Laura Magee

Laura Frances Linda Magee, née Bennett, recalls growing up at Mount Maunganui from her birth in 1916. Her parents initially lived in a cottage beside Mount Drury, near Pacific Avenue. Her father, Francis Percival Bennett, was an English-born Public Works Department patternmaker who later undertook occasional building work and served as chairman of the Mount Maunganui Town Board. Her mother, Effie, kept several cows, supplying milk locally. The cows grazed around Mount Drury and along the scrub-covered ridge later known as Oceanview Road, their bells helping the family locate them.

Around 1920-1921, the Bennetts moved to a property extending between Maunganui Road and Victoria Road near Pacific Avenue. Effie operated a boarding house, accommodating permanent boarders and providing meals for Public Works employees living in nearby departmental quarters. As Public Works activity declined, holidaymakers became the principal customers, often returning annually between Christmas and Easter. Laura recalls accommodation for approximately 20-25 people. The larger boarding-house operation apparently continued until around the end of the Second World War.

Laura describes attending Mount Maunganui School before completing Standard Six and attending secondary school in Tauranga. The journey involved walking to the wharf, crossing aboard Faulkner’s ferries, and walking to school. After leaving school, she helped at home with the boarding house. The couple also discuss early shops and their changing locations, including Kelly’s store, Barney’s store beside Arcadia Hall, butcheries and garages. Their recollections trace the movement of commercial activity towards Maunganui Road, although some proprietors’ names and the sequence of premises remain uncertain.

Thomas Joseph Magee, born in 1912, describes his West Coast upbringing and early employment in butchery. He came to Mount Maunganui around 1932, worked for Tommy Paterson and subsequently acquired the business. He bought livestock at sales, undertook his own slaughtering and delivered meat by van. After approximately ten years in the original premises, he built his own shop. Laura and Tom give their marriage date as 24 October 1938, at the local Presbyterian church.

After approximately 20 years in butchery, Tom sold the business and worked in truck driving and carpentry before entering sawmilling around 1955. He describes purchasing an existing mill with Mick Smith and later continuing as sole proprietor. The mill initially processed tawa, subsequently tawa and pine, and later a wider range of timber. He places the end of his sawmilling career around 1975.