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If you are heading north on your travels from Auckland you most probably have planned to explore the Kauri coast by turning off Hwy 1 at Kaiwaka and taking Hwy 12. Perhaps you have even scheduled a stop at the justifiably respected Matakohe Kauri Museum but have you given a thought to exploring Dargaville and its Museum?

New Zealand is a host of small rural towns many of which look sleepy with not much going on. Perhaps in the 21st century that is the case but go back a hundred years or so and some of these 21st century backwaters were thriving international trading posts. The frontier towns if you like and when you get a chance to explore they are well worth it and Dargaville is one such town.

Once on Hwy 12 and travelling north towards Dargaville you will cross the Ruawai flats, the kumera or sweet potato capital of New Zealand. If this was America you’d probably be able to stop at the Big Kumara for a burger and kumara chips but it’s not and there is no Big Kumera to be seen. If you get a chance though try the kumera chips. These are really chunky kumera french fries and are available at many of the takeway food outlets and cafes.

Dargaville is nestled on the banks of the Northern Wairoa River and if you are looking for it on a map it’s on the west coast of Northland just where Hwy 14 from Whangarei joins Hwy 12.

With a rich history of kauri logging, gum digging, shipbuilding and shipwrecks instead of changing down a gear and continuing north plan on stopping for a while or even overnight and enjoying the atmosphere of this riverside town and learning a little more about its history.

Dargaville Museum is in Harding Park, just out of town, with magnificent views from its hillside site overlooking the remants of the prominant volcanic cone of Toka Toka, Maungaraho Rock and the Northern Wairoa River.

Dargaville was founded by Joseph McMullen Dargaville in 1872. of French Hugenot decent the Irish Joseph Dargaville left Cork in Ireland as a young adventurer first going to Australia, where he married, and later to the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island as a branch inspector for the Union Bank.

Quickly becoming bored with the bank Joseph he tried to establish himself as a wholesale merchant before entering the Kauri Gum and timber trade of the Northern Wairoa. Although there were allready substantial settlements at Aratapu and Te Kopuru he saw the strategic value in establishing a settlement at the confluence of the two major rivers ijn the region, the Northern Wairoa River and Kaihu Creek. All trade with the area was carried by river to the Kaipara Harbour as the roads were little more than tracks. So in 1872 he brought 171 acres at this spot, known as the Tunatahi Block. He paid 1 pound an acre for the land and started to lay out and build a private town.

The rest they say is history.