From Tauranga City Library’s archives
A monthly blog about interesting items in our collection
What links Tauranga Cemetery and the Te Puke Land Drainage Board? They are both collections in the Archives that have been recently digitised.
The Tauranga Cemetery Trustees collection includes a variety of paperwork, but also a long metal cyclinder containing two rolled maps from 1913 of Tauranga Cemetery. One measures nearly 1 metre by 2 metres, and shows burial areas for Church of England, Roman Catholic, Wesleyan, Presbyterians, Hebew.
Half the streets shown on the map we now know by different names – Hospital Street is now Seventeenth Avenue, Pitt Street now Eighteenth Avenue, and Simson Street is part of Devonport Road.
In 1895, the Crown established the Te Puke Land Drainage Board to facilitate drainage and clear lands to the west of the Kaituna River. Their minute book starts with the first meeting on 30 March 1907 and covers discussions through to December 1922.
Page after page provides insight into their focus - settlers requests to the Colonial Secretary for special rating of local areas for the purpose of opening up outlets; making loan applications; cleaning, widening, deepening and removal of timber from creeks and strengthening existing drains; construction of dams for dredging; setting and collection of rates.
One of the clippings tucked in from January 1909 advertises a half acre section fronting Cameron Road for £100 “with a nice lot of young fruit trees”.
To return to the original question - what links Tauranga Cemetery and Te Puke Land Drainage Board - they are both collections in Pae Korokī that provide an online glimpse into the varied history of land usage in the Bay of Plenty.
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| Tauranga City Libraries Ams 9/27/2 |
Half the streets shown on the map we now know by different names – Hospital Street is now Seventeenth Avenue, Pitt Street now Eighteenth Avenue, and Simson Street is part of Devonport Road.
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| Tauranga City Libraries Ams 49 |
In 1895, the Crown established the Te Puke Land Drainage Board to facilitate drainage and clear lands to the west of the Kaituna River. Their minute book starts with the first meeting on 30 March 1907 and covers discussions through to December 1922.
Page after page provides insight into their focus - settlers requests to the Colonial Secretary for special rating of local areas for the purpose of opening up outlets; making loan applications; cleaning, widening, deepening and removal of timber from creeks and strengthening existing drains; construction of dams for dredging; setting and collection of rates.
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| Detail from a general meeting of the Te Puke Land Drainage Board, January 1908 |
One of the clippings tucked in from January 1909 advertises a half acre section fronting Cameron Road for £100 “with a nice lot of young fruit trees”.
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| Bay of Plenty Times advertisement, 27 January 1909 |
To return to the original question - what links Tauranga Cemetery and Te Puke Land Drainage Board - they are both collections in Pae Korokī that provide an online glimpse into the varied history of land usage in the Bay of Plenty.
These archival items have been digitised and added to Pae Korokī. For more information about other items in our collection, visit Pae Korokī or email the Heritage & Research Team: research@tauranga.govt.nz
Written by Kate Charteris, Heritage Specialist at Tauranga City Library.
