Borell Road

The geography and the very name of the Tauranga harbour– a resting place for canoes – made the boat the foremost means of transport for centuries of human occupation. It was only when European settlers arrived, bringing their horses and wheeled vehicles, that roads became, in any sense, interesting or useful infrastructure. Around Tauranga, roads were a major preoccupation for a long time (a preoccupation that has continued to the present century) and were slow to arrive (as were the muddied, jolted, dust-covered travellers).

DP22854 colour map of Borell Road western end 1929
LINZ database, accessed at Tauranga City Library

A local road that seems to have been in place forever, Borell Road in Te Puna, was created only in 1930. Of course a very old land route, initially a footpath, traversed the end of the Waikaraka estuary, from the Te Puna stream, possibly as far as the pa inland from Oikimoke [1]: the name, Paparoa, “refers to the long plank used to cross the Oturu” [2] and is now given to the marae uphill from that stream.

Early surveyors ruled light red lines across the landscape to indicate where they thought roads might feasibly go. Theophilus Heal correctly guessed one would run out towards Te Kariti (approximately the route of the present Te Puna Road) and one to the northeastern mouth of the Waikaraka estuary.  He even essayed a lateral connection [3], one that took the traveller across the neck of the Waikaraka, where Waikaraka Drive, and its eastern connection, are today.

Looking west towards Paparoa marae. Photo: Beth Bowden

Presumably the nuisance of timing one’s travel according to whether the mudflats were wet or dry persuaded some of the landowners along the Waikaraka road (now Snodgrass Road) to lobby for a more inland route. The East Coast Main Trunk railway had gone through to Tauranga in 1927 with a causeway and short bridge over the Te Puna River estuary, and a much longer and much more expensive one at the mouth of the Wairoa. The line between the two bridges avoided the upland topography of Phipps’ and Armstrong’s farms.  Instead the engineers curved the railway over easier country. [4]  That curve took them right through Werahiko (Frank) Borell’s land. Local settlers seem to have thought that a similarly-shaped roadway was a convenient inevitability, especially if it were named for the landowner most affected by it. [5]

Signpost, western end Borell Road. Photo: Beth Bowden

Werahiko saw neither convenience nor inevitability, and he was not flattered by having his name on the map. A certain amount of brinksmanship was going on. C. E. H. Allen, son of an interested landowner, made his 1927 offer of really quite a lot of fencing contingent on receiving an affirmative answer on a roadway from the Tauranga County Council “within four months.” [6] At the same meeting, the Clerk dryly observed that there was a grant of £ for £ for the land, but “the new road would have to be legalised”. Clerkly process overtook brinksmanship. The meeting concluded with a resolution to offer Mr Borell £50 for his land and “…failing his acceptance, that steps be taken to acquire the land under the Public Works Act.”

SO25276 Borell Road land to be taken May 1929
LINZ database, accessed at Tauranga City Library

Werahiko was unimpressed, it appears. By the following month he had instructed a lawyer and spurned the offer of compensation. [7] By the following year he had put some muscle behind another attempt to take a roadway within land owned by his kin, up on the Whakamarama block. [8]

But the settlers persisted.  In April 1928  Messrs A. W. Snodgrass, F. H. Allen, W. Phipps, A. W. Anderson, J. Knox and H. Storer had signed “a petition for the declaration of a special rating area… [for] Borell’s Road at Te Puna, and the object is to raise a loan of £250.”  County Councillors poured cold water. Such loans were detrimental to financial administration, and the application would be entertained only so far as legalising the road “when all formalities have been complied with.” [9]

Signpost, eastern end Borell Road. Photo: Beth Bowden

Next month they were back again, this time with their womenfolk. [10] C.E.H and Mrs Allen, Mr and Mrs Knox and their daughter, and a Miss Snodgrass, as well as Messrs Snodgrass and Phipps, formed a deputation to urge the acquisition of Borell Road. [11] Produce could not go out; manure could not be brought in. “Only a culvert required fixing.” Perhaps the loan should be increased; the settlers were “paying a little over £122 per annum in rates and at present had no access.” At this point a mystifying (to me at least), mollifying letter, proposing an alternative roadway from the Minister was read out: it cut no ice at all.  The road the settlers wanted, “now”, “was along the railway and went through Messrs Borell’s and Allen’s properties.” Councillors’ comments as reported in the Bay of Plenty Times [12] read as both supportive - and circumspect.

By August Werahiko had rallied his forces. Interestingly, he invoked the importance of the Crown; and of boats. In his representations to the Council he rejected the idea of a loan, relied on the Minister’s letter and reserved “the right of my boat landing on the Oturu Stream, as it is a great benefit to me and my family for our boats to go out to earn my living by fishing in the harbour ...” This too cut no ice. Councillor Darragh successfully moved that the Council apply for a loan of £250 for the purposes of “acquiring, constructing, fencing and legalizing Borell’s Road, Te Puna.” [12]

The loan, the Gazette notice, and the surveys went through despite continued opposition from Werahiko and his family. [14] And the settlers were discontented as well. Even in October 1930 the road was “surveyed and fenced, but the road was not made”. [15] They were soothed by promises and, eventually, metal from the Te Puna Quarry. Frank junior, full of spirit even four years later, pushed back at the Council about impediments to access along Youngson’s Road. [16] Back in Te Puna, Werahiko was dealing with stock that found the new road a convenient browsing route. [17] Meanwhile, on Snodgrass Road, subdivision, especially along the harbour frontages of the Waikaraka, was becoming commonplace. [18] By 1947, the main problem on Borell Road was the gorse [19] ...

Railway line and culvert, Borell Road. Photo: Beth Bowden

References

[1] See SO424, the map drawn in 1865 by Theophilus Heal, Surveyor.  A copy is in the Tauranga Library.
[2] Conversation with Billy Borell, 6 February 2020.  Possibly a contraction of paepae roa.  I am indebted to the Borell family for their support for my recounting this story of their tipuna Werahiko.
[3] ibid SO424
[4] But still challenging: the Borell Road section of the ECMT is one of the steepest on the whole line.
[5] The settlers seem to have called it Borell’s Road from very early in the process: see their petition of April 1928, reported at https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19280414.2.13
[6] https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19270312.2.17
[7] https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19270409.2.4  It is not clear whether Werahiko ever accepted compensation, worth about $5,000 in $NZ today: https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/monetary-policy/inflation-calculator
[8] https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19280116.2.12
[9] https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19280414.2.13
[10] It is worth pointing out that the status of women as land holders, and therefore ratepayers, in the Tauranga County was by this time well established.
[11] https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19280518.2.17
[12] ibid
[13] https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19280815.2.11
[14] https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19290523.2.14 ; https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19290916.2.14 ; https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19291014.2.10
[15] https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19301011.2.19

How the Society’s annual Garden Party began

As the Tauranga Historical Society prepares for their annual Garden Party, to be held on Sunday March 1st, let’s look back at the Society’s first garden party which took place on Saturday December 1st, 1979.

Garden party visitors at the Brain Watkins House, 1 December 1979
Image: Tauranga Historical Society Collection

Hailed as a ‘Victorianarama Garden Party and Picnic’ the invitation promised entertainment for ‘edification and pleasure’ and included the Otumoetai College Choir, a piano accordionist and an organist. Undine Clarke’s dancers were also part of the line-up. Undine, ‘who pioneered the art of dance in Tauranga’, taught ballet, Spanish, musical comedy, ballroom and traditional highland and on the day her students performed ‘period and national dances’, no doubt on the grass between the flower beds. Spinning and weaving demonstrations also kept the crowd, of approximately 150 people, entertained.

Otumoetai College Girls’ Choir with Bob Addison, who was a teacher at the College at that time
Image: Tauranga Historical Society Collection

Spinning and weaving demonstration under the pack porch of the Brain Watkins House
Image: Tauranga Historical Society Collection

Several prizes were awarded to those who came in Victorian dress. According to The Bay of Plenty Times “the best dressed Victorian lady was Mrs Fay Steel of Welcome Bay, wearing the wedding dress of Mrs Harry Graham’s grandmother. Mr B.C. Julian won the best dressed gentleman’s prize and the child’s prize was won by Becky Hyde. Miss Violet Macmillan wore the best Victorian bonnet.”

Mrs Fay Steel and Mr B.C. Julian, winners of the period attire competition
Image: Brain Watkins Collection

Although on the day a great deal of fun was had there was a serious side to the gathering. The goal being to introduce members of the Tauranga Historical Society to the Brain Watkins House. Earlier that year the house had been gifted to the Society by Mrs Elva Brain Watkins. Society President Mr Eagle was reported as saying, “we are still flexible in our plans. It is up to our members to suggest how they would like to see the house used.”

Mrs Flo Pearson and Mr Duff Maxwell of The Elms Mission House wearing Archdeacon Brown’s top hat with Mrs Pat Eveson, the well-known TV personality

More than 40 years later the Society continues to maintain the house for the enjoyment of Tauranga residents and of course hosts a fabulous Garden Party every year.

Talented dancers perform moves from the 1950’s at the Tauranga Historical Society’s Vintage Garden Party, Sunday 3 March 2019
Image: Lee Switzer, Private Collection

William James "Bill" Kennedy (1910 —1979)

Bill Kennedy (left) discusses the bush area he developed with Bill Turner
Bay of Plenty Times, 29 Jul 1989. Courtesy of Tauranga City Library

This dynamic man was a friend of my grandfather Duff Maxwell of The Elms. I well remember they spent quite a lot of evenings together in the 1960s as both were interested in the development of McLarens Falls Park as an Arboretum. In 1965 the Bay of Plenty Tree Society was given approval to begin planting and the Tauranga City Council undertook to cover the maintenance. It is now a world class facility with many thousands of trees covering 500+ species and a well known and popular recreational area covering some 190 Ha.

Another of this man’s enduring achievements was the establishment of Ngatuhoa Youth Lodge in the Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park in 1967. It was his vision to establish an Outward Bound facility.  Many thousands of school children and other groups over the past 53 years have stayed there and enjoyed the confidence boosting outdoor activities, beautiful bush and the Te Rere I Oturu Falls.

So what was the background of this man and what drove him to do these things. It is quite hard to find information on him but he was a family man, Crete veteran, local farmer, poet and city councillor for at least one term retiring from Council in 1968.

Chapel Street

Photograph by Whites Aviation. Courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection

This aerial view of Sulphur Point, and the Otumoetai peninsula, was taken by Whites Aviation. The exact date of the photograph is unknown. However, as it shows the reclamation of land for the construction of the Chapel Street sewage treatment plant, it is likely to date from the late 1960s. Development of the sewage treatment plant began in 1969 and cost $1.6 million. There are many other points of interest in this photograph including the Otumoetai Golf Course, which was leased to the Otumoetai Golf Club in 1969.

Faulkner's Ferries

Ferry, Wharf and Mauao, Okoroire (Pilot Bay), Postcard, Publisher unknown
Image collection of Justine Neal

An old tourist guide of the Tauranga area from the 1940’s includes the following paragraph: “Another facility in which the Mount beaches are particularly fortunate is the excellent ferry service maintained from Tauranga. This ferry service is one of Tauranga’s best known institutions. Established as far back as 1907 by the present proprietors, Messrs. Faulkner Bros., it now operates three large launches which maintain a constant service throughout the year. Its largest launch, the Reremoana, carries 81 passengers, the Shamrock 60 and the Farina 43. During the summer seven trips from Tauranga to the Mount are scheduled daily but the proprietors are prepared, at anytime, to run extra launches when they are required and arrangements are being made to call at the aerodrome pier whenever the occasion arises.

The trip down Tauranga Harbour is itself one of the most interesting features of a visit. It occupies half an hour from wharf to wharf the distance being 3¾ miles. Charges are most moderate and the service has an established reputation for entire dependability. This is indicated by the fact that it has operated continually for thirty years, outlasting all competitors and remaining today the sole operator. The harbour trip which it provides is a delightful experience giving the visitor a splendid views of Tauranga and its environs, a glimpse through the heads to the open sea and a community of interest with the hundreds of pleasure craft plying on the harbour.”

Salisbury Wharf, Mt. M., NZ. Postcard, Publisher unknown
Image collection of Justine Neal

The first Faulkner, John Lee, arrived in the Tauranga area in 1840 and established a trading post at Otumoetai. During his lifetime ferries across the Tauranga Harbour were mostly either waka or dinghies run by itinerant watermen.

In the summer of 1907/08 John Daniel Faulkner, using his launch Spindrift, advertised for passengers to take to the Bowentown regatta on 1st January. The Spindrift was about 30 feet long, had an oil engine but also carried a large sail. On 17th December 1909 he placed the following advertisement in the Bay of Plenty Times. “Mr. J. D. Faulkner announces that his launch Spindrift will run regularly to the Mount during the holiday season, leaving Tauranga at 6.45am and 6.10pm returning at 7.30 am and 7pm.”  The launch was advertised as commodious but most of her twenty five passengers would have been unable to squeeze into her tiny cabin and would have been exposed to the elements in the cockpit and on the foredeck. For the return trip a gun was fired on the Ocean Beach a quarter of an hour before the ferry left to return to Tauranga.

Mt. Maunganui, Tauranga, N.Z. (4865), Postcard, publ. National Publicity Studios
Image collection of Justine Neal

J. D. Faulkner was earning his living by fishing during the week and taking passengers to the Mount on Sundays, often ferrying over the vicar to take a Sunday service at the Mount. With the establishment of the railway works camp at Mount Maunganui Mr. Faulkner soon found it necessary to run daily ferry services. With this in mind a second launch, the Farina, was ordered from Auckland, and she reached Tauranga in mid-December 1911 to become the longest serving ferry in the Faulkner fleet.

Sadly on 7th August 1917 John Daniel Faulkner was accidentally killed while he was manoeuvring the Farina off the Railway Wharf. Two of his sons Robert, known as Barley, and George formed a company, Faulkner Bros. Limited, to carry on the ferry service. In November 1917 the Ruru, licensed to carry ninety passengers within the harbour limits, joined their fleet. On Boxing Day of that year she carried nearly three hundred passengers to Mount Maunganui and back.

Ferry Boat, Mount Maunganui, Tauranga, N.Z. (5662), Postcard, publ. National Publicity Studious
Image collection of Justine Neal

The ferry service went from strength to strength and with the establishment in 1924 of the Armstrong Whitworth works camp at Mount Maunganui another ferry was needed to cope with the expansion in trade. Subsequently in 1926 the Reremoana arrived in Tauranga, the Bay of Plenty Times rather unkindly reported that she was massive in appearance, and was designed for hard work and comfort, not speed, nor beauty.

The Ruru was sold in 1927 and other ferries to join the fleet over the ensuing years were the Shamrock Leaf, the Manurere (sold in 1933), the Waitere and the Aotearoa. Over the years Mount Maunganui’s population had been growing steadily larger, as were the seasonal holiday crowds and with the continuing absence of a good road link between Mount Maunganui and Tauranga there was plenty of work for the ferries. Fred Jones, a past skipper of the Waitere remembered the return fare across the harbour being one shilling and sixpence. Faulkner’s ran a picture boat service on Wednesday, Friday and Saturdays with ferries leaving Tauranga at 6.40 and 10.45pm and Salisbury Wharf at 7.10 and 11.15pm. In 1951 the ferries stopped running to the Mount Wharf and went only to Salisbury Wharf in Pilot Bay. By the mid 1950’s the Farina had been sold and the opening of the new highway between Mount Maunganui and Tauranga in 1959 meant there was no longer enough passengers to keep the Aotearoa in regular service and she was kept to cope with the summer time peaks.

Tauranga - Mt. Maunganui Ferry leaving Tauranga, New Zealand (P.2706), Postcard, publ. Pictorial Publications Ltd.
Image collection of Justine Neal

Faced with increasing costs and a reducing passenger potential the business was sold in 1969 to Mr. L. Dromgool but still traded under the name of Faulkner Bros. Ltd.

During their time Faulkner’s ferries did far more than just carry passengers between Tauranga and Mount Maunganui. When they could be spared from timetable services, the launches were always available for fishing parties to Tuhua (Mayor Island) and other charters. They towed scows up and down to Te Puna and Omokoroa in the heyday of native timber logging. They barged fertiliser and farm equipment up the Wairoa and the Omanawa rivers. Much of the building material and equipment for the McLaren Falls power station was carried by the Faulkner Bros. A report from the Bay of Plenty Times 1 November 1946 stated: "Early yesterday afternoon, a barge owned by Mr. E. G. Williams, drifted away from where it was anchored in the vicinity of the Dive Crescent railway crossing, towards Mount Maunganui. When off Sulphur Point, the barge was made secure, as a result of the efforts of those piloting one of Faulkner’s ferry boats and was later towed back towards Tauranga." From 1948- 1953 they piloted 184 ships in and out of Tauranga Harbour, before Tauranga Harbour Board was able to provide its own services.

The Bay of Plenty Times, 15 January 2020

Although the ferry boats have long since stooped plying their trade back and forwards across the harbour the name Faulkner Bros. remains inextricably linked with the early harbour history.

References
Papers Past.
Tauranga 1882- 1982. Edited by A. C. Bellamy.
Rotorua, Mount Maunganui and Tauranga Tourist Guide.

The Baptist Church

Image courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection, Ref. 24974

The Baptist Church was constructed in 1911 on the western side of Cameron Road between 10th and 11th Avenues. Newspaper reports at the time described the architectural style as Pelladian, a European style derived from the designs of a Venetian architect Andrea Palladio.

By the 1950s the building was too small for a growing congregation and it was sold. In following years it was used as a theatre by The Gateway Players and was also a second hand store called The Web. In 1985 it was relocated to the Historic Village in 17th Avenue. It is now the home of the Detour Theatre.