Onga Onga Historical Society chairman Dennis Schaw with the rusting boiler that is being restored by the society.
Onga Onga Historical Society chairman Dennis Schaw with the rusting boiler that is being restored by the society.
In a paddock near the Makaroro river, near the end of Wakarara Rd, a long way from most things but close to the hills and the bush, a large rusting metal item had sat for several decades.
It had sat there largely unnoticed, though occasionally catching the attention of apassing hunter who would use it as a target to sight in their rifle before moving on up the Makaroro to hunt for more edible fare.
Locals who passed by knew what the rusty thing was, and many tipped a mental hat to what they knew was an important part of a long-gone industry — the mighty boiler that powered the Gardner and Yeoman Mill.
Of late the rusted boiler was the last remaining marker of the spot where the mill had been. The sheds had gone, and the houses and the schoolhouse where the children studied during the day ... and card evenings and film nights provided evening entertainment.
The mill had been more than a workplace, it was a whole community, with up to 18 families there when the mill was in full operation.
The maker's plate on the boiler reads 'Robertson & Co, Phoenix Foundry, Wellington'.
Shirley and Peter Rayner remember the community well. The couple, now living in Waipukurau, started their married life at the mill.
Shirley was a Yeoman, her father Robert David Yeoman — Dave was the mill owner and the only person qualified to operate the massive boiler that powered both the big saws and the breast bench. There was no electricity at the site until 1950 and even then only the docking saw was electric.
The couple had met at a Friday night dance at the Ongaonga Hall. Everyone met at the dances in those days, Peter says.
"I shouldn't have even been there. I was still at CHB College and was sent along by my mother to 'keep an eye on' my older sisters. How she thought a 16-year-old would know what to keep an eye on, I don't know."
Peter left school and started an apprenticeship at Wharmby and Williams, served his time and then he and Shirley were married.
They moved to the mill village and Peter went to work for Shirley's father.
"They couldn't get rid of me so they put me to work at the mill," Peter says.
Peter was a "slabbie". As the logs came off as 12-foot wide flitches they rolled down to the breast bench to be cut to size. Any waste was thrown onto a trolley by the slabbie and when that was full he dragged it out, emptied it into a pile to dry and refilled the trolley with dry waste wood to take back inside ... that wood fuelled the boiler.
It was good wood. Yeomans had a government contract to mill native timber from the Ruahine Range: rimu, matai, a bit of kahikatea, good timber that was then transported to Coles, Wharmby and Williams and Ashbys. It was timber that built houses and woolsheds all over the district as well as being put on the rail and sent further afield.
The big boiler was always hot. It was banked up overnight to keep it warm and on weekdays Shirley's father started at 4am to get enough of a head of steam to start the mill working at 7am.
In the winter there were frosts that didn't thaw until 11am, bad enough to freeze heavy crawler machinery to the ground, stuck fast. In the summer there were swarms of sandflies.
"It's amazing what you get used to," says Peter. "It was hard work but a good crowd. Some hard cases. Dave was a fair boss but he let you know what he thought."
Peter helped to start the mill moving in the morning — hand cranking the big wheel so the pistons could start moving.
Some weekends it was time to "clean the tubes" of the steam equipment: pushing a cleaning stem down the galvanised pipes to shoot the soot out the end. Mostly out the end ... sometimes, Peter says, it blew back, leaving him covered in soot.
As pine came online the native timber contracts were ceased. The mill slowed, then stopped for the final time in 1959.
Peter says there was no big farewell, no fanfare. Most had gone on to other jobs and were too busy to mark the end of an era.
A lot of the steam equipment went to the Tokomaru Steam Engine Museum but the big boiler sat in the paddock until the new owner of the property dragged it up to the homestead as it was getting shot up by hunters.
The boiler is gone from there now, but far from forgotten.
It's made a further journey to the Onga Onga Museum and is now in the care of the Onga Onga Historical Society.
This journey isn't quite its last. The boiler is being restored and protected and when finished it will be placed at the State Highway 50 entrance to Onga Onga, where it will make a statement about the area's history and the people who worked there. It has been a long process and it's not finished yet, but Peter and those whose families worked the mill feel it's worth it and a fitting tribute.
The Onga-Onga Historical Society would like to thank the following people and organisations for their help: Rob Evans and the advisory board of Smedley Station for donating the boiler to the society; Jack Robson and Higgins for organising transportation of the boiler from Parks Peak Station to the Onga Onga Museum; Robert and Wills Buchanan for allowing the boiler to be placed on their land and for being so supportive of this venture; Robert Buchanan for attending all meetings involving this venture and clearing the block of land where the boiler will be placed and Central Hawke's Bay District Council, Hawke's Bay Regional Council and Whaka Kotahi for their assistance with the legal procedures of this project.
Spring Fling event Sunday, September 25 — 10.30-11.30am: First Glimpse at the Coles Brothers Restoration.
Restoration of Onga Onga's historic Coles Factory is nearly finished and this is your first chance to catch a glimpse of the restored building before its official opening.
Extensive work has been undertaken by the Ongaonga Historical Society on this Heritage New Zealand category 1 listed building. Tour and High Tea on the Museum Reserve at 83 Bridge St.
