The Man Who saved the Huatoki Domain

In the heart of New Plymouth’s Huatoki Domain—right here in Taranaki—lies a bush valley that almost didn’t make it. After WWI, plans were floated to mill and subdivide land along the Huatoki Stream for soldier settlement. One New Plymouth local, William Edward Bendall of Vogeltown, refused to let the valley be carved up. This is how he helped save a piece of Taranaki nature for everyone.

Bendall wasn’t a politician—he was a cooper, a community organiser, and a doer. In 1921 he joined the Huatoki Domain Board and pushed to protect native bush on the city’s doorstep, securing access for the public of New Plymouth. He died in 1925, but neighbours carried the vision forward. In 1927 they opened the Bendall Memorial Walk—a ponga-arched track and stone tablet that still bear his name—turning a threatened gully into one of New Plymouth’s most loved green spaces.

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In the heart of New Plymouth’s Huatoki Domain—right here in Taranaki—lies a bush valley that almost didn’t make it. After WWI, plans were floated to mill and subdivide land along the Huatoki Stream for soldier settlement. One New Plymouth local, William Edward Bendall of Vogeltown, refused to let the valley be carved up. This is how he helped save a piece of Taranaki nature for everyone.

Bendall wasn’t a politician—he was a cooper, a community organiser, and a doer. In 1921 he joined the Huatoki Domain Board and pushed to protect native bush on the city’s doorstep, securing access for the public of New Plymouth. He died in 1925, but neighbours carried the vision forward. In 1927 they opened the Bendall Memorial Walk—a ponga-arched track and stone tablet that still bear his name—turning a threatened gully into one of New Plymouth’s most loved green spaces.

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