Old Hotels And Identities

Taupo Times, Volume II, Issue 65, 15 April 1953, Page 5

Old Hotels And Identities

O P E P E

(By

H.

,H.)

Opepe, some nine miles beyond the Terraces Hotel on the Taupo-Napier highway, is our next hotel site, of which little is known today and by few. Opepe is, I would suppose, the most historical little place in the Taupo district, associated as it is with Te Kooti and the alleged massacre, now called an engagement. June 7th, 1869, was the evening of the terrible affaifr when nine oi the fourteen young soldiers were surprised and killed. One of the survivors, Trooper George Crosswell, escaped to Fort Galatea, naked, midwinter as it was, a splendid feat of endurance. The bodies were discovered on June 8th by Thomas Hallett, then of Napier, afterwards a well-known run-holder, and a relative of Mr Hallett of Hatepe. It appeared this niilitary defeat placed Opepe on the then map of New Zeaiand, for the place was hardly known until that day. It is difficult for the visitor to Opepe today, possibly in search of raspberries, to realise that in the quiet deserted spot there existed in the early seventies a small township complete with hotel, shops and racecourse. Now the bush has taken over and no trace remains. The little township was in direct communication with Napier, being much older than thef Terraces Hotel, as the following advertisement, which appeared in the Daily Telegraph (Napier) of December 23rd, 1871 shows:

"After the 1st February, 1872, Cobb and Co.'s Telegraph Line of Royal Mail Coaches will commence running on the Taupo Road leaving Reuker's Fera^y Hotel, Western Spit, every Tuesday and Friday mornings early, returning on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Passengers and parcels to" the following places, Petane, Pohui, Te Haroto, Tarawera, Runanga, Opepe, Taupo. Intending passengers for Taupo will please remember that a part of the road has yet for a while to be performed on horseback. A. Peters, Proprietor." Thus it will be seen that Opepe was on the map. An hotel was nct yet in the township but was in operation in 1874, as will be seen. Were it not for the fact that Opepe is such an historical place I should not give these facts, but being Opepe I feel sure they should be generally known to show what an inteiresting place it was even in the early seventies, when soon after there were said to be as many as six hundred people in and about the township. It is incredible to think that six hundred people once lived in that airea when one passes hurriedly through to Napier in one of the luxury tourist cars of the Hawkes Ray Motor Company. In Wise's Directory of "Every Place in N.Z." no mention whatever is made of Opepe. Here I give the names and residences of persons applying for Publican's Licences in the Taupo District under the Licensing Act 1873, as shown in an official notice sighed by Henry Leslie, Clerk to the Court, Taupo, dated March 10th, 1874:—

"Patrick McCashion, Opepe, situa- 1 tion of the house proposed to be j licensed, Opepe. Robert C. Hastie, Tapuaeharuru. James Hastie, Tapuaeharuru, (house to be licensed, Tokano). Hart & McKinlay, Tarawera." Another notice, also signed by Henry Leslie, Clerk to the Bench, lists applications for licences as above, to be heard at the Court House, Tapuaeharuru, Taupo Licensing District, on Friday the 24th day of April, 1874. It is difficult to realise that races were held in the hamlet within a short distance of the graves ar'ea, bringing literally hundreds to the race course from Tapuaeharuru, Tarawera, Tokaanu and adjacent little townships, when cups of £50 and more were competed for. Messrs Bert Noble and Hemi Pitiroi, then 12 and 13 years old respectively in the early days of 1896 if my inform-

> * ant is eorrect, acted as jockeys riding their fathetrs'' race horses. Prizes were paid out in 250 lbs. bags of flour, or sacks of chaff. Those indeed were the days according to the above jockeys. The centre of the township occupied the place where the hawthorn trees now grow, the outbuildings took up all the road area and a well was sunk for water whilst nearby were shops and business sites all based upon the hotel. There must have been newspaper cqrrespondents in Taupo or nearby even in those early days, for this interesting note appears in the Napier Daily Telegraph of December 30th 1871, dated Opepe, Decembeir 28th, 1871: — "The festivities of Christmas were as usual enlivened by the Annual Races and Sports which were carried out with great spiirit. The card was a lengthy one and necessitated the commencement at the early hour of 4 a.m. In the horse races the splendid fencing of Highflyer in the hurdles and the fine stiride and staying qualities of the Sergeant-major's mare in both the other events were evidently too much for their respeci tive opponents, although the latter ' were as a rule much superior to the last year's entries. The natives nuistered in great force many in fact coming as far as from Tokaanu.

The day's fun was wuund up with the Amateur Theatricals. The pieces played being the "Chops of the Channel" and "Box and Cox," both. of which went off remarkably well. All the posts have been called in and the men placed at road-work." Under date of May 10, 1876, Thomas Balfour Noble, residing at Opepe, gave notice of his intention to ap~ ply for renewal of a Bush Licence for the sale of alcoholic liquors in the Opepe Hotel, occupied by him and rented from Watt Brothers of Napier. A report on the hotel by Sergeant James McE. Delaney, of the A.C. Force, dated May 22nd, 1875, describes it as having one long dining room, two sitting irooms, six bedrooms, one store room, one bar and one kitchen, also water closet and stabling for four horses. Mr Noble is reported as being a person of respectability, bearing an excellent chairacter, who has never held a publican's licence. Other documents oi the Licensing Court at Taupo show that Samuel Crowther applied for the Bush Licence for the Opepe Hotel on May 9th, 1881, being supported by the signatures of the fol- | lowing ten householders resident in jthe neigbbourhood: — ¥/. G. Noble, ;H. John Axford, L. H. Hebberd, John jFenton, James Mackay, Thomas B. ! Noble, Edward Loffley, J. Galiagher, L. M. Gtrace, Nevil S. Walker. Under date of June 24th, 1882, the Licensing Committee "assembled at the Licensing Meeting holden at Tapuaeharuru" authorised the issue to Samuel Crowther of an Accommodaticn Licence for the Opepe Hotel, the signatures appending being those of A. Hammell, chairman; Geo. Blake, member; L. M. Grace, member, Rawiri Kahia, assessor. Thus closes our ireview of Opepe's early days and since the hotel at Opepe was removed to the new existing | Rangitaiki Hotel we shall follow the | hotel and try to recall the old days of this fairly isolated district. * " s