CLASSIC TRACTOR PLOUGHING & CULTIVATION DAY

EASTER MONDAY. 21 April 2025. 9:00 am to 4:30 pm.
at 359 School Rd, Waimauku.
FREE ENTRY
Step back in time and experience the sights, sounds and power of classic tractors at work.

Bring the whole family, pack a picnic with rug, and soak up the atmosphere. BYO!

Enjoy a delicious BBQ and cakes.

For more info contact John Patchett (021 255 5016) or Philip Parker (021 020 13224).

plough_day_2025.pdf
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File Type: pdf
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Soft cover. 222 pages. 152x220 mm.
Loads of photos.  $39.00

Published by NorWest Heritage Society Inc.
Available from:
> Huapai Copy & Print. Kumeu. Just pop in.
> Resource Books, Waimauku
    Tel./Txt 0275 719937 to arrange pickups.
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> Helensville Paper Plus at 64 Commercial Road, Helensville.
Graeme Robb grew up in Waimauku and worked as a journalist and advertising media director before spending time with Fairfax Newspapers in New Zealand. Graeme is now retired and lives in Auckland.

Goodbye Country Road:
the story of Waimauku and Muriwai

An ideal present to yourself and others.

This book offers a rich and detailed historical account of Waimauku and Muriwai Beach.
   Waimauku, a small country village in Auckland’s north-west, was created on the back of ancient kauri forests and sustained, at first, by the miracle of the railway and then the produce of the land. It tells how the village began, the first immigrant families, the gum diggers then the first farmers.
   They all survived without roads, power or communications. While fighting for a share of scarce funds from a struggling government they took matters into their own hands just to get the roads, bridges, schools and facilities they needed.
   There were family feuds, tragedies and scandals, and changing fortunes, then the changing world brought windfalls and setbacks for many.
   The book looks at these characters who, through sheer determination, moulded the village into a thriving community, and the many events that turned the village into what it is today.
   Muriwai Beach was only 10 km (six miles) away and the stories here change to wild surf, black sand, shipwrecks, the country’s first motor races, land owners, primitive roads, the first tourists and an ancient pa. Its story is also told here.

All residents and those who appreciate history should get this book. It brings the world around you to life.

Contents for Goodbye Country Road

The Waimauku and Muriwai area
Waimauku Village, 1950s. Where you found people and places
Chapter 1. Mâori arrive in Kaipara
    Ngâti Whâtua o Kaipara
    Te Kawerau â Maki
Chapter 2. Getting around Kaipara in the 1820s
    The waka
    The travels of Samuel Marsden
Chapter 3. Kauri and the destruction of the forest
    Kauri gum: an ancient treasure
    The legacy: No going back
Chapter 4. The Europeans arrive
    Profile: Samuel Frost. Ararimu Valley, 1863
    Profile: Robert Annett. Waimauku, 1868
    Profile: Allan Kerr-Taylor. Waikoukou Valley, 1869
    Profile: Joseph Wilkins. Waikoukou Valley, 1869
    Profile: John Foster. Muriwai Falls, 1870
    Profile: Stanley Lester-Jonas. Waimauku, 1880
    Profile: James Fletcher. Waimauku, 1885
    Profile: William Morgan. Ararimu Valley, 1886
    Profile: William Moore. Muriwai, 1888
Chapter 5. Flax
Chapter 6. Kaipara’s sea of streams
Chapter 7. The railway arrives, 1875
    The Waimauku station
Chapter 8. Waimauku Village
    Foster’s Waimauku general store
    Billiards and hairdressing
    Bill Good’s pub
    The artisan
    The Coronation Hall / Waimauku War Memorial Hall
    St Martin’s, the little church with a big history
    Other denominations at St Martins
    The Waimauku Peoples’ Church
    The post office and the telephone exchanges
    Electric power
    Ernie Burns’ garage
    Cyril Tong’s bakehouse
    The great name change folly
    Gossip columns
Vertical Divider
    Victory bonds: Waimauku’s victory
    The doctor
    The RSA
    Bomber Galloway - a tragedy and a tribute
    The music makers
    Population size
Chapter 9. The dairy factory
Chapter 10. The evolution of Waimauku’s roads
Chapter 11. Waimauku School
Chapter 12. Sporting life
Chapter 13. The Kaipara after the Treaty
    Wally Wikaira: a local identity in Waimauku
Chapter  14. Farmers arriving in the 20th century
    Profile:  The Wightmans, 1912
    Profile:  The Houghtons, 1919
    Profile: The Robbs, 1937
Chapter 15. Villages apart: Kumeu ascendant
Chapter 16. Orchards and vineyards
Chapter 17. Muriwai Beach
    Catherine Moore’s story, 1893
    Profile:  Edwin Mitchelson. Muriwai, 1901
    The state of the Muriwai road
    Korekore pa
    Racing on the beach
    Fresh water, changing sheds and other luxuries
    Fishing at Muriwai Beach
    Muriwai House
    The Trans-Tasman cable
    Fighting in the dunes
    Sewage in the sand
    War games
    Surf life-saving
    The volunteer fire brigade
    Carnage on the beach, vehicles in the modern era
    Aftermath of the 2023 storm: Two tributes
Chapter 18. Diary of a country kid
Chapter 19. Endgame
Note

Preserving the history of Kumeu, Huapai, Waimauku, Muriwai, Riverhead, and Taupaki for us all

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The first automobile in Kumeu, early 1920s. Barry Birchall identifies the car as a Darracq (about 1903). It may have belonged to Mr Kerr-Taylor. Skeates and Bockaert in Auckland sold the Darracq and it almost certainly had a body built in Auckland by Cousins and Atkin.

Our charitable purpose

  • To encourage and promote the interest in the history of North West Auckland, which includes Kumeu, Huapai, Waimauku, Riverhead and Taupaki ;
  • To collect and take steps to ensure the protection and preservation of records, pictures, books, pamphlets, buildings and all objects of historic interest in the area;
  • To keep records of articles, proceedings, discoveries and the results of historical research in the area; and
  • To find a site, house or building with a view to establishing it as a museum for North West Auckland.

We are asking for your support

As time passes, the properties in our region are sold and subdivided and built out.  Then gradually our older people who lived through the early development and community life are no longer with us, and our history as a community is lost. The Society was set up to work at preserving our history in this area of Auckland.
But we need your support.

What we need

Do you or your family have any photos or memorabilia of the early days in North West Auckland?
If you do, contact us and we can help preserve it for all.