Captain Alexander Turner Jnr. and the Scow 'Margaret' 1892-1914

Part I 

Alexander (Sandy) Turner sailed from Ireland to Auckland with his family on the immigrant ship Carisbrooke Castle in 1875. Travelling on to Tauranga by steamer, he established himself as a 27 year old freehold farmer on Katikati’s Uretara River. After farming for some years, he commenced running coastal sailing vessels and cargoes between the Bay of Plenty, Auckland and intermediate ports. 

Captain Alexander Turner Snr. 

Image: The Pioneers: Settlers and Famulies of Katikati and District. Christine Clement, 2012, p.327.

On 13 February 1892, his son Alexander Jnr., known locally as Alec or Alick, sailed into Tauranga harbour with his new purchase, the Margaret, a bluff bowed, flat bottomed, two-masted scow. With a gross weight of 31-tons, it was powered solely by sail [1].

The scow Margaret c. 1890s.

Sitting level in low tide Tauranga  harbour, the crew are offloading posts and sawn timber onto two drays. While scows were often crude and ungainly in appearance, the Margaret has pleasing lines with a nice lift to the capping rail fore and aft. Image: Photographer unknown. Photo 04-572, Te Ao Mārama.

Built at Auckland for its first owner Mrs M. Andrew in late 1884, and described as ‘a small coaster’, the bluff-bowed Margaret was initially engaged in carrying kauri logs, baulk kauri and sawn timber to Auckland, from locations as diverse as Great Barrier Island, Ōrewa, Pūhoi, Pākiri and the Coromandel mill ports at Mercury and Kennedy’s Bay[2]. Between February 1892 and 1906, Captain Alec Turner and the Margaret regularly transported sawn kauri timber from Auckland and Coromandel sawmills to Tauranga, and on to Maketū and Katikati where it was needed for the construction of houses, schools, retail stores, hotels and churches for George Vesey Stewart’s immigrant settlers [3].

The large-scale timber felling and milling operations at Katikati, Whakāmarama, Omanawa and the Ōropi Bush which required numerous scows (most assisted by steam engines) to transport lumber by sea, did not commence in earnest until the early 20th century. During the depression of the 1890s, entrepreneurial local scow owner-captains like Alec Turner took every opportunity to acquire cargoes and ensure that their vessels turned a profit. On St Patrick’s Day 17 March 1892, for instance, he took a party of 30 people on a fishing excursion out into the Bay of Plenty, having sold tickets at 10 shillings per head. Turner continued his fishing excursions as far afield as Tūhua-Mayor Island and picnic excursions from Tauranga to the Mount throughout the 1890s [4].

When not delivering timber to Tauranga on contract, Turner disposed of his own cargoes of sawn timber and posts ‘at unusually cheap prices’, directly to local builders and timber merchants. Soon after purchasing the Margaret he sold off a cargo of sawn timber from Tairua at the Victoria Wharf in Tauranga at just 5 shillings and sixpence per hundred feet, yet was still able to return a profit [5].

The scow Lena Gladys on Katikati’s Uretara River, 1920

Like Captain Turner’s Margaret, the shallow draught Lena Gladys regularly sailed up the Uretara River to deliver and collect freight from Katikati. The Lena Gladys operated in Bay of Plenty waters until the Taneatua branch railway line opened in 1928. Image: Photographer unknown. Western Bay of Plenty District Council Community Archives.

Uplifting their purchases from the Margaret as it lay at Victoria Wharf or as it sat level at low tide locations around the harbour, Turner’s customers transported their purchases away by horse and cart.

Ever the entrepreneur, in October 1893, Turner returned from Mount Maunganui in October 1893 with a cargo of beach shells, before departing to sell them in Auckland for roading and road fill[6]. Turner continued this lucrative sideline into the late 1890s, supplying the Tauranga Borough Council with much needed ‘Mount shell’, as it was called, for local roading [7]. According to the Bay of Plenty Times:

"In those days there were tremendous quantities of marine shell deposited in the locality of the North Rock Light at the Mount. This was shovelled into drays, carted across the isthmus, and loaded into a large scow, the Margaret, in Pilot Bay. The unloading of the boat took place into drays at a point off the eastern end of Spring Street, but unloading periods were restricted to the times when the water was low enough to permit the draught horses to draw the loads. The pulling was heavy too, but nevertheless Cameron Road, the Strand, Devonport Road, and other streets in the business area carried surfaces up to four inches in thickness, when dressed with this material. Those road tops were well maintained. Half-a-century ago practically no metal was used [8]."

View of the Opopoti, Maungatapu Marae and the Rangataua Estuary on 2nd October 1958.

Captain Alec Turner and the Margaret once negotiated the estuary’s shallow inner harbour waters to bring a cargo of raupō (bulrush) for thatching the walls and roof of a new wharenui (meeting house). Image: Bronwyn Taikato. Ref 00-127. Te Ao Mārama.

Again, during April 1899, Turner and the Margaret arrived in Tauranga from an unidentified location with a cargo of raupō for Māori at Matapihi who were constructing a large wharenui. At that time there was also considerable demand for raupō by Ngāi Te Rangi hapu who were repairing their wharenui at Wharēroa Marae (near the present site of the harbour bridge on the Mount Maunganui side), at Karikari Marae (on the inner harbour near modern-day Bay Park Stadium) and at Maungatapu, where the Ngāti He hapū were constructing a new wharenui [9].

References

[1] Clement, Christine and Ellen McCormack, The Pioneer Settlers and Families of Katikati and District, Ellen McCormack, Katikati, 2012, p. 328; Bay of Plenty Times, 20 August 1936, p. 2.

[2] Auckland Star, 6 December 1884, p.2.

[3] Bay of Plenty Times, 1 February 1893, p. 2; 14 December 1898, p. 2; 14 May 1900, p. 2; Auckland Star, 25 March, 1898, p.2.

[4] Bay of Plenty Times, 15 February 1892, p. 2; 27 December 1945, p.4; 21 January 1948, p.2.

[5] Ibid:May 1892, p.2.

[6] Ibid: 30 October, 1893, p.2.

[7] Ibid:15 December 1897: 2; 25 August 1897, p.2.

[8] Ibid: 5 January 1839, p.5.

[9] Ibid:5 April, 1899, p.2.

Henderson Brothers Sawmill, Upper Kaimai (1936-1957) Part Two

 By John and Julie Green

Early single man’s hut

The Henderson Brothers sawmill and village were built in 1936 on what is now known as the Old Kaimai Road. The construction was under the leadership of Harry Christian who lived in the lower Kaimai. One of the first residents was a Finnish national, Eino Kinnunnen (known as Charlie Anderson), who was invited there to help establish and run the operation.  He had a family but left them back in Gisborne and lived in a single man’s hut across from the mill.

Typical mill house

They were promised the first completed house, but after six months they could wait no longer to be a family unit. They came north and the five of them squeezed into the tiny accommodation. Charlie Anderson was a fitter and blacksmith, and had skills as a farrier. He was also responsible for the repair of the second-hand four-sided planer that was purchased from Auckland, and for its operation during his time there.

Cookhouse under construction

Eventually there were half a dozen “huts” and 14 excellent two-bedroom homes for families plus a cookhouse and office. Elsie, wife of Fred Henderson, ran the store and postal agency for the first couple of years, followed by Alf’s wife Laura. Locals thought that school teacher Alan Simcock coped remarkably well with the sudden increase in his roll from 24 to 35.

Fred Henderson

As time went by, a tennis club was formed, using the court at the school. Just prior to the war a meeting was held by locals and a commitment made to build community hall. Timber was donated by the company, hardware by the farmers and labour by the mill staff. It was the centre of the community’s social life including fortnightly dance, with an excellent dance floor made from specially selected matai timber.

Esme Henderson on the “skids”

One of Charlie’s sons wrote an extensive memoir of their time there for a “bush” reunion held in 1988, portraying an idyllic life of playing in the bush and the stream that ran nearby. It was not without tragedy though as their beloved dog was killed by one of the bush trams, and they took many a risk around the water. Fred’s daughter Esme, now 96, was there for two years as a ten- and eleven-year-old. She felt she was extremely well educated at the school, and when they moved to Matamata she was way ahead of her new school mates. She speaks very fondly of her time “up the Kaimai.”

Two single men’s huts (note concrete chimneys and timber stack)

Jean Cole (daughter of Roy and Dorothy Henderson, who were in residence for about nine years) remembers:

“Life at Kaimai was happy and carefree. There was a block of bush behind the mill houses, bordered by the new through road, which was our playground. We were free to roam between meals - the sound of a whistle being blown was the signal for the Simcock children to go home, and for the Roy Henderson family it was a cowbell. There was always someone to remind us that they could hear the cowbell and Mum wanted us home. When we heard we were to move to Tauranga there were many tears from the children, but our mother was very happy as she had struggled for years to dry the many nappies on the clothesline … blown about dreadfully and often rained on. Life by the beach in Tauranga was far easier for her.”

The village across the road from Henderson’s Mill

After the mill ceased operation in 1957, some of the homes were removed to Greerton and refurbished. The community hall was moved twice, eventually finding a new home at the Lower Kaimai School, where it is still in use. Only one house remains near the old mill site. The Henderson’s Tramline walking track nearby is nowadays managed by the Department of Conservation.

Sources

Memories of the time we lived at Upper Kaimai, 1936-1945, by Eddy Anderson
Henderson Mill, a Landmark, by Ron Lipinski, Bay of Plenty Times, 25/10/2006
Sawmilling Days in the King Country and Kaimai Range from 1933-1945, by Dorothy Henderson
Recollections of the Henderson Timber Company’s Mill, by Dorothy Henderson
More Recollections of Mill Operations, by Bob Henderson (appeared in a 1988 booklet, Kaimai Revisited - 75th Jubilee of the Kaimai School)
The Era of the Bush Tram in New Zealand, by Paul Mahoney, Transpress, 2004
Personal recollections of Jean Cole (daughter of Roy Henderson) and Esme Crawford (daughter of Fred Henderson)
Help with initial images Bill Coster, long time Kaimai Resident
Images courtesy of the Cole family
All images provided by Jean Cole and Esme MacDonald

Henderson Brothers' Sawmill, Upper Kaimai (Part One)

by John and Julie Green

Alf and Dave Henderson working on a kauri tree

Alfred Henderson was born in 1882 in Whitianga and developed his love of working with timber at a young age. His first job at twelve was as a “pack boy” with the driver of a bullock team in the local kauri forests. Next, he went tree felling with his cousin Dave. He met his future wife Laura Adamson in Thames and they were married there in 1905, with twins following soon after. He soon became bush manager for Ellis & Burnand at Mananui in the King Country, where they had four more children. Before 1914 they bought land near Rotorua and Alf continued to do bush work to help finance the farm. The whole family survived the flu epidemic and a serious house fire in the 1920s, after which they moved to urban Hamilton. 

Travelling to work, bushman-style

Alf began logging and milling white pine near Aria in the King Country in the early 30s, at the height of the depression, and his son Roy was a hauler driver. The workers were busy ten hours a day, six days a week - they earned four pounds per week, a decent income in very hard times. However, the conditions under which they worked and lived were very primitive. The kahikatea grew in swamps where the men had to wear waders. Wielding their crosscut saws and axes and moving the felled logs in this terrain would have been challenging. Roy met and married local girl Dorothy Williams and their first home was a leaky lean-to on the side of the mill office. There were eight married and six single men and their unlined houses were very basic with no plumbing or electricity. The roofs leaked as corrugated iron was re-nailed each time the houses were moved to remain near the work sites. 

Back of the mill and shed housing the Judd steam hauler

By 1936 the call for timber milling was increasing and the white pine getting scarcer, so the Henderson Timber Company was formed by Alf and his much younger brother Fred. They bought the rimu milling rights for a hundred acres at top of the Kaimai Range. Most of the men and families from the Aria camp relocated to the new site, where a mill was constructed to harvest rimu for the local Tauranga and Waikato building trades. Harry Christian from Lower Kaimai was the mill carpenter, while Charlie Anderson was manager (from 1936 to 1945), blacksmith and planer operator. After a couple of years there Fred set up his own mill in Matamata in 1937 and later supplied pine boxing timber for the construction of the Karapiro Dam. Their nephew Harold was involved in carting timber from both mills.

Judd steam-hauler being relocated

The Kaimai mill was electric-powered, but the felled logs were hauled directly to the mill skids by a large Judd steam-powered hauler. As the logging operations moved further from the mill a tramline was constructed and the Judd hauler was moved out into the bush. A second hauler was introduced later, with logs being dragged from one to the other to save extending the tramline.

Rake of logs leaving for the mill (note size of rimu logs compared to workers)

There were two petrol-powered rail tractors and eventually 11.5 km of tramlines for transporting the logs. One was a 1926 Fordson farm tractor converted to run on rails by the Union Foundry in Stratford, the other a 1930s Graham Page truck converted for rail use in 1937 by the Tuakau Motor Garage. Three trucks were used: a Diamond T, an International and a Ford articulated transporter. Another block of bush near Ngamuwahine was also selectively logged by Frank Wilcox, and logs carried up to the mill with an ex-army GMC truck.

In the early 1950s Alf was concerned that there were still large quantities of tawa standing unused and so, along with other millers in the district (see blog article on Tuhi Harvey), a treatment procedure was developed. The extra timber was then able to be felled, milled, treated and utilized, mainly as flooring.

Roy Henderson on his RD7 Caterpillar

Alf’s son Roy drove an RD7 bulldozer on contract, and would take Dolly the draught horse up into the bush each Monday morning, where she dragged the winch ropes to the felled logs. He would take food up there for her each day and bring her home at the end of the working week. His daughter Jean recalls that on Friday nights she and her siblings would go to meet their father and ride down to the mill village on Dolly. In the early 1940s Roy had a nasty accident when a log bridge he was crossing gave way. The family moved down to Tauranga and, after a slow recovery from a punctured lung, he returned to work in the bush daily.

Mill workers

Alf’s other son Bob was the office clerk and yardman. He spent the war years away, about four of them as a POW. Sometime after his return, he married and had a family; they lived in Tauranga, but Bob remained working at the mill until it closed in 1957.

Part 2 to follow

Sources

Memories of the time we lived at Upper Kaimai, 1936-1945, by Eddy Anderson
Henderson Mill, a Landmark, by Ron Lipinski, Bay of Plenty Times, 25/10/2006
Sawmilling Days in the King Country and Kaimai Range from 1933-1945, by Dorothy Henderson
Recollections of the Henderson Timber Company’s Mill, by Dorothy Henderson
More Recollections of Mill Operations, by Bob Henderson (appeared in a 1988 booklet, Kaimai Revisited - 75th Jubilee of the Kaimai School)
The Era of the Bush Tram in New Zealand, by Paul Mahoney, Transpress, 2004
Personal recollections of Jean Cole (daughter of Roy Henderson) and Esme Crawford (daughter of Fred Henderson)
Help with initial images Bill Coster, long time Kaimai Resident
Images courtesy of the Cole family