History – Water torture

The summer of 1871-72 was extremely dry. During the fine weather, the settlers of Puhoi, by working together, had amassed an enormous quantity of shingles, blocks, palings, planks and spars in all the tributaries of the Puhoi River. They had, as usual, constructed the bushmen’s common dams. These did their job well during the first heavy rain in late February, collecting all their produce together in the village ready to be floated or transported by punt to the mouth of the river.

From there, boats which had sailed from further north would pick up whatever was stacked on the beach and transport it to the wood wharf in Auckland. A settler had to check daily whether their produce had left Puhoi and, if it had, they had to get to Auckland as quickly as possible to make sure they got payment for their work. About once a week, someone walked to Auckland, oversaw the sale of their produce, bought what they needed back in Puhoi, and walked back carrying their purchases. The round trip took about 26 hours.

In early March 1872, everything seemed to be rosy. The settlers’ first nine years in Puhoi had been very hard. Now it looked as if they would be able to buy stock and prepare for the winter.

Then the heavens opened. Rain deluged the doomed settlement and the creeks filled to overflowing. Water poured into the river and turned this usually quiet stream into a raging torrent. Nothing could resist its power – trees, timber and all the settlers’ carefully prepared produce of the last six months was swept down the river and out into the Hauraki Gulf. Those on the banks, powerless to save anything, viewed the destruction of all their hopes. They struggled to reclaim what they could and make it up to marketable condition, but most of it was gone forever.

A call went up to make sure this calamity never happened again. It was pointed out that only a few obstacles would need to be removed from the river to enable vessels to travel right up to Puhoi village. The settlers could then bring their produce by dray to meet the ship at the landing point and thereby remove the necessity of relying on the unpredictable weather.

This was accomplished within a few years. Steamers began a regular service – coming up the river just before high tide. The Wenzlick family pulled on chains to turn the centre span of the bridge on the main highway to let the boats through. Unloading and reloading was usually done in time for the steamer to depart on the outgoing tide. John Schollum and John Schischka set up stores in Auckland to receive, advertise and on sell all Puhoi products – timber, fruit, vegetables, butter, eggs, fungus, gum and charcoal. The effort put Puhoi back on its feet. That is until the biggest flood in the village’s history, in 1924, washed the turntable bridge away, once again changing Puhoi’s way of life forever.

Jenny Schollum, Puhoi Historical Society
www.puhoiheritagemuseum.co.nz