May 2018 Project Martha – Historical & Archaeological Background 53 Waihi Township Following the discovery of payable gold at Waihi in the late 1870s the area attracted a steady influx of prospectors who settled around their various mining claims. Early miners’ camps often consisted of tents or rudimentary huts, constructed from wood and iron with an exterior chimney (Figure 36 to Figure 38). Supplies to small mining communities such as Waihi were limited and access routes often proved unreliable. The landscape comprised difficult, mainly unformed terrain, and McAra notes: ‘Life in the Waihi district was at this time very primitive, access being mostly by bridle paths or clay roads which often followed the old Maori tracks. Supplies brought in by boat were obtained from Paeroa, Bowentown and Katikati, carried by drays if there were roads, or otherwise by packhorses.183 By 1881 government surveying of the Waihi area had commenced and the annual report of the Surveyor-General noted: ‘A considerable area (457 acres) has been laid out in town sections, numbering 1,022, at a cost of 13s. per section. This includes part of Tauranga, part of Ngaruawahia, part of Cambridge, Waihi Gold Field Town, Te Aroha Government and Gold Field Towns.’184 The location selected for town surveying at Waihi was not regarded favourably by all miners, and the Thames Advertiser wrote: ‘The site selected for the Government township here is pretty generally condemned because of its broken undulating character, and the miners, business men, and others are pegging off sections on a site situated at the junction of the Waihi company’s tramway and the County road, which is admirably adapted for building purposes.’185 In July 1881 the first site marked off in the township of Waihi was pegged out by a Mr Hosie, who proposed to erect a hotel on the land.186 Huts were said to be ‘going up in all directions’ and timber resources became scarce ‘in consequence of the absence of the Maoris [into the King Country], who were diligent in cutting timber and preparing the same for use.’187 A general store and baker’s oven were also under construction by a Mr Alexander Unthank and in October 1881 the Bay of Plenty Times reported: ‘Nearly all the sites in the newly surveyed township [of Waihi] have been leased, and several licenses have been granted to enterprising capitalists, who have undertaken to erect suitable hosteleries, for the accommodation of visitors. Plans and specifications are already out for an imposing structure to be called the Waihi Hotel, and it is rumoured that Mr C. Curtis, of Thames celebrity, contemplates erecting a palatial edifice, which, for size and comfort, will eclipse everything of the kind as yet seen up in the Northern Island. At the present time there is no getting a meal, let alone a bed, nearer than Owharoa, which is six miles distant from the 183 McAra 1988, p.46. 184 AJHR 1881 C-04, p.4. 185 Thames Advertiser, 3 October 1881, p.3. 186 Thames Advertiser, 30 July 1881, p.3. 187 Thames Advertiser, 5 October 1881, p.3.
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