A walk through historic Foxton - Part 2

Photograph from plaque in main Street, Foxton - caption:

This street scene was snapped in the late 1870s. Taken from the railway station it shows, front left, the railway line turning from Main Street to the wharf. Buildings right to left are Aberdeen House, All Saints Church, Bank of New Zealand, a two storied shop and boarding house and Whytes Hotel.

Background: The railway line was moved from Main Street in 1881 when a deviation took the track to the west of the town and down beside the Manawatu River.

This photo shows three of the steamers used on the Manawatu River for towing punt loads of flax and for excursion trips.

They are from left "Mataroa", "Planet", and "Flower of Kent".

Standing on the "Flower of Kent" is William Jupp, manager of the Levin and Co steamer fleet and sometime owner of the steamers.

Behind the steamers is "The Dolphin", two structures designed to deflect logs from the wharf during floods and at times used by ships to help in manoeuvring to point downstream. Only one of these remains today. The stone wall that leads out to them is no longer visible but still remains in place.

In the distance are some of the flaxmills that lined the river bank.

Click here to see more photos of the traffic on the Foxton River.

Circa 1860 - photo labelled: "Ferry at Cook's, Manawatu, now Foxton".

Traffic coming to Te Awahou from the south through the Matakarapa area had to cross the river to get to the settlement.

Background: After T.U. Cook and his family arrived at Te Awahou in 1855, he set about re-establishing his trading activities (from Wellington). The centre of this was the wharf he constructed at the mouth of the Te Awahou Stream. Cook traded between the local area and Wellington with his two small boats. Behind the wharf he built his house and the Adelaide Hotel.

The "Jane Douglas" travelled between Wellington and Foxton in the 1870s-80s and many immigranys used her for access to the manawatu area.

This scene is twenty years later, with the ship "Jane Douglas", tied up at what by then was the Government wharf, during a flood (c.1880).

Floods played a big role in the history of Foxton although none has been big enough to reach up to the Main Street level. It has been Whirokino and Moutoa areas to the south and east that have gone under floodwaters regularly. After many years of discussion the Whirokino Trestle Bridge was opened in 1939. This eliminated the regular closing of State Highway One south of the town during floods.

The second flood control measure was the Whirokino Cut, designed to let flood waters flow faster to the sea. This has had disastrous effects on the river at Foxton, which you can clearly see today, and some blame it for the closure of the port of Foxton.

The third major project was the Moutoa Floodway which is used to shorten the course for flood water from Moutoa to the Whirokino Cut. The gates for this are located on the Foxton-Shannon Road and the floodway passes under the northern end of the Whirokino Trestle Bridge.

The sand hills of Matakarapa can be seen in the distance.

Photograph: The Port of Foxton c1920. The railway and wharf were fully integrated in their working with lines right up to the ships' side. Back right is the Levin and Co. storage shed with a ship tied up at its wharf facility. The building with the curved roof is the Railway Goods Shed and the roof of the Railway Station can be seen above the wagons. In the front is one of the punts used to transport flax down the river.

Historical Background: A reclamation constructed in 1881 enabled the tramway (by then a railway) to be moved from Main Street. Locals weren't very happy about wagon loads of stock being left overnight outside the shops!

The Levin and Co. shed, built 1908, was destroyed by fire in 1922. Levin and Co. were the major users of the Port of Foxton in the early 20th century and their managers were often to the forefront of agitation foe better facilities and conditions. The Harbour Board built the replacement of the Levin and Co. shed in 1927. After the port was closed, c1948, it was used for storage by Woolpack and Textiles. Today it is used for Indoor Bowls. It is the only structure that remains as a reminder of Foxton's days as a port and railway centre.

Foxton had its workforce of wharfies who were called on to work when a ship got into port. A quick turnaround meant better profits and the work force was on call six days a week. Often the local sports teams were short of players if a ship had to be unloaded on Saturday.

The wharf itself was dismantled in 1953. The railway continued but maintenance levels were low, speed restrictions were put in place, and it was eventually closed in 1959. The track etc. was uplifted all the way to Longburn in the early 1960s.

Photograph: Looking northward to ships docked at Foxton Wharf late 1890s. These include “Queen of the South” and “Whangaroa”. The small boat inthe foreground floats at the mouth of the Awahou Stream and in between it and the wharf are the cattle yards. In the background is the sweeping curve of Robinson's Bend.

Historical background: The first wharf in this vicinity was that of T U Cook who arrived here in 1855 (see drawing earlier in this topic). He had been living at Paiaka, 4-5 miles upstream, but the 1855 "Wellington" earthquake resulted in damage which saw this settlement abandoned. At Te Awahou he continued to trade between Foxton and Wellington. He brought with him the two small boats "Mary Jane" and "Hannah" which had been built for him by George Nye and Frank Abel at Paiaka.

In 1871 the Government purchased the wharf from him and in 1873 constructed anothe in deeper water. This new wharf was connected to the tramway which ran down from Main Street and along what is now Wharf Street.

Click here to read the a detailed report on the "Deviation Contract".

The Awahou Stream still drains eastern Foxton but along most of its length it has been piped. J Rutherford, uncle of Sir Ernest, built one of the earliest flaxmills on its bank.

Below is the stream today:

Photograph: The message at the bottom of this postcard reads “Foxton and its harbour -The God-given revenue grabbed by the government”

When this photograph was taken (c1912) Railways owned the wharf and took all revenue from it. The Railways Department had control of all aspects of the port. the size of the 1881 reclamation and layout of the southern half of the railway yards can be seen in this photograph. In the background is the NZ Shipping Co store destroyed by fire in 1933.

Historical Background: When the Foxton Harbour Board was re-established in 1908 (there had been an earlier one from 1877 to 1886) its responsibilities were limited to ensuring the port and river were kept navigable. Its income came principally from land lease rent, mostly from Foxton Beach sections. In 1908, it set about getting ownership of the wharf. A Royal Commission in 1916 replaced the original Railways price of £23,000 with one of £5,000 and the purchase was completed. But it was still necessary for the Board to negotiate crossing points with the railways so that vehicles could get onto the wharf!

Cargoes through the port varied from time to time. Timber dominated outward cargoes in the early years and the major inward one was coal from the West Coast for the dairy factories and gasworks of the district. General cargo from Wellington and Lyttleton made up most of the rest of the imports. In later years cement was added to the cargo from the West Coast. The outward cargo varied with the development of the hinterland. At first timber was dominant and then flax fibre. A set of cattleyards were located at the southern end of the wharf and shipments went from here to Wellington and Christchurch. Often the town was "stirred up" when one of the beasts escaped and did a tour of the town.

Photograph: This photo, taken c1910, shows a yacht sailing past the Manawatu Rowing and Boating Club facilities. On the horizon can be seen the roof of the Foxton family Hotel.

Historical Background: The river was used as a recreational resource by both the Maori and Pakeha. Fishing especially for whitebait and flounder, provided both food and income. Swimming too was a favourite pastime but unfortunately drownings were far too common. Many of the launches used to tow flax punts doubled as excursion boats. Picnic trips to Paiaka, Moutoa and Manawatu Heads were favourites with the locals.

The Manawatu Herald of 1879 has the first reports of the existence of an active rowing club. In 1898 the Club decided to build the facilities in the photograph to store the craft available for the use of members. Swimming races were also included in some of the Club's regattas and in 1905 the area in this photograph was suggested as a site for baths. This site was also among those considered in the 1920s but the present day location was selected.

The peak of Foxton rowing was provided in the 1880s by the four of A Howe, J Symons, J and W Collins using the famous "Dolly Varden" shell. As a result of winning all the regattas in the lower North Island they were recognised as the best in the country. The Manawatu River was often vaunted as a site for major sports events (e.g. World single sculls races), especially in the Whirokino area where the Long Reach seemed to provide ideal conditions. No such events came to pass but today speed boats use part of this stretch of the river for their racing.

Photograph: Foxton in 1868, thirteen years after if founding. On the left are the buildings of Thomas U Cook's trading and hotel business. Right front is the home of pioneer settler Amos Burr. In the left background is the Presbyterian Church, a project of Rev James Duncan, built in 1867. The tide is out and the bed of the Manawatu River is exposed left front.

Historical background: During the 1840s and 50s, several Europeans settled on this site which was known as Te Awahou, On JT Stewart's first map of te Awahou (1857) are listed Duncan, T and F Cook, Searancke ad A Gray. Liivng nearby were Capt. Robinson and A Burr. Ihakara Tukumaru sold the Te Awahou block (37,000 acres) to Government Surveyor T S Stewart in 1859. It was not until 1866 that the settlement became known as Foxton. The Government had delayed development until then because protracted negotiations over the buying of other blocks in the Manawatu e.g. Ahuaturanga (250,000 acres) in which Palmerston North is located. Their purchase led to the development of Foxton as the "Gateway to the Manawatu".

By 1866 a small village had developed at Te Awahou with facilities such as a school, shop, hotels, Court House and Cook's wharf. In 1859 the "Wagga Wagga" had become the first steamship to sail up the Manawatu River.

The amount of bare sand in the settlement led one visiting journalist from Wellington writing, in the 1870s, "There is one natural product for which Foxton stands unrivalled, It has an illimitable wealth of, and would be no misnomer to call it Sandopolis"! Sand drifts across roads continued to be a problem well into the 1920s.

The site from which this photograph later became the location of the town morgue and dog pound. Across the middle of the central sand patch can be seen a line of scrub which marks the Awahou Stream. During the early years of the settlement this was not bridged in Main Street and traffic had to detour to cross it nearer the river.

Google's map of Foxton - 2010: