White Star Garage

The first motor garage in Pembroke (now Wānaka) operated out of the building that was the Commercial Hotel built by William Allan in 1885, situated just past where currently Kai Whakapai Eatery & Craft Beer Bar is located at 121 Ardmore Street (on the Lakefront). The garage had been operated by a Frank Wilson who closed it and left town on 12 June 1922. Horatio M Mackay, previously the licensee of the Hawea Flat Hotel and Store which burnt down in 1921 in reportedly “mysterious circumstances”[15], with an eye to the tourism industry, took over the garage in August 1922.[16] The trading name, Pembroke Motors was retained for the time being. Horatio had much bigger plans afoot that would have a large impact on the tourism industry in Pembroke.

In 1923, his wife Helen purchased the narrow strip of land owned by Robert McDougall on which it was planned to build a new motor garage. Work started on building a new concrete walled motor garage and it was completed in March 1924. There was not only a motor garage and workshop, but a hairdresser’s saloon, billiards room and a residence.[17]

[15] 128 Years on the Flat, A History of the Hawea Flat School and Hawea Flat, Glenda Turnbull, p.26
[16] Advertisements, Cromwell Argus, 21 August 1922, P4
[17] Wānaka Notes, Lake County Press, 3 April 1924, P2

Principally, the business was initially created to service their tourist cars/coaches travelling between Dunedin and Pembroke. It joined up under a new nationwide tourist service named White Star Tourist Services and on 9 October 1924 a company named Dunedin-Wanaka Motors Ltd was registered with two other investors to take over the business. The company had another garage in Princess St., Dunedin.

Horatio Mackay was one of the principals behind the White Star enterprise.

In late 1924, the business also purchased the accommodation/boarding house owned by Mary Allan (wife of William Allan of Commercial Hotel and SS Makarora fame[18]), just a short distance further up Ardmore St.[19] This was known as the White Star Hotel and later as Pembroke Guest House.

A setback to the business happened on the night of 26 June 1925, when James Perrow’s Store on the southwest corner of Helwick St and Ardmore Street caught fire. The fire travelled and completely destroyed the old motor garage that was still used by Dunedin-Wanaka Motors Ltd under the banner of the White Star Company. The garage contained five motor cars and two motorcycles that were destroyed. That was the end of the original Commercial Hotel.  

The motor garage business continued from the new Ardmore Street site. But no self-respecting motor garage could be without petrol pumps. At the March 1926 Lake County Council meeting, D A Jolly & Sons (now the Four Square Store) applied for permission to install a kerbside petrol pump, no more than 6 feet in front of the store with a tank capacity of 500 gallons. Horatio Mackay made a similar application, and he stated that the height of the pump would be 9-feet, and it would be surmounted by an electric light.[20] Approval was given with an annual fee of £2-10-0 payable. This is before reticulated power arrived in Pembroke, but the business operated a generator behind the garage building, that incidentally also provided electricity to the Wanaka Hotel over the road.

But look at how many pumps the White Star garage ended up with, and where they were located on what we now know as the Ardmore Street. This photo is about 1940. The pumps were supposed to be removed by then so the Council could reform and seal Ardmore St. – that did not happen until 1948/9!

[18] William Allan died in November 1924 but the property was always in Mary’s name up till when it sold.
[19] Central Otago White Star Motor Service, Mt Benger Mail, 5 November 1924, P3
[20] Lake County Council, Cromwell Argus, 5 April 1926, P4

But sometimes, things are not the same as they might appear on the surface. It is probable that the losses resulting from the “Perrow” fire led to Dunedin-Wanaka Motors Ltd ending up in liquidation in late 1926/early 1927.

In addition to that, Horatio was adjudged bankrupt on 29 June 1927 because of a car accident in which the driver and Horatio (a passenger at the time) severely injured two ladies. The ladies sued the driver, Dave Ritchie, and Horatio, for £4,000 and were awarded £750 damages from each of them. The driver paid up, but Horatio did not. It appears that the Court decided it to be a personal liability and not a business liability, so the ladies succeeded in having Horatio adjudged bankrupt. On appeal to a Supreme Court decision not to discharge him from bankruptcy without paying anything, Horatio succeeded a few months later, on condition that he paid £300 to his creditors pool. He got off very lightly. Not so the ladies, one of whom lost a leg. The total dividend to creditors was six shillings and two pence in the pound (30.8%).

Going back to 1928, a new company, Wanaka Motors Ltd was formed (Horatio was not a shareholder) and this company purchased the business of Dunedin-Wanaka Motors Ltd from the liquidator. The Electoral Roll indicates that John M Mackay was the manager of the business in 1928, and gradually Horatio took over even though he was resident in Dunedin. There may have been other manager e.g. F.B. Dean from about 1932 and then I. Oakden before George Burrows purchased the business (excluding the land and buildings) in 1934. George’s wife, Mary, apparently looked after the adjacent confectionary shop.

Then along came William (Bill) Manson. He purchased the business from George on 22 September 1935 and arranged a lease from Wanaka Motors Ltd for five years from 1 October 1935.

In 1936, New Zealand Railways acquired the transport services of the White Star Group, including Wanaka Motors Ltd.[21] Reading between the lines in the newspapers of the time, it might appear that the Government was removing competitors to the NZR bus services! Certainly, about September 1937, the White Star Hotel closed its doors. Up until that time it had been managed by Miss Anita Urquhart.[22] In December 1937 it was re-opened as the Pembroke Guest House under the management of Mrs. E Andrews.[23]

Bill Manson continued operating his business from the premises and eventually NZR got around to formalizing the lease arrangements. Leases were renewed over the years until 1 October 1960 when Bill arranged for his new company, Manson’s Wanaka Motors Ltd, to takeover leasing arrangements. The garage performed an important service to the Wānaka Community, as from about 1952, the fire appliances for the Fire Brigade were stored there until the new Fire Station was built in 1965.

About this time, Bill relinquished his lease having built a new motor garage over the road where the Countdown Store currently operates from. The garage ceased operation in 2020 (operating then under the BP banner).

[21] Transport Services, Otago Daily Times, 17 April 1936, P8
[22] Wānaka Story, Irvine Roxburgh, published 1957, P211
[23] Wānaka Notes, Cromwell Argus,27 December 1937, P5