09/10/2026
🕰️ Tracks Through Time | Wigmore Historic Reserve, Hahei
We think Wigmore Historic Reserve in Hahei might be the smallest reserve managed by DOC. At just 26 square metres, it's certainly a strong contender.
But its story stretches far beyond its tiny footprint.
The reserve sits at the end of Hahei Beach Road and contains a cairn marking the resting place of Robert and F***y Wigmore, pioneers whose influence can still be found throughout Hahei today.
Born in Ireland in 1816, Robert Wigmore is believed to have first visited the area in the 1840s. Something about this place must have stayed with him. After years spent overseas, he returned to New Zealand with his wife F***y and their family, eventually securing title to land in the Hahei Valley in 1872.
In those days there were no roads into Hahei. The family carved out a life from the land, growing crops, making butter and cheese, and transporting produce by rowing boat to settlements around Mercury Bay. The daughters were known to pull the oars on journeys of more than 50 miles there and back.
Near the beach they built a small cottage, and later a substantial kauri homestead that still stands today. Robert, an accomplished carpenter, reportedly made much of the furniture himself.
The family's legacy remains woven through the landscape. Wigmore Stream still carries their name, while some of the trees planted by the family over a century ago can still be found around Hahei. Robert later served the district as a Justice of the Peace and Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, holding court sessions for local communities long before modern roads connected the peninsula.
Today, one of the smallest reserves in the country preserves the memory of a family whose story helped shape one of the Coromandel's most iconic coastal settlements.
