Mangamahu Domain Board
| Date Disestablished: | 1968 |
| Agency Code: | WDC ABP |
| Successor Agencies: | Wanganui County Council |
You are here: Mangamahu Domain Board
Reference: WDC ABP
Record type: Agency
Record: Mangamahu Domain Board
The Public Domains Act 1881 provided the Governor General with power to declare certain categories of land “domains”, and authority to: 1. enclose, plant, and develop land; 2. set aside lands for public amusement and recreation; 3. lease, trade, or sell such lands; 4. provide accessways; 5. manage and administer lands and spend on developments any income generated; 6. make and enforce bylaws. The Governor General also had the right to delegate these powers to a body corporate, consisting of a mayor or any designated local authority officer, and this is in fact the authority under which most Domain Boards emerged. The Public Reserves and Domains Act 1908 clarified the role of Domain Boards and specified their powers more clearly, but does not seem to have altered their structure and functions. The Mangamahu Domain Board appears to have been administered by the Lands and Survey Department until 1950.
JohnArcher
said Mangamahu Domain
The Mangamahu Domain is on the flat behind the Mangamahu school. The flat was built up by huge lahars down the Whangehu river in the 13th and 16th centuries. The flat was the site of a Maori village until about 1843. We lived in the school house and there were still a couple of hangi pits with hangi stones just behind our house. There was at least one race meeting there in the 19th century. Rugby has been played there, and an annual horse sports meeting has been held there for decades, and both still are, as far as I know. Golf was played on it in the first half of the 20th century, until a new course was made at Te Rimu. And a .303 rifle range was built and used up until WW2. Tennis courts were built in about 1948, and a bit of cricket was played too. I think. And woodchopping and Pony Club. And later lacrosse.
The club house there was moved across the river from the village in about 1960. It used to be the Upper Wangaehu Roads Board office in the 1880s- 1900s, and when the roads had all been built, it became the Mangamahu Hall. Some great dances were held in it.
The domain was used as a topdressing strip in the 1950s. That's why the power goes underground between two of the poles on the line to the club house. The early Fletchers with their low powered engines had a difficult job getting altitude in hot weather. In the 1960s a strip was built 250 metres above the flat, on the ridge to the east.
Tags: domain, mangamahu, horse sports, rugby, lahar, rifle range, golf, topdressing