History – Rural subdivision in early Warkworth

Walter Coombes and his business partner William C Daldy were early Auckland traders with interests in the Mahurangi district that included timber, shipping, lime burning and acquiring land. In the first land sales, Captain Daldy bought 222 acres near McKinney Road, gifting a section for the first Presbyterian church. Walter Coombes owned land near the northwestern boundary of the Warkworth town district, and more than 30 years after his death the land was still known as the Coombes block.

In 1913, surveyors were occupied dividing the land into small farms and defining boundaries. The Warkworth Town Board, at its meeting in December 1913, received a letter written on behalf of the various owners, requesting that the board take responsibility for the formation and dedication of a road through Coombes block. A track across private land had become well used by farmers moving stock to and from the saleyards and showgrounds, and it was suggested that a road could be formed with little difficulty. In exchange for the board agreeing to meet all costs, land on the grassy summit of a hill was offered as a reserve. 

The next morning the five board members met and climbed the hill above Ramsbottom’s farm to inspect the proposed reserve. They expressed their admiration of the view. The town lay below them to the east and south with “glimpses of the river touching with silver the open page of nature”. In mid-distance the chimneystacks of the cement works denoted the importance of the industry to the town’s existence. To the north could be seen the saleyards and showgrounds beside the Great North Road, and in the distance the bush-clad hills of the Dome range.

The decision was made to accept the offer put forward by the owners of the Coombes block, and early in 1914 the Farmers Union agreed to donate the land necessary to complete the final six chains of road connecting it to the main highway.

The road, now familiar as Hudson Road, became a very useful route for drovers moving stock west and south, enabling them to avoid the main streets of the town. It was used for decades until the more general use of motor transport and the closing of the saleyards brought about changes. More recently, the development of industrial sites on Hudson Road has altered the use of the road considerably.

If those five men who had charge of Warkworth’s destiny 100 years ago could retrace their steps today and stand on the same hill, how great would be their amazement. Ramsbottom’s farm has become part of the spread of residential streets. The volume and speed of motor vehicles on State Highway 1 could not be imagined in earlier times, and on the road they planned in 1914 there is a new set of traffic lights in 2014.

There is no place now for the drover on horseback with his trusty dogs.