Ngaio, New Zealand
Encyclopedia
Ngaio is an inner suburb of Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

, the capital city of 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...

. It is situated on the slopes of Mount Kaukau
Mount Kaukau
Mount Kaukau is in Wellington, New Zealand on the western side of Wellington harbour near Johnsonville and Khandallah. The summit is 445 metres above sea level and is the most visible high point in the Wellington landscape further accentuated by Wellington's main television transmitter tower the...

, 3500 metres north of the city's CBD. It was settled at the same time as the neighbouring suburb of Khandallah
Khandallah
Khandallah is a suburb of Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. It is located four kilometres northeast of the city centre, on hills overlooking Wellington Harbour....

, and like its neighbour many of its streets are named after places on the Indian subcontinent. Ngaio was originally a logging community. Originally known as Crofton until 1908, the area was administratively part of a separate local authority called the Onslow Borough Council which amalgamated into Wellington City in 1919.

Ngaio takes its name from a New Zealand native tree, the Ngaio.

Ngaio contains a library, multi-purpose hall, pharmacy, petrol station, café, Plunket rooms, dentist and a variety of small shops. The Ngaio Union Church has modern buildings and serves the Methodist and Presbyterian community, whilst the Anglican All Saints Church is on a nearby hill, its distinctive brick tower visible from most places in the suburb. There is an Exclusive Brethren
Exclusive Brethren
The Exclusive Brethren are a subset of the Christian evangelical movement generally described as the Plymouth Brethren. They are distinguished from the Open Brethren from whom they separated in 1848....

 Church nearby in Churchill Drive, Crofton Downs.

Most of Ngaio's dwellings are large 1960s weatherboard houses, but there is a small section of railway cottages called the Tarikaka Settlement
Tarikaka Settlement
Tarikaka Settlement is the name given to the former railway houses on Tarikaka Street, Bombay Street, Carroll Street, Khandallah Road, Ngata Street, Raihania Lane and Pomare Street in Ngaio, Wellington....

, built in 1928. In the late 1990s, new subdivisions were built up the sides of Mount Kaukau. The houses in these were typically constructed of stucco, and some of their inhabitants suffered "leaky homes
Leaky homes crisis
The leaky homes crisis is an ongoing construction and legal crisis in New Zealand, in which many thousands of newly constructed houses and apartment buildings built in the 1990s and early 2000s suffered from severe weathertightness problems...

" in 2000.

Ngaio has had a number of notable inhabitants including James K Baxter and his family from the late 1950s until the 1980s.

Transport

The suburb is served by the Johnsonville Branch commuter railway which connects it to the central city, and many bus routes going to Johnsonville stop on the main road. See Ngaio Railway Station.

Education

Ngaio School is a coeducational contributing (years 1-6) state primary school, established in 1908. It has a roll of 467 and 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 10. The school does not have a uniform. Its school song is Tūrangawaewae, Māori for "A Place to Stand".

External links

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