Wheeler Place

Wheeler Place in Vogeltown is named after Bertie (Bert) Cyril Wheeler. He was a veteran of the First World War and the owner of the land when it was subdivided in 1956.Bert was the second son of John and Emily Wheeler and grew up on a farm on Durham Road where, among other things, the family reared ostriches in the 1890s. Described by the local newspaper as an unusual enterprise, the lack any other reports indicates that the venture may not have been a success.

Bert was 32 years old and working as a building contractor in Te Awamutu when he enlisted for service with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in March 1917. He spent nearly two years overseas, returning to New Zealand in 1919 and taking his discharge that same year. Three years later he married Winifred Olive Russell and the couple settled in Taranaki.

At the time Bert purchased seven acres of land in Vogeltown (Section 12s) in 1944 he was described as a farmer from Lepperton. The section was part of a much larger block purchased by the Government immediately following World War One to help resettle soldiers returning from the conflict.

It remains unclear what happened to the land in the intervening years, however a clue lies in an annotation on a land settlement map in the Puke Ariki archives. The name F.G. Vincent and the word “Forfeited” on Section 12s indicates that Wheeler may have been the beneficiary of Vincent’s misfortune. It seems likely that after their Vogeltown purchase, Bert and Winifred retired to the smaller town section. With demand growing for residential housing after World War Two the couple decided to subdivide a small section of land in 1952 and then in 1956 a much larger project saw the formation of Rata Street and Wheeler Place.

Bert was living in Wheeler Place when he died in 1959, aged 74, leaving behind his wife Winifred and children Joyce (Mrs Guddopp), Thelma (Mrs Morris) and Jack Wheeler.   

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.

Related documents and plans:

CT152/104 Section 12s Huatoki Settlement (Certificate of Title 1944)

Taranaki SO5548 Sheet 1 Huatoki settlement (1920), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki DP7958 Sheet 1 Subdivision of Section 12s (1956), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)