Mr and Mrs John Granger were early settlers in the area, having arrived in Auckland in 1865 to try their luck on the Thames goldfields (La Roche 1991). In 1869, Granger, a brickmaker by trade, became manager of Spencer’s brickworks at Buckland’s Beach. When Spencer sold his works, in 1878, Granger purchased the equipment and set up on his own at Turanga Creek believing that there was a potential future in the brickmaking industry (Hattaway 1984).
The site of the first brickworks, known as ‘Portland’, on the eastern banks of the creek was purchased from William Trice, the earliest Pakeha settler in the district. However, the inferior quality of the clay eventually necessitated a move to the second, more well-known site closer to the present settlement of Whitford (Hattaway 1984). Having purchased a new block of land upstream with superior clay deposits, J. Granger and Sons moved the brickmaking equipment and commenced production, in 1898, of ‘…the best red pressed bricks in Auckland Province’ (Tonson 1966:169). The new brickworks (Figure 3):
… consisted of several buildings including two long open sided sheds, a smaller shed containing the steam engine that drove the plant, two or three circular brick kilns and a rectangular kiln, and two tall chimney stacks . These were situated alongside a tidal inlet where a brick breastwork bordered the channel, enabling boats to lie alongside when being loaded with bricks and tiles (Hattaway 1984:21-22).
Granger’s high quality bricks were used in the construction of the Whitford Brick School, the first Auckland Blind Institute building, the Karangahake railway tunnel and the inner walls of the Auckland Ferry Building. Local residents made up the bulk of the 25 man work force, one of whom was responsible for the hand-operated machine which impressed the word ‘Granger’ onto the bricks. The finished product was conveyed to various unloading places around the coast and up the Tamaki River (Hattaway 1984).
However, water transport was eventually to prove more costly than inland routes and with increasing competition from the New Lynn brickworks, which were served by rail and a superior roading system, Granger’s business became less and less profitable, folding around 1920. A few years later an attempt was made to re-open the works under new management, but after just one batch of bricks it was finally closed and the machinery dismantled. The property passed into the possession of a farmer who demolished the remaining kilns, using the bricks to metal gateways and to pave his stockyard (Hattaway 1984; Tonson 1966).
John Granger was Chairman of the Turanga Road Board and Clevedon Navigation Company while his son, Frank, was a member of the Manukau County Council. Frank was responsible for securing the Whitford Hall for public use. Another son, George, ran a bus popularly referred to as the ‘Boneshaker’ between Whitford and Manurewa (La Roche 1991).