Skeet Road

Skeet Road in South Taranaki is a major road linking the west coast with the inland State Highway 3 and intersects the settlements of Te Roti, Matapu, Kapuni and Auroa while passing close to the historical reserve and site of Riwha Tītokowaru’s former pā, Te Ngutu o te Manu.

It’s formation, like many of the roads in this district, is tied up with the controversial survey of the Waimate Plains 140 years ago.

The road was named after either surveyor Harry May Skeet - who was employed to survey the plains in 1878-1880 - or his father, Harry Lufkin Skeet. Harry Skeet senior at the time of the Waimate Plains survey was in charge of the West Coast Royal Commission which was conducting the survey for the Crown.

Harry Skeet junior was one of a group of surveyors who, while attempting to survey the Waimate Plains, were gently but firmly removed by Tītokowaru’s iwi and followers of Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu of Parihaka, and placed, along with their possessions, on the east side of the Waingongoro River.

This action, along with the ploughing survey lines and erecting fences by the people of Parihaka momentarily stalled the survey of the plains. Many of those involved with this resistance were arrested and held without trial in the South Island. In November 1881 the Government invaded Parihaka. Many of it’s inhabitants were arrested or driven away and the much of the village was demolished.

Before this, however, the surveying of the Waimate Plains resumed. Sections of land were listed for sale as early as February 1881.

Harry Skeet senior had been involved in surveying the Napier district and Nelson province in the 1860s. In 1871 he was transferred to New Plymouth where he was in charge of surveying the confiscated land in South Taranaki. Soon after this he became Chief Surveyor of the Land Purchase Department. He died a few years after the Waimate Plains survey, in 1882.

His son Harry had been trained by his father as a surveyor and joined the Lands and Survey Department in Taranaki in 1876. He was responsible for many important surveys of the district over many years including the first topographical survey of Taranaki Maunga and Te Papakura o Taranaki. He moved to Auckland and became the commissioner and chief surveyor. He died in 1943.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.