A clever road making solution
Now read "The Road Opens," and "A clever solution" to find out about the huge problem travellers on the Wangamomona Road had. Find out how this problem was solved.
You might have seen papa on the cliffs around Taranaki beaches. It's a very soft rock that crumbles easily and that's why coastal land with papa cliffs and banks is eroding so quickly. The sea gives this land a hammering.
Get together with a classmate and work out how these papa blocks were cut into blocks for the kilns.
Fold some newspaper so you have a "brick" the same size as the ones that went in the kiln.
Together, work out what the kiln must have been made of and how big it was. Work out where the papa blocks were put and where the wood was stacked for burning.
Draw a cross section of your kiln in action. (A cross section allows us to see inside) Draw it to scale-say one centimetre to one metre. A lot of papa blocks went in there remember.
Stuck in the mud!
Wagons and coaches were always getting stuck on Taranaki's early roads. Read "The Road to Wangamomona", find four actors, rehearse the play and perform it to the class. It will give them some idea of what it was like for travellers on the old Whangamomona road.
The Road to Whangamomona
Jack Hewer is driving a stagecoach full of passengers when it all goes horribly wrong. His co-driver Charlie starts the play next to Jack on the driver's seat. There are two passengers in the coach- Colonel and Mrs Moped-Smyth.
Jack: The mud looks a bit thick again Cecil.
Charlie: It is that Jack my boy. Just steer old Ned around to the left a bit there Jack and we should sail through.
Jack: I always say the straight path is the way to go Charlie so I'm going straight on through. C'mon Ned! Go! Sal, Winnie, Theo go! Giddeeup! Go!
Charlie: We've slowed right down Jack…. We've stopped…. and… I do believe we are sinking.
Jack: You're right there Charlie. We're up to our axles.
Colonel Moped- Smyth: ( A passenger leaning out of the coach) I say driver. Why have we stopped? Poor show! I need to be in Whangamomona by 5.30.
Jack: (shouting) Shouldn't be long Colonel. Just a little mud. (whispering to Charlie) What will we do Charlie?
Charlie: There's only one thing for it Jack. Empty the coach, dig her out, lay the sacks and planks under the wheels and all pull.
Jack: I might stay up here Charlie because I have my best trousers on.
Colonel Moped Smyth: I say driver. Poor show! Mud is seeping under the door. By jove, it's on Mrs Moped- Smyth's gown. Bad form driver. I say driver, should we disembark?
Charlie: (at the door) I think you had better climb out Colonel and your good lady too. If you dig out the left right wheel I'll work on the right.
Colonel Moped Smyth: (taking the spade) I say, this is most irregular. Does this happen often in the colonies my good chap? ( to Mrs Moped –Smyth) Come my dear, it appears we are bogged down. I will wield this spade and have us out in a jiffy. I say driver, are you coming down to dig?
Jack: Well I would but I've got my best trousers on.
Colonel Moped Smyth: Jolly good show then driver. We will dig won't we my dear. Have no fear the Moped –Smyths are here.
Mrs Moped Smyth: Oh Henry that was jolly. This is rather a lot of fun isn't it?
Charlie: ( to Jack) Throw us down the sacks will you Jack lad.
Jack: I left the sacks in Stratford Charlie and brought my pin- striped suit instead.
Mrs Moped Smyth: You could use my petticoats.
Colonel Moped Smyth: Splendid thinking Mrs Moped –Smyth. I say driver, will petticoats be in order?
Charlie: Petticoats will work well.
Jack: Better than sacks.
Colonel Moped Smyth: Jolly good show Mrs Moped Smyth. I suggest we all turn away on the count of three while you …ahem… donate your petticoats for the good of all.
Mrs Moped Smyth: Perhaps Henry my spare petticoats in my luggage could be used.
Colonel Moped Smyth: As you were my dear. I say driver. Be a good man and pass that large leather suitcase down…(The suitcase is passed down and the Colonel finds the petticoats). Here you are my good chap. A sacrifice born of necessity I believe. What oh!
Mrs Moped-Smyth: Oh Henry you are such a jolly man.
Charlie: Thank-you Colonel…now if we place it under here and we squeeze this plank under here we should be ready to pull.
Colonel Moped-Smyth: Righty oh. Man the ropes and woman the ropes. A small piece of humour Mrs Moped-Smyth. Ha ha ha.
Mrs Moped- Smyth: Oh Henry you are a one!
Charlie: Right Jack. On the count of three we'll pull and you get those horses into action. One… two… three!
Jack: Go Ned! Winnie, Sal, Theo go! Go! Go go!
Charlie: Good man Jack, good man… that's it we're out. Thankyou Colonel. Thankyou Mrs Moped- Smyth. Now it's on to Whangamomona.
Colonel Moped- Smyth: And don't spare the horses, what!
Mrs Moped- Smyth: Oh Henry, you are so amusing.
The Forgotten Highway
Finish the story now and then check out this website to find out more about the Forgotten Highway.
Fast forward
There are places in New Zealand, where people lived long ago, that remain almost untouched. Cows may have grazed there for years but the bulldozers and diggers have stayed away. Through careful digging archaeologists can turn these places into underground treasure troves that tell us all sorts of things about how people once lived.
The Taranaki Daily News reports that a pioneer homestead has just been found in Bell Block. Romulus Street's farm was torched and burned to ground on a summer's night in 1860. His bothers' homes were burnt down too by Maori warriors who had watched their own homes torched by Colonial soldiers.
The land above one of these homes has never been built over so the ruins lie just under the earth. Hans-Dieter Bader is an archaeologist and he says this old homestead is about as old as a pioneer's site gets. His team should be able to find whether the early settlers' homes were just like English ones or based on Maori homes. They will find what materials they used and where and how people cooked. Hans says they will also find out more about the pioneer farms-much more than we know now.
All this will take just 10 days and then the bulldozers can move in and help subdivide the land ready for houses and roads. But what happens if the bulldozers arrive before the archaeologists?
Land is being carved up all over New Zealand because suddenly people want to live by the sea. People have lived by the sea for hundreds of years so if people hack into coastal land they may destroy the records of the people who have come before.
About 55,000 archaeological sites have been recorded by the New Zealand Archaeological Association, and each year, 600 or so are added to the record. All these sites are protected by the Historic Places Act and developers have to get permission before any work is done on the land.
The trouble is that land is being developed so fast now that the law might not be able to keep up. Archaeologists may have to decide on the most important sites and then find the best way to protect them.
So how do you protect these sites that tell us about the past? Come up with a cunning plan in a small group.
Rewind answers
1. True
2. False but only the date is wrong. This did happen in 1901 but New Zealand decided to remain a separate country.
3. True
4. True
5. False. This film was the first one but it wasn't made and shown until 1914.
Word watch answers
1b, 2a, 3b, 4a, 5a, 6a, 7b, 8b, 9a, 10b