Looking back at Homedale in 1946, it’s clear that Wainuiomata was, for all intents and purposes, just Homedale. A testament to this is the name of what we now call Main Road. At the time, it was known simply as Wainuiomata Road.
The photo shows a view along Rowe Parade, taken from the area where Stanley Street and Sharp Crescent would later be developed. On the hill to the left, up on the Hair Street ridge, you can see Ian Whitcher’s house. That ridge gradually tapered down to the valley floor just beyond his property, where it was eventually cut through to allow the main road to pass through.
In the foreground, the two-storey house on the right was a private build later occupied by Claude Williams and his family. Next door, further to the right, is the house that became the consultation surgery of Dr Hugh Budge.
In the distance, a cluster of trees marks the location of a former homestead known as Moness, which belonged to Hugh Sinclair. The surrounding farmland is now Richard Prouse Park. If the Sinclair family’s significance to Wainuiomata were more widely recognised, the park might well have been named Sinclair Park instead. Behind it lies the entrance to Reservoir Valley, which was once known as Sinclair Valley.
Though the photo isn’t high-resolution, it clearly shows that the hills had already been heavily logged by that time.
Tags: Aerial Streets
