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the doctor recommended outdoor work, this ended up being a bit of farming and hop growing before 1866, when he started creating hydraulic lime from a lime deposit on the property. This was used as a mortar in the building industry at that time. By 1878, his two brothers had joined him, and by 1885 they were producing saleable quantities of Portland cement – the first commercial quantities of Portland cement produced in the Southern Hemisphere. Workers cottages were built along Pulham Road and a manager’s house, now beautifully restored, down by the works. Around 1900, Nathaniel and Florence moved into their new home, Riverina, on Wilson Road. Nathaniel died in 1919, six years after his wife. The cement works operated in Warkworth until 1929. By then an amalgamation of three cement companies had been set up at Portland, in Whangarei – Wilson’s (NZ) Portland Cement Co. Here there was good quality lime and access for ships.

In 1990, the NZ Institute of Professional Engineers recognised the cement ruins in Warkworth as a unique and important part of NZ’s industrial history. Heritage NZ and Auckland Council also both recognise the ruins as an exceptional heritage site. At present, however, these once proud ruins stand derelict being vandalised with graffiti, with wilding trees upsetting some structures and little signage to celebrate their amazing story.

The Warkworth Museum would be interested to hear from anyone who had relatives who worked for the Wilson Cement Works. They can be contacted at: warkworthmuseum@xtra.co.nz