Special thanks to Carl Smith for sourcing this document from the Wainuiomata Museum.
This 1900 map of Wainuiomata reveals some interesting details.
Fitzherbert Road was then known as Swamp Road, a name reflecting the area’s swampy terrain and the presence of a flax-harvesting business. The property that once belonged to the Sinclair family had by this time passed to John Wakeham. The map also shows numerous huts and houses, along with the Wainuiomata River, its tributaries, and the surrounding mountain peaks.
