Oratia Folk Museum
The
Oratia Museum sits in the foothills of the Waitakere Ranges
– Te Wao Nui a Tiriwa – (The Great Forest of Tiriwa). Te
Kawerau a Maki occupied this region for many centuries.
Their settlements were mainly close to the coast , but there
was the small Oratia Pa in the Oratia valley, and the Aruhe
Pa in Henderson Valley.
Rapid and widespread change came with the arrival of people
from Europe. The early 19th century saw the introduction of
musket warfare which took a heavy toll of the Kawerau
people. Further, by the 1850s the Crown had purchased much
of the Waitakere region. Settlement by Europeans, the
logging of timber and clearances for mixed farming caused a
dramatic change to both the social and physical landscape.
The Oratia Museum - a small settler cottage – reminds us of
that time of change.
The cottage was built between 1855 – 1870 at the upper end
of Parker Rd.(125).
Documents show Mr Terence Donnelly as the first owner. He
was an Irish weaver, born in Youghal, who joined the army to
see the world and travelled from Dublin to Australia as a
guard on board a convict ship. He arrived in New Zealand in
1845 as part of the 58th British Regiment, and saw action in
the Land Wars.
Mr Donnelly decided to settle and wanted to farm the lush
valley along the "Orotea Stream". In 1855 he bought 91 acres
in Parker Rd and another 81 acre block in Waiatarua. He
lived and farmed in Oratia until his death on November
16,1889 aged 78. He left behind a middle-aged family of two
sons and four daughters.
In the late 1880s the Moorehead brothers lived in the
cottage. Both died in the 1930s and are buried at Waikumete.
The cottage passed to their nieces.
The nieces, Martha and Alicia Blackbourne, lived in Te
Awamutu, and regularly travelled to Oratia and stayed at the
cottage. Around 1945 nephew, Robert Blackbourne then
Supervisor at the Henderson Post Office, moved into the
cottage.
The family added a lean-to and placed a cast iron wood range
in what had been an open hearth.
In the 1950s Mr Sutherland bought the cottage. Finding it
too small he had a larger house moved on site. The "cottage"
was offered as fire brigade practice, but local residents
asked that it be saved, Mr Sutherland then offered to give
it to the community,
Margery Harre offered the use of a piece of road frontage,
near 'Albion Vale' (itself a registered historic building).
Mr Winslow offered to move the cottage for a token 30 pounds. Izards, a pioneer family, offered to pay all re-siting costs.
The Oratia community raised funds through evenings of
poetry, music and wine; and many gave generously of their
time to help with restoration work. Students of Henderson
High School helped fix new kauri shingles on the roof.
In 2004, 27 years later, a generous grant from the Waitakere
Licensing Trust allowed the shingle roof to be renewed, the
stove restored and outside repainted.
The building
The cottage is built of kauri, felled and sawn at a local
mill just above the original site
It is a well proportioned rectangular structure with a steep
pitched roof of wooden shingles that is referred to as a
'gabled box cottage'.
On either side of the central front door are two nine-foot
square front rooms. Each has a double-hung, multi-paned
window(s). One is the main bedroom, the other the 'parlour'.
The ceilings of these rooms retain their original finish of
kauri gum varnish
(shellac).
The parlour was only used on Sundays, a tradition from
England.
At the back of the cottage a room runs full length, the
kitchen at one end and the scullery at the other. A narrow
and steep staircase leads from the scullery to the two attic
bedrooms; having a window either end.
The picket fence surrounding the cottage is from the
demolished 1873 Avondale Hotel.
Opening hours
 Oratia
Folk Museum is open on Sunday afternoons from 1-4 pm for a
donation or by appointment.
Please
contact Dave or Barbara Harre on (09) 818 7816
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