Memory boxes
Coromandel stone appears in some of New Zealand’s most notable buildings.
Coromandel granite was proving difficult to access. Once it was possible to ship the cut stone to Auckland via scow, the ‘‘valuable trade’’ anticipated by the paper could be realised (Thames Star, June 24, 1905, p.4).
A number of companies ran the Moehau quarries, among them NZ Granite Quarries Ltd, the Frank Harris Company (which was placed in liquidation in June 1914) and the Moehau Granite Company.
The NZ Coromandel Granite Company was established in 1918, at which time the Paritu Bay wharf was built. Five years later, Frank Harris took over the property from the company and reinstated the quarrying equipment at Paritu.
Coromandel granite was used to build Parliament Buildings in Wellington, the Auckland Chief Post Office and the Auckland War Memorial Museum. It can also be seen in the Edward VII Coronation Monument and the Soldiers’ Memorial, both in Coromandel. Christchurch’s High Street Post Office, which opened in June 1932 and mercifully survived the Canterbury earthquakes, also features Coromandel granite, in part because building materials for government projects had to be locally sourced at the time.
Rubble stone from the quarry also appears to have been used for local road metal. Quarry operations continued until the 1960s, by which time the stone was being trucked out and the wharf was therefore redundant. Quarrying recommenced to provide stone for the refurbishment of Parliament Buildings in the early 1990s.
The wharf is at the southern end of Paritu Bay and is associated with the nearby former granite workers’ hut that was built in the early 1920s and is known as Ye Old Stone Jug. Both the hut and the 1918 wharf are also related to another wharf further south, which was built in 1950 to service the granite quarry. All three heritage items have been proposed for scheduling in Thames-Coromandel’s new district plan.
Locals use the wharf as a fishing platform, although I can’t attest to its success rate.
Readers can plan their trip to see the granite wharfs and other northern Coromandel Peninsula heritage features on thecoromandel.com.