The Feilding Edwardian Project Inc. was established in September 1993 by local businesses with the aim of revitalising the central business area of Feilding incorporating an Historic Walk depicting plaques and a brochure authored by Dorothy Pilkington.
The brochure was updated and re-issued in 2024 coinciding with Feilding's 150 years celebrations, although at this stage, not the street plaques.
Many of the commercial buildings were built in the early 1900s, termed the Edwardian era - a particular style coinciding with the reign of King Edward VII from the death of his mother, Queen Victoria in 1901 to his own death in 1910.
On February 22, 1901, the Carthew buildings in Manchester Square were destroyed by a most substantial fire taking nine businesses with them. It was this event and another major fire in 1909 at the Feilding Hotel that resulted in the central business district being rebuilt in stone and brick. Many of which still remain over a century later.
The given coordinates are outside the Feilding Courthouse. Constructed in 1907-1909 in the Edwardian Free Classical style it is currently vacant, being deemed a vulnerable building and an 'earthquake risk'. It is a good example of the dignified centre of justice built for small towns.
Complete the Feilding Edwardian Project Adventure Lab to collect the missing digits to find the associated bonus geocache at South 40° 13.ABC East 175° 34.0DE
The Final geocache is at another Edwardian building of the Free Classical / Anglo-Dutch style. The building was constructed in 1907 as the Feilding Technical School. After the school moved to its present site in North Street as part of the Feilding Agricultural High School, the building was retained for teaching cookery and woodwork classes. After the 1931 earthquake, the top floor was demolished, and the building was repurposed in 1938 to become New Zealand's first community centre offering adult education classes.
