The History of Hawera

Hawera Star, Volume L, 10 April 1930, Page 6 (Supplement)

The History of Hawera

For the greater part of the his= torical record of Hawera and dis= trict presented in these pages we have drawn on the news of the day, as preserved in the files of “The Hawera Star” over a period of fifty years. Another source of inform= ation has been the booklet, “Story of Hawera,” by “W.A.Q.” publish= ed at the time of the Hawera Indus= trial Exhibition in 1904. Our own account of the successive steps by which Hawera progressed from a clearing to a town has been sup= plemented by the narratives of some of the pioneers who are still with us; the stories of these resid= ents will be found to throw a more personal light upon the history of the early days, and especially on

that period before “The Hawera Star” emerged as the mouthpiece of South Taranaki. We are thus enabled to set before our readers to=day a fairly complete chrono= logical account of the events w hich led to the transformation of our district from the era of savage isolation to the establishment of industry and constituted aufhor= itv.

Though many of the stalwarts who assisted in the conversion of the wilds have, “borne on the breath that men call death,” pass= ed away from the scene of their labours, yet some remain among us who have witnessed the chang= mg scenes of over half a century,

and to them we are deeply indebt= ed for their contributions to these annals. There are probably many who played a worthy part in the settling of this district whose names do not appear in this re= cord; in a compilation of this kind such omissions are inevitable for many reasons, but we hope that any who have been overlooked, or their descendants, will appreciate the fact that, in honouring those pioneers named in these columns, we are at the same time honour* ing the memory of all who blazed the trail which was destined to become the forerunner of the smooth and pleasant highway now travelled bv those who live in the Hawera of to=day.