Halfway House, Ngawaro

Halfway House, Rotorua-Tauranga Road, c. 1897-1900
Large format mounted gelatin silver print by Thomas E. Price of Masterton & Tauranga
Hocken Collection, Image courtesy of Tony Rackstraw and David George

While conducting research previous articles about hand-coloured photography published on this blog in August, I came across this illuminating image which originated from a descendant of Tauranga photographer Thomas E. Price, [i] and now resides in the Hocken Collection (Dunedin). It depicts Halfway House (alternatively spelled Half Way, and sometimes with a hyphen) at Ngawaro, a refuelling stop on the direct route between Tauranga and Rotorua, popular in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. Judging by the style of leg-of-mutton sleeves worn by the woman standing among the five men, a boy and a dog in front of the veranda, it was probably taken around the time of Price’s arrival in Tauranga from Masterton in late 1897-early 1898. [ii]

Hand-drawn “military” map of country around Gate Pa, Tauranga, c. 1864
Courtesy of National Library, Ref. MapColl-832.16hkm/[ca.1864]/Acc.1869

Early maps and accounts of movements in Tauranga Moana demonstrate that the direct route between Tauranga and Rotorua via the Oropi Bush was already well established by the time of the settlement of the Te Papa peninsula in the 1830s by the CMS missionaries. Botanist William Colenso rode a horse via this route in January 1842,[iii] and by the early 1870s excursionists to the Hot Lakes district were travelling by steamer to Tauranga and then by horseback via the new “Oropi road.” [iv] In December 1873 Charles Spencer, a few years later Tauranga’s resident photographer, walked as a teenager with some friends from his home in Thames to the Rotorua Lakes and back via Tauranga, probably through the Oropi Bush via the Mangorewa Gorge.[v]

The opening up and gradual improvement of the original foot and horse tracks through the area may have been one of the reasons why Edward “Ned” Douglas and Korowhiti Tuataka settled at Ngawaro soon after their marriage in 1870, building a home which they named the Halfway House. The route was surveyed by Captain A.C. Turner and then gradually improved by gangs of constabulary, with the first official coach service making the journey in July 1873. In the following year, the Douglas family rented their house out to coach proprietors and moved to Mohaka in the Hawkes Bay for six years. The mail[vi] and passenger coaches,[vii] as well as cartage contractors,[viii]used the Ngawaro stop as a convenient place to rest and water passengers, drivers and animals, even to change horse teams, and the traffic reputedly increased tenfold between 1874 and 1877. It is not clear, however, whether it was offering overnight accommodation during this period.

Bullock team and four-in-hand coach at Halfway House, Ngawaro, possibly 1880s
Copy print of photograph by unidentified photographer
Courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. Photo 06-138

In late 1873 the Oropi Hotel had been built by John Marshall in a location close to where Oropi School now stands, to “supply a want long felt, and be a great boon to travellers”,[ix] and was operated by Edward Durand as a popular lunch time and overnight stop[x] until it burnt down in August 1883.[xi] The Douglas family returned to Ngawaro in 1882, after a two year stay at Rotoiti where Edward had built a barge and was employed as a mill manager. Sensing the need for increased accommodation options, he erected a new building opposite Opakapaka on what was by then known as Douglas Flat, [xii] applying for and being granted an accommodation licence for what he now called “The Bush House” in July that year.[xiii]

In May 1883 Douglas leased the premises to J McKinlay for two years, the latter reverting to the use of its original name, the “Half-Way House Hotel.”[xiv] It appears that, although his family were living as Ngawaro, Edward was still very much occupied with the Rotoiti enterprise, travelling backwards and forwards frequently between the two locations.[xv] Although McKinlay erected a 15-stall stable alongside the hotel in November 1883[xvi] – probably the long, single-storey building visible in the centre of the above image – his tenure does not appear to have been particularly successful,[xvii] and the licence reverted to Edward Douglas in May 1885.[xviii]

By early 1887 the quantity of traffic through the Oropi Bush had declined considerably. The reasons for this were complex: the high rainfall and stormy weather, particularly during winter months, often rendered the road difficult to negotiate or even impassable,[xix] the constabulary had moved further afield, and the Council was reluctant to continually provide funding for repairs, while tourist traffic to the Lakes had all but ceased after the catastrophic eruptions of Tarawera and destruction of the Pink and White Terraces. Douglas concentrated “on developing his property of 160 acres which he and his wife had worked so hard to acquire, by planting out an orchard and maintaining a substantial garden.” [xx] They gave up the accommodation license, but still catered to the substantial through traffic:

“Soon the Half Way House is reached. In other days when the traffic was larger this house boasted a license. Now there is none. The coach changes horses here and the traveller has time to have a cup of tea, with some bread and butter and boiled eggs served him by a buxom half-caste girl, who is one of a large family. Some distance beyond the half-way House the road enters the Mangorewa Gorge.” [xxi]

In 1888 the hotel was once again leased, this time to coach operator George Crosby, who installed Charles Russell Fielder as manager, [xxii] while the Douglas family moved to Galatea in June 1891, where they built a general store and established a cartage business.[xxiii] Fielder grew vegetables very successfully all year round at Ngawaro, presumably selling them in Tauranga or Rotorua in addition to supplying meals to coach customers at Halfway House[xxiv]but it appears that the lodging house may have been closed in the early 1890s.

Halfway House, Ngawaro, c. Winter 1901
Mounted gelatin silver print, photograph possibly attributable to Mary Humphreys, Tauranga
Collection of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. Photo 99-348

In February 1898 the hotel was reopened by Messrs MacDonald and Inglis, heralding what appears to have been its longest continuous period of operation as a lodging house, probably helped considerably by the clearing and development of blocks of land for settlement between Taumata and Mangorewa since 1895.[xxv] In August 1903, they were able to accommodate a party of 32 guests for dinner,[xxvi] presumably the midday meal, since the main building only had seven guest bedrooms at the time of Douglas’ licence application in 1885. The view above, possibly taken by Tauranga photographer Mary Humphreys in the winter months of 1901, shows the remains of the stable buildings just visible beyond the main hotel building and between the two coaches.[xxvii]

By December 1903, when Mr Hamilton Grapes reported that the direct road from Tauranga to Rotorua via the Mangorewa Gorge and Oropi “presented no difficulties” to the journey of his six-passenger Darracq motor vehicle,[xxviii]substantial improvements to the road’s surface, the several bridges and regular upkeep no doubt assisted with the flow of traffic.

Halfway House, Tauranga-Rotorua Road, c. 1909-1916
Real photo postcard by Frederick George Radcliff, Auckland (Ref. 6164)
Courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. Photo 16-098

In late 1910, after a twelve year stretch as proprietor, Mrs Macdonald leased the Half-Way House to Mrs T.J. Davenport,[xxix] who continued to offer furnished or unfurnished rooms to a variety of customers. [xxx] A school was erected by the Education Board at Ngawaro in 1916,[xxxi] and in February 1919 the regular Tauranga-Rotorua coach run was replaced by a service car.[xxxii] In 1924 and 1925 Norman Collett, then proprietor of the Royal Mail service cars, advertised that he would stop at Half-Way house where “first-class accommodation” was offered.[xxxiii]F.G. Radcliffe’s postcard view above, probably taken around the beginning of the Great War, shows a gradual clearing of the surrounding bush, while the stables, so necessary during the coaching era, have completely disappeared.

Fireplace and chimney of the second Halfway House, January 1971
Black-and-white instamatic (126-format) print, photographed by John Green
Courtesy of John Green, Private Collection

Mentions of the Halfway House at Ngawaro in the newspapers appear to cease from the mid-1920s, but is known that after its demise, a second Halfway House was built nearby, on the hill closer to the current intersection of SH36, which replaced the old unsealed direct road in the 2000s, with No 2/Mangatoi Road. The ruins of the latter were described by G.D. Vercoe in a Bay of Plenty Times article in 1961.[xxxiv] Recollections of the remnants of this second building, predominantly the old chimney and fireplace (since completely gone), have also been provided by John Green (personal communication), who was taken there in the early 1970s and provided the above photograph. Nothing at appears to remain of the original Halfway House built by Edward Douglas and his family, the location probably lying within land currently designated as the Taumata Scenic Reserve.

References

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[i] Tony Rackstraw, “Thomas Edward Price,” Blog, Early New Zealand Photographers (blog), January 2012, https://canterburyphotography.blogspot.com/2012/01/price-t-e.html.

[ii] Brett Payne, “Visiting Price’s Corner Studio on The Strand,” Blog, Tauranga Historical Society (blog), October 3, 2014, https://taurangahistorical.blogspot.com/2014/10/visiting-prices-corner-studio-on-strand.html.

[iii] Jim Pendergrast, The Ngawaro Regional Historical Review, 2005.

[iv] Anon, “Untitled [The New Oropi Road],” Bay of Plenty Times, October 30, 1872, Volume I Issue 17 edition.

[v] Alison Drummond, ed., The Thames Journals of Vicesimus Lush, 1868-82 (Christchurch, New Zealand: Pegasus Press, 1975).

[vi] Anon, “Tauranga, This Day,” Thames Star, April 20, 1877, Volume VII Issue 2585 edition.

[vii] Anon, “Untitled [Oropi Bush Road],” Bay of Plenty Times, May 26, 1877, Volume V Issue 490 edition.

[viii] Anon, “The Oropi Road,” Bay of Plenty Times, November 7, 1877, Volume VI Issue 537 edition.

[ix] Anon, “Untitled [Acommodation House at Oropi Bush],” Bay of Plenty Times, December 13, 1873, Volume II Issue 134 edition.

[x] Anon, “Untitled [Durand’s Hostelry at Oropi],” Bay of Plenty Times, April 1, 1874, Volume II Issue 164 edition.

[xi] Anon, “More Destruction by Fire,” Auckland Star, August 16, 1883, Volume XX Issue 4088 edition.

[xii] Anon, “Ngāi Te Ahi Hapū Management Plan,” June 2013.

[xiii] Anon, “Maketu Licensing Court. Tuesday, June 6, 1882,” Bay of Plenty Times, June 8, 1882, Volume XI Issue 1291 edition.

[xiv] Edward Douglas, “Notice of Application for a Transfer of License, Edward Douglas, 14 May 1883,” Bay of Plenty Times, May 17, 1883, Volume XII Issue 1533 edition.

[xv] Pendergrast, The Ngawaro Regional Historical Review.

[xvi] Anon, “Untitled [Mr McKinlay],” Bay of Plenty Times, November 13, 1883, Volume XII Issue 1610 edition.

[xvii] Anon, “Untitled [Mr J McKinlay],” Bay of Plenty Times, March 13, 1884, Volume XIII Issue 1660 edition.

[xviii] Edward Douglas, “Notice of Application for an Accommodation License,” Bay of Plenty Times, May 12, 1885, Volume XIV Issue 1837 edition.

[xix] Anon, “The Bush Road between Tauranga and Ohinemutu,” Bay of Plenty Times, September 15, 1881, Volume X Issue 1091 edition.

[xx] Pendergrast, The Ngawaro Regional Historical Review.

[xxi] Anon, “Tauranga to Rotorua,” Bay of Plenty Times, August 22, 1887, Volume XV Issue 2179 edition.

[xxii] Pendergrast, The Ngawaro Regional Historical Review.

[xxiii] Anon, “Untitled [Mr Douglas Closing Half Way House],” Bay of Plenty Times, June 8, 1891, Volume XVII Issue 2690 edition.

[xxiv] Anon, “A Holiday Trip to Rotorua and Taupo,” Bay of Plenty Times, January 17, 1889, Volume XVI Issue 2382 edition, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT18890117.2.40.

[xxv] Anon, “Untitled [Blocks between Half Way House and Mangarewa],” Bay of Plenty Times, May 20, 1895, Volume XXI Issue 3267 edition.

[xxvi] Anon, “Untitled [Football Team at Half-Way House],” Bay of Plenty Times, August 24, 1903, Volume XXXI Issue 4490 edition.

[xxvii] Anon, “Untitled [Photographs by Mary Humphreys Published in Christchurch Press],” Bay of Plenty Times, October 9, 1901, Volume XXIX Issue 4210 edition.

[xxviii] Anon, “Arrival of Mr Hamilton Grapes’s Motor Car,” Bay of Plenty Times, December 28, 1903, Volume XXXI Issue 4542 edition.

[xxix] Mrs Macdonald and Mrs T.J. Davenport, “Advertisement, Half-Way House, Ngawaro,” Bay of Plenty Times, February 22, 1911, Volume XXXIX Issue 5617 edition.

[xxx] Anon, “Untitled [Rooms at the Old Half-Way House],” Bay of Plenty Times, December 23, 1910, Volume XXXIX Issue 5593 edition.

[xxxi] Anon, “Untitled [Erection of School at Ngawaro],” Bay of Plenty Times, March 31, 1916, Volume XLIV Issue 6654 edition.

[xxxii] Alan Charles Bellamy, ed., Tauranga 1882-1982, the Centennial of Gazetting Tauranga as a Borough (Tauranga, New Zealand: Tauranga City Council, 1982).

[xxxiii] Norman Collett, “Advertisement. Collett’s Royal Mail Cars,” Bay of Plenty Times, November 22, 1924, Volume LIII Issue 8745 edition.

[xxxiv] Anon, “Remains of ‘Halfway House’ Lie in Fern,” Bay of Plenty Times, January 18, 1961, Tauranga City Libraries Archive Microfilm.