places

The School Opens

ALONE tractor putters from Seddon Road, the dust trail following its waning whirr. Dust? From land once likened to an inland sea? All around the lush pastures touch the horizon... the great Piako Swamp, 1984. 
Back in the forties the manuka forest reached for the sky. Hawks nested in the vegetation and rabbits multiplied on the ground. At night the terrain was blanketed in fog. In summer the black peat smouldered, the tiniest ember sparked off large-scale fires. 

ALL the needs of the district, whether personal or for the farm, came by train and it was a friend indeed, a haven for many a bird-nest or a childish love affair...'1

Perched atop the Hill, the Eureka homestead has always commanded a panoramic view of the surroundmg district. For more than three decades after its erection the homestead was the focal point for the flourishing little community.

JUST east of Eureka a 35 kilometre straight line of fences and hedges can be seen from vantage points on the hills of the Pakaroa Range.

MUCH of the land in the Waikato was cropped for wheat and barley in the late 1800s. By the turn of the century dairying had become the mainstay of farming, especially at Eureka. But today diversification has characterised the area.

St. David’s is a country church located at 591 Matangi Rd.

It is now owned by the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of Australia and New Zealand. Contact is Rev Ovidiu Motofelea, St George Orthodox Parish, 021750431