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Story: Roads

Horse-drawn grader

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Horse-drawn grader

A grader pulled by a team of horses scrapes the mud off a road. Graders helped to form the road surface prior to the application of road metal (crushed stones). Even horse-drawn graders could achieve the same results as many men with shovels and wheelbarrows.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: 1/2-103439: F

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.

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How to cite this page

Carl Walrond, Roads – Building roads, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/23301/horse-drawn-grader (accessed 25 June 2026).

Story by Carl Walrond, published 2 March 2010, updated 1 March 2016.