This post is a historical snapshot of a brick building on the
corner of Tutanekai and Haupapa streets, Rotorua, New Zealand. The building
presently houses the Pig & Whistle restaurant and bar, and wasn’t always a
cosy place where you can get a delicious bite to eat. In fact, its origins had
nothing to do with the hospitality industry. The Pig ‘n’ Whistle used to be a
police station.
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Photographer:
Faeryl Rotherham, 2012. “The Pig n Whistle Restaurant and Bar” corner of
Haupapa and Tutanekai streets.
Rotorua as a police station was first recorded in 1886
with two constables. By 1921 Rotorua became a part of the Hamilton Police
District with 3 constables and Senior Sergeant William John Quinn was given
command of the station. In 1966 the Bay of Plenty area separated from the
Hamilton Police District and became its own police district, with the district
headquarters located in Rotorua.
Timeline
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Rotorua Morning Post
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Mon 19 February 1940
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Foundation stone laid
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Rotorua Morning Post
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Tues 27 August 1940
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Station officially opened
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Rotorua Post
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Mon 4 April 1955
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New police station denied. New cell block, garages and
housing for single staff at rear of station approved
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Daily Post
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Fri 1 April 1966
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Rotorua police are set to become the centre for the Bay
of Plenty police district. There are 17 stations in the area and Rotorua is
to be the new headquarters
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Daily Post
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Sat 11 October 1969
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Old Tutanekai Street police station has become the new
headquarters for the probation service and audit department
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Rotorua Review
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Fri 17 January 1986
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The archives in Wellington also report that Rotorua as
a police station was first recorded in the Journals of the House of Representatives
in 1886
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Former police reporter Keith Johnstone shared many
memories of what went on in, the Red Brick police station. It was a two-storey
building with a tiled floor in the tea room (a converted toilet). It was a
place where staff did ‘long, tiring searches for people lost in the Ureweras,
long days in court and have a quiet cuppa in the team room’. Johnston recalls a
time when he went to Hinehopu in the work vehicle, a Ford Anglia, narrowly
missing a black heifer in the dark and when he arrived, ‘…nothing had
happened…’ He also remembers a particularly elusive fugitive named George
Wilder who was difficult to capture. There were many long cold nights out with
police staff on Wilder-type patrols and stakeouts.
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| Rotorua Daily Post, Thursday 10 March, 1994. |
In the newspaper article above, Jack Lander mentions that the only transport available to the police were pushbikes. However in other parts of the country a 1955 Ford Consul, capable of up to 60mph was being used.
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| Rotorua Daily Post, Thursday 3 March 1994 |
A 1929 annual report of the Department of Tourist and
Health Resorts recorded two thefts in Rotorua. The first incident was the theft
of 40 towels from the bathhouse laundry. The second theft recorded that 41
fowls were taken from the departmental poultry-yard. In both cases the culprits
weren’t caught. The station and gaol adjoined the courthouse.
There were five rooms in the residence area and two cells behind.
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| Parliamentary Papers, Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1929 Session - Papers Past |
