In April 1884 Samuel Brown advertised for stonemasons, quarrymen, “good Navvies”, and brickmakers to work on the No. 15 contract to build the tunnels and lay the track between Pukerua and Paekākāriki. During construction between 1884 and 1886 up to 400 men were employed at any one time. These were brick makers, bricklayers, tunnelers, quarrymen, woodcutters, stonemasons, navvies, bootmakers, butchers, storekeepers and boarding house keepers. They walked from Wellington around Porirua Harbour past Pāuatahanui, up the Kakaho Stream valley then over the saddle and down to the construction site. Contractors, managers, foremen and the better paid tradespeople and business owners could travel by coach to Paekākāriki and walk south to the construction site or take passage on one of the coastal steamers that regularly called in at Pukerua.

Most workers lived in what was known as “the railway camp” or “Brown’s camp” at Pukerua. They lived in tents, whares and huts or stayed in “boarding houses,” which were just tents with wooden floors. There were all sorts of nationalities at the camp and many were immigrants. Generally all was peaceful but with so many men there were bound to be incidents such as petty theft of watches, money and even clothing.

No sooner had the camp been set up when the first robbery occurred. In May 1884 John Nielson, who lived at the “Pukerua boarding house”, had a silver watch stolen from his bedroom. He offered a £1 reward for recovery of the watch which had scratches inside the case, was worn and was valued at £5. During this time the New Zealand Police Gazette had fourteen entries for Pukerua including a one pound reward notice for a sixteen year old ship deserter.

Michael McDonogh was charged in July 1884 at the Resident Magistrate’s Court, Wellington with stealing 2lbs of tea, £2 17s and a pocketbook (wallet or purse) from Messrs Gardner and Co, of Pukerua. Charles Toon, manager of Gardner and Co, was a witness who stated that he had found some tea in a calico bag under McDonogh’s bed. Toon had put £2 17s on McDonogh’s bed while he served a customer and did not miss it till that evening. When he was arrested, McDonogh had £2 16s 6d on him and admitted stealing the tea: “I took the tea, a handful at a time.” Samuel Ford who was a partner in the firm of Gardner and Co. gave evidence that he knew the accused was a pensioner and did not think he could save any money. Sergeant Anderson gave evidence of the character of the accused. Four or five weeks earlier McDonogh had been asked to contribute to the support of his family but said he had no money. McDonogh asked for a trial by jury. Five days later at the Supreme Court Criminal Session before Justice Richmond “no bill” was declared in McDonogh’s case. This was a legal term used when there was not enough evidence for the trial to go ahead.

Edmund Hickey had a silver watch stolen from his tent at Pukerua in October 1884.

The watch, a silver English hunting-watch with a small dent in the case, was worth £2 10s. Suspicion was “attached” to 35-year-old James Cunningham from Lurgan, Ireland. The New Zealand Police Gazette described him as 5 feet 7 inches tall, of medium build with red hair, beard and moustache. He wore a wore dark coat, a torn moleskin vest with sleeves, moleskin trousers and soft black hat. He left Pukerua after the robbery. In the very same Police Gazette where Cunningham’s description appeared there was an appeal by his mother in Ireland for him to get in touch with her. Her last letter from him was dated May 1883. Police later arrested Peter Hansen who was found with Hickey’s watch but charges were dismissed as he claimed he had bought it.

A ladies’ gold dress-ring with three rubies worth £2 was stolen from Patrick Rohan’s tent in December 1884. John Newbegen was living at Banks’s boarding-house, Pukerua in July 1885 when he was robbed of a wallet with nine Bank of Australasia £1 notes, coins, a silver watch chain and a badge.

In August 1885 Alexander Faulkner had three £1 notes and 15s. in silver stolen from the tent he shared with William Sharkey. Suspicion immediately fell on Sharkey who had been convicted and sentenced to twelve months labour in April 1884 at Blenheim for horse stealing and house breaking. Just a month before Faulkner was robbed Sharkey had been acquitted on yet another charge of horse stealing. William Sharkey was also known as William Teaman and William Steward. He was “born at sea” of Irish parents in 1866 and was described as being 5 foot 8¼ inches tall of pale complexion with brown hair, blue eyes, a “thick” nose, and “medium” mouth and chin. He had a scar and small mole over his left eye.

John Moessner, another resident of Banks’ boarding-house at Pukerua, had a sack stolen in February 1886 which contained a woollen rug, a pair of patched trousers, a pair of shoes and a pair of boots worth a total of £2 and sixpence. The sack and clothes were later left outside Moessner’s tent.

When a gold wedding ring with “E. K. L. Cardinale” engraved on the inside was stollen from Charles Morganti of Pukerua in May 1886, suspicion fell on 17-year-old Jamaican Frank Maitland who worked for a butcher at Paekākāriki. At the same time Alexander Cock of Pukerua offered a £2 reward for the recovery of a stolen watch. This was a silver chronograph watch made for Stewart, Dawson, and Co., with the serial number 102592 and valued at £5 15s. Suspicion fell on the previously arrested Peter Hansen who was described in the New Zealand Police Gazette as a 33-year-old Austrian labourer of fresh complexion with light brown hair, grey eyes, about 5 foot 10 inches tall. He had distinctive tattoos including “E pluribus unum” (“Out of many, one”, the official motto of the United States), “J.B.” flags and an anchor on his right arm. He had served eight months labour in the Terrace Gaol, Wellington for larceny, the term used at the time for stealing personal property.

Patrick Healy and William Williams both lived at the Pukerua railway camp until 16 June 1886 when Williams stole eleven £1 Union Bank of Australia notes from Healy and headed for Wellington. Williams was described as a 27-year-old labourer from England, 5 foot 10 inches tall of medium build and dark complexion with a hooked nose. He had dark hair, short dark beard and wore a grey tweed coat and brown moleskin trousers.

Sometime on the night of 22 June 1886 the place where Piedro Subusuch was living at the railway camp was “burglariously entered” and various items were stolen. The stolen items were fourteen £1 Bank of Australasia notes, a silver Ehrhardt lever hunting-watch worth £4 with a dent in the back, a chain of seventeen threepenny-pieces connected by small silver links worth £1, a silver three-cornered locket worth 7s. 6d., and a greenstone pendant with gold mounts attached to a chain and worth £1 5s.

Even Samuel Brown the contractor was robbed of 44 yards of nearly new ½ inch wire rope in early 1886, an item that would have difficult to conceal and even more difficult to remove from Pukerua.

While most robberies at the railway camp were from the places where men were living, John A. Lennie’s store at Pukerua was broken into in August 1886 and a new pair of dark brown tweed trousers worth £1, a dark grey tweed hat worth 5s and 4 shillings in threepenny pieces were stolen. This was the last recorded robbery at the Pukerua railway camp. Of course it was only a minority at the camp who committed crimes: “Many of the men have been on the job from start to finish, and real good men they have proved themselves to be, at all times carrying their lives in their hands, with pluck and good humor.” (New Zealand Times 29 September 1886 p3)

More dramatic than robberies at the camp was the fire in April 1885 that burned down a whare. Two miners, H. Bell and P. O’Loughlin, were having dinner in their whare at the camp when fire broke out. The two made a very hasty exit as dynamite sticks and blasting caps were stored inside. Although the caps exploded the dynamite merely “burned quietly”. Both men lost all their clothes.

Generally the camp was peaceful but on 6 June 1886 miners Matthew Johnston and James Mclntyre, who shared a whare, had an argument. The quarrel, over their abilities as workmen, developed into a scuffle. Mclntyre was stabbed in the left side, the groin, and left arm. He called out to his mates that he had been stabbed and as he was running away Johnston stabbed him again behind his ear. Mclntyre turned and knocked Johnston down and called to his mates to get the weapon, which turned out to be a miner’s candlestick, a sharp pointed forged iron candle holder used in mines and tunnels. At the Resident Magistrate’s Court Johnson was charged with unlawful wounding. A doctor reported that Mclntyre’s partly healed wounds were not serious and John McCredie, a labourer at the camp, described how he had seized Johnson. The charge was amended to common assault and Johnson was sentenced to two months imprisonment and ordered to find two sureties of £50 each and to keep the peace for six months.

Richard Price was a 39-year-old Welshman who worked on Brown’s contract as a striker for a blacksmith named Malcolm Mclntyre. Price was quiet and well-liked by other workers but was fond of drinking and lived at the camp in a hut “alive with rats”. He announced in June 1885 that he was leaving to work on a bridge near Woodville but he never arrived. Three months later his badly decomposed body was found in a creek only 150 yards from his hut. “Chas Edwards, a lad employed at the brickworks, recognised the remains as those of Richard Price.” One witness at the inquest thought he had fallen backwards into the creek. Other witnesses recognised his clothes. The verdict of the inquest was: “That the deceased, Richard Price, was found dead, but how he came to his death there is no evidence to show.” (New Zealand Mail 4 September 1885 p2) His heavy drinking may well have been the cause of his demise.

There were several temporary boarding houses at the Pukerua camp for men working on the railway. Running a boarding house at Pukerua in those times was a risky business financially. Three Pukerua boarding house keepers at the railway camp, James Edward Raistrick, Edward Robinson and Edward Henry Banks, ended up in court when each, at different times, was declared bankrupt. The only two boarding house keepers at Pukerua who did not find themselves into any sort of trouble, either financially or with the law, were James James and Michael O’Driscoll.

Benjamin Thatcher, a man who already knew what it was like to stand in the dock of a Magistrate’s Court, ran one of the boarding houses. As well as accommodation and meals Thatcher provided workmen with alcohol. He did not have a licence nor was there any way to hide the barrels of beer being unloaded from coastal steamers and rowed ashore to the Pukerua beach. Constable Roche of Paekākāriki saw 120 gallons of beer in four casks from Staples and Co’s Thorndon Brewery being landed at Pukerua for Thatcher on 16 May 1885. Thatcher was charged at the Paekākāriki Police Court in July that year with sly-grog selling. The prosecution was conducted by Constable Roache before Messrs. O. P. Lynch and F. Brady, Justices. There were three witnesses for the prosecution. Thatcher asked for an adjournment so he could get legal advice and witnesses. Although the police had no objection provided costs were met by the defendant the Bench ruled that there had been ample time for Thatcher to arrange his defence and the case went ahead. Constable Roache stated that he had seen the beer being landed at Pukerua for Thatcher and eleven days later three of the four casks were returned empty to the brewery. Thatcher admitted that the beer had indeed been consigned to him.

Constable Roche said:

the vicinity of Thatcher’s house was one of the most dangerous places in New Zealand for drunken men to frequent, as they had to pass a high and precipitous cliff going backwards and forwards.” (Evening Post 2 July 1885 p3).

Thatcher was fined £20 and costs or one month in prison with hard labour if the fine was not paid. That same year he was fined 20 shillings, with 7 shillings costs for being drunk in charge of a horse at Pukerua. However, two months later the horse may have had its revenge. While Thatcher was riding beside the contractor’s tramway he was thrown from a horse onto the iron rails with “great force”. Badly injured, he was taken to Wellington Hospital by train.

Another Pukerua businessman declared bankrupt was storekeeper Allan Carmont. As well as being a storekeeper at Greytown Carmont had previously been a draper and hotel proprietor at Otaki and Horokiwi Valley. When his bankruptcy was discharged Mr Justice Richmond had severe words to say about the “certain country solicitor” who had filed the documents relating to Carmont’s case. His Honour said, “the practitioner in question should have been ashamed to send such a slovenly document out of his office, and it should never have been allowed to go on the file of the Court. It was quite a disgrace, and the Bankrupt had his (Mr Justice Richmond’s) permission to tell the gentleman so. M. Justice Richmond pointed out the even the printed forms had the words “Supreme Court in Bankruptcy” instead of “Superior Court of Bankruptcy.” The Deputy Registrar was to refuse all incorrectly worded documents in future. (Evening Post 6 September 1886 p2). Carmont’s ordeal in public concluded when the Assignee remarked that “the debtor had been more sinned against than sinning.” (New Zealand Mail 29 October 1886 p17)

Many of the workers chose to walk north to Paekākāriki in their free time.

The township is not a very extensive one, but to those who are working on Brown’s contract it is not only regarded as a place of some commercial importance, but it is an absolute necessity. It is the depot for their tucker, and on “pay night” it is visited by those who on pleasure bent “knock down” the greater portion of their money after the “tucker bill” or the boardinghouse keeper, has been settled. Besides the inn, there is a baker’s shop, a butcher’s stall, a cobbler’s ditto, and a store under the management of Mr F. Greville, in which is sold everything from bread to boots, from cake to coats, and from sugar to stockings. (New Zealand Mail 19 September 1884 p25)

In September 1884 a Post Office and Post Office Savings Bank was established at Pukerua with the works manager John Laughton as postmaster. Many men were absent after the very first pay day having spent all their money drinking. Samuel Brown announced that from then on anyone absent after pay day would immediately be dismissed and he advised workers to make good use of the Savings Bank. This advice was heeded and there were no more absences after pay day. Laughton encouraged workers to save and on one occasion over £300 was deposited by Pukerua workmen into the Savings Bank.

The following description of pay day at the Pukerua railway camp was written in September 1884 by a reporter from the New Zealand Mail who was shown around by John Laughton:

At present there are upwards of 300 men and 25 teams employed, but as soon as the tunnels are opened out, it is anticipated that fully 400 men will be put on – including bricklayers. The job has apparently been prosecuted with the utmost vigor, and the work already performed is something astonishing. The wages men at present employed number upwards of twenty five, the majority of the men being put on by sub-contractors, who, of course, employ their own men. Several of the tunnels and cuttings are let out to small sub-contractors, and the men engaged on these works are quite distinct operatives. For instance, the navvies are useful only in constructing embankments and in delving cuttings, while the men engaged in the tunnels are, comparatively speaking, skilled workmen. The latter are more intelligent, and, as a rule, more thrifty than the navvies. Most of the people in the tunnels are either Italians or Austrians, with a sprinkling of English, Irish, and other nationalities. It is a singular fact, and one worth recording, that few Scotchmen are to be found on the works, which is accounted for by the reasonable assertion that Scotchmen, as a rule, prefer to acquire a trade before leaving their native land. The Italians, to a man, state that they gained their experience in tunnelling at Mont Cenis. This assertion is, however, open to doubt. Be this as it may, there is no question that they know how to keep their money, which, unfortunately, is more than can be said of the navvies, who are thorough Bohemians, and, as such, work like slaves, and spend like fools. The contractor, assisted by his manager, went up the line to pay his hands and sub-contractors on Saturday last, and our reporter accompanied them. The trip could not with truth be characterised as a pleasure trip, although, of course, there were some oases in this coastal desert. Unless a man possesses the nerve of iron and the feet of a chamois, it would be as well if he stayed at home. The manager took the reporter along the line during the day, for the purpose of “showing him round,” and the former mentioned gentleman, in the process, very nearly succeeded in showing the scribe more than he bargained for. Tracks of about 12in wide overlooking precipices, some of them nearly 300 ft high, though, apparently, they seemed to be at least 1000 ft above the level of the sea were traversed and the excitement was still further intensified through the diligence and activity of the navvies, who were engaged in throwing down stuff and small boulders on to the narrow pathway. These men knew it was pay-day, and they were equally aware that Mr Lawton, the manager, had a portmanteau in his hand, weighing something like 70lb, and consisting of notes, gold, and silver, and yet until a vigorous cooey or an ear-piercing whistle was sent up by the manager, they obstinately persisted in making us play at hide, and seek behind huge friendly rocks, by hurling nearly as huge masses of stone at us. When, however, the men condescended to take in the situation, they slid down the sides of the range with immense velocity, and gathered round us and the treasure, which reminded one of the famous picture in the art gallery of the Public Library in Melbourne, wherein the Marquis of Lorne and “Louise” are depicted as being surrounded by the bold bandits of the Alps.

It was worth the trouble of watching the different dispositions of the men on the receipt of their month’s money. The contractor would first of all count each man’s pay, which he passed over to the manager, who would go through the same formula. Then the recipient’s character would come to the front. Your thorough Bohemian would just cram the notes into one pocket, and the silver into another, whilst others more cautious would depart, a few paces and recount his “screw” for himself. In no instance, however, was the slightest inaccuracy in the accounts made, and the recount having been made, his navvyship would struggle up the mountain side like a goat, or into the cutting, and, taking up his tools, would resume his work. The sub-contractors generally were ready with great canvas bags to hold their money, although there was one “boss” sub-contractor, whose monthly account reached between £500 and £600, who crammed his bundles of £100, each in single notes, into his coat and trousers’ pockets. The man informed us that his garments had been specially designed and constructed to hold bundles of notes. This was on the following morning, however, and after spending probably a “wet” night in the township. The view of the Straits from the hillsides was truly a magnificent one, and will doubtless prove a source of wonder and delight to visitors from town when the line is completed. The pay-office, in every instance but one, was in the open air and the desk a large boulder. At each pay the sub-contractor or ganger was informed by the contractor that the Government had established a Post Office Savings Bank at the “Camp” and recommended them to induce their men to invest in it. The manager generally contented himself by a short admonition to “Look out, and mind and turn to on Monday morning.” The works all along the line appear to be in a forward state, and speak well for the enterprise of the shareholders of the company. (New Zealand Mail 19 September 1884 p25)

The railway camp was disbanded with the opening of the railway and by 1887 the Wellington Almanac listed just six railway workers living at Pukerua: a foreman and five labourers. So ended this most colourful era of Pukerua’s past.

By Ashley Blair