Mangarakau Area Tramways

INTRODUCTION

Mangarakau was a remote and difficult area to settle, yet significant industries were established here and thrived for a number of years, including farming, flax milling, logging, and coal mining. As it was that only road access to communities even further south, it also boasted a Post and Telegraph office for a while. Things did not really get under way until the area was visited by Mr Prouse with an aim to set up business there. While much of his focus was a little further south at Patarau, both saw and flax milling soon migrated to Mangarakau as well, because the Whanganui Inlet provided safe anchorage for boats where timber and fibre could be loaded. Every wharf in those days was fitted with light rails for use as a tramway as they were generally not suitable for horse and cart loadings let alone traction engines or trucks.

==Mangarakau Sawmills

A number of early sawmills operated in the general area mainly supplying local requirements. The first might have been the Mangamangarakau Mill on the south east corner of the inlet and the north east corner of the Mangarakaua Swamp. However It was not until Prouse and Saunders established a larger mill at Mangarakau that the milling industry really got established. The Mangarakau mill was contracted to supply 2 million Board Feet of timber for the Taitapu Estate Gold mine but only 1.2 million was

Mangarakau Flax Mill

Flax milling was one of the earlier industries to be established here but all as small operations that relied on adequate export prices to enable them to survive. Transport was always the big obstacle with little to no formed roads in the early days and plenty of swamp. A large flax mill was established once a tramway was provided to carry the sawn timber from the sawmill at Patarau, that ran past Mangarakau to Pah Point where product could be loaded onto coastal traders. There is no indication that tramways were used in harvesting the flax, but there was a formal arrangement for shared use of the tramway from Mangarakau to Pah Point, a distance of some 7km, much of it just running on the mud flats. The flaxmill machinery was transferred to Mangarakau in 1913 from Patarau where it had been in use since 1903, having been the first mill there. It was powered by as 12HP Brittania steam engine that had be brought to site from Levin and used local coal.