Warkworth and its Museum!

Warkworth although only an hour's  drive from Auckland is a world away in terms of character and pace.

It still resembles  in many ways the township established in 1853 by John Anderson Brown. Although farming has always been important and kauri timber responsible for putting it on the map the town was also home to major industry when the lime and cement works were started in 1865.

While Pakeha (European) occupation of the area goes back some 170 years, Maori have occupied what they called Puhinui for a millennium.


Te Kawerau is the earliest remembered tangata whenua (people of the land) of the Mahurangi river. These people descended from the Ngati Awa and trace their roots back to the ancient peoples of the early canoe Moekakara said to have landed on Goat Island. Their struggle to survive the pressures of competing tribes, the Ngati Whatua from inland, the Nga Puhi from the north and the Ngati Paoa, from the islands of the Gulf, are well documented.

Today Maori culture is evidenced by the impressive carved pou whenua (sacred carved poles) which stand guard over modern holiday homes bordering the beautiful Omaha Bay and at the Te Kiri Marae (gathering place), above Leigh Harbour, named for the chief who ruled the district at the time of European settlement in the 1830s.

There are some wonderfully preserved early 1900s architecture, walkways and parks and the local museum. The heart of the town is the Mahurangi River  and it is the gateway to the Matahangi Wine country.

I love these names but still have great difficulty in remembering them as I find them very similar.



 

A little smaller than the Crook Post Office but still close by the public telephone as well as the "Dunny" and the "Jail.