Family History, Local History: Marge Harré, the early years, Pt 2
The blog post on the 4 December 2013 introduced Marge Harré and her family's involvement with the Roadhouse restaurant in Oratia. The Clark and Gardner families with whom Marge was related, played a leading role in the growth of West Auckland’s brick and clay industry. 'The sons of Louisa (Clark) and John Gardner made bricks in New Lynn. Between 1922 and1925 they made nearly 21 million' (p.15, ' Roadhouse Days '). Louisa (Gan) Clark/Gardner (Marge's grandmother) lived at the Gardner house at Glorit until some of the family moved down to New Lynn in 1898. The house, named Mataia Homestead , is located on the Kaipara Coast Highway . Gan moved down there a little later, probably around the early 1900s. The photo below is from the early 1930s, when Gan went back to visit the house. Ref: Gan in hat in front of House at Glorit, from the Harre Family Collection, c. 1930s, West Auckland Research Centre Marge’s mother, Ellen (Gardner) Miller died 11 months after...