Wairoa Flour Mill, Tauranga, c.1850-1893 (Place)

SummaryAlso known as the Wairoa Māori Flour Mill.

A water-powered flour mill on the lower Wairoa River, Tauranga, near Pukekonui / Pōterīwhi / Papawhare. Built by the 1850s. Māori-owned and operated. Associated with Ngāti Kāhu, Ngāti Rangi, and the hapū of Matehaere. In 1864 the mill stood opposite a pā on the Wairoa, within a landscape of wheat, potato, pumpkin and melon cultivations. After the colonial invasion, Māori on the Wairoa continued to grind wheat grown locally, even after the raupatu/confiscations.

A dispute over ownership was heard in 1872. By the late 1880s Arthur Blundell and John Lundon were involved with the owners. The Wairoa mill declined, and in 1893 its grindstones were taken to Blundell’s new Waimapū Flour Mill. Later accounts suggest the old building stood idle and may have been used temporarily as a school.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.Bowden, Beth "SO 424 of 1865” in the Tauranga Historical Society Blog (25 October 2019)

Wairoa River photographed by F G Radcliffe c 1918.
Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries Photo 03-241

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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, Wairoa Flour Mill, Tauranga, c.1850-1893 (Place)

Known Date/s

Date Built1850-1859Date Demolished1893

Relates To

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

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Wairoa Flour Mill, Tauranga, c.1850-1893 (Place)