Kete New Plymouth

Harkness Rice Way leads to a small subdivision off Plymouth Road in Ōakura. It is named in honour of Private Harkness Henry Rice who was killed in action on 12 October 1917 at the Battle of Passchendaele.

Harkness Rice was born in Ōamaru on 2 June 1879, the son of John and Emily Rice. At the time of his enlistment with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in 1916 he was working as a clerk for the Customs Department in Dunedin.

According to his war record held

Hurford Road was named for a family of Ōmata settlers in the 1850s.

John Hurford and his wife Ann arrived in New Plymouth on the Blenheim in 1842, with their baby daughter who was born in Wellington Harbour as the ship made its way to Taranaki.

The young family thrived in their new home. More children were born and John sold fresh butter every Saturday at the local market. Keen to acquire a bigger farm, the Hurfords purchased a fifty-acre section of bush in Ōmata around 1854. They were obviously well-known

This building on the corner of Currie and Powderham Streets was built in 1896 for the Australian firm, Sargood, Son & Ewen Ltd. The firm was founded in Melbourne in 1848 and in 1863 set up their first New Zealand branch in Dunedin.

The company had leased premises in Devon street before erecting this building in Currie Street. It was designed by local architect James Sanderson and Mr C.Webberley was in charge of the build. 

In 1901 a second storey was added to

This building on the corner of Currie and Powderham Streets was built in 1964 for Taranaki Newspapers Limited. The two daily newspapers (Taranaki Herald and Daily News) had just merged and new premises were needed for the Daily News. 

The old Sargoods warehouse on the corner was demolished in August 1964 and work began on the new building. The contractors were Riddick Bros. & Still for an estimated cost of £176,000. 

In the mid-1980s the neighbouring Currie Street buildings

Essex Street in Vogeltown was named in 1958 after one of the first six ships to bring British settlers to Taranaki.

Under the command of Captain Henry Oakley, the Essex sailed from Plymouth on 3 September 1842, carrying 115 passengers. Most were agricultural labourers and miners but there were also wheelwrights, shoemakers, seamstresses and domestic servants plus two Aubrey brothers who gave their occupation as “gentleman”. The majority had their fares paid by the Plymouth Company, after completing the requisite application papers and providing character references.

Some secured jobs for themselves