Firth Tower Visit

Sack races

School the way it used to be

Wiremu Tamihana monument

Hoop games

We had an interesting time exploring the Firth Tower Museum to find out more about Josiah Firth and why we are called Firth Primary School.  We learned lots about this very interesting man.  He cleared the land after buying 56000 acres from Wiremu Tamihana.  He build roads and bridges and brought the railway line to Matamata.  He built a dairy factory and a canning factory for fruit, condensed milk and wine.  He cleared the Waihou River to bring his ships to Stanley's Landing for taking wheat and meat to Auckland to sell.  He grew wheat, barley, oats, cos, sheep and other animals.  He brought bees from Italy and agricultural equipment from America.  He built a school, homes and, of course, the Firth Tower and homestead. When he went broke the land was subdivided and sections sold off.  This was the start of Matamata township.