Long ago the Waitākere Ranges were covered in ancient forests of huge kauri trees. Māori valued kauri because of its size and for its gum.

Kauri are tall and straight and the giant trees were perfect for building waka, boats and settlers’ homes. The work involved in the logging of the kauri forests was documented by photographers, both professional and amateur. By 1900 most of the kauri forests had been cut down. Only a few patches remained.

In more recent times, the incurable and fatal kauri dieback disease has severly impacted kauri forests. Te Kawerau ā Maki, the tangata whenua (people of the land) of Waitākere in Auckland, have placed a rāhui over the entire Waitākere forest (Te Wao Nui o Tiriwa). For the health of the forest, they are asking people to stay away from the bush. The rāhui gives scientists time to develop a solution, and time for the forest to heal.

A large part of Jack Diamond’s extensive research on all things West was focused on the logging industry in the Ranges, he gathered images from every source available to him over the long years of his dedicated work on the history of Auckland’s West.

The images here are a tiny selection from Jack’s huge collection of photographs.

Ref: Photographer unknown. Giant kauri tree, Nihotupu, 52 feet circumference. 1890s. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, JTD-08F-05174.

Giant kauri trees were always special enough to be photographed, well before digital or even old-fashioned film cameras were invented, when equipment was quite large and processing the images was quite a task! The tree in this photo is just under 16 metres in circumference. Three men are sitting on top of part of the root system, which is above the ground, of the large mature tree in the Nihotupu bush of the Waitākere Ranges.

Ref: Charles Thomas Spearpoint. Kauri log and workers in Mander and Bradley’s bush. 1898. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections,  JTD-08D-05589-1.

Can you imagine how much hard labour it took for this group of bush workers from Mander and Bradley’s Mill to load this enormous kauri log onto the bogie on the mill tramway?

The photo was taken in the Nihotupu valley, in the late 1800s. There were no cranes or bulldozers, or helicopters. A big traction engine may have been used to haul the log out. It must have been quite a feat to get it to this point.

Ref: Photographer unknown. Pit sawing in the bush up Huia Stream. 1922. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, JTD-07D-00329.

In the early days bushmen and sawyers worked long, hard, back breaking hours. This log is almost 11 metres long and 1.2 metres thick and these men are cutting it by hand!

Pit sawing was the simplest way to produce planks for quickly building huts and dams in the bush. It was also a cheap way to make use of a small stand of trees. A long saw with a handle at each end was used, one man above, and one man below. Two experienced sawyers could produce planks almost as accurately as a machine!

Read more about the purpose of this particular pit sawing operation by clicking on the link to the image.

Ref: Photographer unknown. Bullocks on a corduroy road. c1920. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, JTD-01D-04506.

A quick and cheap way of making a serviceable path through wet, soft bush soil was to make a corduroy road. In this photo lengths of logs have been cut and laid to create a durable surface for the bullock team to pull heavy logs from the logging site to the mill tramway.

Corduroy roads were built for military purposes too.

Ref:  Photographer unknown. Piha Tramway, lower section ofthe Piha incline. 1916. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, JTD-04C-00016-2.

Piha Mill was established at the junction of Glen Esk and Piha streams, but an efficient way of getting the timber from the mill was required for getting over the 900 foot hill to Karekare and then on to the Whatipu Wharf. At the top of this impressively steep rail track was a hauler engine that would pull a load of sawn timber up from the Piha Mill, over the top, and lower it down a similarly steep incline to the Karekare side.

Find more information on the Piha Hill and its track in The Piha Tramway by David Lowe.

Ref: Louis Marusich. Piha Tramway engine and log on bogie. 1920. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, JTD-04C-03802-1.

Built in 1873 this A196 steam engine was purchased to accompany ‘Sandfly’ on the Piha Mill logging tramway around 1914. It worked the Piha-Anawhata section of the track. ‘Sandfly’ worked in the other direction from Karekare to Whatipu. It appears it was never named like the little ‘Sandfly’ locomotive, which acquired its name after arriving on the coast and working on rail tracks across the Karekare sand. ‘Sandfly’ even had its own name plate.

Would you like to read more? Click here to request a book about the Piha Tramway.

Ref: Photographer unknown. Log on trailer in Station Road, Henderson. c1926. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, JTD-14M-04438.