Faulkner House

Faulkner House, previously located at 23 Beach Road, Tauranga, was built by John Lees Faulkner. An Englishman, born in 1811, he became a ship’s carpenter which brought him out to the Bay of Islands during the 1830s. Here he built canoes and ships, including one for himself with which he commenced trading.

Around 1840, Faulkner and his Maori wife, Ruawahine, moved to Tauranga where they established a successful trading post and commenced shipbuilding, establishing a coastal shipping service between Tauranga and Auckland.

Initially they lived in a Raupo hut but in 1844 built a kauri house on the waterfront near Otumoetai Pa, which he called “Okorore”.

For a while, Okorore was used as a semi-official Post Office.

Just prior to the the Battle of Gate Pa, the entire Faulkner family was directed by the military authorities to leave their home for the safety of the Monmouth Redoubt. While away, Maoris from outside the Tauranga District broke into and burgled the house but the Otumoetai Maoris ‘made them return the stolen goods and Te Rauhuhu, a local Chief, had a note placed upon the verandah of the Faulkner home warning off any person from entering again.

Later, some British soldiers ransacked the property and set fire to a bundle of clothing in the loft but it failed to burn and the soldiers were later court-martialled for their conduct. 

After his first wife died in 1856, John Lees Faulkner married Elizabeth Humphries. The only child of this second marriage was John Daniel Faulkner who founded Faulkner’s Mount-Tauranga Ferry Services. John Lees Faulkner died in 1882.   

His house was moved late in 1986 to its present location at the Historic Village where it was restored over a number of years. A great grandson, Eric Faulkner (a former Mayor of Tauranga) opened the restored house on 20 October 1991.