Nolan Road (Hāwera)

Nolan Road, just west of Hāwera off State Highway 45, was named after a man who was connected with many facets of the developing town in its early years. He went on to gain national recognition providing care and comfort to the country’s soldiers far from home during World War One.

Robert Howard Nolan was born in Australia in 1855 but moved to Auckland as a child where his father, David, set up a successful auction business called Hunt and Nolan Auctioneers. On leaving school he tried his hand on the goldfields of Thames before moving to Hāwera where he set up his own business with his brother-in-law, Arthur Tonks, called Nolan Tonks and Co. The successful auction and livestock business ran from 1880 to 1914.

During this time he was involved in the formation of many Hāwera establishments such as the Hāwera Gas Co., the Hāwera Permanent Building Society and he was a lieutenant with the Hāwera Volunteer Corps. His greatest love was horseracing and he was involved with the Egmont, Opunake, Eltham, Pātea, Waverley and Waitotara Racing Clubs and the Egmont Hunt Club.

In 1882 he married Octavia Jane Durie from Whanganui, daughter of Major David Durie of whom Whanganui’s Durie Hill is named after, and had four children. Robert purchased large areas of property around Hāwera, including land on Nolan Road, which was subsequently named after him. He also owned land in Hāwera, east of the railway line, in the town’s only suburb, which from the early 1900s onwards was known as Nolantown, again in his honour.

In 1914 Robert left New Zealand for London, which is where he was when World War One broke out. Described in one media report as simply being the “right man in the right place” he became responsible for managing the hugely successful and popular New Zealand Soldiers’ Club in London’s Russell Square, for the duration of the war. The club was set up by the New Zealand War Contingent to provide a comfortable home base for New Zealand soldiers on leave or convalescing in London.

He received much praise for his work at the club, including an illuminated address from the Returned Soldiers’ Association in appreciation of his “unremitting and self-sacrificing labours”. He was also awarded a knighthood, just weeks before his death, in Auckland in 1923.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.