… Milestones to Centuries
Historic Mercury Bay

By … Ronald McIntosh

The old sawmill in its prime.

Sleepy Mercury Bay, centre of a rich dairying district and favoured haunt of the summer camper and the big-game fisherman, presents an interesting aspect to-day compared with that of the early years of the present century. Gone are the remains of the first sawmill which, 110 years ago, fitted lofty kauri masts and spars into the sailing vessels — merchantmen and frigates of the line—which called there for refit. Blackened, dead stumps on the denuded hills tell of the once furious activity of that mill, but of itself there remains but one trace. The whistle which summoned the workers to their daily task now functions in the modern dairy factory which has superseded it.

Gone, too, is the racecourse upon which many an exciting equine contest was staged in the lusty, vigorous days of the bushfellers which preceded the present languorous calm of the district.

The marks of the earlier Maori settlement are, however, abundant in the region, and the trenches of their pas, around whose palisades many a sanguinary battle has been fought, are still visible on the grassy slopes of several hills. Going back even further one finds an iron spike driven into the rocky summit of a headland marking the spot from which the famous navigator, Captain James Cook, landed for the second time in this country to make observations of a transit of Mercury, 170 years ago.

Mercury Bay, indeed, is steeped in historical associations. It featured in our island's story long before Captain Cook's voyages of discovery, for place names in the district reveal that it was populated by the Maoris as early as the fourteenth century, when a band

(Photo., R. McIntosh.) A glimpse of the township of Whitianga from the site of the first sawmill and shipyard across the river.

of Maoris from the Arawa canoe under the leadership of Hei settled at Mercury Bay, forming the Ngati-Hei tribe. The Maori name for the bay itself is Whanganui-o-Hei (the great bay of Hei). When Hei died he was buried on the western side of the river, near the site of the present township of Whitianga.

The district has its historic link with another famous navigator in the name of the township itself, for Whitianga-a-Kupe means the “Crossing place of Kupe.” Just to the south of the township is a spot near the river where was fought a memorable inter-tribal battle.

Across the river from the township, Whitianga Rock (which rises almost perpendicularly from the water near the mouth of the river) is famous in Maori legend as a pa of Hei. Being impossible to scale on three sides on account of its precipitous walls this pa held a commanding position and on many occasions fierce intertribal warfare centred around its palisades.

It was its last stand, however, which made the rock famous in Maori mythology, for it was, in New Zealand's history, the scene of the first aerial page 18

The broad sweep of Cook's beach seen from the spot where the famous explorer observed a transit of Mercury.

evacuation of an untenable position. The Maoris who held the pa were renowned kite-fliers and their kites, apparently, were of the large variety. On one occasion, beleaguered and hardpressed, with their provisions running low, one of their number conceived the idea of using their kites as gliders. Attaching themselves to the kites the desperate Maoris sprang from the rock, but their fall into the river, several hundred feet below, was softened and the kites dragged them across the swift current to safety.

The whites first set foot on these shores when Cook was making his first voyage of exploration up the eastern coast of the North Island.

Cook and his men landed on a magnificent sweep of ocean beach which to-day is known as Cook's beach, and while the Endeavour was careened for cleaning, parties of men cut wood and replenished the water supply. From the crest of a headland nearby the telescopes were set up for the observation of the transit of Mercury, already referred to. The fact that these observations were successfully completed is apparent from the names Mercury Bay, Great Mercury, and Red Mercury Islands.

Cook also found time to explore the fast-running Whitianga River, which he named Mangrove River. In his journal one can read that “the river branched into several channels forming a number of very low, flat islands, all covered with a sort of mangrove tree.” In this brief survey, conducted in the ship's boats, the navigator noted the presence on the beaches and adhering to the mangroves of a sort of resin which he believed to have been exuded from the mangrove trees. Actually it was kauri gum which he had discovered.

The fact that the river and bay were rich in fish is also recorded in the journal, for the natives established friendly contact with Cook's crew, and bartered fish for pieces of coloured cloth.

The bay next featured in historical records very early in the story of the colonisation of the Dominion, for even before colonisation had begun many early traders and warships secured kauri spars from the richly wooded hills which encircled the bay, and to which easy access could be had up the Whitianga River and its tributaries,

Whitianga, as it appeared in the early part of this century.

the Whenuakite, Waiwawa and Kaimarama streams. As early as 1828 a repair slip and shipbuilding yard was started at Mercury Bay which did a good trade with many vessels from Australia, and even further afield.

By the early ‘fifties an extensive European settlement had grown up on the eastern side of the river, and in 1862 a large sawmill was opened. This operated for twenty years. Eventually, the mill, which had been erected at the foot of the famous pa of Hei, Whitianga Rock, was unable to cope with the huge tally of logs being sent down the river, and, in 1881, it was found necessary to remove it to the other side of the river, where more land was available for its expansion.

Unlike most of the other townships on the Hauraki Peninsula, Mercury Bay's prosperity rested upon its magnificent kauri forests and not upon the gold which was so richly found further to the west, but, although the trees lasted longer than the gold deposits, the hills were denuded so rapidly that the end of the industry came in sight.

For many years the mill worked night and day, 140 men working two 10-hour shifts, and over a period of 60 years, more than 500 million feet of kauri were exported. In the course of the industry a giant of the forest, 24 feet in diameter, was felled and passed under the saws and planing machines.

The shipyards also played an important part in the life of the young township, producing over a dozen vessels, page 19 the largest being of 100 tons register. Another incident of the past is recalled by the principal beach, known as Buffalo Beach, flanking the bay. It was there, in 1840, that H.M.S. Buffalo, an 18-gun vessel calling at the shipyard for a load of spars encountered a severe gale and was driven ashore on the beach which bears its name. Within living memory the ribs of its stout hull were exposed from the sand at very low tides, but in recent years even this relic of the wreck was covered by the sand. It remained for another severe gale in February, 1936, to unearth the last of the oncesturdy vessel, a portion of the frame some six feet long and sheathed in heavy copper, which bore the broad arrows associated with the Buffalo's principal trade, the carrying of “emigrants” to Australia.

When the last of the magnificent forests had been felled, in 1922 the sawmill closed down, and the fires of sawdust and scraps which had smouldered on the beach for 50 years died into embers and vanished. Many of the workers left for other parts, but others found that wealth was still to be secured in the hills from the many deposits of kauri gum, and they soon burned out the remnants of the bush left by the bushmen. The name Gumtown, or Coroglen, records this passing phase.

To-day the hills, barren and eroded, surrounding the bay, are a rather melancholy sight to the nature lover. Here and there may be seen a clump of dead and blackened stumps—all that remains of the magnificent bush.

With the passing of the mill, the township naturally received a severe setback, but, unlike the other towns of the peninsula, which had no other source of revenue than gold, Whitianga was able to turn to other fields. Those of the old houses which are still standing became the abode of fishermen and storekeepers and of the old folk who have lived their lives in the district and remember the past glory of the township.

To-day the prosperity of the district depends upon the more enduring wealth to be won from the rich alluvial flats nestling at the foot of the hills, and dairy cows, supplemented by sheep on the more hilly back country, provide the residents with a permanent and more stable means of living.

Mercury Bay and the township of Whitianga can be reached in a variety of ways. From the railhead at Thames a service car takes one along the picturesque, winding coast road, up high into the hills, from the summit of which (1,450 ft.) on a clear day, a glimpse of Rangitoto, at the mouth of Auckland Harbour, some 50 miles away, can be obtained. Sometimes the car takes the old Coromandel coach road, which is even more winding than the one via Tapu, but which is particularly interesting on account of the glimpses obtained here and there of the mouths of abandoned mine shafts on the rocky hills.

The Bay can also be reached by boat on infrequent occasions, after a slow but interesting trip down the coast, loading and discharging cargo at many a beach that has never boasted of a wharf. The most interesting access of all, however, is to walk from Thames. The journey then takes longer, but it is well worth the expenditure of the extra effort entailed.

The quiet seclusion of the many beautiful beaches appeals most of all to the many holiday campers who make it their rendezvous. After seeing a popular city beach, like Milford or Lyall Bay on a public holiday, with the sands literally black with people, the experience of having a magnificent strand of white sand miles in length entirely to oneself is certainly novel. There are six such beaches flanking the Bay, and one does not have to go far to escape the madding crowd.

As a centre for the activities of the deep sea angler in the good old days when Zane Grey used to come to Mer

A view of Buffalo Beach looking towards Whitianga.

cury Bay every summer in pursuit of the thrills of the mighty marlin and the fighting mako, the bay was in a fair way to achieving fame; but the restless angler, like Alexander of old, passed on in his quest to new fields for conquest, and the district slipped quietly back into its habitual calm, cut off, so it seems, from the stress and rush of the ordinary workaday world by the great rampart of hills which surrounds it. The mighty Pacific combers, glistening whitely in the sunshine, still roll slowly in across the bay, spending themselves on the level stretch of the Buffalo Beach, their roar unnoticed in the throbbing of the milking machines as the small population goes about its daily task.

In her very readable “Confessions of a Society Woman,” the anonymous writer says she became “engaged” when 17 years of age. At that time women had a horror of tobacco-smoke, so this young lady exacted a pledge from her “intended”—most reluctantly given—that he would abandon smoking for ever before they were married. Six months later the young wife was glad to absolve her husband from his vow. She states his temper, as the result of enforced abstinence from tobacco became “abominable.” Directly he resumed his pipe, he became his old genial self again! Moral: Every lady should encourage her husband to smoke, Robert Louis Stevenson said that, and he knew! Of course discrimination should be exercised in the choice of tobacco. Some brands are not at all likely to promote harmony in the home. “The World's purest” is “toasted New Zealand.” No nicotine in it, or next to none. It's toasted! and how good it is! Five brands: Riverhead Gold, Desert Gold, Navy Cut No. 3, Cavendish, and Cut Plug No. 10.^*