Mangorei Road

The purchase of 9778 acres, known as the Grey Block, in 1848 for £380 was greeted with delight by European settlers desperate for more land. Mangorei Road was one of the first roads surveyed to enable access to the district.

It is said that the surveyors were offered an incentive to avoid the need for any bridges. Regardless of the story's accuracy, it is a fact that there are no bridges along its entire length.

At approximately 19 kilometres from the corner of Devon Street East to the foothills of the Pouākai Ranges, it is a long road. For many years, however, the stretch of Mangorei Road closest to town was known locally as Hospital Road. In 1847 Governor Grey commissioned a colonial hospital for New Plymouth, erected on the grounds of what is today New Plymouth Girls' High School. The hospital, now known as The Gables, was moved to Brooklands Park in 1904.

According to the Reed Dictionary of New Zealand Place Names, the literal translation of Mangorei is mangō, shark, and rei, tooth and was also the name Māori gave to the stream traversing the district. There is some speculation that it refers to the "Shark's Tooth", a prominent feature on the crater rim of Mount Taranaki. The peak is due east of the summit, across the crater floor. The track at the end of Mangorei Road has long been a popular starting point for trampers and climbers exploring the national park.

Before you reach the end of the road you will have passed schools, shops, cafes, parks and reserves, a community hall, historic Tūpare, and strangely the Westown Golf Course. The club retained the name after moving to this new location in 1957. The original course was sold to the Roman Catholic Church for a new school, Francis Douglas Memorial College. For more tales of the folk from Mangorei, check out the excellent local history, Upper Mangorei: The place, the people through the years in Puke Ariki.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.