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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District]

Putararu

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Putararu.

Putararu is 140 miles from Auckland and thirty-two from Rotorua. It stands 525 feet above the sea, and is the only station between Morrinsville and Rotorua that is in charge of a stationmaster. There are a few scattered settlers in the district; Lichfield is five miles distant, and Waotu fourteen miles; and the traffic from these two places comes to Putararu. Hares, pheasants and quail, as well as fine trout, abound in the district. There is a comfortable hotel convenient to the railway station, and a refreshment room at the station is managed by the hotelkeeper.

The Putararu Railway Station And Post And Telephone Office was opened in 1886. It has the customary accommodation for the staff and the pubic, and there are also landing yards for cattle.

Mr. Charles Jenkins, Stationmaster and Postmaster at Putararu, was born in London in 1872. He arrived in Auckland by the ship “East Lothian,” in 1883, entered the public service in September, 1886, as a cadet, and was appointed to his present position in 1899.

Putarau Junction Hotel (James Sherley, proprietor), Putararu. This house was established in December, 1895. It is a one-storey wooden building with ten rooms, five of which are bedrooms. There is a comfortable dining room, and behind the hotel there are stables containing six stalls and three loose boxes.

Mr. James Sherley, the Proprietor, is an old colonist, and was born near Windsor, England, where he became a commercial traveller at the age of eighteen. In 1852 he landed in Sydney, and had his first goldmining experiences at the Rocky river. A year later he removed to Victoria, where he was on the Castlemaine, Bendigo, and other diggings. In 1863 Mr. Sherley came to Otago, and went to the Shotover. He removed to Auckland in 1864. During the early coaching days Mr. Sherley was well known at Rangiriri, where he built the hotel in 1866, and conducted it till 1881. For six years afterwards he was engaged in farming in the same district. Mr. Sherley then acted for five years as a commercial traveller in the Auckland district, and was subsequently for two years licensee of the Okoroire Hotel. He then removed to Lichfield, where he managed the Lichfield Hotel for two years, and has been at Putararu since the opening of the house, and also conducts a store, which adjoins the hotel. While at Rangiriri, Mr. Sherley was for ten years returning officer and postmaster for the district.

Mr. J. Sherley.

Mr. J. Sherley.