New Zealand - Northland
- Lester Brothers' store. Old store by hotel.
- Lester Brothers' old shop, next to the original Kohukohu Hotel (left), destroyed by fire in 1900
- Photographer: Dawes, Charles Peet
Kohukohu
- A historic village on the Hokianga Harbour in the Northland Region
- One of the first European settlements in New Zealand
- According to Te Tai Tokerau tradition, the legendary Polynesian explorer Kupe visited the area in 925 AD prior to his return voyage to Hawaiiki.
- Angry at the food from the hangi (earth oven) being insufficiently cooked, he cursed those responsible using the word kohu.
- This is the origin of the name Kohukohu.
- The first recorded European to enter the Hokianga Harbour arrived in 1819 and by the 1830s, Kohukohu was the heart of New Zealand's timber industry.
- The country's first Catholic mass was celebrated 8 kilometres north of Kohukohu at Totara Point in 1838.
- For nearly one hundred years Kohukohu was an important timber milling town and the largest commercial centre on the north of the harbour.
- In 1900, the township had a population of almost 2,000 people.
(Reference: Wikipedia)
Image source: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1572-687
https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/photos/id/55480/rec/119