The road we know today as Anawhata Road was originally known as McElwain’s Road. It ran from Piha Road (formerly West Coast Road) out to the coast where John McElwain had a farm, sandwiched between the Wekatahi Native Reserve at Piha and the Waitakerei Native Reserve at Te Henga. The land had originally been owned by Francis White, but it was sold to McElwain in 1877.
So who was John McElwain? He was an Irishman from Ballymascanlon, Louth, Ireland. He arrived in New Zealand in 1848, following his brother George, who was Auckland’s first gaoler.
McElwain made a good deal of money growing potatoes which were shipped to the Gold Rush areas of California.
In 1856 he married Mary Fletcher Whiteley, one of the first Pakeha born in New Zealand. She was the daughter of a prominent Wesleyan missionary, John Whiteley. The couple had two daughters and three sons and lived in Grange Road, Mt Eden.
John McElwain accumulated a great deal of land in various parts of Auckland and in 1882 he subdivided his farm in New North Road to create the township of Kingsland, with 444 allotments.
The names First, Second and Third Avenues were created through this subdivision. McElwain then turned his hand to developing the farm on his Waitakere land where he ran sheep with his sons. The whole family moved to live at Anawhata. McElwain soon became embroiled in local affairs, becoming a JP and standing for the local Waitakerei road board which he chaired for a number of years. The great issue facing settlers in the west was transport, and McElwain and his colleagues pushed for funding to develop roads from the rail line at Henderson out to the coast. At one stage, McElwain and his neighbour to the south – William Stockwell – who had leased then purchased the Piha and Wekatahi Native Reserves, offered to pay part of the cost of the road building in an effort to make it happen.
This was a surprising alliance as in 1878 McElwain had found himself in court charged with killing three of Stockwell’s sheep. McElwain was apparently in the habit of riding round his property on horseback, armed with a gun – largely for shooting wild pigs. He was annoyed Stockwell’s sheep strayed onto his property, so drove them southwards, during which foray the sheep jumped off a cliff to their death.
John McElwain died aged 95, in September 1916, and was buried at Waikumete.
Although the name McElwain has been removed from the road, there is a McElwain Lookout Track in the regional park. It starts opposite the western entry to Cutty Grass Track on Anawhata Road and there is a look-out platform with wonderful views of the ranges.
According to Jack Diamond there was once a pa site here with a number of kumara pits, but they are no longer discernable.
Sandra Coney
Image Credit:
Horsemen on McElwain’s Road, 1914. J T Diamond Collection, JTD-04J -02154, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections