Eureka

The house, entirely of kauri with kauri floors, was built by a man named Roche in 1901.  Originally it had kitchen, dining, lounge, bathroom and five bedrooms, plus a conservatory.  Later some rooms changed activity, with a laundry, new bathroom and only four bedrooms.  The property was originally 200 acres, but when the road to Morrinsville cut through it was reduced to 110, with the piece over the road sold off.  Purchased by the Clarkin family in 1908 and the land farmed by them, it remained a Clarkin home until 2012, when Kerry Clarkin, who had lived there all his life, move

A railway from Hamilton to Morrinsville was begun in 1879, and completed in 1884 by a third contractor.  The Eureka section was built across the Piako Swamp, and the station site was seen in Eureka as being too far from most of the farms which were situated near the Cambridge-Morrinsville Road, and referred to as ‘Wilderness Junction’.  However, the station itself had three rooms, and railway houses were built for the station agent and gangers who worked on the line.  Eventually it also had a goods shed, cattle yards and the stationmasters’ house on the opposite side of the line

Henry Reynolds built the first ‘house on the hill’ in Eureka when he was the first Manager of the huge Woodlands Estate, and it became the estate headquarters.  8 hectares round the house became orchard, flower and kitchen garden, while he supervised the draining of the Piako Swamp.  In 1881 he moved to Woodlands, and 2000 acres of land including the homestead and outbuildings were sold to an Australian, Albert Suttor.  That house later fell into disrepair, but when John Gordon, then manager of the Woodlands Estate, purchased the homestead block including 900 acres and a further

In 1903 Eureka opened a wooden butter factory on a site in Hunter Road, then called Factory Road.

Eureka School opened on its long term site on the corner of Station Road, (now Eureka Road) and SH24 on 2nd May 1904.  Closed December 2003.  Residents had lobbied for a school since early 2003, but were initially refused.  However, potential student numbers grew, while children had to walk or ride long distances to neighbouring schools.  After a donation of fifty pounds by residents, the first building measuring 24 feet by 12 feet was built on land donated by John Gordon with a roll of 23.  However, this quickly became too small, and by 1905 a larger building to hold up to 45 s

In early 1914 the community decided a Hall was needed, built on locally donated land and funded by subscriptions the wooden building was completed in August 1914.  However, the turmoil caused by the beginning of WWI delayed its opening until December.  It became a much used community centre for card evenings, dances, concerts, meetings evenings and kitchen evenings for brides-to-be.  On Sundays it became a Church and Sunday School.  In 1967 a tender to build a new hall by Tom Muir, who had grown up in Eureka and then built much of Hamilton, was accepted.  In August 1968 the old

Who is this man who ne’er retires
For whom this decade fled so fast
A small man but persistent, ninety now
And yet the fruit doth flow and flow
And Harold sees it come and go.

A decade since I wrote a piece
Recalling fifty years of fruit
In two great orchards based round here
The joys, the progress and the woes
Bags, crates and boxes changing go.

But Harold soldiers nobly on
While many funerals he has seen
Now Tuesdays off and Sundays too
And snoozes in the afternoon
But otherwise it’s still all go.

The farming area known as Eureka was created through the reclamation of part of the vast Piako Swamp. Starting in 1874, 16km of enormous drains were dug by hand to lower the water level sufficiently to farm the land. The Swamp had extended from the edge of Hamilton East to the Piako River, and was part of the land confiscation by Government at the end of the Waikato Land Wars in 1865. A section of the Confiscation Line can still be seen defining the boundary of the east side of Eureka.

A well-known Eurekan.  Well he grew up here and thought he’d be a farmer.  But WWII took him overseas, and when he came back the authorities had other ideas for him.  He came back and built the second hall in 1968, but Tom Muir’s real exploits were created in Hamilton.

THE depression years of the thirties were a grim time for many Eureka folk. However, the relief work schemes started by the Waikato County Council set in train the development of much of the country.