Location:
Corner Seddon Street and School Lane
Waihi 3610
The building on the corner of Seddon St and School Lane was built in the 1920s but has historic interest as the birthplace of the AKRAD radio corporation. Here, 18 year old Keith Wrigley, the owner and founder, started off in this building making tricycles and radios.
In 1932, Keith Wrigley opened a radio sales and repair shop in the A. J. Deans building. The nationwide demand for radios was such that he created the AKRAD Radio Corporation, AKRAD being short for 'Auckland Radio'. The company moved to new factory premises at Kings Hall in 1943. By 1958, it found international attention from the PYE Group which bought into the company and expanded its operation. A new factory was built in 1968 on Moresby Ave.
This electronics industry was one of the mainstay industries during the period between 1952 and 1989 when mining had ceased in Waihi.
