The Coles Joinery Factory is an important remnant of New Zealand's industrial heritage.

E. P. Coles immigrated to New Zealand with his young family in 1878. He was one of the first pakeha to settle in Onga Onga, a small settlement about 16 kilometres northwest of Waipawa in the Hawke's Bay. By the turn of the twentieth century Onga Onga had developed into a service town supplying the local farming industry. Coles established a builders and contracting business. He had twelve sons and six of them were to become involved in the family business. In 1905 the business was taken over by his sons. By 1906 the business had expanded to include Eketahuna, Hastings, and Tikino. The firm did everything to do with the erection of a house including surveying, plans, construction, joinery, bricklaying and glazing. In addition they were the local undertakers and constructed coffins. Coles Joinery built the homesteads of Ashcroft and Forest Gate Stations, and it can be assumed that they built most houses in Onga Onga before 1920.

Coles Joinery closed in 1953, and the land and buildings remained in the ownership of Frank Coles. Frank died in 1982, ending over 100 years of association with the Coles family. In the 1980s the local community became concerned for the future of the building. Eventually the building and associated outbuildings were re-used as a museum. Today the building contains examples of tools and machinery, including the tramline.

The Coles Joinery Factory is thought to be one of the only remaining examples of a small rural joinery factory in New Zealand. The building, as one of the largest buildings in Onga Onga, is a significant local landmark and makes an important contribution to a largely authentic late Victorian early Edwardian rural town.