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All wood and no water - the great fire of Hawera
There was a time when everything in town was made of wood - the houses, the fences the water and the street curbing. Even the outside toilets were made of wood and if they caught alight it was very alarming.
Every town in New Zealand has tales to tell of great fires. Pubs, halls and houses - they all burnt down over the years and in Hawera they all burnt down at the same time. It was a little like the Great Fire of London - smoke, flames and people in a panic. It's well worth a read.
Rewind
Hawera went up in smoke in 1888 and 1895. What was happening in New Zealand between these years? Check out the events below and decide if they really did happen way back then. Answer true or false and then check your answers at the end of this week's TreasureLink.
- Boys and girls, working in factories are paid 75 cents or less a week. Some are paid nothing for the first year because they are being trained.
- Women work for factories by making shirts at home. They earn four cents a day and often work to 11p.m.
- The Government finally decides which route the main trunk railway line will take.
- The first woman Member of Parliament is elected.
- New Zealand women are now allowed to vote.
Word watch
All the words below are in this week's story. Decide on the best meaning and check your choices as you read the story. The answers are at the end of this week's TreasureLink.
- tinderbox (a) a box that holds tinder or (b) a place that could easily explode
- pounds (a) a measurement of weight or (b) money
- draper shop (a) a dealer in cloth or clothing or (b) a dealer in curtains, sheets and pillow cases
- stocktaking (a) the process of finding out how much stock hasn't been sold and is still in the shop or (b) cattle rustling
- tobacconist's shop (a) a shop where men once went to get their haircut or (b) a shop that sells cigars, pipes and cigarettes
- miraculously (a) so astonishing it seems like a miracle or (b) incredibly
- foolhardy skullduggery (a) digging in a graveyard or (b) stupid trickery
- whittle (a) to cut or shave off small bits or (b) grind
- demise (a) death or (b) the end of existence
- restoration (a) rebuild so that it is just like it was when brand new or (b) repairing the worst of the faults
But who was to blame?
The Great Fire of London was a biggie in 1666. Most people say it started in a pie shop but no one really knows who to blame. Thomas Farynor the baker was blamed but perhaps a customer burnt his tongue on a hot pie and started a rumour. Hot pies annoy some people.
Look here and you will find that Tom was blamed.
Look here to see how his maid was blamed.
Look here to see how the Mayor was blamed.
Some things in history remain in doubt. We still aren't too sure. Remember that.
We do know that 49 new churches and the great St Paul's Cathedral were built by the famous architect Christopher Wren after the Great Fire. He asked the king if he could rebuild the whole town. What if he started the fire? Would he have had a motive - a reason? Think pair and share your idea with a classmate.
Pioneer times
Talk over this activity with a classmate
Just answer "yes" or "no".
From what you know about life in Taranaki during the 1800s would you agree that:
1. …the Great Fire of London was bigger than the Great Fire of Hawera?
2. …the two fires probably burnt quickly for the same reason?
3. …firemen used fairly primitive firefighting technology back then?
4. …fires weren't very dangerous in those days because towns were smaller?
5. …houses were more likely to burn down then, than today?
6. …if a farm house caught fire it would nearly always burn down?
7. …people weren't as careful about fires as they are now?
Watch a movie, make a story board
Check out this movie with a classmate. This one is from the USA but action like this probably happened in Taranaki around about the same time. Click on the MPEG format and you should get a great little movie. (The ladder guy is well worth watching)
So what if the movie was from a Taranaki farm in the 1890s? Become movie directors and make these decisions with a classmate. Sketch a storyboard that shows the action in pictures.
Scene 1: What would your opening scene be? Where would the people be and what would they be doing when they noticed the fire?
Scene 2: You have this scene. It's the one you have just watched- the escape from the barn.
Scene 3: What would the scene following the escape of the horses be like?
Now, compare your ideas with another pair.
What do you know?
What do you know about Hawera?
Look here and decide where Hawera is.
Look here to check if you were right.
Read these statements about Hawera's history and decide whether they are fact or fiction.
- Hawera was named after a Māori village that once stood in the same area.
- New Plymouth was surveyed in 1841 and Hawera was surveyed over 20 years later.
- Hawera was first built for the workers on the New Plymouth to Wellington railway line.
- Without the dairy industry Hawera would be a much smaller town today.
Look here to check your answers.
Ready to burn!
The first two parts of this week's story show fire was always a risk.
Read - Like a stack of dry kindling and Waiting for a match.
Hawera was a lot smaller in the 1880s but they needed two things.
- A big supply of water close to town.
- A way of topping up this supply if it was low
Work out a cunning supply scheme with a classmate. Look here and then zoom in on Hawera to find the rivers.
Compare your idea with another pair.
So easily spread
Fire in the dark builds a clear picture of how a whole town could be easily destroyed.
Read this part of the story.
The Great Fire of London burnt for exactly the same reason but on a much bigger scale. Look here and click "Play the animation." Compare the parts of the city before and after the fire.
There was one way to stop the fire spreading and it didn't involve water. It should have been done in London and it might have worked in Hawera. Work out what it was and then check out paragraph three here.
Did you come up with same idea?
No water!
Read the next two parts of the story now- Call the fire brigade and Wring your hands and watch.
Look carefully at the photograph of the new Post Office. It never opened. Now that's incredible!
Let's say a team of ten builders worked on the new building. In the 1800s there were no nail guns, power saws or concrete trucks. There were hammers, nails, handsaws and wheelbarrows. How long do you think it took these builders to build the new Post Office?
Look here  and work it out.
Making it stop
Read How to make it stop and Little salvaged, little saved.
A newspaper was printed the next day even though the newspaper building was almost destroyed. Now that's commitment!
Write the big banner headline that might have appeared on the Hawera and Normanby Star the day after the fire. A banner headline is one that goes right across the page and is usually pretty sensational.
Still no water
Fire hit Hawera again in 1912 and this time the insurance companies began to kick up a fuss. The town had to be rebuilt and they were the ones that had to pay.
Read The fire of 1912 and then look here to find out about the link between insurance companies and fire brigades.
Look here to see the hand operated pumps used for fighting fires.
So by 1912 business people and home owners paid for insurance and the insurance companies used some of that money to pay for fire brigade equipment like hand pumps.
A similar thing happens today. People pay insurance companies to insure their homes and part of this payment is a levy that helps pay for The New Zealand Fire Service.
From the 1860s insurance companies were importing fire pumps but they only let people use them to fight fires in buildings they had insured. If a building caught fire that wasn't insured or if it was insured by another company then bad luck- they couldn't use the pump.
Some people have said that the fire service should still do this today. They shouldn't go to "uninsured fires". What do you think? Team up with a classmate and put on your yellow hats. Are there any good points about this idea? Now put on your black hat. What are the bad points? Share your ideas with another pair.
The leaning tower of Hawera
Now this is amazing! Hawera's water tower once leaned- a little like the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. But then, a council engineer and his builders straightened it. All this happened about 90 years ago and in 2001 Italian engineers used a similar method to straighten their ancient tower.
Read the next three parts of the story.
A tower takes shape, Finding a flaw and Losing the lean.
Look here for photos of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. There are even photos of the repair job.
Look here for a story about how it was straightened.
Thumbs up for Cameron
Some people thought that Mr Cameron the engineer was a genius but others thought he was foolish. Rehearse this play in a group. Explain the Great Fire of Hawera story to the class and then perform the play. They'll find out how the Hawera water tower was straightened.
Ahead of their time
People in the play: The builders- Sammy, Charlie and Wippet. Mr Cameron the borough engineer.
Sam: Hey Charlie, Charlie mate. Our tower's on a lean.
Charlie: Let's have a look- it can't be.
Wippet: Let me see, let me see.
Sam: Look Wippet. You line the edge of the tower with my sight stick.
Charlie: Your sight stick is on a lean Sammy boy. That tower is as straight as a plumb line.
Sam: The stick is straight Charlie. You check it with the level.
Charlie: … By Jove Sammy boy you're right. The tower's leaning to the South… a good 30 inches.
Wippet: Nearly a yard! It's going to fall over! We could get squashed. I bags to work on the north side.
Charlie: We'd better tell Mr Cameron.
Sam: You're right Charlie and here he is now. Mr Cameron, I'm sorry to say our tower's on a lean.
Wippet: By more than a yard. We could easily get squashed.
Mr Cameron: Put on a hard hat Wippet. Yes boys she's been leaning a tad ever since that January earthquake. But then the Leaning Tower of Pisa leans a lot more and it's been standing for nearly 800 years.
Wippet: Why hasn't someone straightened it then? They've had enough time. It's a wonder someone hasn't been squashed.
Charlie: You can't just straighten a tower once it's up Wippet.
Mr Cameron: Why not Charlie?
Charlie: Well people don't do they Mr Cameron.? I mean you can't can you?
Wippet: What about Peewee the blacksmith's big bullock? Peewee could pull her up straight with a strong rope.
Sam: We'll need more than a bullock and a strong rope Wippet.
Mr Cameron: Good thinking Wippet but this is what we'll do. We'll pour concrete under the foundation that's already there.
Charlie: You mean we'll make a new foundation Mr Cameron?
Mr Cameron: That's exactly what we'll do Charlie. I've met with Mr Silver, a structural engineer in Wellington and we've drawn up the plans.
Sam: We'll need to level her up first Mr Cameron.
Mr Cameron: You're right Sam. We'll anchor the low side with a huge concrete block then undermine the high side and fill the tanks with water. The weight of the water should straighten her up. The high side should settle down.
Sam: We'll need a big pour of concrete under the old foundation before we undermine her Mr Cameron. Otherwise, she could straighten up, settle too far and fall to the north.
Wippet: Someone could be squashed.
Mr Cameron: Yes Sam, we will do that and once we begin we'll work day and night. It's a big job. We'll need extra equipment and more men but it will work. We'll straighten her alright and the tower will still be standing in a hundred years.
Wippet: I'll keep an eye on the new men Mr Cameron. I'll tell them where to stand…just in case.
Charlie: They might straighten the Leaning Tower of Pisa in the same way one day Mr Cameron.
Mr Cameron: They might do Charlie. In fact, they probably will.
Read on!
Finish the story now and then look here to find out more about the restoration project for the Hawera Water Tower.
Fast forward
Today Hawera has a good water supply with reservoirs and a water treatment station. They have to watch their supply closely over the summer and have water restrictions from time to time like most towns do.
The Council looks after the supply and a Water Strategy Study will help them find out how good their supplies are, what people want and how they can improve.
Look here to find out about the strategy and read about the survey the council plans to carry out.
List some possible survey questions they could ask to get the kind of information they need.
Rewind answers
1. True
2. True
3. False. They didn't decide where the line would go until 1900 because a lot of people thought it should go through New Plymouth and others wanted it to pass through the middle of the North Island.
4. False. Elizabeth McCombs isn't elected until 1933.
5. True. They are given the vote on 19 September, 1893. New Zealand was the first sovereign state in the world to give women the vote.
Answers for word watch
The best answers for this story are:
1b, 2b, 3a, 4a, 5b, 6a, 7b, 8a, 9b (both meanings could be right but (b) is the best because the water tower isn't a living thing) 10a
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