Upper Hutt in the early 20th Century: an interactive map

The early 20th Century was a distinctive period in Upper Hutt’s history with an interesting character of its own.

Introduction

The early 20th Century was a distinctive period in Upper Hutt’s history, sandwiched between the pioneering days when our district was just a small frontier settlement of farmers and sawmillers, and the post-WWII era when it underwent rapid suburbanisation and industrialisation and became a city.  It was during the early 20th Century that Upper Hutt first began putting in place the civic infrastructure of a modern township, while still retaining its predominantly rural character. The arrival of the railway in the late 19th century, followed by the automobile and improved roading in the first decades of the 20th, made the area more easily accessible to Wellington. Consequently Upper Hutt came to serve a role as the Capital’s rural and recreational hinterland. It became a popular destination for daytrippers, as well as artists and photographers seeking bucolic inspirations. Wealthy city dwellers built country retreats here and the not-so-wealthy, weekend baches. Both the Royal Wellington Golf Club and the Wellington Racing Club made Upper Hutt their base. During the First World War Upper Hutt also became the site for Trentham Army Camp, beginning a long association with the military. This interactive tour tells the story of this history through matching photographs from this era with their present day locations.

Taita Gorge, 1910

Hand-coloured postcard showing a section of the road through the Taita Gorge sometime around 1910. Now known as Eastern Hutt Road, this was the main route to Upper Hutt until the opening of the Silverstream Road Bridge in 1939. More images...

Silverstream railway bridge, 1910

Hand-coloured postcard depicting the Silverstream railway bridge. This is the second of three versions of the bridge, replacing the original structure (the remains of whose piles can be seen at bottom left) in 1903. Both these bridges were situated where the turnoff to the Silverstream landfill now is. More...

Pumpkin Cottage, 1905

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Pumpkin Cottage in Silverstream (the smaller building at front) was the base for a group of artists who became known as the ‘Silverstream school’.

Silverstream brickworks, 1920

The Silverstream Brick & Tile Company operated a brickworks at the end of what is now Kiln Street from 1899. The brickworks used clay excavated from the nearby hills brought down by flying fox. At right you can see men beside a rail track waiting to receive a delivery. The business later operated as the Amalgamated Brick and Pipe Company before eventually closing in the 1970s. More...

Silverstream, 1938

The corner of Kiln Street, Gard Street, and Whitemans Road in 1938. The crossing to Silverstream railway station is just out of view at left. Silverstream School, which opened in 1924, can be seen in the centre of the picture and Lancaster’s Store at bottom right, on the corner where Silverstream Village Mall stands now. A number of major subdivision sales in the first decade of the 20th century saw a rapid growth in the population of the Silverstream area.

Whitemans Road, 1921

In this 1921 image by prolific amateur photographer Albert Percy Godber, his wife and daughter, Laura and Phyllis, stand on the corner of Whitemans Road and Chatsworth Road. Their Silverstream property is across the small bridge to the left. Godber was a railways employee who produced thousands of images of New Zealand life and activity, many of them featuring railways and trains. In the distance at left can be seen four identical cottages in Kiln Street, built to house workers at the local brick factory.

Silverstream Fire Station, 1931

Volunteer firemen with their fire appliance outside the Silverstream Fire Station in Chatsworth Road sometime in 1931. The Chatsworth Road location was said to have had the advantage of being able to roll the vehicle down the hill when necessary in order to kick-start it. The Fire Station, including this building itself, was later moved to a new location on Main Road (now Fergusson Drive) opposite St Patrick’s College, where it stood for many years.

Pinehaven Road, 1928

This photograph is captioned ‘Mr. Lundy, Mrs. Lawson and son Bert, Pinehaven Road, 1928’. Pinehaven was developed by Geoffrey Goodwin and the English adventurer Francis Chichester, the latter of whom subsequently became world famous as a solo yachtsman and aviator. Goodwin and Chichester planted the then-bare hillsides extensively in pines (a few young trees can be seen poking through the scrub in the picture). They also laid in roads, established a tearoom and swimming pool, then sold off sections to Wellingtonians for building weekend baches.

Chatsworth Road, c.1930s

Sun slants through the trees on Chatsworth Road in this photo by celebrated architect and craftsman James Chapman-Taylor. Between 1908 and 1911 Chapman-Taylor designed and built a house on Chatsworth Road as a country retreat for his family. The family later lived in Silverstream from the mid-1930s, and Chapman-Taylor designed a number of houses in Upper Hutt, including several on Chatsworth Road, which was to become one of the area’s most expensive streets, known for its fine architecture.

Trentham Rifle Range, c.1912

From 1892 Alexander McCulloch, an Upper Hutt farmer, began leasing swampy land he owned, of marginal value for farming, to the New Zealand Rifle Association for use as a shooting range. Despite conditions there being far from ideal, the site soon became the country’s premier rifle range, regularly hosting the annual Ballinger Belt competition. Permanent structures began to be built and the range was used for training volunteer militia units, as well as troops bound for the Boer War. It was the prior existence of Trentham Rifle Range that led to Trentham Army Camp being established alongside it at the outbreak of the First World War.

Trentham Army Camp, 1915

View of Trentham Camp from Flagstaff Hill in 1915, with Trentham racecourse visible in the middle distance. New Zealand had no central army training base when the First World War broke out in August 1914. In October that year work began on quickly establishing one at Trentham, a site chosen because there was already a rifle range there that the military had used for training purposes during the Boer War. Trentham was originally a ‘canvas camp’ consisting only of bell tents to accommodate the recruits. These tents were gradually replaced over the course of 1915 as long wooden hutments, each of which barracked around 100 men, were built, along with various other administrative buildings. The creation of Trentham Camp had a profound effect on Upper Hutt, leading to a major influx of people and facilities into the area.

Trentham Camp cookhouse, c.1915

Men on mess orderly duty lined up outside a cookhouse at Trentham Camp. Men took turns at being mess orderlies, collecting meals from the cookhouse for eating at the separate huts. A typical daily menu was as follows – breakfast: porridge, fried chops and onions, hashed mutton, bread, butter, jam, coffee; lunch: soup, bread, butter, cheese, jam, tea; dinner: beef (roast and boiled), gravy, potatoes, vegetables in season, currant pudding, bread, butter, jam, tea. Most men who served in the First World War passed through Trentham Camp at some stage, meaning it served as a temporary home for thousands at this time.

Trentham racecourse, 1906

A festively dressed crowd fill the grandstand at Trentham racecourse in January 1906 for the Anniversary Handicap. It was the first race held at the new racecourse by the Wellington Racing Club, which had purchased 234 scrub-covered, boulder-littered acres at Trentham in 1904. The club had earlier raced at Hutt Park, and before that at Burnham Water, Miramar, but the new site offered more space, as well as easier access due to the nearby railway line.

Heretaunga golf course, 1911

This hand-coloured image shows cars in front of the Heretaunga golf course, which was developed from 1906 by the Wellington Golf Club. The club had been operating on leased land in Miramar, but had difficulty renewing their lease in 1904, and began searching for another suitable site. The Barton family offered to sell 48.5 hectares of their Silverstream farm, and added more land later. Part of this was subdivided into residential sections and sold to golf club members.

The Barton manor, 1933

The near-derelict ‘Manor House’ was photographed by architect James Chapman-Taylor in 1933, five years before its demolition. The house had been built in the mid-19th century by Richard Barton, the first European to settle in Upper Hutt. Over the years the house was extended until it included 22 rooms and six staircases. Barton had arrived in Wellington in 1840 and purchased 100 acres in the Upper Hutt valley for a farm, which he named Trentham. His ‘no-nonsense’ wife Hannah set up a ‘dame school’ to educate local children and was later patroness of St John’s church.

Soldiers’ Pool, c.1915–18

Troops bathe in the Hutt River, c.1915–18. With around 5,000 recruits stationed for training at Trentham Camp during the First World War, and limited showering facilities at the camp, the men were required to attend ‘bathing parade’ on Wednesdays and Saturdays at the Hutt River. Led by a drummer and sometimes bagpipes, the platoons marched 2 kilometres to the river, where they bathed and swam in a stretch of water near Barton’s Bush that came to be known as Soldiers’ Pool. The name stuck well into the 20th century

Brentwood, 1921

Women and children relax on the lawn at Brentwood in February 1921, with Annie Brocks and her small daughter Annette at second from right. Annie’s husband, Captain Arthur Brocks, was one of a number of British army officers recruited to Trentham Camp during the First World War to serve as instructors. Selected because of his bayonet-fighting and physical exercise expertise, he had fought at Gallipoli and received the Military Cross. Brentwood, the Brocks family’s home, was located near the camp in Ruahine Street – now a suburban neighbourhood, but then mostly farmland and bush.

Moonshine bridge, 1925

Opened in 1913, this concrete bridge was built to service the remote Moonshine Road farming community across the other side of the Hutt River from Upper Hutt. The area around the bridge subsequently became a popular picnic and swimming spot. Locals also used it to access the elevated Craig’s Flat area (now Riverstone Terraces) for views of the valley. When River Road was built in the 1980s the then-dilapidated bridge was replaced by a new curved structure; it was demolished in 1987.

Trentham Hotel, 1903

The Trentham Hotel, also known as McGovern’s after its proprietor, opened in 1902, replacing the adjacent Railway Hotel which burnt down the same year. The photo shows people and dogs gathered for the greyhound racing which took place in a nearby paddock, with bets being placed in the bar. The outlawing of bookmaking in 1911 ended this form of entertainment. The hotel later became known as Quinn’s Post after another proprietor and in honour of the ANZAC outpost at Gallipoli of the same name. This building on the corner of Ward Street and Fergusson Drive was eventually demolished in 1974 and another Quinn’s Post opened nearby

Angus McCurdy and McCurdy’s Castle, c.1910

Without a doubt Upper Hutt’s best-known personality in the early decades of the 20th century was Angus McCurdy. The colourful and outspoken McCurdy was something of a jack-of-all-trades, working as a farmer, electrician, roading engineer, proprietor of the local cinema and editor of the local newspaper, the Hutt Valley Independent. Highly active in local politics, he served as Upper Hutt’s first mayor after it became a borough in 1926. McCurdy is shown at left, circa 1912, with a large eel his son caught near their home, Bonnie Glen. This is shown at right, perched high on the hill above the juncture of the Whakatiki and Hutt rivers. Popularly known as McCurdy’s Castle, it was a well-known local landmark until it burnt down in 1969.

Wallaceville Veterinary Laboratory, c.1920

In 1905 the Department of Agriculture established a veterinary laboratory in Upper Hutt to serve as New Zealand’s main research centre for diagnosing and preventing livestock diseases. This photo shows the original laboratory building, which still stands and has been classified as worthy of preservation by Heritage New Zealand. It was subsequently extended and added to with several other buildings and a large surrounding area of paddocks to become the Wallaceville Animal Research Centre, regarded as a world leader in molecular biology, immunology, parasitology and reproductive technologies. The Centre closed in 2007.

St David’s church, 1926

The senior Bible class at St David’s Presbyterian church are seen here in 1926. Bible classes were a welcome social event for young people in the area in the early 20th century. St David’s had opened in 1879 at what is now 713 Fergusson Drive, on land donated by George Brown. It was designed by notable Wellington architect Thomas Turnbull, and built at a cost of £350. A manse was constructed at the rear in 1893. In 1976 St David’s became part of the Upper Hutt Co-operating (later Uniting) Parish, and the church was demolished.

Upper Hutt School, 1918

A Standard Four class at Upper Hutt School poses for the photographer with their teacher, Winifred Brown, who taught there from 1907 to 1922. A school had opened at St Joseph’s church in 1864, and in 1866 moved to land at Trentham donated by early settler Hannah Barton. By 1906 that site and its buildings were inadequate; the school was redeveloped on a more central site (including an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to move the old school building there), where it opened in March 1909

Remount Depot, c.1915

Horses were still considered a vital part of the army when the First World War broke out, and a Remount Depot was established in Gibbons Street to initially assess, process and train horses that had been compulsorily purchased for military service and brought to Upper Hutt by train. They were then sent on to Trentham or other locations for more specialised training. At the depot’s busiest it was home to around 1,000 horses, with a total of 10,000 passing through Upper Hutt before being sent to war.

Railway station goods shed, c.1918

William Howe, George Jones and Roley Butler outside the goods shed at the Upper Hutt railway station sometime around 1918. The photo nicely illustrates the transformation in transportation taking place at this time, as horses and carts began to be replaced by motorised trucks. Rail remained of central importance, though, with goods sheds like this one serving as crucial points of transfer for the local economy.

St Joseph’s church, c.1910

St Joseph’s Catholic church was built in 1864 on land owned by early settler James Brown, whose wife Mary was an Irish Catholic, and had been travelling to Wellington and then Lower Hutt to attend church. St Joseph’s was the site of a school from 1864 to 1866, and was extended between 1875 and 1877. In 1961, falling into disrepair and too small for its congregation, the church was demolished; a new church was built on the site and opened in 1965.

Post office, c.1910

Upper Hutt’s then-new post office building was officially opened by the Prime Minister and Postmaster-General, Sir Joseph Ward, on 2 April 1909. At the time post offices played a central role in communities, offering postal, banking and telephone services. A telephone bureau had been established at the Upper Hutt post office in 1902, and a manual exchange opened with 15 customers in 1911. This building was demolished in 1970 and a new post office was erected on the same site.

Benge and Pratt disaster, 1914

Scene of the fatal explosion and fire at Benge and Pratt's store, 1914. A fire began before midnight on 28 March and volunteers were helping to save stock when an explosion (later held to be caused by illegally stored gelignite) destroyed the building. Eight men died, including several prominent citizens, amongst them the local police constable and postmaster. It remains Upper Hutt’s second-most fatal disaster behind the 1858 Silverstream flood in which 13 people drowned. Note the broken windows of the adjacent Provincial Hotel, as well as the missing upper-storey balustrade where one man died while trying to douse the fire with a garden hose.

Rugby players, 1903

An Upper Hutt rugby team in 1903. From the turn of the century friendly games of rugby had begun to be organised by railwaymen in the district. These were generally played on a paddock off Queen Street, behind the Provincial Hotel, which served as both pre-match dressing room and post-match clubrooms. Upper Hutt Star RFC, the town’s first rugby club, was formed in 1906.

Hazelwoods, 1906

Hazelwoods department store had its beginnings in 1891, when Jimmy Hazelwood came to Upper Hutt and set up a fruit shop in a converted cottage. The store became a grocery, then added a drapery, footwear and bakery by the turn of the century. This is the third Hazelwoods building, constructed around 1906, which was burnt out in the Benge and Pratt explosion in 1914. From the 1950s Hazelwoods developed into a major department store, which played a central part in the Upper Hutt community with its Christmas parades and other activities; after almost 120 years it finally ceased trading in 2009.

St Hilda’s church, c.1920s

St Hilda’s Anglican church was built south of Main Street in 1910 after a considerable fundraising effort by the local Anglican community, whose church services had previously been held in the town hall and at private residences in Kaitoke and Akatarawa. In 1979 the church site was sold for a McDonald’s restaurant, and the church building was moved to a new site on Cruickshank Road, Maoribank.

7th Reinforcement, Maidstone Park, 1915

Men from the 7th Reinforcement eat lunch in Maidstone Park in 1915. These troops were on the second day of their march from Tauherenīkau to Trentham over the Remutaka Range, starting a routine in which almost every reinforcement undertook the strenuous three-day march. After completing infantry training in the Wairarapa, initially at Tauherenīkau but from January 1916 at Featherston Camp, soldiers would march over the range, spend a night at Kaitoke, then march to Maidstone Park for lunch, followed by a night at Maymorn where they practised night manoeuvres and undertook a mock battle at dawn.

Maidstone Park, c.1910–13

Maidstone Park is in the foreground of this photo looking towards Upper Hutt township and Craig’s Flat (now Riverstone Terraces) in the early 1910s. In 1908 Maidstone Park had been developed as a private picnic ground by owner Philip Davis, who charged threepence for admission (including parking and hot water) and negotiated lower train fares for those who came by rail at the weekends. Community picnics were major social events in the early 20th century, and large groups, both local and from Wellington – including Hazelwoods staff, the harbour board, waterside workers and transport workers – held their picnics in the park.

Upper Hutt, c.1914

This view of central Upper Hutt from around 1914, taken from present-day Kingsley Heights looking towards the west, shows the railway line and main road. On the corner of Main Road and Henry Street (the first street on the right), with the large lawn, is the house of J.A. Hazelwood, who in 1893 had founded the small grocery store that eventually grew to be Upper Hutt’s iconic Hazelwoods department store.

Salisbury Poultry Farm, 1930s

In the early 20th century poultry farming was a major industry in Upper Hutt, and the Salisbury Poultry Farm was one of the biggest producers. Established around 1912, the farm was near the corner of Main Road (now Fergusson Drive) and Henry Street; the large house in the left foreground belonged to Ernest Salisbury, and the newer house to the right to his son, Arthur. A Salisbury’s delivery van is also visible in front of the larger house.

Izard’s Convalescent Home, 1915

First World War convalescent patients pose with a nurse on the porch at Izard’s Convalescent Home in Maoribank, in August 1915. The house, ‘Totara’, had previously been the expansive country home of Wellington lawyer, city councillor and MP for Wellington North (1905–8) Charles Izard. In March 1915 Izard offered ‘Totara’ to the government as a convalescent home for sick or wounded troops returning from the front. His own only son was to die in London in 1919 while on military service. The house was later known as ‘The Totaras’ and was extensively photographed by architect James Chapman-Taylor in 1947.

Haukāretu, c.1912

These two women, identified as Becky and Kino, lived at the Haukāretu Māori village on the western side of the Hutt River, which became known as Maoribank because of its Māori inhabitants. Haukāretu was named after the kāretu, a large grass with sweet-scented leaves. By the time this photo was taken, around 1912, there were few Māori living in the Upper Hutt area; in 1820 a number of local pā had been attacked by musket-armed northern war parties, and the Māori population was further decimated by a measles epidemic in 1857–60.

Maoribank suspension bridge, c.1940s

Farmers Frank, Frederick and Charles Whiteman and W.A. Cottle organised and paid for construction of a suspension bridge across the Hutt River at Maoribank so they could access their farms on the western side of the river, now Tōtara Park. The bridge was opened by local MP Thomas Wilford in 1917. Long a favoured site for picnickers and swimmers, it was closed to vehicles in 1975, after the Tōtara Park road bridge opened. It was demolished in 1988 after being damaged by a flood.

American sailors at Campbell’s mill, 1925

American sailors on a goodwill tour of the Pacific visited Campbell’s sawmill in the Akatarawas in 1925. At right, holding a coat, is motor enthusiast and inventor Howard Nattrass, who had hired a bus to take a group of visiting sailors touring for the day, including to the remotely situated mill. George Campbell had bought Thomas Price’s mill in 1916, and was joined in 1920 by his brothers Jack and Bob.

Brown Owl Tea House, 1930s

The Brown Owl Tea House opened on the corner of Akatarawa Road and Main Road in the late 1920s. May St Johnston converted a six-room house into tearooms to cater to travellers, naming it Brown Owl after an inn she had visited in England. Meals were served outdoors in good weather, and dances were held in the ballroom. Until the mid-1950s the Railways ran a half-hourly weekend bus service to Brown Owl. The building was sold to the Akatarawa Baptist Fellowship for use as a church in 1961.

Birchville bridge, c.1935

This one-lane timber truss bridge across the Hutt River was one of a pair built in 1880–81 at either end of Bridge Road, which at the time was part of the main road up the Akatarawa valley. The route was realigned to the eastern bank of the river around 1915, and a concrete bridge was built across the Hutt River; however, it collapsed in a flood in 1939 and the earlier bridges were brought back into service. They were known as the Black Bridges because of the tar used on their wooden supports. A popular swimming spot, this bridge had its deck removed in 1956 after it became unsafe; it was eventually demolished in 1998.

Birchville dam site, 1930

The Birchville dam was constructed in 1930 on Clarkes Creek to provide water to Upper Hutt. A weir had earlier been built at the same location, piping water to Upper Hutt from 1914 to meet household and firefighting needs. By the mid-1920s the increased population meant a bigger demand for water, and the Upper Hutt Borough Council employed consulting engineer Henry F. Toogood (father of broadcaster Selwyn Toogood) to oversee construction of a dam. The concrete arch dam continued to provide Upper Hutt’s water until 1954, when the town began taking water from the Kaitoke scheme.

Akatarawa River bridge, c.1910

This bridge across the Akatarawa River is the northernmost of a pair of bridges built in 1880–81 at either end of Bridge Road. At the time Bridge Road was part of the main route up the Akatarawa valley; the Hutt County Council cut a bridle path through to Waikanae as an alternative route to the Paekākāriki hill road. Akatarawa Road was realigned to the eastern bank of the river around 1915, but these two bridges were brought back into service from 1939 after the new concrete bridge collapsed. The bridge was upgraded in 1954 with new concrete deck spans, but these remained supported by the original 1881 pier, which slumped during a flood in October 2015, cutting off 70-odd houses on Bridge Road.

Kaitoke hill, 1927

Mr Phillips’s Ford Model T truck negotiates the Kaitoke hill (then known as the Mangaroa hill) en route to Pākuratahi from Upper Hutt in March 1927. This photo was taken just below what is now the lookout over the Twin Lakes, looking west.

Remutaka Incline

A train heads up the Remutaka Incline (north-east of the blue dot on the map), probably in the early 20th century. The railway between Upper Hutt and Wairarapa opened in 1878, and until 1955 crossed over the Remutaka Range. While the Upper Hutt side of the track was moderately graded, the Wairarapa side between Cross Creek and Summit stations was steep, with a 1 in 15 gradient. Fell engines, which use horizontal wheels to grip a third, central rail, were used on this section of the line. The Fell engines on the Remutaka Incline were the last in the world still operating when the Remutaka Tunnel opened in 1955.

Maymorn Camp, 1915

Maymorn Camp was set up in 1915 to cope with the overflow of First World War military recruits from Trentham Camp. It was known as a canvas camp, with soldiers accommodated in tents, and was the site of night exercises and a mock ‘dawn attack’ for troops marching over the Remutaka Range to Trentham after their training at Featherston. At far left is the chimney of the recently defunct Maymorn sawmill, which had been Upper Hutt’s largest and most modern mill, but was unprofitable, and closed in 1914.

Whitemans Valley bridge opening, 1904

Locals and visiting dignitaries including MPs and Hutt County Council members celebrate the opening of a bridge in Whitemans Valley, decked out with flags and greenery for the event. The bridge opened in September 1904, along with a second bridge about 1.5 kilometres away in Mangaroa. Previously locals had relied on fords to cross the river, and there had been several drownings. At the time the area was the site of Wallaceville township; it later became primarily farmland, and the name came to apply to the suburb where Wallaceville Road met the railway line.

Truck accident, Whitemans Valley, 1924

A group look on at a milk collection truck balanced precariously beside a creek in Whitemans Valley in 1924. Milk cans are stacked on the back of the truck – a White chain-drive truck – and behind it. Whitemans Valley was one of the farming areas that supplied Upper Hutt with dairy and other produce.

Gorrie mill, Narrow Neck, c.1900s

Axemen James Gorrie senior, his sons Jimmy and Alec and his brother Tom are pictured at Narrow Neck in the Mangaroa Valley (to the south of the blue dot on the map). The Gorries ran a sawmill – one of a number in the Upper Hutt area at the time – at the entrance to Narrow Neck, and huge trees were felled and transported to the mill on wooden tram tracks. A home was built for Alec Gorrie in 1914 using timber milled here. The Gorrie family went on to have a long association with Upper Hutt.

Introduction

The early 20th Century was a distinctive period in Upper Hutt’s history, sandwiched between the pioneering days when our district was just a small frontier settlement of farmers and sawmillers, and the post-WWII era when it underwent rapid suburbanisation and industrialisation and became a city.  It was during the early 20th Century that Upper Hutt first began putting in place the civic infrastructure of a modern township, while still retaining its predominantly rural character. The arrival of the railway in the late 19th century, followed by the automobile and improved roading in the first decades of the 20th, made the area more easily accessible to Wellington. Consequently Upper Hutt came to serve a role as the Capital’s rural and recreational hinterland. It became a popular destination for daytrippers, as well as artists and photographers seeking bucolic inspirations. Wealthy city dwellers built country retreats here and the not-so-wealthy, weekend baches. Both the Royal Wellington Golf Club and the Wellington Racing Club made Upper Hutt their base. During the First World War Upper Hutt also became the site for Trentham Army Camp, beginning a long association with the military. This interactive tour tells the story of this history through matching photographs from this era with their present day locations.

Taita Gorge, 1910

Hand-coloured postcard showing a section of the road through the Taita Gorge sometime around 1910. Now known as Eastern Hutt Road, this was the main route to Upper Hutt until the opening of the Silverstream Road Bridge in 1939.  More images.. .

The Taita Gorge separates the upper and lower Hutt River valleys. Getting past it posed a significant barrier for early settlers and, for this reason, settlement of the Upper Hutt area developed at a much slower pace and in a different manner than its downriver neighbour.

Silverstream railway bridge, 1910

Hand-coloured postcard depicting the Silverstream railway bridge. This is the second of three versions of the bridge, replacing the original structure (the remains of whose piles can be seen at bottom left) in 1903. Both these bridges were situated where the turnoff to the Silverstream landfill now is.  More... 

The rail route was later realigned to cross further upriver and a new rail bridge was opened at the present location in 1957. The coming of the railway to Upper Hutt in 1876 was one of the most important events in its history, helping to open up the hitherto very small and remote settlement.

Pumpkin Cottage, 1905

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries  Pumpkin Cottage  in Silverstream (the smaller building at front) was the base for a group of artists who became known as the ‘Silverstream school’.

Scottish artist James Nairn – then teaching art in Wellington – had rented the cottage around 1894. Nairn set up the Wellington Art Club as a breakaway group from the Academy of Fine Arts, and artists gathered at the then-rural cottage at weekends to sketch and paint outdoors, also swimming in the nearby river. After Nairn’s death in 1904 Pumpkin Cottage continued to be an artists’ retreat.

Silverstream brickworks, 1920

The Silverstream Brick & Tile Company operated a brickworks at the end of what is now Kiln Street from 1899. The brickworks used clay excavated from the nearby hills brought down by flying fox. At right you can see men beside a rail track waiting to receive a delivery. The business later operated as the Amalgamated Brick and Pipe Company before eventually closing in the 1970s.  More... 

Silverstream, 1938

The corner of Kiln Street, Gard Street, and Whitemans Road in 1938. The crossing to Silverstream railway station is just out of view at left. Silverstream School, which opened in 1924, can be seen in the centre of the picture and Lancaster’s Store at bottom right, on the corner where Silverstream Village Mall stands now. A number of major subdivision sales in the first decade of the 20th century saw a rapid growth in the population of the Silverstream area.  

Whitemans Road, 1921

In this 1921 image by prolific amateur photographer Albert Percy Godber, his wife and daughter, Laura and Phyllis, stand on the corner of Whitemans Road and Chatsworth Road. Their Silverstream property is across the small bridge to the left. Godber was a railways employee who produced thousands of images of New Zealand life and activity, many of them featuring railways and trains. In the distance at left can be seen four identical cottages in Kiln Street, built to house workers at the local brick factory. 

Silverstream Fire Station, 1931

Volunteer firemen with their fire appliance outside the Silverstream Fire Station in Chatsworth Road sometime in 1931. The Chatsworth Road location was said to have had the advantage of being able to roll the vehicle down the hill when necessary in order to kick-start it. The Fire Station, including this building itself, was later moved to a new location on Main Road (now Fergusson Drive) opposite St Patrick’s College, where it stood for many years.  

Pinehaven Road, 1928

This photograph is captioned ‘Mr. Lundy, Mrs. Lawson and son Bert, Pinehaven Road, 1928’. Pinehaven was developed by Geoffrey Goodwin and the English adventurer Francis Chichester, the latter of whom subsequently became world famous as a solo yachtsman and aviator. Goodwin and Chichester planted the then-bare hillsides extensively in pines (a few young trees can be seen poking through the scrub in the picture). They also laid in roads, established a tearoom and swimming pool, then sold off sections to Wellingtonians for building weekend baches. 

Chatsworth Road, c.1930s

Sun slants through the trees on Chatsworth Road in this photo by celebrated architect and craftsman James Chapman-Taylor. Between 1908 and 1911 Chapman-Taylor designed and built a house on Chatsworth Road as a country retreat for his family. The family later lived in Silverstream from the mid-1930s, and Chapman-Taylor designed a number of houses in Upper Hutt, including several on Chatsworth Road, which was to become one of the area’s most expensive streets, known for its fine architecture.

Trentham Rifle Range, c.1912

From 1892 Alexander McCulloch, an Upper Hutt farmer, began leasing swampy land he owned, of marginal value for farming, to the New Zealand Rifle Association for use as a shooting range. Despite conditions there being far from ideal, the site soon became the country’s premier rifle range, regularly hosting the annual Ballinger Belt competition. Permanent structures began to be built and the range was used for training volunteer militia units, as well as troops bound for the Boer War. It was the prior existence of Trentham Rifle Range that led to Trentham Army Camp being established alongside it at the outbreak of the First World War. 

Trentham Army Camp, 1915

View of Trentham Camp from Flagstaff Hill in 1915, with Trentham racecourse visible in the middle distance. New Zealand had no central army training base when the First World War broke out in August 1914. In October that year work began on quickly establishing one at Trentham, a site chosen because there was already a rifle range there that the military had used for training purposes during the Boer War. Trentham was originally a ‘canvas camp’ consisting only of bell tents to accommodate the recruits. These tents were gradually replaced over the course of 1915 as long wooden hutments, each of which barracked around 100 men, were built, along with various other administrative buildings. The creation of Trentham Camp had a profound effect on Upper Hutt, leading to a major influx of people and facilities into the area. 

 

Trentham Camp cookhouse, c.1915

Men on mess orderly duty lined up outside a cookhouse at Trentham Camp. Men took turns at being mess orderlies, collecting meals from the cookhouse for eating at the separate huts. A typical daily menu was as follows – breakfast: porridge, fried chops and onions, hashed mutton, bread, butter, jam, coffee; lunch: soup, bread, butter, cheese, jam, tea; dinner: beef (roast and boiled), gravy, potatoes, vegetables in season, currant pudding, bread, butter, jam, tea. Most men who served in the First World War passed through Trentham Camp at some stage, meaning it served as a temporary home for thousands at this time.

Trentham racecourse, 1906

A festively dressed crowd fill the grandstand at Trentham racecourse in January 1906 for the Anniversary Handicap. It was the first race held at the new racecourse by the Wellington Racing Club, which had purchased 234 scrub-covered, boulder-littered acres at Trentham in 1904. The club had earlier raced at Hutt Park, and before that at Burnham Water, Miramar, but the new site offered more space, as well as easier access due to the nearby railway line.

Heretaunga golf course, 1911

This hand-coloured image shows cars in front of the Heretaunga golf course, which was developed from 1906 by the Wellington Golf Club. The club had been operating on leased land in Miramar, but had difficulty renewing their lease in 1904, and began searching for another suitable site. The Barton family offered to sell 48.5 hectares of their Silverstream farm, and added more land later. Part of this was subdivided into residential sections and sold to golf club members.

The Barton manor, 1933

The near-derelict ‘Manor House’ was photographed by architect James Chapman-Taylor in 1933, five years before its demolition. The house had been built in the mid-19th century by Richard Barton, the first European to settle in Upper Hutt. Over the years the house was extended until it included 22 rooms and six staircases. Barton had arrived in Wellington in 1840 and purchased 100 acres in the Upper Hutt valley for a farm, which he named Trentham. His ‘no-nonsense’ wife Hannah set up a ‘dame school’ to educate local children and was later patroness of St John’s church. 

Soldiers’ Pool, c.1915–18

Troops bathe in the Hutt River, c.1915–18. With around 5,000 recruits stationed for training at Trentham Camp during the First World War, and limited showering facilities at the camp, the men were required to attend ‘bathing parade’ on Wednesdays and Saturdays at the Hutt River. Led by a drummer and sometimes bagpipes, the platoons marched 2 kilometres to the river, where they bathed and swam in a stretch of water near Barton’s Bush that came to be known as Soldiers’ Pool. The name stuck well into the 20th century

Brentwood, 1921

Women and children relax on the lawn at Brentwood in February 1921, with Annie Brocks and her small daughter Annette at second from right. Annie’s husband, Captain Arthur Brocks, was one of a number of British army officers recruited to Trentham Camp during the First World War to serve as instructors. Selected because of his bayonet-fighting and physical exercise expertise, he had fought at Gallipoli and received the Military Cross. Brentwood, the Brocks family’s home, was located near the camp in Ruahine Street – now a suburban neighbourhood, but then mostly farmland and bush.

Moonshine bridge, 1925

Opened in 1913, this concrete bridge was built to service the remote Moonshine Road farming community across the other side of the Hutt River from Upper Hutt. The area around the bridge subsequently became a popular picnic and swimming spot. Locals also used it to access the elevated Craig’s Flat area (now Riverstone Terraces) for views of the valley. When River Road was built in the 1980s the then-dilapidated bridge was replaced by a new curved structure; it was demolished in 1987. 

Trentham Hotel, 1903

The Trentham Hotel, also known as McGovern’s after its proprietor, opened in 1902, replacing the adjacent Railway Hotel which burnt down the same year. The photo shows people and dogs gathered for the greyhound racing which took place in a nearby paddock, with bets being placed in the bar. The outlawing of bookmaking in 1911 ended this form of entertainment. The hotel later became known as Quinn’s Post after another proprietor and in honour of the ANZAC outpost at Gallipoli of the same name. This building on the corner of Ward Street and Fergusson Drive was eventually demolished in 1974 and another Quinn’s Post opened nearby

Angus McCurdy and McCurdy’s Castle, c.1910

Without a doubt Upper Hutt’s best-known personality in the early decades of the 20th century was Angus McCurdy. The colourful and outspoken McCurdy was something of a jack-of-all-trades, working as a farmer, electrician, roading engineer, proprietor of the local cinema and editor of the local newspaper, the Hutt Valley Independent. Highly active in local politics, he served as Upper Hutt’s first mayor after it became a borough in 1926. McCurdy is shown at left, circa 1912, with a large eel his son caught near their home, Bonnie Glen. This is shown at right, perched high on the hill above the juncture of the Whakatiki and Hutt rivers. Popularly known as McCurdy’s Castle, it was a well-known local landmark until it burnt down in 1969. 

Wallaceville Veterinary Laboratory, c.1920

In 1905 the Department of Agriculture established a veterinary laboratory in Upper Hutt to serve as New Zealand’s main research centre for diagnosing and preventing livestock diseases. This photo shows the original laboratory building, which still stands and has been classified as worthy of preservation by Heritage New Zealand. It was subsequently extended and added to with several other buildings and a large surrounding area of paddocks to become the Wallaceville Animal Research Centre, regarded as a world leader in molecular biology, immunology, parasitology and reproductive technologies. The Centre closed in 2007.  

St David’s church, 1926

The senior Bible class at St David’s Presbyterian church are seen here in 1926. Bible classes were a welcome social event for young people in the area in the early 20th century. St David’s had opened in 1879 at what is now 713 Fergusson Drive, on land donated by George Brown. It was designed by notable Wellington architect Thomas Turnbull, and built at a cost of £350. A manse was constructed at the rear in 1893. In 1976 St David’s became part of the Upper Hutt Co-operating (later Uniting) Parish, and the church was demolished.

Upper Hutt School, 1918

A Standard Four class at Upper Hutt School poses for the photographer with their teacher, Winifred Brown, who taught there from 1907 to 1922. A school had opened at St Joseph’s church in 1864, and in 1866 moved to land at Trentham donated by early settler Hannah Barton. By 1906 that site and its buildings were inadequate; the school was redeveloped on a more central site (including an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to move the old school building there), where it opened in March 1909

Remount Depot, c.1915

Horses were still considered a vital part of the army when the First World War broke out, and a Remount Depot was established in Gibbons Street to initially assess, process and train horses that had been compulsorily purchased for military service and brought to Upper Hutt by train. They were then sent on to Trentham or other locations for more specialised training. At the depot’s busiest it was home to around 1,000 horses, with a total of 10,000 passing through Upper Hutt before being sent to war. 

Railway station goods shed, c.1918

William Howe, George Jones and Roley Butler outside the goods shed at the Upper Hutt railway station sometime around 1918. The photo nicely illustrates the transformation in transportation taking place at this time, as horses and carts began to be replaced by motorised trucks. Rail remained of central importance, though, with goods sheds like this one serving as crucial points of transfer for the local economy.  

St Joseph’s church, c.1910

St Joseph’s Catholic church was built in 1864 on land owned by early settler James Brown, whose wife Mary was an Irish Catholic, and had been travelling to Wellington and then Lower Hutt to attend church. St Joseph’s was the site of a school from 1864 to 1866, and was extended between 1875 and 1877. In 1961, falling into disrepair and too small for its congregation, the church was demolished; a new church was built on the site and opened in 1965.

Post office, c.1910

Upper Hutt’s then-new post office building was officially opened by the Prime Minister and Postmaster-General, Sir Joseph Ward, on 2 April 1909. At the time post offices played a central role in communities, offering postal, banking and telephone services. A telephone bureau had been established at the Upper Hutt post office in 1902, and a manual exchange opened with 15 customers in 1911. This building was demolished in 1970 and a new post office was erected on the same site.

Benge and Pratt disaster, 1914

Scene of the fatal explosion and fire at Benge and Pratt's store, 1914. A fire began before midnight on 28 March and volunteers were helping to save stock when an explosion (later held to be caused by illegally stored gelignite) destroyed the building. Eight men died, including several prominent citizens, amongst them the local police constable and postmaster. It remains Upper Hutt’s second-most fatal disaster behind the 1858 Silverstream flood in which 13 people drowned. Note the broken windows of the adjacent Provincial Hotel, as well as the missing upper-storey balustrade where one man died while trying to douse the fire with a garden hose.

Rugby players, 1903

An Upper Hutt rugby team in 1903. From the turn of the century friendly games of rugby had begun to be organised by railwaymen in the district. These were generally played on a paddock off Queen Street, behind the Provincial Hotel, which served as both pre-match dressing room and post-match clubrooms. Upper Hutt Star RFC, the town’s first rugby club, was formed in 1906. 

Hazelwoods, 1906

Hazelwoods department store had its beginnings in 1891, when Jimmy Hazelwood came to Upper Hutt and set up a fruit shop in a converted cottage. The store became a grocery, then added a drapery, footwear and bakery by the turn of the century. This is the third Hazelwoods building, constructed around 1906, which was burnt out in the Benge and Pratt explosion in 1914. From the 1950s Hazelwoods developed into a major department store, which played a central part in the Upper Hutt community with its Christmas parades and other activities; after almost 120 years it finally ceased trading in 2009.

St Hilda’s church, c.1920s

St Hilda’s Anglican church was built south of Main Street in 1910 after a considerable fundraising effort by the local Anglican community, whose church services had previously been held in the town hall and at private residences in Kaitoke and Akatarawa. In 1979 the church site was sold for a McDonald’s restaurant, and the church building was moved to a new site on Cruickshank Road, Maoribank.

7th Reinforcement, Maidstone Park, 1915

Men from the 7th Reinforcement eat lunch in Maidstone Park in 1915. These troops were on the second day of their march from Tauherenīkau to Trentham over the Remutaka Range, starting a routine in which almost every reinforcement undertook the strenuous three-day march. After completing infantry training in the Wairarapa, initially at Tauherenīkau but from January 1916 at Featherston Camp, soldiers would march over the range, spend a night at Kaitoke, then march to Maidstone Park for lunch, followed by a night at Maymorn where they practised night manoeuvres and undertook a mock battle at dawn.

Maidstone Park, c.1910–13

Maidstone Park is in the foreground of this photo looking towards Upper Hutt township and Craig’s Flat (now Riverstone Terraces) in the early 1910s. In 1908 Maidstone Park had been developed as a private picnic ground by owner Philip Davis, who charged threepence for admission (including parking and hot water) and negotiated lower train fares for those who came by rail at the weekends. Community picnics were major social events in the early 20th century, and large groups, both local and from Wellington – including Hazelwoods staff, the harbour board, waterside workers and transport workers – held their picnics in the park.

Upper Hutt, c.1914

This view of central Upper Hutt from around 1914, taken from present-day Kingsley Heights looking towards the west, shows the railway line and main road. On the corner of Main Road and Henry Street (the first street on the right), with the large lawn, is the house of J.A. Hazelwood, who in 1893 had founded the small grocery store that eventually grew to be Upper Hutt’s iconic Hazelwoods department store.

Salisbury Poultry Farm, 1930s

In the early 20th century poultry farming was a major industry in Upper Hutt, and the Salisbury Poultry Farm was one of the biggest producers. Established around 1912, the farm was near the corner of Main Road (now Fergusson Drive) and Henry Street; the large house in the left foreground belonged to Ernest Salisbury, and the newer house to the right to his son, Arthur. A Salisbury’s delivery van is also visible in front of the larger house.

Izard’s Convalescent Home, 1915

First World War convalescent patients pose with a nurse on the porch at Izard’s Convalescent Home in Maoribank, in August 1915. The house, ‘Totara’, had previously been the expansive country home of Wellington lawyer, city councillor and MP for Wellington North (1905–8) Charles Izard. In March 1915 Izard offered ‘Totara’ to the government as a convalescent home for sick or wounded troops returning from the front. His own only son was to die in London in 1919 while on military service. The house was later known as ‘The Totaras’ and was extensively photographed by architect James Chapman-Taylor in 1947.

Haukāretu, c.1912

These two women, identified as Becky and Kino, lived at the Haukāretu Māori village on the western side of the Hutt River, which became known as Maoribank because of its Māori inhabitants. Haukāretu was named after the kāretu, a large grass with sweet-scented leaves. By the time this photo was taken, around 1912, there were few Māori living in the Upper Hutt area; in 1820 a number of local pā had been attacked by musket-armed northern war parties, and the Māori population was further decimated by a measles epidemic in 1857–60.

Maoribank suspension bridge, c.1940s

Farmers Frank, Frederick and Charles Whiteman and W.A. Cottle organised and paid for construction of a suspension bridge across the Hutt River at Maoribank so they could access their farms on the western side of the river, now Tōtara Park. The bridge was opened by local MP Thomas Wilford in 1917. Long a favoured site for picnickers and swimmers, it was closed to vehicles in 1975, after the Tōtara Park road bridge opened. It was demolished in 1988 after being damaged by a flood.

American sailors at Campbell’s mill, 1925

American sailors on a goodwill tour of the Pacific visited Campbell’s sawmill in the Akatarawas in 1925. At right, holding a coat, is motor enthusiast and inventor Howard Nattrass, who had hired a bus to take a group of visiting sailors touring for the day, including to the remotely situated mill. George Campbell had bought Thomas Price’s mill in 1916, and was joined in 1920 by his brothers Jack and Bob. 

Brown Owl Tea House, 1930s

The Brown Owl Tea House opened on the corner of Akatarawa Road and Main Road in the late 1920s. May St Johnston converted a six-room house into tearooms to cater to travellers, naming it Brown Owl after an inn she had visited in England. Meals were served outdoors in good weather, and dances were held in the ballroom. Until the mid-1950s the Railways ran a half-hourly weekend bus service to Brown Owl. The building was sold to the Akatarawa Baptist Fellowship for use as a church in 1961.

Birchville bridge, c.1935

This one-lane timber truss bridge across the Hutt River was one of a pair built in 1880–81 at either end of Bridge Road, which at the time was part of the main road up the Akatarawa valley. The route was realigned to the eastern bank of the river around 1915, and a concrete bridge was built across the Hutt River; however, it collapsed in a flood in 1939 and the earlier bridges were brought back into service. They were known as the Black Bridges because of the tar used on their wooden supports. A popular swimming spot, this bridge had its deck removed in 1956 after it became unsafe; it was eventually demolished in 1998. 

Birchville dam site, 1930

The Birchville dam was constructed in 1930 on Clarkes Creek to provide water to Upper Hutt. A weir had earlier been built at the same location, piping water to Upper Hutt from 1914 to meet household and firefighting needs. By the mid-1920s the increased population meant a bigger demand for water, and the Upper Hutt Borough Council employed consulting engineer Henry F. Toogood (father of broadcaster Selwyn Toogood) to oversee construction of a dam. The concrete arch dam continued to provide Upper Hutt’s water until 1954, when the town began taking water from the Kaitoke scheme.

Akatarawa River bridge, c.1910

This bridge across the Akatarawa River is the northernmost of a pair of bridges built in 1880–81 at either end of Bridge Road. At the time Bridge Road was part of the main route up the Akatarawa valley; the Hutt County Council cut a bridle path through to Waikanae as an alternative route to the Paekākāriki hill road. Akatarawa Road was realigned to the eastern bank of the river around 1915, but these two bridges were brought back into service from 1939 after the new concrete bridge collapsed. The bridge was upgraded in 1954 with new concrete deck spans, but these remained supported by the original 1881 pier, which slumped during a flood in October 2015, cutting off 70-odd houses on Bridge Road.

Kaitoke hill, 1927

Mr Phillips’s Ford Model T truck negotiates the Kaitoke hill (then known as the Mangaroa hill) en route to Pākuratahi from Upper Hutt in March 1927. This photo was taken just below what is now the lookout over the Twin Lakes, looking west.

Remutaka Incline

A train heads up the Remutaka Incline (north-east of the blue dot on the map), probably in the early 20th century. The railway between Upper Hutt and Wairarapa opened in 1878, and until 1955 crossed over the Remutaka Range. While the Upper Hutt side of the track was moderately graded, the Wairarapa side between Cross Creek and Summit stations was steep, with a 1 in 15 gradient. Fell engines, which use horizontal wheels to grip a third, central rail, were used on this section of the line. The Fell engines on the Remutaka Incline were the last in the world still operating when the Remutaka Tunnel opened in 1955.

Maymorn Camp, 1915

Maymorn Camp was set up in 1915 to cope with the overflow of First World War military recruits from Trentham Camp. It was known as a canvas camp, with soldiers accommodated in tents, and was the site of night exercises and a mock ‘dawn attack’ for troops marching over the Remutaka Range to Trentham after their training at Featherston. At far left is the chimney of the recently defunct Maymorn sawmill, which had been Upper Hutt’s largest and most modern mill, but was unprofitable, and closed in 1914. 

Whitemans Valley bridge opening, 1904

Locals and visiting dignitaries including MPs and Hutt County Council members celebrate the opening of a bridge in Whitemans Valley, decked out with flags and greenery for the event. The bridge opened in September 1904, along with a second bridge about 1.5 kilometres away in Mangaroa. Previously locals had relied on fords to cross the river, and there had been several drownings. At the time the area was the site of Wallaceville township; it later became primarily farmland, and the name came to apply to the suburb where Wallaceville Road met the railway line.

Truck accident, Whitemans Valley, 1924

A group look on at a milk collection truck balanced precariously beside a creek in Whitemans Valley in 1924. Milk cans are stacked on the back of the truck – a White chain-drive truck – and behind it. Whitemans Valley was one of the farming areas that supplied Upper Hutt with dairy and other produce.

Gorrie mill, Narrow Neck, c.1900s

Axemen James Gorrie senior, his sons Jimmy and Alec and his brother Tom are pictured at Narrow Neck in the Mangaroa Valley (to the south of the blue dot on the map). The Gorries ran a sawmill – one of a number in the Upper Hutt area at the time – at the entrance to Narrow Neck, and huge trees were felled and transported to the mill on wooden tram tracks. A home was built for Alec Gorrie in 1914 using timber milled here. The Gorrie family went on to have a long association with Upper Hutt.