COVID-19

Hi All,

Waiuku Museum will be closed as of today due to the COVID-19 situation.  Since New Zealand will be at Alert Level 4 for at least four weeks, the museum will be closed for at least this amount of time.

We will re-open when it is safe to do so.

If you wish to contact us please do so on waiukumuseum@gmail.com, and we will endeavour to get back to you as soon as we can.

 

For information on the Alert Levels click the link below.

https://covid19.govt.nz/government-actions/covid-19-alert-system/#new-zealand-covid-19-alert-levels

For information on how to stay safe click on the link below.

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public

For New Zealand specific information click on the link below.

https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-novel-coronavirus-health-advice-general-public

 

Please stay safe during this time and we look forward to seeing you when we re-open.

Original Plunket Room and Ladies’ Rest Rooms

Picture from New Zealand Herald, New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22555, 21 October 1936

In the 1930’s Waiuku realised the need to have Plunket Rooms in the community. To facilitate the financing of this project funds were raised by the Queen Carnival. The New Zealand Herald reports on 15th October 1936 that £931 was raised with the goal being £500.
  (New Zealand Herald, New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22550, 15 October 1936)

With the funds that were raised a site for the project needed to be decided. This process caused contention in the community. A petition with 60 signatures was presented to the Waiuku Town Board objecting to the chosen site, as the signers of the potion believed a more suitable site can be found. The chosen site was opposite the Post Office, next to the Anglican Church. 
A public meeting was held to discuss the matter, however the original chosen site was upheld and the Plunket Room and Ladies’ Rest Room was built there. The reported dimensions of the site is frontage of 25ft. and a depth of 130ft. As an aside, during the Queen Carnival a wheel barrow derby was held. It was reported in the New Zealand Herald on 21 September 1936 as follows:-
Wheelbarrow Derby in Waiuku 
A motorist travelling through the streets of Waiuku on Saturday was surprised to see 13 local residents bearing down on him, each trundling before him a wheelbarrow with a passenger. The race was one of about half a mile from the post office to the football ground and was part of a campaign to assist the sports queen in a carnival now in progress in the district.  (New Zealand Herald, New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22529, 21 September 1936

)

The building is currently occupied by the cafe Kaos on Queen.

This was featured in one of our newsletters.  If you liked this and would like to read other articles from Waiuku Museum via the newsletter, become a member.  Just click on the following link.  Application Form

Waiuku in Satire – Part 2

(Observer, Observer, Volume XXXIV, Issue 25, 28 February 1914


























)

This comic satirises Prime Minster Massey and Mr. C.T. Barriball in 1914, and the process of getting a railway line into Waiuku.

Part of the Pukekohe & Waiuku Times article on the turning of the first sod included the following :- 
The occasion for the celebration was the turning of the first sod of the railway to Waiuku by the Prime Minister, the Re. Hon. W. F. Massey, P.C. …
The paddock in which the ceremony took place presented an animated scene. There were hundreds of horses and vehicles and dozens of motor-cars. A band from Waiuku discoursed music. School children were present in large force from Patumahoe, West Mauku and Waiuku schools, and their eager faces brightened an already bright gathering.  There was much cheering when the Prime Minister, with his face wreathed in smiles, took off his hat to turn the first sod. Into the varnished rimu wheel-barrrow that find been provided Mr Massey put half-a-dozen spade-fulls of sod, wheeled the barrow up the inclined plank and tipped the earth out. 
Mr Barriball thanked Mr Massey and presented him with the handsome gold spade which has already I been described in these columns.  In doing so Mr Barriball expressed the hope that Mr Massey would I continue to represent Franklin for many years as ably as he had done I for 20 years past.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 172, 20 February 1914

This was featured in one of our newsletters.  If you liked this and would like to read other articles from Waiuku Museum via the newsletter, become a member.  Just click on the following link.  Application Form