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Story: Bush trams and other log transport

Bushmen on a bush train

Bushmen on a bush train

This team of 19 workers is setting off to work from their camp near Kuaotunu in the Coromandel. Photographed about 1908, they are on the first train of the morning. Some are sitting on log bogies, others are on the water tank of the ‘lokey’ (locomotive). Bushmen often took their dogs along.

Using this item

New Zealand School of Forestry, University of Canterbury

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How to cite this page

Paul Mahoney, Bush trams and other log transport – Transporting logs: 1840s–today, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/12219/bushmen-on-a-bush-train (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Paul Mahoney, published 1 March 2009.

Comments


30 July 2010
Hi Rob, thanks for your comment. We acquired that image from The New Zealand School of Forestry at the University of Canterbury, so you will need to contact them. You'll find a link to their web page above, just below the caption.
Rob Shewry
28 July 2010
Would it be possible to purchase a copy of this photo of the 19 workers on the train heading to work as I would very much like to paint this scene. I paint landscapes, native birds and have a great interest in the history of bushfelling and farming in New Zealand. My great uncle was J.E. (Ned) Shewry, a former World champion axeman in the 1911 - 1930s era. He was a bushman and farmer from Taranaki.