The 1920 Te Kao Farming Scheme

The institution of the Te Kao Dairying Scheme saved the district from starvation and ultimately resulted in the development of the Far North. During the 1920’s at Te Kao, 46kms short of Cape Reinga, typhoid, rheumatic fever, and TB were rife, and accidents in the gumfields common. The road consisted of a rough track and the bullocks used for drays, fed on scrub since no pasture existed although some scrub had been cleared for gum digging. Judge Acheson from the Tokerau District Maori Land Court visited Te Kao in May 1925. Concerned for the well-being of the local population because the demise of the gum market and lack of other income possibilities forebode great hardship and likely starvation, he suggested that the papakainga lands be used for dairying.

The idea was well received and despite his lack of farming experience, Mr Watts, the native school headmaster, was made manager of the scheme. Some weeks later Judge Acheson brought Department of Agriculture and Lands Drainage people to Te Kao to measure levels along the valley to Tangoake. The Awapoka Stream was lined with willows which blocked the flow, and beyond that, the valley was a raupo swamp from one side to the other. The stream was cleared of obstructions and drains cut to empty the swamp. Willows were hauled out with a bullock team and for six shillings a day, gumdiggers, accustomed to wet work, cleared the swamps. It was the first development of Maori land by the Tokerau Maori Land Board.

By 1926 enough grass had been sown to support a few dairy cows which were purchased from Kaitaia and driven up Ninety Mile Beach. As the only cows being milked north of Waipapakauri,  Kaitaia Dairy Company refused to send a truck to collect the cream. Undaunted and with enormous support from Mr Watts and Judge Acheson, a one-ton Morris truck  was purchased in 1927 and it carried the first cream produced in Te Kao to Awanui.  Tiriki Wiki was the first cream lorry driver; the round trip taking two days and the truck often bogging several times on the way. The yield in 1927-28 was 10,000lbs; by 1955-56, it had increased to 101,000lbs.

Judge Acheson and Mr Watts were both dedicated to the development of Maori, and Acheson was not beyond circumventing political and official agendas to institute many aids for Far North Maori. He enabled, little by little, the development of much land to pasture without Wellington really being aware of the Far North scheme. Mr Watts remained advisor to the scheme until 1936 when field supervisors to the Department of Maori Affairs were introduced. After the Judge retired in 1943, administrative changes took place; land titles were consolidated and defined, and the scheme he initiated was completed. The Kaitaia Dairy Company took over the cream lorry which by then was serving a large district. The Te Kao Scheme meant that farmers further south were able to have their cream picked up and consequently, land development in the far north became viable.

Research drawn from Te Kao 75 by Jim Henderson – 1957, and images supplied by Far North Regional Museum.