Hynds Road in Tauranga was named after the Hynds family who arrived in New Zealand from Northern Ireland in May 1900 on board the ‘Rakaia’. The street crosses the southern suburbs of both Greerton | Pākōrau and Gate Pā | Pukehinahina. Story researched, written and published by Debbie McCauley.
Hynds Road runs south to north parallel with Cameron Road, the main road in Tauranga. New Zealand Post consider half the occupants to be located in the suburb of Greerton | Pākōrau, and the other half to be located in the suburb of Gate Pā | Pukehinahina.
The land in this area was part of the raupatu (confiscation) following The New Zealand Wars in Tauranga Moana.
On 16 October 1886 the Bay of Plenty Times reported that, “the survey party under Mr Goldsmith are making good progress cutting the lines and pegging the allotments at Greerton belonging to Government, and they are shortly to be put up for sale at a greatly reduced price.”
According to Dame Evelyn Stokes, “A military village of 125 one acre lots, the Township of Greerton, was surveyed near Gate Pā. Military settlers were allowed a choice of one acre there or a quarter acre in Te Papa” but “very few settlers took up town sections in Greerton” (p. 108).
Violet MacMillan noted that: “Round Hynds Road (although it was not known by that name then) a number of old regular troops owned small allotments. Also living here was the Eyre family, Mr. Eyre having been a marine sergeant on the ‘Rosario’ and having settled in Greerton on retirement. Mrs Eyre was a grand cook, and did the baking for Miss Lucy Mansell” (p. 4).
Robert Hynds (1861-1929), along with his third wife Jennie Hynds (née Smythe) (1867-1952), arrived at Wellington in New Zealand from Northern Ireland in 1900 on board the ‘Rakaia’. The ‘Rakaia’ had departed from London in England on 28 March 1900. The Hynds family soon arrived in Tauranga, and eventually owned a 12-acre fruit orchard in Greerton | Pākōrau. Hynds Road is named for the family.
On 7 November 1906, Hynds Road was mentioned in the report of the ‘Separate Rate Committee’ on the roads in the Waimapu riding, which was presented by George Thomas Davoren (1843-1929);
“Eyre’s and Hynds’ Road, Greerton. – Two sections that required the gorse to be grubbed. Messrs Spooner and Kirk gave notice that a man would be sent to do the work; have arranged a man to commence on Monday if not done. This road from Eyre’s corner to Hynds’ is all grass and rat-tail. I think the best way of doing it is to plough it right across, harrow it well and clean up the water-tables by hand. Where the road deviates through the Council sections to the main road the gorse requires to be cut back three feet; grubbed would be better; it is now out to the wheel track.” (Bay of Plenty Times, p. 4).
Another Bay of Plenty Times article commends Robert Hynds on winning prizes for his apples, pears, peaches and lemons at the Rotorua Show. The article further describes how he had recently added five acres to his orchard which was already planted in young trees, and also mentions plans to establish a canning factory (18 March 1910, p. 2).
Robert helped to bring electrical power to Greerton in 1915. Later, the family operated a slaughter-house on Hynds Road, and meat was delivered locally using a horse and cart. Robert died at Gate Pā at the age of 69, on 9 June 1929. He was buried in the Tauranga Presbyterian Cemetery.
After Robert’s death, his son George Douglas Hynds (1908-1987), worked the family farm, purchasing an adjoining property owned by Robert Tuthill in 1934 and converting the orchard to dairying. His mother, Jennie, died at Gate Pā at the age of 85, on 14 October 1952. She was buried in the Tauranga Presbyterian Cemetery.
In 2012, long-time Hynds Road resident Judy Fletcher interviewed Joan Catherine Schultz, an early Hynds Road resident (16 January 1923 to 24 January 2013);
In the 1950’s Hynds Road was just a strip of metal. It stopped at what is now the junction of Kent Street and Hynds Road. You couldn’t make that left turn as it was all farmland. There were only two houses on Tuthill Street. One was a farm cottage and the other one had a very large orchard and vegetable garden. The lady there gave her fruit and vegetables away to her neighbours. Tuthill Street stopped at Coopers Road and down where Bongard and the rest of the streets are was all farmland. Cooper’s Road stopped at the bottom of the hill.
In the 1960’s Hynds Road was kerbed and channelled when Paramount, PTY and Beazley’s started to build. That was when Hynds Road was pushed through all the way to Chadwick Road. The old cottage on the corner of Kent Street and Hynds Road was built for a Mrs Wood’s who lived there with her daughter until the late 1970’s.
George Hynds lived where 103 is now. His house was a lovely stucco one which was eventually shifted when they started to build the houses that are there now. 97 and 99 are where his implement sheds were located and, to this day, if you dig down deep enough, you can turn up some very odd things.
Where the Housing Corporation homes were built in the 2000’s used to be the ‘Cullens’. Behind them on Kent Street is where Pip Cullen lived. Next door to the Cullens in Hynds Road was a big area owned by the Council which they sold as sections in the 1980’s. Pip Cullen bought them both. The house on the corner of Hynds Road and Kent Street was shifted there in the late 1980’s from Cameron Road.
In the 1980’s there was a big fight between the Mongrel Mob and the Black Power outside of 89 Hynds Road. The Police paddy wagon was burnt out, but not a shot was fired.
Where Parkview is now there used to be a small Catholic Church which on Sundays was full. The paddocks surrounding the Church were full of horses.
Paramount, PTY and Beazleys were the ones that built the houses in the Hynds Road area. When they started to build the houses in 1963 there were only four houses, which are still standing today.
Where Kent Valley Trucks are today was just a big gully covered in scrub. In the 1980’s it was turned into Kent Valley Garden Centre and when that closed the truck place took over.”
- 98 Hynds Road: Built for a Mrs Lovell.
- 100 Hynds Road: Built for the Wathon’s.
- 102 Hynds Road: Built for the Schultz’s.
- 106 Hynds Road: Build for a Miss Gale.
- 108 Hynds Road: Built for the Hubbard’s. This was the first house down this driveway.
- 118 Hynds Road: Built by Mr Wrathal for him and his wife. He also built the Wathon’s house at number 100.
Hynds Road boasts Liston Park at 64 Hynds Road, which has a playground and a walkway from Hynds Road to Cameron Road, providing access to the Greerton RSA and Greerton Hall. Liston Park is named for Archbishop James Michael Liston (1881-1976).
Four acres and a cottage in Hynds Road were purchased in 1952 for Catholic church worshippers, as it was difficult for them to travel into Tauranga if they didn’t own a car. The house proved too small so a builders’ shed was moved onto the property and refurbished as the St John Fisher Church for Greerton. Catholic bishop James Michael Liston donated a statue of St John Fisher in 1958.
Today, the former St John Fisher Church building is the Greerton Scout Hall at 12 Hynds Road, at the southern end of the road which leads onto the Tauranga Racecourse | Mārawaewae at Greerton | Pākōrau.
In 2002 a shell from the 1864 Battle of Gate Pā | Pukehinahina was unearthed on a building site in Hynds Road. It was an occasion on which most of the neighbourhood sat along the roadside or on their fences drinking cups of tea and chin-wagging. The anticipated explosion, to the disappointment of many locals, never eventuated.
The residents of Hynds Road are respectful of the history of the area. They are aware that their homes were built on land that was at the southern end of the site of the 1864 Battle of Gate Pā | Pukehinahina, and also part of the raupatu (confiscation) that followed.
On 7 April 2005, the surprising discovery of gelignite was made underneath the floorboards of Jim Pender’s house in Hynds Road. He and his family had lived there for 16 years. The gelignite was found as the house was being readied for removal to Katikati.
On 31 March 2007, Judy’s husband, Winton Douglas Fletcher (1944-2007), aka the ‘Mayor of Greerton’ and longtime resident of 97 Hynds Road, passed away at Waipuna Hospice from pancreatic cancer. He was buried in Pyes Pā Cemetery. Helpful to all, and always with some sensible advice or a good yarn to spin, the neighbourhood hasn’t had quite the same sense of community and camaraderie since. RIP Winton.
Sources
- Bay of Plenty Times. (1886, October 16). Mr Goldsmith (p. 2).
- Bay of Plenty Times. (1906, November 7). Waimapu Separate Rate Committee (p. 4).
- Bay of Plenty Times. (1910, March 18). Rotorua Show (p. 2).
- Bay of Plenty Times. (1914, March 20). Hynds-Revell Wedding (p. 5).
- Bay of Plenty Times. (1920, January 30). Hynds-Stewart Wedding (p. 7).
- Bay of Plenty Times. (2002, January 22).
- Bay of Plenty Times. (2015, April 7). Surprising occupant resting underneath the homestead.
- Brooks, Patricia. (2000). By the name of Mary: Tauranga Catholic Church, 1840-2000 (pp. 92-94).
- Death Registration. (reg. 1929/13390). Robert Hynds.
- Death Registration. (reg. 1952/27545). Jeannie Hynds.
- Evening Post. (1900, May 11). Rakaia from London (p. 4).
- Fletcher, Judy (2012). Notes taken during an interview with Joan Catherine Shultz.
- Greerton School Centennial Jubilee. Souvenir History 1876-1976.
- Kean, Fiona. (2022). Personal Communication.
- MacMillan, V. (1976). Notes taken during a visit to Miss V. A. MacMillan, 34 Fraser St, Tauranga, on 16th September, 1976. (V/F Biographies, New Zealand Room, Tauranga City Library).
- Stuff. (2011, June 1). Man seriously injured in Tauranga Brawl.
- Smith, Stephanie (2011, January, personal communication).
- Stokes, Evelyn. (1980). A History of Tauranga County. Palmerston North, New Zealand: Dunmore Press.
- Sweetman, Rory. (1998). Liston, James Michael. In Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.
- Wildhaber, Christine. (2022). Personal Communication.
© Debbie Joy McCauley (2013, updated 2022) | All Rights Reserved | Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Debbie McCauley and https://debbiemccauleyauthor.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Debbie McCauley, Author 
You must be logged in to post a comment.