Kōrero: King Country region

Rivers remained a useful means of transport after Europeans settled in the King Country, particularly in the early years when roads were rudimentary or non-existent. In this photograph the SS Mokau is leaving a sawmill on the banks of the Mōkau River around 1908. Small steamships like the Mokau dropped off supplies to the camps at sawmills and coal mines along the river, and picked up coal and timber for transport to larger centres.