Caesar Roose (1886 – 1967) was born on Truro
Island (now part of Pukekawa), a 67-acre block of land in the
middle of the Waikato River at Mercer. The son of a German
father and an English-born mother, Roose spent his life
working on and along the Waikato River.
At age 16, Roose bought his first boat, four years later he
purchased a flax mill and in 1909 he earned a river steamer
masters’ certificate.
Over the next few years, Roose built up a fleet of boats and a
thriving business on the Waikato River. In 1916 he sold his
enterprise to the newly established Waikato Shipping Company and
went off to war, but six years later the company collapsed and
Roose seized the opportunity to buy back the shipping licence and
assets to form the Roose Shipping Company.
In addition to trading, hauling and ferrying along the Waikato
River, the Roose Shipping Company also opened an early New Zealand
open cast mine in 1945, built Hamilton’s Fairfield Bridge in the
1930s, helped build the Ngaruawahia traffic bridge in the 1950s and
even established its own trucking fleet.
Rawhiti II embarking on her maiden voyage c. 1925. Roose owned a
number of vessels called "Rawhiti" over the years. HCL_00923 The
Roose-Atkins grab, a tool for loading barges, salvage work and
coaling ships, was patented by Roose and manufactured by his
company.Over the years Roose’s boating activities included
competitive canoeing, ferrying, day charters, trading, transport
and barge-work.
Roose was also a philanthropist: his many contributions to the
community included gifting land to the Mercer rowing club for a
pavilion, working with Hilda Ross and W H Paul to set up the
children’s health camp at Port Waikato, and gifting maps and charts
to the Auckland Museum.
Hamilton's Fairfield Bridge with construction nearly compelte c.
1936. HCL_01003 Roose’s hometown, Mercer, benefitted greatly from
the Roose Shipping Company, with many locals employed by him, and
the township thriving as his business expanded. Roose advocated
strongly for a bridge to link Mercer, Truro Island and Pukekawa.
Although the National Roads Board refused his application in 1965,
his dream was realised after his death when his daughter Jeanette
Thomas, opened the Cesaer Roose Bridge in 1972.