Waimapū Flour Mill, Tauranga, 1892-1907 (Place)

SummaryThe Waimapū Flour Mill was a water-powered flour mill on the Waimapū River, Tauranga.

October 1889: Māori met Arthur Blundell and John Lundon to discuss a river mill. Blundell, formerly manager of the Māori flour mill at Wairoa, estimated cost at £1,500. Terms: £1,000 raised locally; £500 by district subscription.

Site: about three miles up the Waimapū River. Boat access. Sharp bend. Small rapids. Sufficient fall for machinery. Crown Lands Board licence: 25 shillings per year. 1890: Tauranga County Council called tenders for a road to the mill. Māori supplied construction timber, cutting and delivering tōtara and rimu. Machinery arrived by cutter Dream, 1892. Production began February 1893.

The mill stood on a stone breastwork above the river. Dam, wooden flume, turbine. Wheat came by boat, was lifted into bins, dried if needed, then ground for Māori and settler customers.

Regular production appears to have ended before 1905. Wheat-growing declined after the Yatton Estate break-up. Dairying expanded. Stokes places the mill in Tauranga’s final phase of flour milling: humid climate, unreliable wheat, grain displaced by dairying.

Flood damage in 1907 undermined the site. Later accounts say the building became a cowshed. Millstones remained in the riverbed.SourcesVertical File on regional water powered millsGarry Law, Archaeology of the Bay of Plenty, Department of Conservation. Notes flour mill sites on the Wairoa and Waimapu rivers near Tauranga, citing Bellamy.A.A. Official Bulletin, “Blundell’s Mill: Waimapu River”, August 1959.Evelyn Stokes, A History of Tauranga County, Dunmore Press, 1980.Oropi - the 100 years following confiscation of the land (page 34)

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Kaitiakitanga StatementWe ask that, in addition to normal copyright and privacy considerations, users of our heritage resources uphold the mana and dignity of the people, communities and places depicted within.CopyrightTe Ao Mārama - Tauranga City LibrariesLicenseCC BY 4.0AcknowledgementTe Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, Waimapū Flour Mill, Tauranga, 1892-1907 (Place)

Known Date/s

Date Built1892

Relates To

Start here:Water powered mills in the Bay of PlentyPeopleBlundell, Arthur, 1840-1923 (Person)

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Waimapū Flour Mill, Tauranga, 1892-1907 (Place)