South Wairarapa Rebus Club

By David Woodhams

The September meeting of the SW Rebus Club heard from Joseph Gillard, Co-Chair of Cobblestones Museum, Greytown, on recent developments and future plans for this fascinating view of early Wairarapa settler memorabilia. Greytown’s history is of particular national interest in that it was the first inland settlement in NZ to become a borough. All preceding boroughs were coastal settlements. A Fifth Friday group visit to Cobblestones, planned for 30 September, was postponed by wet weather to 7 October when Joseph kindly gave a group of members a guided tour of the site.

Fronting Main Street, the recently completed main building is a light, airy space with well-displayed exhibits and clear labelling. One can easily dwell a while among the many fine displays. The large architectural model of early Greytown and the graphic presentation of its history were very well planned and of high quality. Those of us who had not visited recently were particularly impressed by the layout and attention to detail. We appreciated how friendly the presentation is for visitors. 

The main building and the collection of authentic Victorian buildings that make up the village are located on the original site of Hastwell Stables, established in 1857, on a block between Main and East Streets. It was the staging post for Cobb & Co’s horse-drawn coaches to Wellington and the base for Hastwell’s Wairarapa coach services. In its heyday up to 70 horses could be fed and accommodated overnight, the coachmen being hosted across the road at the Rising Sun Hotel. Horse-drawn vehicles form a fascinating focus for Cobblestones expansive collection of early farm machinery. A horse-powered hay baler (1 HP!) caught my eye.

Our tour took in the stables, the woolshed that gave its name to the famous Donald Wool Press and the 1865 Methodist church, probably the first church erected in Wairarapa. We peered into the early 1900s Printing Works and visited the one-teacher Mangapakeha School (1902-1966), a mobile roading workman’s hut for living on the job, Wairarapa’s first public hospital and dispensary (1875) and the early colonial cottage (1867). It is surely unusual for a museum to have a working letterpress printing shop operating on an interactive basis with visitors as a key attraction when it is open on public holidays and weekends. The display of public print work in the window was inspiring.

Greytown, and indeed South Wairarapa, can take pride in hosting this unique collection of heritage buildings and artefacts – this fantastic site that has been the focus of sterling efforts from numbers of community volunteers, starting with Jaycees in 1969, over more than five decades. Greytown has a special place in New Zealand history, well recorded and celebrated in Cobblestones Museum.

The South Wairarapa Rebus Club <https://southwairaraparebus.com> meets in the South Wairarapa Working Men’s Club on the fourth Friday morning of each month. Anyone in the retired age group is welcome to come along to a meeting as a visitor.  Please contact David Woodhams, Past President, phone 306 8319.

Photo Caption: Joseph Gillard demonstrates an early prototype for the electric mobility scooter.