Nothing seemed to hard! Want to move a building? Just say where to and it would be done!
Not to forget the moving of large / heavy mining equipment, that was achieved on a regular basis.
How were buildings moved?
There are a few reports of buildings being urgently removed to the goldfield, and the most accepted story is that the Wharf Hotel was ferried across the gulf from Auckland. There is no evidence to suggest that this is true, in fact the opposite is true as there are reports in the paper describing the erection of the hotel building at the corner of Albert and Brown Streets.
Around the town, the most common method to move a building was to literally put the structure onto skids / rollers and slowly move the building to the new location with bullock teams. The photo below is from North Auckland, but shows the principal of moving buildings that was employed at Thames in the early goldfield years.
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| Showing a bullock team moving the Aranga hall to be near the Aranga gum camps. It was moved again in the 1990s to the Aranga School. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19220817-41-3. |
Graham Hotel
- Built for Robert Graham in 1868, moved to Waiwera about 1875. Sadly no photograph yet found of this, like all the other early building moves!
Imperial Hotel
- The hotel opened early 1868 on the South-West wide of the Sealey and Pollen Street intersect. (below left) In 1884 it was moved to the opposite side (where a new building was constructed in 1936 - and still remains today (see below right))
- Details of the move:"Messrs Ehrenfried Bros applied to council for permission to close the road, and the Thames Advertiser 14th March 1884 confirmed that this was approved. Experienced building contractor James McAndrew won the contract, and started on the two week task 19th March 1884. The building required turning around in transit to fit the new site. On 26th March the move across Pollen Street began. “The magnitude of the undertaking may be imagined when it is stated that the dimensions of the building are 40 feet by 40 feet, and its weight about sixty tons.” From Hotels of Thames
Kauaeranga Girls School
- The Kauaeranga Girls School aka Sandes Street School was built 1880 (below left) was closed in 1902 and in 1903 moved to the new Parawai School site in Grey Street (below right - later renamed Thames South School)
St George's Church (1st)
- The first St George's Church was built in Rolleston Street in May 1868. (below left) Within a few years a new church was built and then in 1909 the 'old' church was moved to the present church site in Mackay Street - where it is still used as the Church's hall (below right).
St James Church (2nd)
- The first St James Church was located at the corner of Rolleston and Sandes Streets 3 May 1868. The second church (below top) was opened 29 January 1871. When it was decided to build a new church, this second church was moved east on the section and turned 90 degrees to face Pahau Street (c1897). This 'old' church is now used as the church hall.
- The Church started at the corner of Cochrane Street and Brown Street (built 1869). (photo left)
- The Church then in 1885 was moved to the corner of Pollen & Mary Streets (S-W intersect). (photo right)
Details on the move of the Church from the Diary of G W HORNE (Source: Thames Museum)
1885, Oct 26 Mon: Six hands started
this morning to get the Church divided into two parts, and bolting 6x4 under
the center stringer and side wall plates to skid it on.
Tues 27: Got all ready to pull out
side-ways on to the road with two winches.
Wed 28: Got it out on to the road
side-ways about 50 feet, and pulled it end on about 150 feet, with ten hands.
Thur & Fri 29/30: Got as far as
Judds. Three more hands started.
Sat 31st: Wages for the week about
30. One horse dray & driver 5/35
Tues Nov 3: Got into Mary Street
with(?) the Church Front part, 13 hands on this week.
Wed 4: Just got into the Ground this
evening. We shifted it on sleepers 6x4 packed up leveal (sic) and well greased
and pulled it along with a winch and one pully with a rope leading to the
winch.
Everything as worked very well so
far.
Thurs 5: We got the first section
into its place. It has taken 12 men.
Time taken 8 days.
Fri 6: Started to take down the ? at the back of the
other section.
Sat 7: Still on with the apes and
vestry. Wages for the week about 35 with the cart.
Mon 9: Got the apes of and the skids
bolted under and also braced the roof a bit better. We lost 1 hour through
(?)wind.
Tues 10: Started to shift the second
(sic) section got it turned end on to the road ready for a straight pull. I
lost ½ hour weather.
Sat 14: Got as far as the Kraka (sic)
Bridge. The wages and sundry expenses amount to about 30 pounds for the week.
Mon 16: Got on very well shifted it
about 100 yards.
Thurs 19: We got the seckoned (sic)
section in its place. We have had 12 hands on altogether shifting this peace
(sic).
Sat 21: The wages for the month for
shifting the church is about £130.
From Nov 23 to Dec 5: Four men been
on shingling for the fortnight and finishing cost about £20.
Dec 19 Got the sack: We got the
Church finished. Near enough to open it tomorrow.”
Mr Horn gave a summary of the costs
and put the total contract at £373.
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| Map showing how far the Wesleyan Church was moved. |
- The Church then was moved 1962 to corner of Sealey and Mackay Streets. (below left - leaving the Pollen Street site)
- The Church was then dismantled in 1987 and rebuilt at Gails of Tamahere as a wedding venue. (Above right, taken when the church was dismantled in 1987)
There are many more buildings that were demolished and moved, or partially demolished in order that they could be more easily transported. This includes the Waiotahi Creek School and part of the Baillie Street Boys School - details record they were moved, but not where they ended up. Part of the Baillie Street School does remain on the Thames High School site.
Several people have claimed to have had buildings from Thames, but they have not been formally verified. This includes a hotel at Opotiki that is meant to have come from Thames - but it hasn't been identified back to Thames (as yet).
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| Burton Brothers (Dunedin, N.Z.). Hotunui Meeting House, Thames. Ref: PA7-05-19. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22672514 |
- The carved runanga house opened September 1878 at Parawai. It was reported “on the front of the pole there is a figure of Maratuahu, the ancestor of the Hauraki tribes, wonderfully cut and carved. The house has been built for a meeting-place for the council of Hauraki, and will be devoted to no other purpose.” (BOP 21/9/1878)
- The meeting house Hotunui fell into disrepair over the years and in 1925 efforts were made to restore some of the carvings. After negotiations another option became available and the meeting house found a new life at the Auckland Museum, restored at the museum, where it went on display in 1929.
Thames Hospital has moved multiple buildings over its 150 years of existence. from an old morgue building (now at Goldmine Experience), to an old person's home, isolation block (below right), and old staff residences (below left).
What about a lighthouse! Chas Judd Ltd, the foundry on Queen Street, made some magnificent lighthouses that were then transported to a ship and taken to their destination. They would be partially dismantled for the journey! But it still was an amazing fete. In more recent years, Part of Judd's workshop and an old battery have been transported to the Hauraki Prospector's Goldmine Experience property in Queen Street.
- Cape Campbell Lighthouse: What a sight it must have been to see the construction of the lighthouse in 1903 - manufactured by Judd’s foundry in Queen Street. It weighed 95 tons and stood 75 feet high.The lighthouse was conveyed by boat to Wellington, where it was taken in parts to the Cape for erection. It still stands today at Cape Campbell – a testimony to the work of the foundry. (From Lost Landmarks II)
