In this series, Peter Dragicevich searches for the best places to interrupt the trip during a classic Kiwi road trip. In Dargaville, he stops for kai and gets his supplies of kūmara.

Tucked away on the west coast of Te Tai Tokerau, Dargaville isn’t exactly on its way to a substantial location. Unless, of course, you’re embarking on the classic vacation loop of Northland’s greatest hits: hop on the beach along the east coast to the Bay of Islands, Doubtless Bay, and Cape Reinga before to return via the port of Hokianga and the forest of Waipoua. That’s when this sleepy riverside town becomes the great smoke of SH12, conveniently located around an hour’s drive from the Giant Trees, Whangārei, and the Auckland border.

Located at the point where the KaihÅ« River empties into the wide brown Wairoa River, Dargaville is an agricultural center with a population of around 4,800 people of which over a third are Maori. It’s known as the kÅ«mara capital of New Zealand, and the honesty boxes on the farm provide plenty of opportunities to stock up on the iconic root vegetable in the shade that best matches your outfit: purple, orange. , red or “Tokatoka gold”, named after a distinctive mountain peak located 16 km to the south.

The town came into being in 1872 when lumber merchant Joseph Dargaville purchased 171 acres from local iwi, Te Roroa, affiliated with Ngāti-Whātua. Dargaville was a burly Irishman from County Cork of Huguenot (French Protestant) extraction, with a bald head and a prodigious beard, who had made his money as a banker in Australia. He was also a Freemason and a member of the Orange Order, and would become the Grand Master of the Orange Lodge in New Zealand.

However, in the 1870s its main focus was to exploit Kaipara’s natural resources in the form of its mighty kauri forests. In the new town (named after him, of course) he undertook the construction of a large lumber store, a rubber shed, docks and streetcars. A collection of enigmatically decrepit boat-building sheds lining the shore on the spit of land wedged between the KaihÅ« and Wairoa rivers date from this time. Dargaville also donated land to build the Gothic-Renaissance Anglican Church of the Holy Trinity on Hokianga Rd, which was completed in 1878. Ironically, the architect who designed it was Edward Mahoney, an Irish Catholic also from County Cork.

The boathouses and the church are just two of the 23 surprising heritage buildings in the city center. These include three large two-story wooden hotels – the Commercial (built in 1895), Central (1901) and North Wairoa (1924) – which remain some of Dargaville’s most important monuments to this day. However, the only building to have a Category One listing is the old Post office at the corner of Normanby St and Hokianga Rd, built in 1914 in Imperial-Baroque style with columns and a squat clock tower. In 1919, it earned the distinction of being New Zealand’s first post office to receive domestic air mail, thanks to a seaplane from Auckland landing on the nearby river.

After the forests were cleared, a secondary industry arose in the sale of kauri gum, which was used as a varnish and in the production of linoleum. From the end of the 19th century, the back-breaking work of digging in the mud to find the golden gum was undertaken by immigrants from the Dalmatia region of present-day Croatia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). Today, Dargaville is one of the three places (along with Kaitaia and West Auckland) most closely identified with the Croatian community in New Zealand, and the Dalmatian Club of Dargaville continues to carry on their traditions. Prominent Croatian Kiwis who have emerged from Dargaville include famous artist Milan Mrkusich and novelist Amelia Batistich.

You can learn about all of Kaipara’s communities and industries and see a collection of polished kauri gum at the marvelous Dargaville Museum / Te Whare Taonga o Tunatahi. Situated on a hill overlooking the city, it includes a reconstructed gum diggers camp and a magnificent neoclassical relocated wood library building from Aratapu, dating from 1874. Mounted next to a nearby Pa site are the masts of the flagship of Greenpeace, the unfortunate and yet legendary Rainbow warrior.

Back on the pan, there are decent places to fill your tummy. Blah, Blah, Blah… On Main Street Victoria Street has been the city’s big city style cafe / bar for many years now. A few doors down east Matich fishmonger, and you will also find Indian and Thai restaurants nearby. Vegetarians and vegans may wish to consult the Providence whole food store and cafe, just before the bridge on Normanby Rd.

While Dargaville itself does not offer much to hold travelers for a long time, it is an interesting refueling stop and the gateway to fascinating places such as the Pouto Point, 107 km long Ripiro Beach and the Kai Iwi Lakes. And the kūmara is definitely worth stopping by.

For more things to see and do in the area, visit northlandnz.com

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