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Maungaturoto, A Real New Zealand Town ‘Gettin’ on with it!’ Issue 62 September 2006
A warm welcome was given to the Prime Minister and members of the invited audience by the Board of
Trustee’s Chairman Peter Bull, who introduced Albert Lpvell CEO of the Museum. Albert also welcomed
the Prime Minister and thanked all volunteers and members of staff who had worked so hard with the
building of the Boarding House. Within the Prime Minister’s reply she referred to her own ancestry as
origination in Otago and appreciated the hardships the settlers in the Kaipara endured.
And what a day for the community it was. It could just as well have been 1910 as most of the staff and
“Friends of the Museum” were in period costume.; the PM cut a red ribbon to officially open the Boarding
House, the bell from the
original Maungaturoto
Boarding House was rung,
the brass band struck up
some rousing music and the
people of the period ran
around the balcony throwing
streamers and tinsel.
Yes it really was a memorable day for a small community made all the more special by the visit of the
Prime Minster taking time away from affairs of state to mix and mingle with regular New Zealanders pre-
senting their real New Zealand heritage.
Page 2 Community Maungaturoto Matters
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• Bed Settees Lee Harrison, Bryn was successful in reaching the
• Blankets final stages of the selection process which was
• Blinds available to all youths involved in Air Training
• Bunks Corps throughout Northland.
• Carpet The selection programme was incorporated in the
• Candles Whangarei RSA Year of the Veteran dinner at the
• Cork tiles end of July where he was interviewed by three
• Curtains and Accessories people and where the final selection was an-
• Drawers nounced. Before that, the successful applicants
• Duvets were asked to submit an essay on why they should
• Giftware be allowed to attend the Flying School National
• Guitar Strings Aviation course.
• Haberdashery Bryn received a framed certificate, a Year of the
• La-z-boy Chairs Veteran badge and a limited edition boxed copy of
?
• Linen the book "On Active Service" by Martyn
Thompson, in front of a crowd of about 120
• Mats
people.
• Mattresses
• Mirrors
• Pictures
• Pillows
• Photo-frames
• Pottery (fabulous Robert Gordon)
• Sewing Thread Northern PC Solutions
• Sheets Computer playing up so much that
• Shower Curtains you want to drop it off a cliff!!
• Souvenirs
• Tea towels
• Throws
• Toppa Pads
• Towels
• Tracks and Tapes
• Vinyl Flooring
INTERIOR FURNISHINGS
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Maungaturoto Matters Community Page 5
BOARDING HOUSES
By Alan Flower: April 2006
Boarding houses were a very important facet of life in the yearly years of settlement in the district. They catered for
all sorts of travelers, who were of necessity on horseback, on foot, or by boat, where possible. People for all walks of
life, prospective settlers, missionaries, drovers, surveyors, and a little later, commercial travelers, and many others
including professional people.
It is interesting to look into the lies of three families who emigrated from England and pioneered the hospitality in-
dustry in the Maungaturoto district.
Henry Culle4n and parents John and Sarah arrived on the “Tyburnia” in 1863 and Charles Davies and John C Curtis
and families, w3ho were friends anyway, arrived on the “Jumna” in 1864.
Their livelihood in Auckland was uncertain for the first few years and by 1868 they all went off to Thames to try
gold mining.
This wasn’t too successful either and the most successful thing they tried there seemed to be catering via a cookhouse
and general storekeeping with Charles trading in gold. (His certified gold scales are still in existence.) Gold was
actually used to purchase goods from the store, etc.
They become disillusioned and drifted North to Maungaturoto taking up blocks of land and by the 1880’s had estab-
lished boarding houses.
Charles Davies in Griffin Road—There is a photo of it in 1885 as a single storied building which later had another
story added.
Henry Cullen’s in what is now View Street and John Curtis’ at Point Curtis. This must have been a strategic site on a
busy river. Unfortunately, it burned down in 1892, after which the Curtis family had a boarding house at Kaiwaka,
which later became the MacLean Family Boarding House. (Mrs Agnes McLean was a daughter of John and Eliza
Curtis).
The Davies Boarding House had a store and a butcher’s shop adjacent, as well as a hall which was used as a Public
Hall, Courthouse, County Council Meetings, etc.
My Grandfather Timothy Healey married Emily, one of Charles Davies' daughters in 1888. Their first child call
Pearl, was born at the Davies in 1889 and they took up faring on 300 acres at Wairere from 1890 to 1907 when they
bought the boarding house and moved back to Maungaturoto. (Elizabeth Davies died in 1908).
In is interesting to note that the first child was born at the boarding house, ten were born at Wairere and the last, my
aunty Dulcie Powell (the last surviving sibling) was born at the boarding house in $1911. Although there were no
maternity hospitals in those day, the survival rate seem fairly good!
With 12 children plus guests, it must have been a busy place. As the children grew up, they became a great family
team of helpers. My mother Esma describes sale days. The sale yards were just over the road, and she say in her
memoirs “Sale day was a busy day at the boarding house. A typical dinner—roast beef and button, baked and
cooked veges, plum duff and apple pie as desert. Sixty men would be an average. Also morning tea, afternoon tea
and supper at all hours, just when the drovers, buyers and onlookers could snatch time to come.”
Practically every man for miles around like to be present on Sale day, a real social occasion.
Before days of tucking and rail, big mobs of cattle were driven in stages and paddocked at night en route on their
long trek to Auckland. So this boarding house and all boarding houses for that matter cold be called the social and
business hub of the community.
The Healy boarding house was dismantled and rebuilt as a house and other buildings at the top of School Hill in
Gorge Road and “Davies Hall” became the former store where Marsden Real Estate and Money Exchange are now.
There must have been a big team of helpers dismantling, including my father, and as a baby I was there and appar-
ently was able to sleep through all the banging and hammering that was going on.
Although Henry and Eleanor Cullen were also my great grandparents, I don’t know a lot about their View Street
Boarding house except it was similar in many ways to Healey and had a store, butchers shop and post office.
After some years it became Mooneys and it was demolished when it was bought by a Doctors’ Club and rebuilt as a
cottage hospital and doctor’s residence on a section bought from Timothy Healey by the Presbyterians in 1918 but
was not used by them and eventually bought by the Doctors Club. Before the hospital could be used the doctor’s
residence had burned down, so the hospital became the Doctor’s residence instead.
This building was also eventually demolished about the late 1950’s. The site came back into Healey family owner-
ship, and the site of Vernon Powell’s house. Vernon is Timothy and Emily Healey’s grandson also.
It is interesting to go back in history leading up to the evolvement of the boarding houses concerned.
Next month an article from “This Valley in the Hills” which appeared in the N.Z. Herald on August 27th 1887, will
say “what’s what” in Maungaturoto at that time. Ed.
Page 6 Community Maungaturoto Matters
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PH: (09) 439-7139
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PRODUCTS $190.00 per week
ALAN SWINDLEHURST
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Elders.
JENNY'S RURAL
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Phone Jenny on 09 431-2826
Let’s take the hassle out of your busy life.
These are the services we offer.
Cleaning on weekly, fortnightly, monthly
or those one off jobs.
Rented & Holiday Homes.
Windows Walls & ceiling
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Maungaturoto Matters Community Page 11
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*Finance can be arranged
THREADS OF TIME
Exhibition of Creative Fibres
The Kauri Museum is to host THREADS OF TIME, a
bienniall exhibition of creative fibres.
The exhibition runs from Friday 1st of September – CALL IN TO SEE US FOR ALL
Thursday 14th September 2006 and will be open every-
day from 9.00am – 5.00pm. YOUR SURVEY & SUBDIVISION
The theme for this year’s exhibition ‘Threads of Time’ INQUIRIES
depicts how natural fibres used today (such as wool, OR
linen, alpaca, silk, mohair & possum) are simply a con- PHONE US ANY DAY AT
tinuation of how they have been used for many genera- 431 8750
tions. OR
This craft evolved from the pioneering days when early
MAKE AN APPOINTMENT BY
settlers found it necessary to make their own textiles
and clothing. The Kauri Museum has many examples of CONTACTING SANDRA AT THE
this handcraft in their own textile collection as shown in OFFICE
the Sterling Wing Villa and the new Otamatea Boarding
House. FIRST WEDNESDAY IN THE
This exhibition has been made possible by the talented MONTH IS OUR VISITING DAY
members of the Mid-Northland Handcraft Group. These
ladies are from Whangarei, Ruawai, Maungaturoto,
Waipu and Dargaville.
Items on display will include hand spun scarves, bean- HOBSON CHAMBERS Ph (09) 431 8750
ies, jerseys, vests, throws, stoles, shawls, cushions and 143 HURNDALL ST Mob (021) 723 284
rugs. There will also be some articles made with com- MAUNGATUROTO
mercial yarns.
Many of the items in the exhibition will be available to
purchase
Page 14 Maungaturoto Matters
Maungaturoto Matters Community Page 15
Page 16 Community Maungaturoto Matters
STEPHEN M JAQUES
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Water source. More than 3 metres above coast-
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Any building must need work (have son who is a
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Please contact
Liz Temm 09 523 1258 or 0274 951 851
E-mail:- xtr232235@xtra.co.nz
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We bring it to your door.
Ring May or Brian Seager 431-8494
Page 20 Maungaturoto Matters
Wellness Committee
The Primary School Board of Trustees held a meeting at the school recently to set up a committee of people inter-
ested in the wellbeing of people in our community. This was well attended, with a good cross-section of the commu-
nity interested in being involved. The next meeting will be held on 7 September at 1.30pm. Anyone who has
an interest is most welcome to come along.
These are the areas of interest people identified at the meeting:
Healthy Eating / Nutrition: Is there a possibility of starting School Gardens? Could the community be involved
in this e.g. garden club, elderly/retired gardeners to help in the garden, pass on knowledge, provide seedlings etc.
would need to be well promoted so the community felt part of it and took ownership, helping to reduce risk of van-
dalism or theft.
General Nutrition: What other options for healthy school lunches might be available? Could we inform parents and
the community through the Maungaturoto Matters and the school newsletter on nutrition? Could have tips for
lunchbox snacks or healthy meal ideas etc?. Children could provide favourite recipes.
School Age Challenging Physical Activities:
Could more children ride bikes to School under supervision, could roads be made safer?
Organised Games – include interested people/parents to organize, regular times – during lunch/summer after school.
Does the daily fitness in our school need reviewing?
Understanding What is Out There: What resources can we access out of our community. Eg Sports Northland,
Playcentre, Plunket, Northland Health, Coast to Coast Medical Centre and PHO, Public Health Nurse etc. Venues -
Community house, (footprints room). What funding is available? Co-ordination effort by group or person to inform
the wider community.
Exercise – Community, Adults, Families, Children: Is there more that can be done in the community to en-
courage involvement by everyone? Some thoughts were:
Semi organised exercise group ie: Walking, Biking, Trekking, Family Activities, Swimming, Triathlons. Making
families aware of what they can do at their home / environment to improve learning like under five motor skills.
Walk & Talk with pre-schoolers to improve pre-reading, maths, oral language. (How many cars, numbers on letter
boxes, shapes)
Backyard Games for school children like “Kick the can”, “spotlight” Building Huts
Pop in visits to Old Folks, Vets. (Rural Issues – location of home from Town)
Outward Bound Course – Promote, Informing people of the Availability, Sponsored.
Other opportunities like Hillary Pursuit Course.
How to involve senior members of the community in school activities:
Invite retired persons to help with community (school) garden
Help children at school/after school with bike repairs/maintenance
Cooking – preparing food, cooking food – facility for this? Time of day?
Walking/hiking groups
Help with games at lunch times – supervision
Talking with children at lunchtimes
Please take this as a personal invitation to come along and attend the meeting on
7 September at 1.30pm at the Primary School.
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Maungaturoto Matters Clubs & Organisations Page 27
MAUNGATUROTO GARDEN
CLUB
August meeting held in the Supper Room.
Centennial Hall.
Business meeting was followed by a very
interesting story from our special guest.
Trevor Brljevich, who recently travelled
to Holland where he received the most
prestigious medal in the floriculture in-
dustry.
Trevor recounted his life story and how
his father, a breeder of carnations and
Calla lilies, gave him half a seed pod to
grow. From that he has developed new
colours, types and shapes of blooms and
become one of the worlds renowned
breeder of Calla lilies. He is only the
third person outside of Holland to have
been award this honour.
Next meeting September Wednesday 20th
1.00pm Centennial Hall Supper Room.
Rowena Panhues and plants for sale
As always the hall is available for Our instructor, Bev Baxter from Whangarei is one
hire. of the best
For Hall bookings call Ted So come along and join us and get fit and have fun
4318249 or for more information and maybe come with us on our trips to workshops
Heather on 4318565 around the country.
For Hall bookings call Ted
4318249 or for more information Contact
Heather on 4318565. Rose Plunkett (09) 431 7418
FARM LIVING
How to worm your cat - a lesson from Julieanne
Cat owners who’re faced with a snarling vicious moggie at worming time can now worm
their pets without losing a hand or having their arms shredded.
The cat they have to thank bit through the thumb nail of the Vet Centre receptionist,
Julieanne, when she took on the task of worming it because the vets were busy. As she
nursed her wound, Julieanne figured there had to be a better way to worm cats - and found
it.
She explained the system after I confessed to being paralysed with terror at the prospect of
worming two of our four cats. Sure, there have been occasional successes because our
helper Tony is a genius in this specialised field of animal welfare.
We have a system: I hold the cat, Tony clutches the back of its neck which forces its mouth
open. In goes the pill and I hold the mouth closed until the cat swallows. But last time that
failed with catty Lilac and we’re all leery of Dot. Only fat, greedy Tara doesn’t nibble round
tablets hidden in food.
Enter Julieanne and Hill’s Prescription Diet a/d food for convalescing cats which is so luscious
and supercharged it has to be used as directed by vets.
Here’s the method: Ensure offending cat is hungry. Feed it a morsel. Cat will love it so
much it will gobble next morsel in which you have cunningly embedded a worming tablet.
Don’t cut the tablet or you’ll break the coating which seals in the disgusting taste of the
worming drug.
I was skeptical, but desperate. It took weeks to psych myself up to do the deed, but it was
worth it. The results were truly astounding.
Tubby Tara and tiny Tui are gutses so were a cinch. Then fearsome Dot, who morphs into a
cornered tigress in the presence of worming pills, ate the bait and tablet. Just like that! I
waited for the evil feline to burp the lot up, but she didn’t. Amazing! Remarkable! Almost
frightening!
I’d have read the label right then, but for Lilac whose baleful stare said: “What’s with these
itsy mouthfuls? Gimme more.” I did and she obliged, tablet and all.
When I read the label everything became clear. The first three ingredients are: eau
(obviously effervescent and from the French Alps, although this is not stated); foie
(obviously from force fed geese, although this is not stated); and poulet (obviously free
range, organic and raised listening to classical music although . . . etc).
Just as well the fussy felines didn’t see the ingredients listed in dull old English on the other
side of the can.
When I popped into the Vet Centre to thank Julieanne (and empathise about her hapless
thumb) she told me one person who’d used the system had done a dance of joy in front of
the Vet Centre window. And that I was the fourth success story. The fourth! Why not the
40th, the 400th, or even the four millionth? This stuff works like magic. It could change the
world!
Thanks to Rae for her contribution
Page 32 Maungaturoto Matters
Maungaturoto Matters Rural Page 33
This week the reading spectacles of the literary world are focused on the small town of Kaiwaka in New
Zealand’s Northland province. It’s here that a select band of literary critics unused to the spotlight of inter-
national scrutiny have, for years, beavered away, sifting through new and noted offerings from a smorgas-
bord of the words leading contemporary fiction.
Coming from all corners of the surrounding rural district they range in age from old to older, dedication to
literary criticism their hallmark, no distance is to great, no weather to foul, no cork to difficult to pull from a
bottle when they attend their monthly meetings. Flying in the face of modern trends towards internet surf-
ing and reality television they work unobtrusively to keep alive the ancient art of book reading. Having
read and appraised most titles contained in international latest and best lists. This week they make public
the news that everyone is anxiously waiting for and name the Kaiwaka Book Club book of the year.
Why is this such important news? Simply because, In previous years the thought of announcing a book
of the year. had not occurred to them. In addition, the membership are of such diverse tastes that reach-
ing agreement on which particular book should receive the accolades was impossible. However this year,
for the fist time ever, this band of dedicated bibliophiles have unanimously agreed that the Kaiwaka Book
Club book of the year is ……….
I attached the article to an e-mail and clicked the send icon. As I sat back to muse upon the fame and
fortune that would soon be mine. My cell phone rang,
“Howdy Worzel, Agent Dirk McGuire, C I A here, I gotta know the big news from Caywacker before it
goes public, it’s a matter of homeland security, we’re not to sure about this Caywacker Book Club.”
“Sorry Dirk I’ve already sent it, and it’s pronounced Kaiwaka.”
“Goddamn it, too late again, boy the president’s gonna be pissed, don’t let it happen again. Remember
we’re watchin you, and Guantanemo Bay ain’t no holiday resort, if you take my meanin.”
I tried to explain but the line went dead. I shut down the computer and left the office. I t was a dark and
stormy night.
Sport
Page 34 Maungaturoto Matters
All Blacks coach Graham Henry recently said at a press conference that you learn more from a loss
than you do from a win.
The Otamatea Hawks learnt a lot this year. The Reserve team endured a winless season, while the
Premier side won just two of 21 matches.
Both teams did improve over the course of the year and have developed a sound launching pad for
the 2007 campaign. Unfortunately it seems they will have to spend at least one season in second divi-
sion as the Premiers failed to safely navigate their way through a quadrangular promotion/relegation
series; beating Keri Keri, but losing to Moerewa and the Western Sharks.
Despite this setback, the mood in the club remains relatively positive. Numerous young players
(more than half the Premier team are under 21) gained valuable experience over the past six months,
and the club committee have become increasingly proactive. The committee worked hard to secure
the services of Justin Walker, Rugby Development Officer for the Otamatea area, and made progress
in the critical matter of player recruitment and hopefully retention.
Over the years Otamatea has produced some good players and teams and, if nothing else, 2006 has
steeled the resolve of everyone involved with the club to push through this difficult period so that our
up and coming rugby players can continue to ply their trade locally.
When your team is down by fifty points and you have to lift yourself out of the heavy mud and will
your weary legs to get you to the next ruck, make the next tackle, support the next ball carrier, it
breeds a type of mental toughness that does not come through winning.
Gareth Nicholl
Otamatea Hawks
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Sport
Maungaturoto Matters Page 37
Page 38 Maungaturoto Matters
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Maungaturoto Matters Page 39
Page 40 Maungaturoto Matters