the ship struck. Once Captain Norbury assured them they were not in immediate danger, the mood settled into calm resignation. By 1 am, wireless contact with Auckland had been established and help was on its way. The passengers spent the rest of the night waiting with their lifebelts close at hand.

Meanwhile, the SS Ngapuhi had been diverted as she approached Auckland from Whangārei. After seven hours of hard steaming, she first sighted the wreck at about 9.30 am. The Manaia had a slight list but remained hard and fast on the reef, her stern low in the deep water and her propellers still turning.

Lifeboats were lowered and used to ferry the passengers safely to the Ngapuhi, which then continued on to Auckland. With the passengers clear, the salvage operation could begin. At 6 pm, the Manaia’s furnaces were fired for the last time; at 6.20 pm, her engines stopped.

By 8pm the Rimu had arrived from Auckland with salvage and rescue gear. She stood off while three boatloads of crew transferred across. Captain Norbury remained aboard the Manaia with the mate, the first engineer, and the first and second stewards.

It wasn’t until the summer of 1927 that the Manaia finally lost her battle with the sea.

From a newspaper cutting found on the Maritime Radio website:

“An incident connected with the rescue of the wrecked steamer Manaia’s passengers was not without its humorous side. This was the determination of a young member of a Pantomime company to see that her pet bantam rooster was properly cared for and not left behind. The gift of an admirer in one of the towns visited by the company, the rooster answered to the name of “Becky,” and when the Manaia struck, the first thoughts of the young actress were of her pet. Forgetting her other treasures, she flew to Becky. He had ‘been with her for over a year and, lavishly though he had been cared for in his travels with his young mistress, it was as nothing to the affection and caresses that were bestowed on him as he snuggled in the crook of her arm on board while awaiting the arrival of the Ngapuhi. Becky accompanied his owner in the lifeboat and was with her all the time on the Ngapuhi. Now he is on his way to Sydney with her on the Marama.”

Jenny Healey

Photos: (1) SS Manaia, hard and fast. (2) Becky, the bantam rooster.

Reference: Bennett. F (1986) Tairua. pp 146. Arrow Press, Morrinsville, NZ.

Website: 1926: SS Manaia strands on Slipper Island | Maritime Radio

Visit us at the Tairua Heritage Society, 223 Main Road. We’re open every Saturday and Sunday from 10:00am to 2:00pm. We’d love to welcome you!

29/08/2026

Puketui School

In early 1909, a sixteen-year-old girl opened a school in the Broken Hills area at the request of local parents. Frustrated by the difficult journey to Hikuai School—four miles of treacherous muddy roads and two river crossings—and unable to get support from the Auckland Education Board, they turned to Violet Duffy of Hikuai. Recently out of school herself, Violet agreed to teach their children at Puketui for one shilling per child each week. Seventy-three years later, she recalled:

“I was just over sixteen and was the only teacher. The school building was a little shanty that some miner had built. There were boys and girls as big as myself at the school and of course there were the little ones. Each day I would pick up a little girl called Mary Prescott as I passed her home about half-way between Hikuai and the school and give her a lift on the back of my horse. After two years, the Government sent me a letter appointing me an official teacher. Then they started paying me and sending inspectors.”

Fifteen children enrolled at Violet Duffy’s school, including four from the Fraser family, who moved to Puketui in 1910. George Fraser later remembered his mother rowing him and his siblings across the river to reach the school. Then In 1915, it moved from the shanty to a room in the mine manager Mr Adams’s house, below the new bridge and directly opposite the Broken Hills Battery. Mary Prescott, later Mary Tennent, recalled that when the battery stampers stopped regularly at 2 p.m., school had to close too: the children could not concentrate in the sudden silence.

At the beginning of 1913, Herbert Insull became schoolmaster at Hikuai, and in 1914 he also took responsibility for Puketui School. For the next four years, Hikuai—then known as Tairua Block School—and Puketui were treated as one divided school, with Herbert teaching three days a week at each site. Despite protests to the Board of Education, the arrangement continued for another three years. Herbert even brought his own children to Puketui so they could receive a full week’s schooling.

In 1917, after the combined roll of Hikuai and Puketui schools had fallen to 26, William Stanton replaced Herbert Insull as schoolmaster and Puketui School closed permanently at the end of that year.

Jenny Healey

Photo: Violet Duffy’s School

Reference: Bennett. F (1986) Tairua. pp 116, 124, 125. Arrow Press, Morrinsville, NZ.

🗞️ Stay tuned: Next week it’s another surprise.

Visit us at the Tairua Heritage Society, 223 Main Road. We’re open every Saturday and Sunday from 10:00am to 2:00pm. We’d love to welcome you

22/08/2026

Hikuai School

In 1897, Hikuai got its first school. Plans called for a single classroom measuring 25 ft by 14 ft, with a small entrance porch fitted with a hand basin. A 400-gallon tank was to stand outside the porch to supply water to the basin. Pipes were to be attached to the basin leading to a cesspool. The contract also required separate toilet buildings for boys and girls, each with a soil barrow. The builder was to supply and install two towel-rollers, three dozen hat-and-coat hooks, a boot-scraper, and window blinds. Although the school was built, the contractor fell short in several ways. Not all plates were heart kauri as specified, the purlins were poor quality, only one towel-roller was supplied, two screws were missing from the door lock, and the soil barrows did not fit far enough to be effective beneath the toilet seats.

The first pupils were admitted in August 1897 and the teacher’s name was Francis J. Mullins. Twenty-five children enrolled, all from seven families: Agnew, Morrison, Lindsay, Duffy, Savage, Rennie, and Grant. Their ages ranged from five to fifteen and a half. One of these children, Sarah Ellen Morrison, left that same year being almost sixteen years of age and also, according to the school roll, Benjamin Savage, having never attended school before, left that same day, never to return. John Rennie, a twelve-year-old from Scotland, lasted until February the following year.

From the beginning the school was always referred to, by the Government, as the Tairua Block School. This was because it was the only school in the original Tairua survey block of 36,000 acres. It wasn’t until years later – in May of 1915, that the education board agreed to a request from a meeting of the ‘Hikuai Householders’ that the name of the school be changed to Hikuai. Incidentally, the name ‘Hikuai’ means ‘Tail of the water’ or ‘Upper limit of the tide’.

Jenny Healey

Photos: (1) Hikuai School (date unknown).

(2) School children at Hikuai, 1903. Teacher – James G. Catran

Reference: Bennett. F (1986) Tairua. pp 94, 95. Arrow Press, Morrinsville, NZ.

📜 Stayed tuned: Next week I’ll continue with the school theme and visit Puketui School.

Visit us at the Tairua Heritage Society, 223 Main Road. We’re open every Saturday and Sunday from 10:00am to 2:00pm. We’d love to welcome you!

15/08/2026

Hikuai – Part Three

When the Government purchased and closed the hotel at Upper Landing in 1921, it was thought a hotel there might hinder, rather than help, the welfare of the new soldier settlers. Its closure was one of several factors that the Landing was no longer the busy centre it had been for decades. In 1928, the first traffic bridge across the Hikuai River was built nearly half a mile upstream, and the first road linking the East Coast with the outside world came through from Waihi. As it crossed the new bridge, the road bypassed the Landing. Around the same time, the river began to silt up, making it difficult for boats to berth at the wharf. Before long, cream from Hikuai farms was being transported by truck to the Tairua Dairy Factory instead of by boat.

Although the Hikuai–Tairua Road received its first coat of metal in the mid-1930s, it remained a source of concern and complaint for farmers and townspeople alike. When the Tairua River overflowed its banks at Hikuai - as it had a habit of doing - the road became impassable in several places and was badly damaged. The issue was not seriously addressed until the 1970s, when the most vulnerable sections were reshaped and raised.

In 1933, William Henry Morrison, known as Harry, succeeded his father, John, as postmaster. Around this time, John Morrison left the Hikuai district. Harry, however, recognised that there was possibly no future for a general store or butchery at the Landing. Even so, the Hikuai Women’s Institute was formed in 1935. During World War Two, members met monthly at Morrison’s Butchery to pack food parcels for New Zealand forces in the Middle East, sewing them into flour bags. Battery-operated radios brought news of the war, while the Weekly News, first delivered on horseback and later by bus, was widely read.

The arrival of electricity in Hikuai on 6 June 1962 brought a considerable improvement to local life. Even more important was the opening of the Kopu-Hikuai Road in 1967, which greatly improved access for residents, farm produce, tourists and holidaymakers. In the 1990s, a new bridge was built across the Tairua River near Prescott’s Garage, although not everyone regarded it as the best solution. Some locals believed a flood-free highway on the Pauanui side of the river, with a bridge closer to Tairua, would have better served this flood-prone area.

Jenny Healey

Photos: (1) Prescott’s Ford Truck. (2) Tairua River in Flood at Hikuai

References: The Hikuai Story by David Rushforth

Bennett. F (1986) Tairua. pp 150,151,167. Arrow Press, Morrinsville, NZ.

📜 Stay tuned: Next week I’m off to Hikuai School.

Visit us at the Tairua Heritage Society, 223 Main Road. We’re open every Saturday and Sunday from 10:00am to 2:00pm. We’d love to welcome you!

08/08/2026

Hikuai – Part Two

Toward the end of the 19th century, Hikuai continued to grow. George Morrison built the first hall downstream from his house, near the river. For years, it hosted church services, dances, and many social gatherings. Also, upstream from his house, George, who was an established gum-merchant, built a long shed with bunks and an open fireplace. Here twenty men could find temporary accommodation provided they brought their own bedding. Mrs Morrison supplied their meals at one shilling per head.

Laycock’s Hotel was destroyed by fire in 1895 and later rebuilt on the present site of Prescott’s Garage. Although the hotel had 20 rooms, it still could not accommodate everyone who wanted to stay overnight for local sports meetings, concerts, and races. Its four bars were always busy, and top chefs were sometimes brought down from Auckland.

Until January 1895, land in Hikuai was owned by the Crown. After the Tairua Land Act, local settlers were able to purchase sections. The year 1897 was also significant, marking the opening of both the Post Office and the school. By 1902, the Broken Hills Mine and Golden Hills Mine were doing well, and Puketui had officially received a Post Office. In 1909, a full-time constable was appointed, and a police house with a small lock-up was built near the Stoney Creek Bridge. That same year, 16-year-old Violet Duffy opened a school in Puketui, which operated from a miner’s shanty until 1917.

Gold mining ended in 1911, and the outbreak of war in 1914 brought gum digging to a close as well. That same period also saw the opening of a new public hall, built by bushmen with funds raised locally.

1916 saw John Morrison taking over the store, previously run by Gordon Agnew and Charles Beach, and John was officially appointed Postmaster. Sadly, the store burnt down and John had the other store near the Morrison homestead dragged down to the Landing.

In 1921, the Government’s repatriation programme opened a new chapter for returned soldiers by setting aside 2,191 acres of land, to be divided into 15 farms. Each section could be bought outright with cash, paid for over time, or selected on a 33-year term with the option to gain freehold ownership. Applicants had to appear in person before the Land Board, and once the proceedings ended, a ballot decided who would receive the land.

Jenny Healey

Photos: (1) Laycock’s Hotel (2) Morrison’s old store brought down from Morrison’s Crossing to the Landing. To the left is the butchery and right the gum store.

Reference: The Hikuai Story by David Rushmore

📜 Stay tuned: Next week I return to Hikuai for Part three

Visit us at the Tairua Heritage Society, 223 Main Road. We’re open every Saturday and Sunday from 10:00am to 2:00pm. We’d love to welcome you!

01/08/2026

Hikuai – Part One

In the mid to late 1800s, and likely into the 1900s, Hikuai was larger than Tairua. At first, this was probably because of the Thames gold rush. The 36,000-acre Tairua Block was known as “the best kauri forest in the country.” In 1872, James Preece and William Graham, who had bought the Tairua sawmill from Harry Seccombe, formally secured the timber rights to this valuable land. Thames’ rapid growth to 18,000 residents created a strong demand for timber.

I’d already mentioned Jackson’s Landing (or Upper Landing) in my story about William Jackson. Situated on the S-bend of the Tairua River (near the Bailey bridge) and where it meets the Hikuai Stream, the Landing marked the tidal limit for reliable year-round navigation. Jackson set up a base there to supply bushmen and collect kauri gum. Forty-two people lived at Jackson’s Landing, amongst the cluster of dwellings, stores, and stables. Boats and paddle steamers regularly ran between the Landing and Tairua, carrying both supplies and passengers. In 1875, gold was discovered in the ranges beside the Tairua River, and the goldfield was proclaimed on 9 April at Neavesville, followed later by nearby Puketui, another small settlement.

George Agnew, manager of the Tairua Sash and Door Company, was Hikuai’s first storekeeper. Soon after, George Morrison opened a small store (near the north end of the Hikuai bridge and where the river crossing had been) and began delivering goods by horse to men working in the hills. Duffy’s store later joined the other two. Like them, it stocked groceries, spades, axes, gum spears, timber jacks, bullock chains, and tents. Jackson also supplied both settlements, using packhorses and manpower provided by the Hikuai storekeepers, and charged less than suppliers in Grahamstown.

By 1877, most Tairua River tributaries in the Hikuai area had timber dams. While the dams filled, logs were dragged into the dry riverbed below. The dams were then released in sequence, creating the strongest possible flow into the main river. A single drive could send thousands of logs downstream to the booms; the largest recorded drive carried 10,000 logs.

Photos: (1) The Hikuai Valley 1913. (2) Kauri logs in the Tairua booms.

Reference: The Hikuai Story, by David Rushforth.

Jenny Healey

📜 Stay tuned: Next week it is Part Two of the Hikuai Story.

Visit us at the Tairua Heritage Society, 223 Main Road. We’re open every Saturday and Sunday from 10:00am to 2:00pm. We’d love to welcome you

25/07/2026

The End of an Era

It’s the end of an era. That was my first thought as we said goodbye to the footbridge last Monday, and it seemed fitting to give it a proper send-off in this week’s Sunday story. Although I didn’t grow up in Tairua—my roots are in Northland—I still remember the first time I saw this picturesque town.

It was toward the end of January 1978 that I found myself travelling around the Coromandel, my previous husband Martin, almost-three-year-old son and mother-in-law in tow. I had just met my mother-in-law, Ida. She’d arrived in Auckland, from Birmingham, England eager to meet her grandson (and me I guess) and we decided to take her on a two-week tiki-tour of the Coromandel. Martin and I had never been there either so it was a bit of an adventure, plus, with the native bush topography, very iconic New Zealand. We had a 1964 Morris Minor Traveller, with dodgy wood panelling and little or no springs. I was seven months pregnant, and very uncomfortable in the back seat with my squirmy inquisitive son.

We travelled up the western side from Thames to Colville, then down the eastern side to Waihi. We had heard the east was the prettiest route, with beautiful white sandy beaches but no one warned us about the roads! Poor Ida. Because I had grown up in Northland, I was used to rough gravel roads, but even I felt queasy as I watched her cling white-knuckled to the overhead strap while Martin negotiated the hairpin turns and our car bounced precariously over the pot-holed road as we came over from Coromandel Town toward Whitianga.

The scenery was beautiful and the day cloudless, but nothing prepared us for the view as we rounded Pumpkin Hill and saw Tairua and Pauanui spread out before us. It’s one of those sights that stops people in their tracks—and still does!

I do remember stopping in Tairua for lunch, thinking what a lovely place to live – never imagining that one day I would! It was the end of the school holidays and there were plenty of families about, making the most of the beautiful weather. We sat with our picnic lunch on the Pepe Reserve, my son playing in the sand. I looked up as squeals of delight emanated from the bridge. The kids were jumping off the footbridge. We watched with amusement at their antics, some leaping with joyous abandon, others hesitant, clinging to the rails before finally letting go with a squeal. I would so love to do that I mused, then looked down at my bulging tummy. Mmm. Maybe another time.

Forty-plus years later, I sat with my family on that same patch of Pepe Reserve and watched my granddaughter leap from the Pepe Bridge with that fearless ‘I can do anything’ attitude adventurous kids seem to have. How proud she was, joining that time-honoured, exclusive club: the Tairua Rite of Passage.

Photo: One of Gary’s (husband #2) taken earlier this year, adapted to look older, with the bridge a bit newer, for this story.

If anyone has any snippets of bridge-jumping memories, feel free to share.

Jenny Healey

📜 Stay tuned: Next week it’s another wait-and-see story.

Visit us at the Tairua Heritage Society, 223 Main Road. We’re open every Saturday and Sunday from 10:00am to 2:00pm. We’d love to welcome you!

Tairua Heritage Society

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