The pioneer Armstrong family, Benjamin and Matilda Rebecca (nee Moriarty) and their six children sailed from Ventry, in County Kerry, Southern Ireland in the ship “Maravel” and arrived at Auckland Jan 15th in 1879. They rested for a few days before boarding a coastal vessel for Tauranga and were met by relatives, Gore and Maryanne and their son Ben Goodwin Armstrong who had arrived several years previously.

Gore had 200 acres at Te Puna which he had commenced clearing for dairying and Benjamin and his family joined them and built a larger house to accommodate the family.

Stores were purchased at the small village of Tauranga 7 miles away and carted in a dray drawn by plough horses. The roads were mud in winter and dust in summer. Just before the Armstrong family arrived a disastrous fire had swept through the Strand and there were not many shops and the streets were barely formed.

Summer picnics were often held at the Mount and people were taken across the harbour in Cook's cutters. The Pilots home was only house at the “Mount” at first.

The Armstrongs operated the first milking shed and all Te Puna farmers separated their own milk. It was decided to supply the cream factory in 11th Avenue and Mr F E Humphrys of “Greghill” collected it in a spring cart. Later Omokoroa decided also to supply and it was necessary to start the collecting from there. Mr Robert Francis used a light wagonette to pick up all the cream en route. At Te Puna, the cream was collected from a stand a few hundred yards down Te Puna Road beside the Armstrong property.

Horse drawn coaches were driven by Maurice Crimmons and Bert Carter between Waihi and Tauranga with a stop at Armstrongs. The post office at Te Puna was run by Margaret Violet Armstrong on a salary of £5 a year, and together with her Mother and sister Nellie, afternoon tea of home made cakes and scones and welcome cups of tea was served to the coach passengers. (Margaret later married Francis Humphrys)

Necessary road improvements were done on the Tauranga side of the junction of Te Puna Road and horses and drays were used for the work. A cutting was put through but when a spring was struck it caused a lot of trouble. Despite much road metal fill being used, vehicles would often get stuck and have to call on William Armstrong with his draught horses to pull them out. In 1908 the Te Puna Quarry was opened and road metal was carted to the junction of Te Puna Road where it was broken up with spawling and napping hammers and put on the road. In November, at the age of 87, Te Puna pioneer farmer, Benjamin Armstrong passed away.

Grazing of dairy cattle is still undertaken today on the original Armstrong land between orchards of citrus, avocados and kiwifruit. This view is taken from Te Puna Road. Armstrong Road runs from left to right up to Snodgrass Road in the middle distance.