31/08/2025
Memories of times gone by:
THE MAIOHA COTTAGE
The graceful old two-storey cottage now standing in the Pioneer Village was once the pride of Waimate North. Its age is uncertain, but family recollections and the dates of newspapers found during its restoration make it over 100 years oldâprobably built in 1875.
Originally, cooking was done on an open fire, but later a chimney and hearth were made from bricks dug from local clay. Eventually, a Dover stove was installed. The cottage is typical of a certain type of pioneer house of the period and certainly has a real pioneering history.
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MEMORIES OF OUR OLD COTTAGE By Mrs Ida Stewart
My sister, brother and I were delighted to learn that the old cottage in Waimate Northâwhere we were born and brought upâmight one day be restored and become part of a pioneer village museum in Kaikohe.
Once the pride of Waimate North, it was built by our grandparents, Hoani and Makere Maioha, and named Maunganui. We are three of the generations of children born there.
We were very close to the schoolâjust across the creek and a paddock. I remember how sad we were one night watching our old school burn to the ground. When I first attended, Mr. May was the headmaster. He was a gifted manâteacher, dentist, doctor, and gardener. He bred Angora rabbits and grew beautiful begonias in containers on his verandah.
During the Depression, swagmen (or âswaggersâ) would visit. One woman swagger walked most of the way from Napier after the great earthquake. She stayed a night with us before heading to Kerikeri for a housekeeping job. She gifted our mother half a yellow tree tomato (tamarillo). My father sowed its seedsâbelieved to be the first tamarillos grown in Waimate North.
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Moving the Cottage
The roof was removed from Maioha Cottage in preparation for its relocation from Waimate North to the Kaikohe Pioneer Village.
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Life in the Cottage
Though times were hard during the Depression, we had the best foodâno supermarket bags back then. Our mother was a wonderful cook, making meals from home-grown produce. MÄori families had large plantations of potatoes, kĆ«mara, maize, pumpkins, and marrows. We had plenty of eggs from hens, ducks, and geese. One of our jobs was finding duck eggs in the creek. Another was shelling maize with a corn sheller. The corn crib was always full.
An orange tree still stands behind the cottageâover 100 years old and still fruiting. We had apple trees (Red Astrachan, Northern Spy), figs, peaches, plums, and grapes that climbed through the trees. Weâd climb a ladder to pick them and sell them by the kerosene tinful.
Our father had a smokehouse where he cured bacon and ham, which were then hung from the rafters in the cottage.