The Tuia Mātauranga GeoTour is about having fun discovering the history of Aotearoa New Zealand by finding sites of significance in local communities from early Pacific voyaging and migration, European settlement to present day. The interaction between people, and people and the land have provided a rich history that the GeoTour invites you to explore.
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The Old Post Office Tauranga
The first building on this site was a large wooden structure with vertical boards erected in the early 1860s by the Church Missionary Society. It was intended for use as an agricultural training institute for Maori from throughout the Bay of Plenty. The project was abandoned when the land wars broke out. In 1864 the building was taken over by the imperial troops, at first for use as a commissary, and then after the battles of Gate Pā and Te Rānga, as a hospital. It was used to house all the government offices until it was demolished in 1874.
The next building was also made of wood. In fact it was said to be the second largest wooden building in the southern hemisphere. It was the seat of all power in Tauranga, containing central government, Tauranga County and Tauranga Borough council offices. But tragedy struck. As dawn broke on 17 November 1902 residents were greeted by a scene of devastation. Brick chimney stacks stood in splendid isolation amidst piles of reeking debris. Not only had the building been destroyed, but all the written government records had literally gone up in smoke.
Many requests that rebuilding should take place went to Wellington over the next three years. After a visit by Premier Richard Seddon work finally commenced. The third building on this site, designed by government architect John Campbell, is more modest in size but is impressive because of its flamboyant Imperial baroque style. For many years the people of Tauranga visited this elegant building to post a letter, mail a parcel, send a telegram – and even to appear in Court before the Resident Magistrate. The post and telegraph offices occupied the lower floor and the spacious courtroom on the first floor provided splendid views over the harbour.
The post office moved out in December 1938, and gradually other government offices found new premises. A new high rise government building opened in 1980 on land adjacent to the Old Post Office site. Public feelings ran high in 1987 when it seemed almost certain that the building would be demolished. Tauranga District Council saved the day by purchasing the building in 1990. It was then onsold to Grasshopper Properties with strict conditions relating to the re-use and reconstruction of the building. A restoration project was completed in the late 1990s, with the interior redesigned to accommodate four suites of offices. Smythe Family Trust purchased the building in 2001. In 2018 the building underwent more structural changes to comply with the Earth Quake standards. The extensive renovations include 10 boutique hotel rooms, a bar/restaurant and bistro.
As with normal geocaching etiquette each person must sign the log. This can be a high muggle area, so care please. You will require a pen.
We read every log so please tell us about your adventure in more than three or four words. Copy and paste logs do not reflect the time and effort required to design and set up these caches….please enjoy and if you really like it a fav is always appreciated
To be able to complete this Geotour and receive your special geocoin, remember to take a note of the codeword on the log book of the cache. This will need to be recorded in your passport which can be downloaded from here. If the passport is unavailable for any reason just keep a note of the codeword and try again later.
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