Puketapu in the Past

Our Inquiry this term is 'Puketapu in the Past'.

N.B.  The information below came from some notes Roger Alexander made nearly 10 years ago titled
'A Brief History of Puketapu.'  Thank you Roger!

Puketapu was the gateway to the inland Patea, Puketitiri and Patoka areas.  Puketapu played a very important part in the development of the back country of Hawke’s Bay and was settled very early.  It was also the head quarters for the Armed Constabulary during the Maori Wars.  Puketapu takes its name from a small hill about a mile downstream from the bridge which was once the scene of a bloody massacre and later used as a buriel site – Puke = hill and Tapu = sacred – Puketapu = sacred hill!

Look at these photos... 

 The original school building.  The school was started in 1864 by a Mr Hardies.  No records of the school were kept until 1886 when a Mrs Oliver took over and she remained sole teacher of the school for 12 years.  The school roll was 30  in 1890. The school was also used for public meetings, dances and church services.  1924 was eventful – in March flash storms flooded the Tutaekuri and Ngaruroro rivers and destroyed several homes in Puketapu and on April 30, at 5 o-clock in the morning, the school was burned down.  

 The Puketapu Village consisted of a two storey hotel, a two storey general store, a blacksmith shop, a saddlery, a flax mill and a wool scour which was in the Apley Stream a mile up Dartmoor Road.  The school house is to the far right of the photo.

 The Puketapu Hotel became the breakfast stop for coaches and wagons, and it was here that salt was washed from the under carriages following the many tidal crossings from Napier.  Fresh horses were often hitched ready for the long drag up the Tutaekuri riverbed with many crossings, then up River Road to Otamauri,then on to Kuripapanga.