Ormondville Rail Preservation Group Inc.
People associated with Railway Stations near
Ormondville Railway Station
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Matamau Stationmasters/Tablet Porters
Matamau Station began life in 1884 as an unmanned shelter shed and for most of the latter part of 1884, the station was the Hawkes Bay line's railhead. In about 1914/5, the station was upgraded to a tablet station and accordingly was staffed. Entries in the various Wise's Directories suggest that for most of this time, two tablet porters were based at Matamau. In 1967, Matamau was converted to a switch-out tablet station and its staff, then numbering three, was reduced to one. The station officially closed in 1981
Alex J. Mansell - Tablet Porter (1915 - 1920 Wise's Directory)
George Drew - Tablet Porter (1925 Wise's Directory) Previously a platelayer there?
A.W. Thomas - Tablet Porter (1925 Wise's Directory)
1938 Wise's Directory shows no obvious person in this role
Cyril Daly - Porter (1943 Wise's Directory)
Victor Harvey - Porter (1943 Wise's Directory)
... Davis - Porter (1946 Wise's Directory)
Ray Wilson - Porter (1946 Wise's Directory)
Robert Harris - Porter (1948-9 & 1950-1 Wise's Directory)
M. Sargent - Porter (1948-9 to 1952 Wise's Directory)
Jack Fincham - Porter (1952 &1953-4 Wise's Directory)
L. Neville - Porter (1952 &1953-4 Wise's Directory)
Cecil C. Andresen - Porter (1955 Wise's Directory)
Jack Herron - Porter (1955 Wise's Directory)
Ivan Kriven - Porter (1955 Wise's Directory)
A. Feieraband - Porter (1957 & 1959-60 Wise's Directory)
R. Wilson - Porter (1957 Wise's Directory)
B. Eltringham - Porter (1959-60 Wise's Directory)
Richie Hamilton - (about 1959 - mid-1960s)
Les Williams - The last Tablet Porter (1963-68)
Bill Kirkwood [aka 'Matamau Bill'] - Was there in 1969 and beyond.
F. Dean - Surfaceman (1925 Wise's Directory)
George Drew - Platelayer (1915 - 1920 Wise's Directory) Later a Tablet Porter there? Perhaps had previously been at Makotuku.
Matthew Dwyer - Surfaceman (1905-6 Waipawa Electoral Roll). Probably Mary Dwyer was his wife. He is listed as a platelayer in the Wise's Directories between 1915 and 1920 (at least). He appears to have later been based at Makotuku.
Gary Reeve - Station assistant. Dates unknown. His brother-in-law, Peter Murrell, was based at Ormondville. Source: Peter Murrell's daughter.
A. Young - Platelayer (1925 Wise's Directory)
Makotuku Stationmasters/Tablet Porters
Makotuku Station was the Hawkes Bay Line's railhead between 1880 and mid-1884, when Matamau Station took over this role. For some years it served the local sawmilling industry, however, that industry eventually ground to a halt and the station's status soon declined. Makotuku did not have a town to support in the way that Ormondville supported Norsewood. Stationmasters were withdrawn from Makotuku Station around 1919, however, the station remained operational as a tablet station. It was operated by tablet porters until 1967. It was declared 'closed to all traffic' in 1978.
Arthur Charles Webber - (1885-6 Wise's Directory)
Mr Buck - ( ? - mid-May 1888) Mr & Mrs Buck left Makotuku for Dannevirke, where Mr Buck was to become that town's stationmaster. Possibly he is Mr J. Buck, who by May 1892 was stationmaster at Woodville.
Herman Marius Lund - (Mid-May 1888 - still there in 1892-3 Wise's Directory) Naturalisation and 1917 Alien Registration records show that he was born in Lingby, Denmark, in about 1853-4. He emigrated to NZ in about 1876, and was a clerk at Tahoraiti when he was naturalised on 19/3/1883. He was stationmaster at Ormondville by 1887, and perhaps for a year or two before that. He also married in 1887. He left there to become stationmaster at Makotuku in mid-May 1888, but the 'friendly, kind and obliging' Lund was called back there in late May to be presented with a locket inlaid with diamonds and rubies, and engraved: "H.M. Lund, Presented by Ormondville Friends, 1888." The Bush Advocate of 21/1/1892 records that he was a very keen collector of coins, his valuable collection including Roman coins from 389 BC.
101 Years Of Ormondville, page 150 records that Lund was stationmaster at Waitara in 1899, and by 1917, he was a land agent at Waitara. He is buried in an unmarked grave at Waitara Cemetery, although his date of death is not apparently recorded. Possibly his wife is Hannah Maria Cecilia Lund, who died aged 44 years, and who is also buried at that cemetery with her date of death also not recorded.
Archibald Stansfield Whitson - (1900 - 1908) Whitsson was born at Haddington, near Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1848. His entry in the Cyclopedia of NZ (Vol. 1, 1897: p. 349) states that after leaving school, he worked in a cotton shipping business in Manchester. He next joined the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway and was based at Victoria Station, Manchester. After gaining experience there, he returned to the previous business until 1878. That year he sailed from London on the Pleiades, the ship arriving in Wellington on 31 December 1878 after a reasonably trouble free voyage, The Evening Post of 2 January 1879 (p. 2, col. 1 [Note: there are 2 items]) advises that the ship had brought about 30 passengers, but no Government-sponsored immigrants. Listed amongst the passengers was "Whitson." Within a fortnight he had found employment with with the Railways Dept. as a booking clerk at Wellington Station. On 13 January 1883, Whitson married Clara Parkinson, daughter of George Parkinson of Manchester, at ('Old') St. Paul's Cathedral, Wellington. She had been born at Manchester on 23 January 1854. At the time, Whitson was still a clerk at Wellington. In about 1884, he became stationmaster and postmaster at Petone Station. Then in 1895, and after eleven years at Petone, he became stationmaster at Te Aro Station (now Wellington Station). He was described in 1897 as a courteous obliging officer who consequently was popular.
Whitson was transferred to Makotuku Station about 1900, and there Clara Whitson died, aged 46, on 20 June 1900 (HB Herald 23/6/1900). She is buried at Ormondville Cemetery. In 1903, Whitson married Gertrude Hisling Friberg (Ref: Marriage Reg. Folio 1169), one of four daughters of Swedish-born Bror Eric Friberg (died 1878) and his German-born wife Cecilia Elizabeth, of Makotuku. Bror Eric Friberg was the NZ Government Agent who travelled to Scandinavia and recruited the hundreds of Norwegians who migrated to NZ aboard the Høvding in its 1872 and 1873 voyages, and established Norsewood.
The 1905-6 Waipawa Electoral Roll lists A.S. & G.H. Whitson at Makotuku, and
also A.S. & Clara's only child, Archibald Whitson, who was then a railway clerk at
Dannevirke. The Dannevirke Advocate of 21/1/1908 records that Whitson had
resumed his duties as stationmaster after a holiday. Later A.S. & Gertrude
went to England, where Gertrude
nursed him and his brother in London. He
is buried at Barnes, London (date of death not recorded). Gertrude remarried twice, but
had no children by him.
Frank Unsworth – (1908 - April 1913) Unsworth took over as Ormondville's stationmaster in February 1901, and subsequently married the former Alice Gee. Unsworth was previously a station clerk at Riversdale, in the South Island, where his wife had apparently lived. The popular stationmaster transferred to Waitotara in 1902, but during 1908 he returned to become Makotuku’s stationmaster. Unsworth left Makotuku on 7 April 1913 - following a big district send-off - to take over Lumsden station. Alice’s seemingly sudden death (registered at Gore) was announced at Makotuku in February 1914.
Mr McNeil - (April 1913 - ?) McNeil was transferred to Makotuku from Christchurch.
Albert Edward Coomber (1915 - 1916 Wise's Directory)
John Waller (1918 Wise's Directory)
John Rose (#1, 1920 Wise's Directory)
Stationmasters were withdrawn from Makotuku Station in 1919, with Rose referred to as the last to be based there. The changeover between Rose and Hazlett shown in the 1920 Wise's Directory would result from that volume having been compiled in 1919.
Herbert Hazlett - "Tablet Porter" (#2, 1920 Wise's Directory)
M. Dwyer - Railway Porter (1925 Wise's Directory) Perhaps formerly at Matamau?
Henry Mackle - Porter (1943 Wise's Directory)
J. Willets - Porter (1943 Wise's Directory)
Noel Tucker - Station Agent (1959-60 Wise's Directory) Note: Tucker was living at Kopua two years earlier.
The Dannevirke Advocate of 20/1/1908 says a porter has been added to its staff
James Bryan - Platelayer (1905-6 Waipawa Electoral Roll). Emily Bryan is probably his wife.
George Drew - Ganger (1905-6 Waipawa Electoral Roll). He is probably the husband of Mary Jane Drew and presumably is related to Frederick Richard Drew, a labourer of Makotuku in 1905-6. The Dannevirke Advocate of 21/6/1907 refers to Ganger Drew working in the vicinity of Makotuku. Perhaps the same as George Drew later of Matamau Station.
Leo Dunstan - Railway worker (1950-1 to 1953-4 Wise's Directory)
Victor Egarr - Railway worker (1953-4 & 1955 Wise's Directory)
Percy Gasson - Platelayer (1916 - 1925 Wise's Directory)
Leo Godfrey - Railway worker (1946 to 1950-1 Wise's Directory)
J. Hall - Railway cadet (? - April 1913) The Dannevirke Evening News of 1/4/1913 records his departure for Woodville where he will join the relieving staff.
Patrick Hayden - Railway worker (1946 Wise's Directory)
David A. Henderson - Railway worker (1955 to 1957 Wise's Directory)
Mr Jaspers - Railway Cadet (April 1913 - ?) The Dannevirke Evening News off 1/4/1913 records his arrival.
George H. Lay - Railway porter (1918 Wise's Directory)
James Lean - Platelayer (1905-6 Waipawa Electoral Roll). Presumably he is the husband of Zenobia Lean. This Electoral Roll also names another Zenobia Lean, a spinster, and James Merryfield Lean, a blacksmith, both also of Makotuku.
Charles Henry Pike - Surfaceman (1905-6 Waipawa Electoral Roll). Others named on this Electoral Roll are Margaret Olive Pike, married, and William Pike, settler, both of Makotuku. Probably he is the bridge carpenter of that name mentioned in the Wise's Directories between (at least) 1925 and 1938.
Arthur J. Poolman - Railway worker (1948-9 to 1952 Wise's Directory)
Denis Patrick Riordan - NZR fireman (1905-6 Waipawa Electoral Roll)
Harry Smith - NZR labourer (1905-6 Waipawa Electoral Roll)
Andrew Snaddon snr. - Bridge carpenter (1905-6 Waipawa Electoral Roll)
Stanley G. Walker - Railway worker (1952 to 1959-60 Wise's Directory)
Papatu Station was merely an unmanned shelter shed at a sawmill siding between Ormondville and Kopua, and was never staffed. In November 1883 the flag station's shelter shed was noted as a place for the local wild pigs to dine on flour, sugar and other articles of food that had been consigned by train and left to await collection by the addressee. Cattle also used it, and in due course it had become so filthy people no longer used it as shelter. Its condition doubtless improved following publicity around that time. It vanished around 1911. Ref DA 12/3/1907, 11/3/1908
Kopua Stationmasters/Tablet Porters
Kopua Station was the railhead on the Hawkes Bay Line between 1878 and 1880, when the next stage to Makotuku Station opened. While the station is the subject of ongoing research, it is known that the associated post office closed on 30 November 1967. The station itself is understood to have been removed to Norsewood in the 1970s and incorporated into another building.
Patrick Molloy - Tablet porter (there by 1913, 1918 Wise's Directory) The Dannevirke Evening News of 23/1/1913 records his endeavours to secure an emergency water supply to prevent the station burning down due to nearby grass fires.
Les C. White - Railway & postmaster (1938 Wise's Directory)
A. Lamb - Station & postmaster (1943 Wise's Directory)
Hector W. McKay - Porter & postmaster (1946 Wise's Directory)
Ronald M. Bramley - Porter & postmaster (1948-9 to 1950-51 Wise's Directory)
Ronald J. Funnell - Porter & postmaster (1953-4 to 1955 Wise's Directory)
Noel E. Tucker - Station agent & postmaster (1957 Wise's Directory) Note: Tucker was living at Makotuku two years later.
Mac Collier - Station agent & postmaster (1959-60 Wise's Directory)
(Note: Wise's Directory listings for Kopua appear to have sometimes been recorded under 'Ormondville'.)
John T. Carr - Railways Engineer based at Kopua (1883-4 Wise's Directory, HB Herald 3/10/1883) Carr is a key figure in the development and ongoing maintenance of the railway route through the district.
James E. Fulton - Assistant Railways Engineer based at Kopua (1883-4 Wise's Directory)
Philip H. Marsh - Railway worker (1955 Wise's Directory)
Victor Morris - Surfaceman (1918 Wise's Directory)
Raki Munro - Surfaceman (1952 Wise's Directory)
A. O'Keefe - Railway worker (1946 to 1950-51 Wise's Directory)
Charles Edward Thomas - Surfaceman (1905-6 Waipawa Electoral Roll). Probably Alice Thomas is his wife.
Fred White - Surfaceman (1918 Wise's Directory)
Publicans
unknown previous owner/s...
Charles Badderley - (November 1883-February 1885) Badderly was previously ("for several years") a loco driver on the Hawkes Bay line. While Matamau was the Hawkes Bay line's rail head, this hotel did very well. However, after that brief period (some five months) its business declined rapidly. Also, and more significantly, its license had been removed by the Norsewood Licensing Committee in June 1884, in their efforts to make the district 'dry'. As a result, Badderley decided to move the hotel to a site close to the Mangatera railway station, near Dannevirke, which was under a less Temperance focused Licensing Committee. At the time Mangatera station was Dannevirke's main railway station, and presumably the present Mangatera Hotel is the descendant of what was once the Matamau Hotel. The 1905-6 Waipawa Electoral Roll reveals that Badderley was still a hotelkeeper at Dannevirke. Maud Evelyn Badderley (married) and Frances Badderley (widow) were perhaps his wife and his mother.
David Smith (1885-6 Wise's Directory)
The original hotel building, then not used as such, burns down (HB Herald 2/12/1885)
John Charles Davis (1892-3 Wise's Directory)
Mr Morgan (? - March 1900) Leaves the hotel (HBH 8/3/1900).
Benjamin Geddis - (March 1900 - March 1907) Formerly of Hastings ( HBH 8/3/1900). He is listed as a hotelkeeper at Makotuku, along with Elizabeth Geddis, married, and Elizabeth Jane and Elizabeth Margaret, both spinsters, in the 1905-6 Waipawa Electoral Roll. He sold "his interest" in the hotel to Mr Berg in 1907.
Mr Berg - (March 1907 - ?) From Nelson (Dannevirke Advocate 21/3/1907)
A transfer occurs according to notes from the Dannevirke Advocate of 23/5/1902
William Gosling (1915 - 1916, 1920 Wise's Directory)
Charles H. Gray (1918 Wise's Directory)
John P. Mooney (1925 Wise's Directory)
W.M. (Bill) Senk (1933) was lessee when the hotel burnt down on 8 May 1933. The hotel was then owned by Mr D. Baker of the Standard Brewery, Palmerston North.
Frederick J. Sands (1938 to 1943 Wise's Directory)
A.M. Malder (1946 Wise's Directory)
I.D. Allardyce (1948-9 Wise's Directory)
Arthur N. Blackburn (1950-1 Wise's Directory)
J.L. Griffin (1952 Wise's Directory)
Zimmerman (1953-4 Wise's Directory)
Stevens (1955 to 1959-60 Wise's Directory)
Not researched beyond 1960
Fred Henry Stevens - In June 1883, he closed the Beaconsfield Hotel at Kopua in preparation to moving the building to Makotuku. It reopened on its new site in early October 1883. Proprietor of the "Accommodation Hotel" (1885-6 Wise's Directory)
Mr Gasson takes over the hotel (Bush Advocate 5/6/1888. Mrs Gasson dies (somewhere local) re: HB Herald 27/2/1897
Annie Barrie (1892-3 Wise's Directory)
Mr & Mrs Gilbert (1901/2 - ?) They are the new owners of the Beaconsfield, and have refurbished it. (HB Herald 14/2/1902).
Benjamin Moore, hotelkeeper, Makotuku, along with Grace Elizabeth, married, Elizabeth Moore, widow, and George Moore, barman, and Samuel Moore, blacksmith. (1905-6 Waipawa Electoral Roll)
The Dannevirke Advocate of 9/8/1907 reports that the Beaconsfield Hotel at Makotuku, had again had its license transferred to someone else. According to 101 Years of Ormondville (p. 107), the Beaconsfield was subsequently shifted to Dannevirke, to the site of the Masonic Hotel.
Please note: This page is still 'research in progress'
