Public Works Department camp

A Public Works Department camp at Hāpuawhenua, near Ōhakune. Working and living conditions for the thousands of men who built the North Island main trunk line were primitive. A visitor to Raurimu in 1908 described how 'Continuous heavy rain, with occasional hail, sleet and snow, much fog, miry clay, and a tangled bed of wild undergrowth knitting together the forest giants, made a tough job for the workers.'