Kōrero: Rock, limestone and clay

For many years picks, shovels and muscle were the main tools for road works. Rock for building up the road was often what lay close to hand. If a bluff had to be blasted for the road to pass, the rubble would be used in the road works. Road workers of this era smoked plug tobacco in clay pipes and wore bowyangs – string tied around their knees to keep their trousers clear of the mud.