History Te Puke

1 history

1.1 settlement
1.2 railway
1.3 horticulture

history
settlement

around 1350, te arawa canoe said have landed @ maketu after sailing hawaiki. canoe under command of chief tama-te-kapua, , responsible many of original place names of area. māori ventured rivers , streams , built many pā in area.

lieutenant, later captain james cook, first known european visit area, sailed between motiti island , coast in 1769. first voyage new zealand, did not land here. cook named area bay of plenty observed populated , looked fertile. in 1830 danish sailor philip tapsell, known hans homman felk, settled @ maketu , operated trader. church missionary society (cms) missionaries arrived shortly afterwards , established mission stations @ te papa (tauranga) , @ rotorua. after land wars began ease in 1860s, european settlers began move bay of plenty though not in great numbers.

maketu, thriving village school, post office, , hotel , in 1869 anglican church. in 1876, surveying of te puke block commenced not until 1879 survey completed native land court needed complete investigation of māori titles land. demand land in tauranga area increased , tauranga working men’s land association formed in 1877. forty 8 members petitioned government 4000 acres (16 ha) of te puke block under deferred-payment system. @ same time george vesey stewart applied government bring settlers great britain te puke block had done in katikati.

the first settlers on te puke block arrived in 1879 , included peter grant , wife caroline (née moon), william bird , wife sarah (née leitch), joseph malyon , wife sara (née james) amongst others. first of vesey stewart settlers arrived in tauranga directly london on lady jocelyn on 2 january 1881.

in july 1880, work commenced on tauranga te puke road, via welcome bay. constructed armed constabulary , local māori worked on land. before this, access te puke made across papamoa hills ngapeke manoeka, following ancient māori trail. peter grant had been contracted tauranga county council form track bridle path in 1879.

stores, , passengers town come tauranga boat, first maketu, kaituna river canaan landing , māori canoe waiari stream site of present road bridge south of town.

by late 1881, te puke boasted 25 wooden buildings including 2 hotels, 2 general stores, butcher, post office , smithy. settlers settled upon land , 1884 had established butter factory. draining of swamps began , area found suitable crops, , maize , wheat grown extensively. later of farming land found bush sick cured use of cobalt in 1930s.

flax milling had begun in 1870s , became major industry in area until 1940s. saw milling began in 1905 , still major industry in area. in 1883 gold-bearing ore discovered on papamoa hills , during 1920s gold mine operated @ muir’s farm on no 4 road. building of railway large public works quarry operated in te puke , major employer. freezing works @ rangiuru opened in 1968 , hortresearch opened on no 1 road in 1971.

disaster strike in hours of 10 june 1886 eruption of mount tarawera. te puke residents awoken noise , many related earthquakes. many had view of eruption , paintings survive of memories. ash , mud showered on crops , pastures 12 inches deep in places. sun not seen until 1pm.

stock faced starvation , many farmers forced let animals free fend themselves. stock shipped area many died. settlers became short of food , water , gratefully received tauranga. evidence of tarawera eruption can still found in disturbed ground in area today. (te puke again covered in ash during 1995 mount ruapehu eruption though not same scale.)

te puke town-ship began grow , mission/town hall built in 1883. used town meetings , church 3 of congregations. first school, (te puke primary) opened in 1883. te puke times first printed in 1912. fire brigade , town boards both formed in 1913.

a jockey club formed in 1890, brass band in 1903, a. & p. society in 1905, rugby union in 1906, bowling club in 1908, , golf club in 1912. planting of trees down centre of main street, major feature of town today, began during 1914-1918 war memorial fallen. nursing home opened in boucher avenue in 1918 major cases railed tauranga hospital.

railway

the east coast main trunk railway passes through te puke , opened in 1928. rail passenger services provided taneatua express operated between auckland , taneatua between 1928 , 1959. in february 1959, steam hauled express train service replaced railcar service operated 88 seaters ran far te puke. railcar service operated between 1959 , 1967, when cancelled due both mechanical problems railcars , poor patronage, latter largely due circuitous , time consuming rail route between auckland , bay of plenty @ time.

horticulture

a combination of climate , soils in area has made te puke popular area horticulture. 1880s tobacco grown commercially petered out in late 1930s. trial plantings of hops, , later rice, tried. viticulture tried , found successful various reasons died out. settlers had established home orchards when finance permitted , found pip , citrus fruits flourished. this, first commercial orchard in te puke planted in 1915. commercial plantings of apples, pears, oranges, lemons , grapefruit. after world war two, rehabilitation department settled returned servicemen on no 3 road orchardists. followed others own finance, of no 3 road in orchards 1960. 1966, 80 owners owned 1500 acres (6 km²) of land of 900 acres (3.6 km) in citrus , balance in sub-tropical fruit including tamarillos (tree tomatoes) , feijoas. in 1934 jim macloughlin had bought 7-acre (28,000 m) lemon , passionfruit orchard in no 3 road. neighbour vic bayliss had 2 chinese gooseberry plants , had sold fruit £5! spurred on jim planted ½ acre of chinese gooseberries in 1937. during world war ii, american serviceman in new zealand introduced chinese gooseberry , enjoyed spurred further plantings. in 1952 first exports made, , in 1959 name “kiwifruit” introduced. since many more plantings have been made hayward (green) being popular. in 1998 “zespri gold” kiwifruit introduced market , experiments being carried out on new varieties including peelable kiwifruit , kiwiberry , small bite-sized kiwifruit-like fruit.