Maungatapere is a settlement in Northland, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. State Highway 14 runs through it. Whangarei

Whangarei

Whangarei, pronounced , is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. Although commonly classified as a city, it is officially part of the Whangarei District, administered by the Whangarei District Council a local body created in 1989 to administer both the...

 is 11 km to the east, and Tangiteroria

Tangiteroria

Tangiteroria is a small rural community in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located halfway between Whangarei and Dargaville on State Highway 14 on the banks of the Northern Wairoa river....

 is 18 km to the south west. A hill called Maungatapere with a summit 359 m above sea level is southwest of the settlement.

The population was 1278 in the 2006 Census, an increase of 225 from 2001.

History

Thomas Elmsley bought 60000 acres (24,281.2 ha) of land in Maungatapere and northern Wairoa from Te Tirarau in 1839, and in 1840 he and the brothers Henry and Charles Walton came with workers to establish farms in the area. Henry Walton's farm was on the slopes of Maungatapere hill and was called "Maungatapere Park". After the Flagstaff War

Flagstaff War

The Flagstaff War – also known as Hone Heke's Rebellion, the Northern War and erroneously as the First Māori War – was fought between 11 March 1845 and 11 January 1846 in and around the Bay of Islands, New Zealand...

, Walton employed former soldiers to build stone walls which are still a feature of the area. Henry Walton married Kohura, Te Tirarau's niece, in 1846. After she died in childbirth, he married her sister, Pehi, but she died in a measles epidemic in 1856. Walton built a road between Maungatapere and Whangarei in 1858. He also became involved in coal mining and shipbuilding, and was one of the partners in the timber mill at Te Kopuru

Te Kopuru

Te Kopuru is the largest community on the Pouto Peninsula in Northland, New Zealand. The Wairoa River separates the peninsula at this point from the main North Auckland Peninsula to the east...

. Walton was one of the founding shareholders in the Bank of New Zealand

Bank of New Zealand

Bank of New Zealand is one of New Zealand’s largest banks and has been operating continuously in the country since the first office was opened in Auckland in October 1861 followed shortly after by the first branch in Dunedin in December 1861...

. In 1863 became a member of the New Zealand Legislative Council

New Zealand Legislative Council

The Legislative Council of New Zealand was the upper house of the New Zealand Parliament from 1853 until 1951. Unlike the lower house, the New Zealand House of Representatives, the Legislative Council was appointed.-Role:...

 and two years later he was elected to the Auckland Provincial Council. However, in 1867 he left New Zealand and returned to England.

Education

Maungatapere School is a coeducational full primary (years 1-8) school with a decile rating

Socio-Economic Decile

Decile, Socio-Economic Decile or Socio-Economic Decile Band is a widely used measure in education in New Zealand used to target funding and support to more needy schools....

of 9 and a roll of 193. The school celebrated its 125th jubilee in 2004.