Power Station Accommodation Mangahao

The historic houses side by side here on Hay Street were where the workers of the Mangahao Power Station ate and slept for the long duration of it's build. The station was a landmark in the development of Hydroelectricity for the Manawatu and New Zealand. The village is variously known as Mangaore, and Mangahao, though it is part of Shannon, a few kilometres away.

Though there is not much left here, starting in 1919 a workers camp built up, with four substantial bungalows for the top workers, lots of temporary accommodation, some precariously perched on the hillside. What's left is one 1924 bungalow and one 1929 dormitory house, amongst the small, but still viable settlement at the end of the Mangahao road.

The dorm on Hay Street is a seriously classic looking building, even if the bungalow is not. It is not known if the tennis court opposite dates to the dam-building village days. There are another two houses on the Council Heritage list at 17 and 18 Petticoat Lane which may have also belonged to the camp.

Image Credit: 2 Hay Street Shannon, Ray White Real Estate, and Te Papa, Mangahao Camp by George Leslie Adkin, gift of the GL Adkin Estate 1964.