Ōhinewai history

Ōhinewai · Waikato · history to 2025

River, Wetland,
Rail and Road

An illustrated history of Ōhinewai, from the landscape beneath the peat to the river, railway, farms, State Highway 1 and community life through 2025.

“Turn off and the old road is still there, running past the school and hall, former business sites, houses, sheds and farms.”

Read the standard A5 editionRead the mobile edition

Standard A5 PDF · 65 pages   /   Mobile reading PDF · 193 pages

Aerial photograph of Ōhinewai and the Waikato River, 22 January 1942, frame C.152.89, photograph No. 12422.
Ōhinewai and the Waikato River, 22 January 1942, frame C.152.89, No. 12422. Project-held original aerial.

The book

A history of Ōhinewai through 2025

The book follows Ōhinewai from its deep landscape and Māori history through the Waikato River, the arrival of the railway, farms and settlement, the main highway, the 2003 bypass and life in the district after through traffic moved away. It uses named people, places and incidents alongside source notes and a bibliography.

Two PDF editions are available. The standard edition is set for A5 reading and printing. The mobile reading edition uses larger type and a linked contents page for phone screens.

Contents

Fifteen chapters

  1. 01Under the peat
  2. 02Te Wai o Hine
  3. 03The river world
  4. 04Eight Kilometres from Rangiriri
  5. 0513 August 1877
  6. 06Farms, Flax and a School
  7. 07War, Work and Community
  8. 08Roads Across Wet Ground
  9. 09The Post-War Village
  10. 10State Highway 1 as Main Street
  11. 11The Mine That Never Was
  12. 12The Bypass
  13. 13Community After Traffic
  14. 14A New Town Proposed
  15. 15Ōhinewai in 2025

Open the full contents and source notes in the book

Book images

Photographs, archival views and a reconstruction

Browse seven images from the book and 15 archive photographs, including a 1940 Ōhinewai aerial, Whites Aviation views, 1964 railway scenes and 1917 Pukemiro mine images.

Aerial photograph of Ōhinewai and the Waikato River, 22 January 1942, frame C.152.89, photograph No. 12422.Ōhinewai and the Waikato River, 22 January 1942Modern aerial view of Ōhinewai, with the Waikato River at left, the former State Highway 1 corridor through the centre, and the Waikato Expressway at right.Modern aerial view of ŌhinewaiHistoric lithograph showing the Waikato river landscape at Tu Kaitote and Taupiri, published in 1847; it is regional context and is not a view of Ōhinewai.George French Angas’s Waikato river-landscape viewHistorical plan of attack on the Māori stronghold at Rangiriri on 20 November 1863.Plan of attack at Rangiriri, 20 November 1863AI-colourised interpretation of a Whites Aviation aerial photograph of Ōhinewai and Lake Rotongaro, 29 October 1954.1954 Whites Aviation aerial, colourisedAerial photograph of Ōhinewai on 22 October 1940, showing the Waikato River, Great South Road and railway station.Ōhinewai aerial with the railway, 1940

View the book and archive galleries

Sources and acknowledgements

The book includes source notes and a bibliography. Image captions identify their subjects and sources; the accompanying page gives the available credits and publication notes for each image.

Read the sources and credits