A permit was granted by the Borough Council to H. Reedman on 30 November 1937 for the construction of a house on Sec 22, DP5000, Bonithon Avenue – C. R. Cook was the builder, and the estimated construction cost was £535. Henry Reedman, promoting himself as an "Egyptian herbalist" set about establishing the Tarawhata Mineral Baths on the Bonithon Avenue site.
In 1935 an article in the Taranaki Daily News had alerted the public to the mostly forgotten 'miniature spa' only a few minutes from town. At this stage it was merely a rusty iron pipe, obscured by gorse and black berry, delivering about 13 litres a minute of warm mineral water.
The flow of warm water was a legacy of a failed oil drilling venture on the site between 1906 and 1908. The Bonithon Freehold Petroleum Company Extended Company Ltd. drilled to a depth of 3004 feet [916 metres] without striking oil, but they did find a steady flow of mineral water.
By 1939 the baths were open, however in 1944 the company went into liquidation, and all the land, buildings and assets were put up for sale. It appears the baths remained open until the mid-1960s when they closed due to the need for new equipment and stricter regulations.
Michael Fahy and Coral Lambert, trading as Bonithon Spa & Health Company, bought the property in 1993 and eventually decided to modernise and reopen the once popular mineral baths. In April 1999 the Daily News reported that the couple had received a $3,000 heritage grant from the New Plymouth District Council. In April 2000 Coral Lambert said that she hoped to have the pools open by mid-June.
The couple also saw the potential of bottling the mineral water and after experimenting with the local market decided in 2010 to take the brand, Pure One Mineral Water, nationwide. At the same time the thermal spa was leased to long-time manager Glen Hay and her partner Paul Vega.
Original plans in the Puke Ariki collection. (ARC2008-150)
Related items:
Hot mineral baths?: New Plymouth proposal (Taranaki Daily News 6 November 1935)
Tonic tepid baths: New Plymouth scheme (Taranaki Daily News 19 February 1936)
Legacy of the luckless drillers - photos of the building, pool, and outlet pipe (Taranaki Herald 14 September 1968)
NP spa firm plans historical features (Daily News 23 December 1998)
No rogues or gushers (Daily News 23 October 2001)
Sales of NP mineral water fizzing, say Pure One pair (Taranaki Daily News 11 October 2005).
More on mineral baths - Letter to the editor (Taranaki Daily News 19 August 2010)
Health Springs Eternal, Vicki Price (Taranaki Daily News 17 March 2012)
Related plans:
Section 4, Fitzroy Suburban, Taranaki Land Deed Index I4 page 310. (Archives New Zealand)
Part Section 4, Fitzroy Suburban, Taranaki Land Deed Index I1 page 566. (Archives New Zealand)
Taranaki DP1516 Sheet 1 (1899), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)
Taranaki DP1958 Sheet 1 (1903), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)
Taranaki DP4797 Sheet 1 (1926), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)
Taranaki (Lot 22) DP5000 Sheet 1 (1927), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)
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