Northland community ready to celebrate Parakao Hall’s centenary

The Parakao Hall has served the tiny Northland farming community of Parakao for 100 years and is getting a birthday celebration in March.

She’s the grand old lady of a tiny Northland settlement, and in March, the Parakao Hall will get a big celebration to honour her 100th anniversary.

The hall in the small farming community of Parakao, 40km west of Whangārei on SH15, has its centennial on March 14.

Parakao Hall Society chair Gill Leeuwenburg said the settlement was preparing to celebrate the milestone with a birthday party.

Leeuwenburg said the hall had been the centre of the community and a venue for many events and occasions. It deserved recognition for being such a big part of Parakao.

“The hall is such a big part of the community, and it’s important that we keep her well looked after and maintained so she can continue for many years to come and to mark her century.”

Leeuwenburg said the March 14 event was a chance for community members present and past to come together and share their memories of the hall and the events held there.

She said anybody who wanted to attend or had memories or photos should check out the Parakao Hall social media pages or email Amy at milkywhey.nz@gmail.com.

In its heyday, Parakao was home to the two-teacher Parakao School (which turned 100 in 2012), a general store, post office, telephone exchange, garage, play centre and its hall, but few of these remain.

Locals built the hall with kauri donated and milled locally. It was known as the Mangakahia Settlers Hall when it opened with a grand ball in 1926.

At first, it was just a large hall with the supper room, kitchen and stage, with the side rooms added later. An erratic generator supplied power.

Today, there’s a well-appointed commercial kitchen.

Dances, weekly picture shows, 21st birthdays, social functions, school plays, pantomimes, and prize-givings have been held there.

It was the classroom when the rooms were being renovated at the school.

The Mangakahia Gardening Club held its monthly meetings there. It has also catered for floral festivals, political rallies, badminton, table tennis, cards, Trivial Pursuit nights, church services, christenings and funerals, Pakotai Country Women’s Institute meetings, music and dancing lessons.

Clinics by the school doctor and district health nurse were all blended into the district’s social fibre from the hall.

Leeuwenburg said these events showed just how valuable and loved the hall was.

She said the Whangārei District Council and Pub Charities provided the hall society with its main funding. It also recently had a sizeable donation from local group PPCG.

The hall also holds rolls of honour of locals who served in the world wars and other conflicts.

The local domain, about seven acres (2.8ha) nearby on Hunter Rd, is associated with the hall and now leased to a local farmer. Part of it is reserved for overflow parking for the hall and cafe.

These days it’s quieter times for the hall, with the school, play centre and other amenities long gone. The general store is now The Old Parakao Store Cafe/Bar.