C.F Washer and Sons and Sam Snowden’s Spring Street Service Station (Part 1)

Guest article by John Green

Main Street, Te Puke, with C.F. Washer’s sign on left, beyond hotel, c1910
Real photo postcard by unidentified photographer
Collection of Te Ao Mārama Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 99-975

At the beginning of the 20th Century there were many coach builders, wheelwrights and blacksmiths but they soon had to adapt to the appearance of the “horseless carriages” that were gaining popularity. Bay of Plenty residents, the Washers, and one of their early employees Sam Snowden managed to think outside the square and run successful motor garages in the central business district for many decades with their innovative ideas and entrepreneurial skills.

It is very difficult to find much written record of their activities but several images from different eras have been preserved in the Tauranga City Library Archives and the Tauranga Heritage Collection.

Main Street, Te Puke, 1919
Real photo postcard by Henry Winkelmann (Tourist Series 975)
Collection of Te Ao Mārama Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 99-045

It appears the C.F. Washer business had its origins in Te Puke where there was a ‘House Furnisher, Ironmonger and Coach Builder’ under the same name in 1910.

Tauranga Coach builders, c1909
Copy negative of mounted print, copied for Bay of Plenty Photo News, No 93, 7 Mar 1970
Collection of Te Ao Mārama Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. pn 6542

It is hard to date this Tauranga image and we can’t confirm it is Washers but maybe it was as early as 1909. Washer had been in business for 50 years in 1959.

[Editor’s Note: According to Electoral Rolls, Cecil Frederic Washer, coachbuilder, was living at Hamilton Street, Tauranga at least as early as 1911, but his father Alfred Washer had been farming in Tauranga and Te Puke since the 1880s.]

Charlie Haua’s Invitation to C.F. Washer’s Jubilee Buffet, 24 March 1959
Collection of Te Ao Mārama Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. Ms 81/3/2/1

Sometime before this image was recorded in 1922 Washer’s Empire Garage was established on Willow Street. They were agents for Hudson, Buick and Dort. This was one of the important early and long-standing businesses spanning six decades, the business closed in 1970. Charlie Haua (Tauranga’s last blacksmith, 1903-1980s?) and Sam Snowden were in the lineup of employees as blacksmiths, rather than mechanics.

Washer’s Empire Garage, 1922
(L to R) Unknown, Jack Wright, Charlie Haua, unknown, unknown, Sam Snowden, unknown, Fred Washer
Collection of Te Ao Mārama Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 99-1144

To be continued ... Part 2

Sources

Tauranga 1882-1982 —The Centennial of Gazetting Tauranga as a Borough, Edited by Alan Bellamy. Published by TCC, 1982

Personal memories of the writer and Alan Jones, a former employee of Sam Snowden.

Images
Thanks to Tauranga City Libraries for their amazing collection of images on Pae  Koroki, and to Fiona Kean and the team at the Tauranga Heritage Collection for permission to use two of their images, including the one taken by the late Alf Rendell

Baikie’s Bread Deliveries

By guest author Brooke McCann

Tom Baikie standing next to his delivery truck outside one of his earlier stores – The Strand, Tauranga, 1930
Photo: R.J. Rendell

In the early days, my great-grandfather Tom Baikie would travel the rough country roads surrounding Te Puke - delivering the daily bread from his bakery. Eventually the rural mail car took over, providing a service to deliver food parcels along with the post. Mike Bayliss, a Te Puke resident, remembers:

“Today it’s amazing to think that we had Tom’s bread delivered by the rural mail man when we lived only 2km away from the bakery. If it was a half barracuda, picking the end out and eating it on the way from the mailbox was delicious— but I once got in big trouble when not much more than the crust was left.”

Local Peter Muir was just a young boy when he’d help his grandfather Graham Barrow deliver goods in his truck. They’d load up large bags of flour from the rail goods shed to drop at Baikie’s.  Te Puke had the aptly named tradesmen Mr Baikie the baker, Mr Butcher the butcher, Mr Barrow the carrier and Mr Washer’s garage.

One of the jobs as the baker’s eldest daughter, was to make catering deliveries in the company van. As soon as my Nana June was old enough, she sat the exam for her driver’s license.  In the mid-forties a full driver’s license was available at 15, and this was the age a lot of people left school to work.

Tom Baikie with daughter June

June spent many hours preparing, with lessons from Tom. The local policeman conducted the exam, and the driving test route was well known among Te Puke teenagers. June had it down pat. She’d memorised which streets she would be asked to park, when to do a three-point turn, and where to perform a hill start. After months of practice, June executed the course beautifully, with no mistakes. On return to the station, as she sat in the driver’s seat, the policeman turned to speak. He told her that she’d done brilliantly on her driver’s test, however he had not yet asked her to start the vehicle, yet alone given her any instructions on where to drive!

Godfrey Lindsay Mackersey 1929-2023

Godfrey and Scott

Godfrey was a farmer and family man, bush activist and conservationist who lived a life on the edge, over 70 years of it in the Tauranga region. He passed on late last year at the age of 94.

He was born the youngest of four to a Hastings family and his first brush with death was the 1931 Napier earthquake, where he was narrowly missed by a falling chimney. He remembered an idyllic childhood as he commented that he was too young to be aware of everyone's financial challenges, in particular their own, as his Dad was a generous hearted lawyer and often waived fees.

Two things which shaped his youth were picking peas for "Mr Wattie" and being trained as a dispatch cyclist in the event of a German invasion. He reached School Certificate level before heading out to work on farms; his eventual aim, owning one.

Massey College occupied 1949 and 1950. Following his studies, a technician's position became available at the Ruakura Research Station near Hamilton for which he was accepted. Keen to get back on the land, he did a couple of stints scrub-cutting for a distant relative at the back of Te Puke and later in the King Country. However, the farm dream was not getting any closer so he returned to Ruakura.

Godfrey and Margaret in a bush clearing

Enter Margaret Bell, of a Tauranga farming family, whose mother needed a sharemilker on the family farm (Townhead Farm) on Cambridge Road. A crash course on how to manage dairy cows for a town milk supply operation was undertaken. He enjoyed the company of Mrs Bell who was a prominent educationist and political character.

In the mid-1950s Godfrey and Margaret became engaged, then married and went on to have three daughters. The sheep farm dream persisted and by the mid-1960s the 'writing was on the wall' for Townhead Farm due to Tauranga city development.

Makereti

720 acres of 'cutover' bush and scrub became available in upper Whakamarama and for ten years they commuted between the two properties, clearing land to farm and constructing a new home. Makereti, as the farm became known, had the old Tauranga Harbour Board Office building to serve as a temporary woolshed for many seasons.

In 1978 the Mackersey family gifted a bush block on the farm to Otumoetai College, where their daughters had attended secondary school and Godfrey was on the Board of Governors. This is now the Oteora Outdoor Education Camp where students have the opportunity to explore the native wonders.

Godfrey with Jock

Godfrey was very active in his rural community, being the Dairy Representative for the Bay of Plenty Federated Farmers and setting up their Farm Cadet Scheme. He was also on the Waikato-Rotorua National Parks and Reserves Board, involved in the Kaimai Bush Campaign during the 1970s, a member of Rotary, Corrigal Trust, Avalon Trust and last, but not least, a very long standing member of the Tauranga Historical Society.

Whitty Whitmore - A Lifetime of Achievements

By guest author Lucy Mullinger

Whitty as a child

Alaric (Whitty) Whitmore only has two more years before he hits the big 100 and, unsurprisingly, has a lot of great stories to tell. When asked how he made it past 95 - still fit and healthy - witty in nature and name, he replies nonchalantly, “I live longer than most.”

Whitty was born on December 24, 1925 and began his life at the railway stationmaster’s house on Marsh Street, where he reminisces watching his mother bartering with Māori women for kumara.

The family would go on to live in Taumarunui for some time, before moving back to a cold reception in Mount Maunganui near his grandparents - who didn't approve of his parents’ marriage (his mother was Catholic and his dad was Anglican). Despite family tensions, Whitty remembers an idyllic childhood, where he caught food for the family, including rabbits, fish and seafood. He recalls the price of food at the local bakers - three pence for a sultana loaf!

One of his earliest memories includes watching famed aviator Charles Kingsford Smith land his famous plane, the Southern Cross, on the beach near Takitimu Drive (where the big roundabout and flag is now). For just 10 shillings he was given the opportunity to sit in between his dad’s legs and fly to White Island (Whakaari), Mayor Island (Tuhua) and Tauranga in the plane.

Another interesting memory that Whitty laughs at now, was meeting the Duke of Edinburgh. Whitty was hanging from a chain fence outside Elizabeth Park, when Prince Philip and his entourage walked past. The Prince, who was known to suffer from foot in mouth, said, “Look at those monkeys hanging from the wire” to which Whitty replies, “I suppose it depends on the side of the fence you’re on''.

By the time he was 13, Whitty was informed his dad had died: “I went to the funeral in the morning and afterwards got ready for school. Mum said, ‘No, you have to work.’” He went on to deliver meat for Dunlop’s Butchery on Cameron Road and deliver 100 papers for the Bay of Plenty Times.

A few years later, Whitty decided to join up with the army. He asked for his mother’s consent but she said no, until he reminded her that she had brothers younger than him in the navy. He was only 16, but like many other boys at the time, he raised his age to 18 and went to camp in Burnham - where he would go on to serve in the 27th Machine Gun Battalion 2nd NZEF. The hardy Kiwi went on to make it for the last day of the battle of monte cassino and sustained a bullet through his stomach later on in the war, which would exit the same hole that had been sewed up many years before thanks to a burst appendix.

Paperwork from the war trials in Japan

Whitty saw a lot during the war that he doesn’t want to talk about but when it ended, he was told he was in the advanced guard to set up the J Force in Japan. Hiroshima had recently been bombed and there was nothing left standing. “I think there was the framework of only two buildings left”. In September 1946, he was a guard on duty at the war crimes trials of Japanese Generals. For the Whitmore family, it seems the war might be in the blood. His father’s cousin, George Stoddart Whitmore served in the Crimean War and would go on to set sail for New Zealand in 1861 as military secretary for General Duncan Cameron. By the time he arrived in the country, a truce had been declared, so he turned his hands to establishing a sheep run in Napier but by 1866, he led the colonial forces including several attacks on Te Kooti and Titokowaru’s forces. He became known as someone who was fiercely disliked, in part, possibly due to his military ability.

A recent photo of Whitty holding a picture of him during the war

Whitty would go on to spend a lot of his time along the beach side where his fearsome ancestor was said to spend some time. He would catch the ferry from the foot of the Mount, to Tauranga District High school and has fond memories of donkeys which were hired out for rides along the beach by the harbour look out at the time - Taffy Davies.

Whitty also used to climb up the Whitmore steps, which were put in by his ancestor to assist the troops during the Gate Pa wars. They can be found just past the surf club, on the left.

From the moment he left school, to recent times, Whitty has always been a hard worker, which he partly attributes to his long life. As the years progressed he got more experience working hard on the land and went on to run a farm which was the largest supplier to the Bay of Plenty Dairy Company as well as the largest producer of tamarillos in the southern hemisphere.

Whitty continued to play a big part in the farming industry, right up to as recently as 2014, when he was project manager for the Ellip dairy farm conversion in Te Puke, an off-grid project that took 36 working days from issue of permits to milking cows. “I like to get things done,” he says simply.

With four children (three of whom are currently getting a pension) and more grandchildren than he can count, Whitty enjoyed three parties for his ninetieth. With only two years to plan his centenarian, it's anyone’s guess how many parties he will enjoy next time.

Whitty's Story: The Life and Times of Alaric Davenport Whitmore

If you would like to read more about Whitty’s life, send him an email at whittymg27@gmail.com to secure his recently published book Whitty’s Story - The Life and Times of Alaric Davenport Whitmore.