The Lock-up (Former) in Rawene, is a significant remnant of law enforcement and policing in the Hokianga. Built in 1910, the gabled, two-cell timber structure is associated with broader attitudes to incarceration and punishment in early twentieth-century, and later, New Zealand. Similar to other lock-ups erected in small towns and rural areas, it is a well-preserved, surviving example of a building type that has become increasingly rare. In 1991, it was relocated from Rawene’s police station to its current site behind the town’s historic courthouse (now library), reflecting late twentieth-century attitudes to heritage preservation, public education and tourism.

Rawene (also formerly known as Herd’s Point) had its first policeman appointed in 1877 - a year after the settlement had become the Hokianga’s county town. Although Rawene’s Courthouse (see List No.430) appears to have had an attached cell or cells when originally built in 1876, the Hokianga County Council soon requested that a lock-up be provided for the town as there was great expense in conveying short-term prisoners to Auckland, a ‘great risk to life’ in taking boats over the bar unnecessarily, and some prisoners had escaped during the journey. It is not clear if this facility was immediately provided, but during an expansion of state infrastructure under the first Liberal Government (1891-1912), the current lock-up building was added to Rawene’s police station complex, located a short distance from the courthouse, at 19 Parnell Street.

The new lock-up was built in 1910, probably by the Public Works Department, which under the Liberal government had become New Zealand’s foremost construction agency. Erected towards the rear of the station property, it consisted of a small, stand-alone building clad with rusticated, kauri weatherboards. Its gabled roof incorporated a ventilator. Rectangular in plan, the design incorporated two cells and a water closet.

The structure functioned, like most lock-ups associated with police stations, as a secure place to hold offenders for a short period until either their release or relocation to long-term incarceration in a larger gaol. Frequently, intoxicated members of the public were put in the lock-up to sober up. Conditions in the cells were unpleasant – in the 1940s it was pointed out that there was virtually no ventilation and that the cells were almost completely dark at all times, with no artificial light and only a high window covered by perforated iron. Repairs were needed on various occasions, including as a result of damage done by prisoners, and in 1934 after it was damaged by a large tree blown by the wind. The cell block was still in use in the 1970s.

By the 1980s the building was no longer utilised and had fallen into disrepair. In 1991, the Far North District Council relocated the lock-up to its present position at the rear of Rawene’s former courthouse; it was then restored by local volunteers. A pathway has since been built up to it from Clendon Esplanade below. It is currently (2017) open during library hours for visitors to view.