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By Bernard Johnson © ‘Mystery Creek’ is clearly a place with an intriguing past, and fortunately a classic local history source gives us the background to the name. In ‘Plough of the Pakeha’ (1975) Eric…

The National Hotel has always been a Landmark in Cambridge. In 1866 in the infant town of Cambridge, the Alpha (now National) was erected for Mr Robert Kirkwood – his name is perpetuated in a…

(By K L Wilkinson, From ‘The News and Theatre Courier’ 12 August 1936) ‘Cambridge, my birth-place, still my home-town. This Jubilee time [Cambridge Borough Council 50 years Jubilee] naturally sets free a flood of reminiscences…

As reported in the Waikato Independent on 28 September 1917, ‘A large number of ladies (and several babies) assembled in the Council Chambers for the purpose of forming a sub-branch of the Hamilton centre of…

When the 3rd Waikato Militia arrived in 1864 the Cambridge Post Office was one of 89 new offices established in the colony. The first Post Master – John Henry Wilkinson – was born in Middlewick,…

On 11 April 1882 the Waikato Times reported :- “The Government is contemplating the erection of a suitable Police Station at Cambridge. As there is no place at present for the convenience of the local…

‘Times were hard in 1880s. Beef, mutton and dairy produce all alike were difficult to dispose of at anything like remunerative prices. But there came to farm near Hamilton a Mr [David] Gemmell from California…

The Cambridge branch of the railway starts near Ruakura, and it was here that the first sod was ceremoniously turned on 6 May 1882. Good progress was made on the section between Ruakura and Matangi.…

Excerpt from The Waikato Times 9 October 1884 ‘The Cambridge railway passes through one of the most forward and prosperous settlements in the North Island. Though the land in the immediate vicinity of the line…