Upokongaro The Community Up-River 1840-1960
By Laraine Sole
Launched recently at Upokongaro's Avoca Hotel was the latest local history book by Laraine Sole — Upokongaro: The Community Up-River 1840-1960.
The result of years of research, the book is a valuable addition to the library of any Whanganui and district history enthusiast and local genealogist.
Divided into 19 chapters, the book is liberally sprinkled with historical photographs and covers everything you could possibly want to know about Upokongaro and environs during the 120 years it covers. From early Maori history of the area to the beginnings of European settlement, Laraine has painstakingly researched the businesses, institutions and people to create a work of real importance.
Each chapter deals with an aspect of the place — the hotel, churches, education, the ferry, to name a few — and no stone has been left unturned to provide a comprehensive, in-depth look at everything that made Upokongaro.
Included in the serious narrative is a chapter entitled Short Tales, consisting of anecdotes and oddities that add humour and character. Laraine has also taken a literal stroll down memory lane by listing properties and their owners' families, giving as much of their history as they could provide. It makes fascinating reading as we discover, for example, that Alexander and Bessie Whibley owned the first built-in electric oven in the district, or that William Caines died in 1894, the same year he publicly endorsed a cough mixture in a newspaper advertisement.
