Original photo © Russell Museum
Leo White’s Singer car on Maiki hill in 1930.
This photo shows Leo White’s little Singer car believed to have been the first car to drive up to the flagstaff on Maiki hill in 1930.
Leo worked for the Auckland Weekly News as a photographer and after the war took up aerial photography founding Whites Aviation selling wonderful hand coloured aerial views including the Bay of Islands.
Maiki means the high place and the hill continues to be a focus for our town and popular with visitors who gain a greater appreciation of the beauty of the harbour, coast and islands of the Bay.
It is a focus for locals on March 11 when dawn Karakia are said, remembering the past history of our bicultural town and praying for its future.
Te Maiki te maunga, Kororareka te kainga. Maihi is our hill, Russell our town.
