Gee : Photographs of road construction at Aongatete

Date: 1925

From: Gee : Photographs of road construction at Aongatete

Reference: 1/2-031053-F

Description: Construction work underway at Mount Maunganui wharves, photographed in 1925 by an unidentified photographer. Shows a wharf locomotive decorated with flags, and a row of (coal?) hoppers. A sign on the right reads: "Ruston". Library client states that this is not Mount Maunganui Wharf which was a small wharf in 1925 and used primarily by the Public Works Department. The wharf and surrounding terrain were quite low-lying, and a cutting as per this photograph would have been below sea level. It is most likely to be the ceremony of turning the first sod on the Te Puna section of the East Coast Line. The locomotive is one of the ex-War Department Motor Rail machines imported by Armstrong and Whitworth who had the contract for this section of the East Coast line. Armstrong and Whitworth numbers are visible on two of the Wagons. One of the firm's Ruston Steam Navvys (steam shovel) can be seen in the background. All of this, pluss the flags, bunting, the crowd and the cutting match those at the turning of the first sod ceremony by Gordon Coats at Te Puna in November 1924. A photograph of Coats at the controls of the Ruston Steam Navvy at this event was published in the New Zealand Railways Magazine, Vol 3. Issue 1 (May 1928). Information recieved February 2011. Inscriptions: Mount recto - beneath image - Trucking spoil in Rly cutting, 1925 Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s). Physical Description: Film negative

Date: 1928

From: Gee : Photographs of road construction at Aongatete

Reference: 1/4-021350-F

Description: Photograph of men working to construct a road at Aongatete, using a tractor and picks, taken in 1928 by an unidentified photographer. Quantity: 1 b&w copy negative(s). Physical Description: Film negative