This section of the website records memories of people who have lived in or visited Kohukohu over the years. If you have any memories and photographs you would like to add, please feel free to contact us.

John Dockray Williams

I think it was 1948 or 1949 that I went to Kohukohu as a clerk in the Bank of New South Wales.

I first of all boarded with Mrs Sharland whose husband Hoppy skippered the Sierra, which was a launch used as a ferry to go to Horeke and to Rawene and sometimes to Oponone.

I remember going to a dance at Horeke. We went up the river and ran the launch on the mud as it was low tide. The men took shoes of and carried the girls ashore. We walked up to the hall to find others gathered but the band did not turn up so it was a dance by piano music.

I made friends with Des Andrewes and his family a friendship that is still there today. The store A S Andrewes and Sons had the most wonderful collection of stuff in it some going back years. You could get just about anything.

You can see the Bank building the two story building behind had the solicitors I think Kirkpatrick and Stevens but I'm not sure. I moved from Mrs. Sharland's to a flat in that building upper floor.

These are two photos I took in 1949 - which
gives you an idea of the extent of the wall that held the sawdust in. The height of the wall would have been about three metres and the distance
between uprights about two metres.

There are about 40 uprights which makes the distance out into the harbour
about 80 metres. The distance along the shore line about 100 metres. that
makes an area of 80x100 equals 8000 square metres times 3 comes to 24,000 cubic metres.