Monday 28 September 2020

Totara North Murals



At Totara North, last time I visited I drove past the local museum and stopped to admire these murals painted on various buildings.






 Painted by artist Chris Wilkie who joined up with local Bruce Sanderson, they illustrate the area's history such as the Lane and Brown timber mill.

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The local Kauri milling industry which employed many settlers to cut down trees - apparently the man in this man is Bruce's dad, an Augustus Earle lithograph of early Maori in their Kainga (home) near the beach. 




Bruce's great great grandmother Te Waka Heremaia from Rawhiti is also featured. 



A bit more information about this little town: Totara North is a small settlement on the northern side of Whangaroa Harbour. It is home to around two hundred close-knit residents and has a primary school with 38 pupils, a community hall and gardens, The Gum Store bar and cafe, a now derelict timber mill, a wharf, a shed for crayfish processing and a boat ramp. 

The steep bush-clad hills of this northern side of the harbour tumble almost all the way into the sea and offer little flat land on which a town could grow, but prior to the 1990's when the last privately-owned kauri trees were milled, Totara North's proximity to the sea, the kauri trees and kauri gum fields, allowed it to exploit its nearby kauri forests and to become a thriving and prosperous community and a hub of commercial activity and enterprise in Northland. (information taken from from Whangaroa.co.nz)

Linking up with Mural Monday.

17 comments:

kwarkito said...

I like this collection of photos

carol l mckenna said...

what stunning murals ~ they are excellent ~ the best I have seen ~ Wow! Great photos ^_^

Live each moment with love,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)

Tom said...

...quite a diverse collection, the historic ones are wonderful.

Teresa said...

Lovely collection.

b.c. said...

he's amazing, i really like them!

Susan Heather said...

Funnily enough we were just talking about this area. Doug's father worked for Lanes and he was talking about the Christmas functions they put on at the bay where Kingfish Lodge is now.

peppylady (Dora) said...

Have you ever wonder
who these people are in mural
Coffee is on

Pauline said...

Love those murals. Good work on the background story. Must stop for a good look next time I'm up that way.

Iris Flavia said...

Wow, those are treasures! And I imagine it must be hard to make art on those backgrounds.
38 pupils! "Cute", Hubby would love a place like that!

Sami said...

Great variety of beautiful murals Amy. Thanks for contributing.

eileeninmd said...

Hello,
What a wonderful collection of murals. Take care, enjoy your day! Wishing you a great new week!

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

Those are some nice murals.

Jackie McGuinness said...

Wonderful piece of history. I loved New Zealand the the fierce pride of the Maori!
As I sit here I can see a mask I bought in New Zealand and a framed photo of a Maori dinner we attended.

Bill said...

A beautiful collection of murals, they look great!

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Love to see murals that are significant to the area, this one is beautifully painted Amy, super find ✨

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Sorry I'm late visiting. Just playing catch-up after being offline for nearly 10 days due to my incompetent internet provider. I like the back story about the town and was saddened to read the mill was now shut down. I love all these murals, Amy, but it would be hard to paint on that corrugated surface. I wonder if some were spray painted. These are an incredible find.

isotassu said...

Irritates me that "everyone else" can create with hands something like that, I don´t. Hihp.

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