people

COUNTRY WOMEN'S INSTITUTE

Henry Reynolds was a pioneer of the dairy industry in the Waikato. A former manager of the Woodlands Estate he purchased 1600 acres of land in 1886 which became the Newstead Estate.
He established the first creamery in the area on the Newstead Estate in 1890. He also had a creamery at Pukerimu at which he founded "Anchor Brand" butter. This now world reknowned brand was named after an anchor tattooed on Henry Reynolds' arm.

James Runciman was born in Scotland in 1829 and emigrated to New Zealand with his parents, arriving in the ship "Nimrod" in 1839.
The family settled in the Whangarei district but, in 1845 they were driven out by Maoris and took up a run of 2000 acres at Drury.

Mrs. Gordon dressed carefully. It had been a long journey up from Damaru, first on the little coastal steamer, and then by train to Taupiri where they had stayed last night. Joe Radford, the head waggoner of Woodlands, had met them there, and today she would drive out to the new home. As she smoothed the silk of her travelling gown, she felt that as the wife of the manager of an estate that covered, 86,502 acres, she really was importsnt, and she knew that she and her husband would be able to make a contribution to this part of the colony.

"Haul Tainui, haul her to the sea"

WHILST hewing a livelihood from the scrub and flax the settlers tolerated many hardships. Amenities were few and money was scarce. The constraints of their lifestyle no doubt caused so many social activities to flourish in the little farming district. 
Those were days when people made their own fun, whether a barn dance or a picnic or a game ofcricket. Everybody joined in, anyone who could swing a bat or hit a ball. Eureka soon developed quite a reputation for its rugby team, tennis club and in later years its badminton and indoor bowling clubs. 

PERSEVERANCE paid in many ways for the settlement's pioneers. One of their many success stories is Eureka School. 

THE saga of Eureka's pioneers spans nearly eight decades. Even in the late thirties the Waverley Islands still provided a backdrop of marsh and manuka to the Eureka scene. Developement of this area started in earnest after World War II.
Many of the early settlers stayed but a few years and then sold their land. As they came and went each contributed through their hard work and adventurous spirit to the breaking in of the farmland and the building of the community.