Gordonton was all ready for invasion during World War II, thanks to our very own Home Guard. In memory of Lex Riddell, who passed away last week, we republish his article from the Auckland – Waikato Historical Journal of 1980. Hard and happy days with ‘Dad’s army’ A rural company of the Home Guard
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“A splendid crop of turnips grown on peat land at Mr A W Chapman’s farm on Piako Rd, Gordonton.” This splendid photograph was taken by F G Watson, and featured in the New Zealand Herald on April 12 1927 under the heading Productivity of the Peat Lands of the Waikato. Thanks to Kate Monahan Riddell
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The name of a First World War veteran on Gordonton’s cenotaph is a complete mystery. “Sometimes I wondered, was it a mistake that they put this man’s name here,” Gordonton’s Cilla Henry told Waikato Times reporter Elton Smallman recently. Paritawa Tewai is one of two Maori names etched on the memorial – the other belongs
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They were big and robust, but slow, with limited manoeuvrability. Nevertheless, they revolutionised agriculture. Perry Rice muses about traction engines. Traction engines were a part of everyday life for many folk, town and country, for less than a hundred years. Yet, like steam railways, there is a great fascination and nostalgia for them. They were
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Some good person wrote down the exact date on an old photo – which rather makes Perry Rice’s day. This is just the sort of photograph a specialist photograph librarian wants to see. It’s from an album which was donated to us recently though we were given copies of the photos some years ago. As
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Over past months Number 8 Network has been running Bill Waring’s memories of the early days of Waikato’s meat industry. Here is his penultimate offering, in which he shows why he was such an innovator. BECAUSE OF THE keen competition, customers fared well with their meat purchasing. However meat and its named cuts retained a
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