History of the Area--
Wairau Valley takes it's beginnings from 1878 when an Auckland lawyer, Peter Oliphant purchased 640 acres of scrub covered clay from the Crown. It had been dug over by gumdiggers and so was unnaturally rough. Mr Oliphant fenced around the property, planting pine trees inside the boundary to keep out the wild horses which roamed through the valley. The majority of the pines were milled in the 1930's although a few survive, especially in the vicinity of Sunset road.
In 1902, John knight, a new immigrant from Scotland bought the farm. He had run Black Angus cattle in the Scottish Highlands, and when he introduced the breed to the Valley they thrived. He made a track through the manuka so he could sell his cattle at the saleyards in Takapuna. The track linked up with Archers Road and became known as Short Cut Road. Travellers were allowed to use the track provided the gates were closed and refastened with wire.
The farm was again sold in 1908, to well known businessman and former mayor of Devonport Ewen Alison. Mr Alison named his property Mayfield which was adopted as the District name, until it was renamed Glenfield (at the insistance of the Post Office). The herd was changed to dairy to supply the increasing population of Takapuna and Northcote. A feature of the landscape for many years was a windmill, built to provide the dairy herd with an adequate supply of drinking water. The windmill stood where Target Road joins Wairau Road today.
A good friend of Mr Alison, Colonel Holgate lived in Devonport. Col. Holgate was the commanding officer of a volunteer militia unit of mounted rifle troops known as the Seddon Horse (after the N.Z. P.M. Richard Seddon). He needed a rifle range for his troops, each of whom was an expert marksmen. The Col. was allowed to build a rifle range on the property near the windmill. The road which was created as access to the range became known as Target Road. Later this land was leased by Chinese market gardeners who grew vegetables for the Auckland city markets.
After W.W.1, when peace had been restored, the rifle range was largely forgotten, but the name Target Road remained. The target butts remained beside the road for many years. About 1930, an Australian syndicate known as the Burk Organisation purchased the valley where 10 acre lots were sold for 200 pounds. James Elliot, a hardworking farmer took the plunge and purchased land. Later when the area was zoned commercial, he made his fortune. ( two local roads still bear his name--James st & Elliot ave)
The posted co-ords will get you to the shiny "backsight" on a post , the "foresight" is on a similarly marked post 16m away in a Northerly direction, draw a bead through the two to see something in the background, thats your Target.
Happy hunting!
Cache is a film can in an object, logbook only,BYOP.
If you want to see what can go wrong with target shooting, check this out! --- Link