Motu Village

In the early 1900’s Motu was a thriving community with a General Store, (run by The Common Shelton Company in Gisborne), Lovell’s stables with their own stage coach, the Bank of New Zealand, the Bank of New South Wales, a cobbler and saddlers, a cheese and butter factory, a blacksmith shop with a billiard saloon, the Motu Hotel, police station, school, Post Office, garage, two churches, sports grounds, stock and station yards, tennis courts, and a Public Works Department, the Motu Hall, plus the thriving timber mills.

Today there is only, the church, the Community House, six permanent residents’ houses, three fishing lodges, and the school. The one shop left, has been closed since 1995. People still collect their mail from the red boxes on the outside.

We looked in the window at the shop and saw all the empty shelves and the mark on the floor where the enormous kauri shop counter had once been.

By Maia-Jo