History – A clever squatter – Mangawhai Museum

Seen the new site being prepared in the Historic Village and wondered what’s coming? A hut is on its way. The Mangawhai Historic Village Trust is recreating a modest, one window shack that once stood at the end of Heather Street and was home to a squatter named George Merz (1894-1974).

In the then wartime climate of suspicion, Merz, a clever Swiss immigrant, was dubbed a German spy by paranoid residents, and it probably didn’t help that he goose-stepped to wind them up. Though some locals may have considered this speculation playful, Merz was subject to an official investigation by the Alien’s Authority in World War II, with rumours sparked by questions like: Where was this man from? Was he using some kind of lamp to signal ships at sea? Did he make the Niagara sink?

But those who pushed past the paranoia and got to know Merz gained insight into his inventions and imagination, including appreciation of his pedal-powered generator, photographic equipment, motorised model ocean liner, shoes that made it look like he walked on water, and, when nudism became his way of life, a homemade alarm system that alerted him when people were approaching his place.

After Merz’s time in the Heather Street shack on the beach, he lived in a gum-digger’s hut at the back of the golf course and late, the old Post Office on Old Waipu Road.

To set the record straight though – reports show that before coming to Aotearoa in 1920, George Merz lived in England and specialised as a mechanical draughtsman, and was not at any time, a spy.

Coming up at the Mangawhai Museum
Sat 23 Aug | Dinner & Auction @ Mangawhai Tavern – enquire for tickets
NOW SHOWING | The Bug Room, A Special Exhibition on until 24 August
Mon 22 Sep – Fri 26 Sep | School Holiday Programme – watch for bookings opening
Mon 29 Sep | Author Storytime with Adrienne Joyce, 10:30am by the tram