Ohinemuri Regional History Journal 36, September 1992
By Frederick George Clarence Pratt
Have you ever gazed upon a peaceful homestead with old Black Hill standing in the view? Or seen the homestead cattle grazing by the river?
On the hillside gallops a wild horse or two. In the evening seen the smoke rise from the chimney
Telling that day is done and soon it's time for tea?
Heard roosters' crow ringing through the farmland?
Well, that's Waimata country and home sweet home to me.
Have you ever seen an oat field in the dawn time?
When the dawn winds ripple through the golden grain?
Or wandered round the oat fields in the dawn time
And smelt its earthly sweetness after rain?
Have you ever seen a reaper and binder working?
On a wonderful and beautiful summer's day.
Or seen race horses galloping round the race course
Fifteen years after it closed down in 1900?
Well I have.
I've seen children playing buttons and marbles
Which was my favourite game when I was at school
I've seen lots of things I shall not forget
When I was young at Waimata School.
Well, dear folks I hope this brings backold memories
Of Waimata country and the wide New Zealand and Woodlands Road
Congratulations to the early pioneers long since gone
Bless those who made this beautiful land
And the good old Waimata School.
They were pioneer families that crossed the Waimata Plains in 1895 paving the way by building a tram line to the timber valley far beyond, known today as Woodlands Road. They crossed the Waimata Creek in nine places, built nine bridges opening up new homesteads. Then came the rumbling of the gear, bullock bells, the axes, cross cut saws.
The virgin bush came crashing down to the voices of men who toiled on. Then came the building of the saw mill which was situated on the comer of Ford Road and Old Tauranga Roads, cutting much needed timber for shops and residences in Waihi.
When I was 5 or 6 years old, I remember the remains of the old mill, also Mr Robert's grocery shop by the cemetery. When I was about 14, I went up the Woodlands Road with my father and on the way back I noticed a lot of old iron and grape vines. I said to my father that someone must have lived there at some time and he said that there was a blacksmith's shop there where they did all the repairs to bogy waggons and bullock gear. They shod horses too. He told me that the blacksmith was Dick Liddle and this site was between the twin bridges. He also told me that the chap that drove the last load of kauri logs from Woodlands Road bush to the mill at the corner of Ford Road and Old Tauranga Road was Alex Prole. He told me that he helped to dismantle the tramline and the nine bridges.
In the early days my father played a big part in the Waimata School, first by giving the land, then he was the first to look after the school grounds, emptying toilets and so on. Everything was in the can in those days and had to be taken away and buried.
My mother was the first to sweep and clean the school. One day I went home from school and told my father that the water in the tank was only a trickle and that it did not taste too good. He said he would see to it and I went with him. He took the tank down and it had about six inches of sludge in the bottom and we counted twenty three sparrow in different stages of decay. There were thousands of sparrows at the Borough farm and they would fly over to school for a change of diet - bread scraps. They hopped around in the mud and they flew up on the roof with their dirty feet. Sometimes the roof was white with bird lime - but when the rain came the bird dirt was washed off into the tank and that is why we old-timers are so fit today! The sparrows at the Borough farm were always nice and fat so we had lots of sparrow pies.
I remember seeing timber being carted to the school site for the school building. I can claim to have helped build the Waimata School because one day a man on the scaffolding asked me to pass up some pieces of nogging timber to him.
I remember seeing the reaper and binder working at the Borough farm in the fields of golden grain, as it moved along, the sheaves of oats would drop out, men would follow behind picking up the sheaves, piling them into small stacks called stocks and leaving them in the warm sun to dry out. Then would come the wagons and men with long handled sheaving forks - seven or eight feet long, toss the sheaves to the men on the wagons which when fully loaded would be pulled to the big two-storeyed barn. The oats were then forked into the loft where the big chaff cutter was. I remember being in the loft watching men feed the big chaff cutter and it was exciting to hear and see the chaff rumbling down the long tin chute to the holding bins below. Those bins were lined with tin inside and out against rats and mice. The big chaff cutters were powered by two horses going round and round in a circle, beautiful to watch. I believe the man in charge of the horses was Mr Mudgway, a one armed man.
I also remember the men tarring the toilet cans, washing them and splashing about half a pint of Jeyes Fluid in each can and clamping the lid on. They loaded the cans on the three deck high wagons ready to leave to collect another load of night soil as it was called in those days. There were ladders up the sides of the wagons and the men wore a harness to help them to carry the cans - empty or full, to load or unload the wagon up to the top decks. They emptied the contents on to the ground at the farm and when they had covered four or five acres, they ploughed the land and it was well fertilized for crops such as oats. This was used as food for the many working horses.
I worked for Ted Harris for three years, digging drains and ploughing quite a lot of land. One day while we were having lunch, Mr Henry came over on a black pony seeking donations for the first Waimata Hall. Mr Harris wrote out a cheque and I told him to add my week's wage of £1. 5. 0 ($2.50). Mr Harris told me that the old Waimata Hall was the first building on the Waihi Plains to have concrete blocks. They put kerosene tins in the ground and filled them with cement.
Ted Harris, Clarry Pratt and Clarry Moore had a cattle drive. They started at Ted Harris's farm on Thursday 22 April 1925 with eight head of cull cows, picking up about the same number at Tom Hick's place, Clarry Moore had a few more to add to the small mob and we gathered others as we went on our way. We reached the Waihi Sale Yards with about fifty six head of mixed cattle. As we went along Mr Harris told us that Fred Rapson was going to light his biggest bush fire about 3 30 that afternoon so we awaited eagerly, watching the brown patch of fallen bush plainly to be seen from the Waihi Sale Yards. Sure enough, at the right time we saw smoke start to rise and in a few minutes large volumes of smoke filled the sky. That night the hill fire looked like a lighted city in the district.
One of Len Will's daughter's sons told me that when Len died they found an old scrap book tossed out to be burned so he grabbed it and took it home. Later on when he was looking through it he was interested to see a cutting from the old "Weekly News" with a photo of Len and Mr Wills standing by the old blacksmith's shop and on the board above their heads you could see in the photo "S H Wills Blacksmith Old Tauranga Road".
Now it is just a dairy paddock. Len and I tried our hands at making horse shoes and spears to catch fresh water crayfish which we cooked. I would be about 7 or 8 years old. This blacksmith shop was just over the little bridge coming from the golf links now, on the right hand side, standing proudly by the Wills' family home - Mr and Mrs Wills, Len, Lily, Eileen, Elsie all long since gone, but not forgotten.