Skip to main content

Kōrero: Whanganui region

Railway workers in the bush

Image
Railway workers in the bush

The route of the North Island main trunk railway went through the original forest of inland Whanganui. This painting by an unknown artist, which appeared in the Auckland Weekly News in 1908, shows a camp of railway workers amidst tall trees near the Hāpuawhenua viaduct, north of Ohakune. Within 15 years the area was entirely pasture.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: C-065-006

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Diana Beaglehole, Whanganui region – Vegetation and human impact, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/artwork/19012/railway-workers-in-the-bush (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Diana Beaglehole, i tāngia i te 2 March 2009, updated 1 June 2015.