Our Pukekohe... a Paddock settlement
P
ukekohe township began taking shape from 1865 after immigrants who arrived in New Zealand on board the passenger ship, Ganges, made their way to this southern part of the Auckland region, erecting temporary huts and whares on a 50-acre clearing which became known as, The Paddock. Believed to have been cleared by local Maori, who were known to plant potatoes only on freshly cleared ground, the area is bounded by Ward, Wellington, Harris and Queen Streets and includes the old Pukekohe Cemetery. It was here, on the southern corner of Queen and Ward Streets, that Thomas Moore opened the first store. It took over part of his weatherboard house which measured approximate 7m by 3.6m with a lean-to at the back. The house had four rooms in all, one being the shop. By 1870, Thomas was also the Postmaster for Pukekohe West. Shortly after, William Preston established another store in the same vicinity, fetching his goods by dray. According to the Preston family history it is said that he went to Otahuhu on a Tuesday for supplies and returned on Thursday, the trip taking a full day each way. A Presbyterian Church was also built nearby and this served as a school house too. The new settlers eventually bought 10-acre blocks in an area which began at King Street, extended to the top of Pukekohe Hill and also to the west and north west of the Cape Settlement area. It was called Pukekohe West to differentiate from the nearby Pukekohe East.
On the other hand, settlers from the ship, Maori, first camped on the site of the present day Catholic Cemetery in Seddon Street. The five-acre blocks allotted to them, known as Cape Settlement, were located at the northern end of Pukekohe, now enclosed by West Street, King Street, the Railway, Birdwood and Jutland Roads. The arrival of the railway in 1875 was a huge event for Pukekohe and the town gradually gravitated from its location at The Paddock to where it is today. One of the first buildings built in the vicinity of the railway station was the Pukekohe Hotel. Built in 1863, ahead of the railway, it was a two-storey timber and iron building with a verandah and balcony. It had 14 rooms as well as stables and loose-boxes. It also owned an adjoining paddock.
YOU KNOW.. . DID King St saw its first motor car in 1911 when Henry Berridge purchased a ‘horseless carriage’. Maximum speed limit then was 15m.p.h. In 1912, only three people in Pukekohe owned motor cars and they had a hard job getting fuel. No wonder congestion planning was pretty much off the radar.
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Rural Living — July/August 2018 — 23
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