By Jenny Schollum, Puhoi Historical Society
Abundance of timber close to an anchorage; excellent soil; convenient and safe harbour by which small decked craft and cargo boats may reach the end of the block and the settlers and their equipment at once landed upon it; Great North Road bridged and cleared to landing place; good bridle communication to north and south; surveys pushed through; shelters erected.
These are some phrases from an article in the daily newspaper The New Zealander of 29 June 1863, the day 83 Bohemian settlers arrived in Puhoi.
Definitely a rose-tinted version of the Puhoi that greeted the settlers as they were brought up Puhoi River by the Maori on that winter’s evening. What they found on arrival were two nikau whares, near the riverbank, each 30ft by 10ft, insufficient space to house 29 men, 27 women and 32 children. Until they had erected another long nikau shelter with flax partitions, the men slept out in the open in July.
There was no road. An inland route from Silverdale, avoiding several rivers and estuaries, to Puhoi had been planned and some trees felled to mark the way. But the felled timber still lay on the track and re-growth had almost obliterated it. It had developed to a clay track by 1870. The settlers walked to Auckland and returned carrying their purchases this way making the return trip in about 26 hours.
The Bohemians were woefully under-equipped to tackle the abundance of timber, bringing only a few spade and axe heads in the 10 cu.ft of luggage space allotted to each adult.
As land was cleared, vegetables were planted but the soil could hardly be described as excellent – only a few inches of topsoil covered the clay. If the Maori people had not brought them food, they probably would have starved.
The river became navigable only after snags, rocks and felled trees were removed in 1874. Cutters came into the lower part of the river at high tide. However, in 1864, 297 tons of firewood, 407,000 shingles, 3880 feet of house blocks, 16,700 feet of timber and 10,500 palings were floated or punted down the river to be taken to the Auckland Market.
The land survey had also not been completed. In December, Joseph Vlach, who had been employed to help surveyor Blucher, lost his life in a gun shot accident. The land was resurveyed in 1888 to make sure each settler got the amount of land they were entitled to. The article concludes with the suggestion that the Provincial Government expend some of the controversial £500,000 Auckland Loan 1863 on forming the North Road to Puhoi.
Celebration: On the last weekend in June, Puhoi will celebrate 153 years since the arrival of these brave people with a dance on Saturday June 25 and mass at 11am on Sunday June 26 followed by shared lunch in the hall and music and dancing in the afternoon.
Puhoi Historical Society
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