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Story: King Country places

Ōngarue village store, 2011

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Ōngarue village store, 2011

Ōngarue is a railway settlement, founded after the main trunk line reached the area in 1901. Sawmilling and farming were the lifeblood of the township, and an Ellis and Burnand sawmill operated there between 1912 and 1966. By the late 1960s the village store was the last business still open, but it, too, closed in 2003. The building is a reminder that Ōngarue was once busier than it is in the early 2000s.

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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

by Kerryn Pollock

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How to cite this page

Kerryn Pollock, King Country places – Benneydale, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/34748/ongarue-village-store-2011 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Kerryn Pollock, published 6 December 2011, updated 1 March 2015.

Comments

Gary Wood
17 April 2015
This is an awesome place for Photo's , and show some of yesterday in real time. Should be maid a national conservation site.