Wairarapa
Encyclopedia
Wairarapa is a geographical region 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 occupies the south-eastern corner of the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...

, east of metropolitan 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...

 and south-west of the Hawke's Bay
Hawke's Bay
Hawke's Bay is a region of New Zealand. Hawke's Bay is recognised on the world stage for its award-winning wines. The regional council sits in both the cities of Napier and Hastings.-Geography:...

 region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service towns, with Masterton
Masterton
Masterton is a large town and local government district in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a region separated from Wellington by the Rimutaka ranges...

 being the largest. It is named after its largest lake, Lake Wairarapa
Lake Wairarapa
Lake Wairarapa is a lake at the southern end of the North Island of New Zealand, 50 kilometers east of Wellington. The lake covers an area of 78 km², and is the third largest in the North Island, fractionally smaller than Lake Rotorua...

.

Boundaries

The area is mainly in the Wellington
Wellington Region
The Wellington region of New Zealand occupies the southern end of the North Island.-Governance:The official Wellington Region, as administered by the Wellington Regional Council covers the conurbation around the capital city, Wellington, and the cities of Lower Hutt, Porirua, and Upper Hutt, each...

 local government region, with some of the northern section in the Manawatu-Wanganui
Manawatu-Wanganui
Manawatu-Wanganui is a region in the lower half of the North Island of New Zealand, around the cities of Palmerston North and Whanganui. It is administered by the Horizons Regional Council.-Administration:...

 or Hawke's Bay regions.

The area south of Mt Bruce is in the Wellington Region. It contains the Masterton
Masterton
Masterton is a large town and local government district in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a region separated from Wellington by the Rimutaka ranges...

, Carterton
Carterton, New Zealand
Carterton is a small town in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and the seat of the Carterton District. It lies in a farming area of the Wairarapa in New Zealand's North Island. It is located southwest of Masterton and northeast of Wellington...

 and South Wairarapa Districts (Greytown, Featherston, Martinborough). It is separated from Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt is a satellite city of Wellington. It is New Zealand's smallest city by population, the second largest by land area. It is in Greater Wellington.-Geography:Upper Hutt is 30 km north-east of Wellington...

 and Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt is a city in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Its council has adopted the name Hutt City Council, but neither the New Zealand Geographic Board nor the Local Government Act recognise the name Hutt City. This alternative name can lead to confusion, as there are two cities in the...

 cities by the Rimutaka Ranges.

The district's northern borders are vague, and there is some overlap with southern Hawke's Bay. Part of the reason is that the area was settled from both the north and the west and has been the subject of several reorganisations of local government, but Woodville
Woodville, New Zealand
Woodville is a small town in the southern North Island of New Zealand, 75 km north of Masterton and 25 km east of Palmerston North. In the 2006 census 1,398 people are usually resident in Woodville, a decrease of 81 people, or 5.5%, since the 2001 Census.-Early History and Local...

 is often considered to be the northern-most settlement of the region.

The area from Mt Bruce north, extending through Eketahuna
Eketahuna
Eketahuna is a small rural service town, the most southerly in the Tararua District in the Manawatu-Wanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand, but is considered to be in northern Wairarapa. It was called Mellenskov, but was renamed soon after its founding.The town is located at the foot of...

, Pahiatua
Pahiatua
Pahiatua is a rural service town in the south-eastern North Island of New Zealand with an urban and rural population of over 4,000. It is between Masterton and Woodville on State Highway 2 and the Wairarapa Line railway, north of Masterton and east of Palmerston North...

, Woodville
Woodville, New Zealand
Woodville is a small town in the southern North Island of New Zealand, 75 km north of Masterton and 25 km east of Palmerston North. In the 2006 census 1,398 people are usually resident in Woodville, a decrease of 81 people, or 5.5%, since the 2001 Census.-Early History and Local...

, Dannevirke
Dannevirke
Dannevirke , is a rural service town in the Manawatu-Wanganui Region of the North Island, New Zealand. It is the major town of the administrative Tararua District, the easternmost of the districts in which the Regional Council has responsibilities...

, to just north of Norsewood
Norsewood
Norsewood is a small rural town in the Manawatu - Wanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. It is situated in the Tararua District. Its population is 330....

 is part of the Tararua District
Tararua District
The Tararua District lies near the south-east corner of New Zealand's North Island. Created in 1989, it was named after the Tararua Range, which forms much of its western boundary. It has a population of and an area of 4,360.56 km²....

 and is in the Manawatu-Wanganui
Manawatu-Wanganui
Manawatu-Wanganui is a region in the lower half of the North Island of New Zealand, around the cities of Palmerston North and Whanganui. It is administered by the Horizons Regional Council.-Administration:...

 region, because it is in the catchment of the headwaters of the Manawatu River
Manawatu River
The Manawatu River is a major river of the southern North Island of New Zealand.The river has its headwaters to the northwest of Norsewood in the Ruahine Ranges of southern Hawke's Bay. It flows initially eastward before turning south-west near Ormondville, flowing 40 km before turning...

. The river runs westward between the two mountain ranges (Tararua Range
Tararua Range
The Tararua Range is one of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand which form a ridge running parallel with the east coast of the island between East Cape and Wellington....

 to the south and Ruahine Range
Ruahine Range
The Ruahine Range is one of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand which form a ridge running parallel with the east coast of the island between East Cape and Wellington....

 to the north) via the Manawatu Gorge
Manawatu Gorge
The Manawatu Gorge runs between the Ruahine and Tararua Ranges of the North Island of New Zealand, linking the Manawatu and Hawke's Bay regions...

, to pass through Palmerston North
Palmerston North
Palmerston North is the main city of the Manawatu-Wanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is an inland city with a population of and is the country's seventh largest city and eighth largest urban area. Palmerston North is located in the eastern Manawatu Plains near the north bank...

 and reach the west coast of the North Island.

The east coast contains settlements such as Tinui
Tinui
Tinui is a small village approximately 40 kilometres from Masterton, in the Wairarapa, New Zealand. The name Tinui comes from the Māori words ti, meaning cabbage tree and nui, meaning many...

, Castlepoint, and Riversdale Beach, while the main southern rivers drain through or past Lake Wairarapa
Lake Wairarapa
Lake Wairarapa is a lake at the southern end of the North Island of New Zealand, 50 kilometers east of Wellington. The lake covers an area of 78 km², and is the third largest in the North Island, fractionally smaller than Lake Rotorua...

 to discharge into Palliser Bay
Palliser Bay
Palliser Bay is located at the southern end of the North Island of New Zealand, to the southeast of Wellington. It runs for 40 kilometres along the Cook Strait coast from Turakirae Head at the southern end of the Rimutaka Ranges to Cape Palliser, the North Island's southernmost point.Inland from...

 east of Cook Strait
Cook Strait
Cook Strait is the strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. It connects the Tasman Sea on the west with the South Pacific Ocean on the east....

.

History

The name means "Glistening Waters", and is said to have been applied by an early Māori explorer, Huanui, who saw the rivers and lake from the mountains to the west.

Rangitane
Rangitane
For the famous ship see RMS RangitaneRangitāne is a Māori iwi of New Zealand.-External links:* in Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand...

 and Ngāti Kahungunu
Ngati Kahungunu
Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke’s Bay and Tararua and Wairārapa regions....

 were the Māori tribes (iwi
Iwi
In New Zealand society, iwi form the largest everyday social units in Māori culture. The word iwi means "'peoples' or 'nations'. In "the work of European writers which treat iwi and hapū as parts of a hierarchical structure", it has been used to mean "tribe" , or confederation of tribes,...

) in the area when European explorers arrived in the 1770s.

European settlement began in the early 1840s, initially on large grazing runs leased from Māori , and with closer settlement from the 1850s.

On 23 January 1855 the region was hit by the strongest earthquake
1855 Wairarapa earthquake
The 1855 Wairarapa earthquake occurred on 23 January at about 9 p.m. In Wellington, close to the epicenter, shaking lasted for at least 50 seconds. The magnitude of the earthquake is estimated to have been in the range 8.1-8.3, the most powerful recorded in New Zealand since systematic European...

 recorded in New Zealand, which reached Magnitude 8.1 on the Richter Scale. There were five deaths.

Economy

The agricultural industries, including forestry, cropping, sheep, beef and dairy farming, are major land users. The area around Martinborough
Martinborough
Martinborough is a town in South Wairarapa, a district in the Wellington region on the North Island of New Zealand. It is 65 kilometres east of Wellington and 35 kilometres south-west of Masterton...

, in the south, is renowned for its vineyards and wine, as is the outskirts of Masterton and Carterton. Beer has been brewed at Mangatainoka, near Pahiatua
Pahiatua
Pahiatua is a rural service town in the south-eastern North Island of New Zealand with an urban and rural population of over 4,000. It is between Masterton and Woodville on State Highway 2 and the Wairarapa Line railway, north of Masterton and east of Palmerston North...

, since 1889. Deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...

 farming is growing in importance.

Transport

The region is well served by different transport modes. The State Highway 2, via Rimutaka Hill Road connects the region to Wellington in the south and the Manawatu in the north. The Wairarapa railway line
Wairarapa Line
The Wairarapa Line is a secondary railway line in the south-east of the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city of Wellington with the Wairarapa region. The line ends at Woodville, where it joins the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line...

 connects the region via the Rimutaka Tunnel
Rimutaka Tunnel
The Rimutaka Tunnel is a railway tunnel through New Zealand's Rimutaka Ranges, between Maymorn, near Upper Hutt, and Featherston, on the Wairarapa Line.The tunnel, which was opened to traffic on 3 November 1955, is long...

 to Wellington, and connects with the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line
Palmerston North - Gisborne Line
The Palmerston North – Gisborne Line is a secondary main line railway in the North Island of New Zealand. It branches from the North Island Main Trunk Railway in Palmerston North and runs east through the Manawatu Gorge to Woodville, where it meets the Wairarapa Line, and then proceeds to...

 at Woodville. A commuter rail passenger service, the Wairarapa Connection from Masterton
Masterton
Masterton is a large town and local government district in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a region separated from Wellington by the Rimutaka ranges...

 to Wellington, is operated by Tranz Metro
Tranz Metro
Tranz Metro, part of KiwiRail, is the operator of Metlink suburban trains owned by the Greater Wellington Regional Council in the Wellington Region of New Zealand....

.

Many residents, especially in the southern towns such as Featherston
Featherston, New Zealand
Featherston is a town in the north of the Wellington Region region of New Zealand. It lies in the Wairarapa, just north of the Rimutaka Tunnel, in the South Wairarapa District. The population was 2,340 in the 2006 Census....

 and Greytown
Greytown, New Zealand
Greytown or Te Hupenui, population 2,001 , is a town in the Wellington region of New Zealand. It lies in the Wairarapa, in the lower North Island...

, commute to work in 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...

, either by train or over the Rimutaka Ranges by car.

Wildlife

Many of New Zealand's endangered native birds can be seen at the Mount Bruce Wildlife Centre, which is just south of Eketahuna
Eketahuna
Eketahuna is a small rural service town, the most southerly in the Tararua District in the Manawatu-Wanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand, but is considered to be in northern Wairarapa. It was called Mellenskov, but was renamed soon after its founding.The town is located at the foot of...

.

Famous people born in the Wairarapa

  • Bob Charles
    Bob Charles (golfer)
    Sir Robert James Charles, ONZ, KNZM, CBE is a New Zealand professional golfer whose achievements over five decades rank him among the most successful left-handed golfers of all time, being the first lefty to win a golf major, winning more than 70 titles, and beating his age twice during a...

    , champion golfer and winner of the 1963 British Open, at Carterton
    Carterton, New Zealand
    Carterton is a small town in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and the seat of the Carterton District. It lies in a farming area of the Wairarapa in New Zealand's North Island. It is located southwest of Masterton and northeast of Wellington...

    .
  • Masterton-born singer/songwriter Ladyhawke
    Ladyhawke
    Ladyhawke is a 1985 fantasy film directed by Richard Donner, starring Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer. The film marked the second 20th Century Fox film to be co-produced and co-released by Warner Bros.. The first was The Towering Inferno; this time Warner got the U.S...

     aka Pip Brown
  • Jemaine Clement
    Jemaine Clement
    Jemaine Clement is a New Zealand comedian, actor and musician, best known as one half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords along with Bret McKenzie.-Early life:...

    , one half of the comedy band/tv series "Flight of the Conchords
    Flight of the Conchords
    Flight of the Conchords are a New Zealand-based comedy duo composed of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. The duo's comedy and music became the basis of a BBC radio series and then an American television series, which premiered in 2007 on HBO, also called Flight of the Conchords.They were named...

    "
  • Murray Halberg
    Murray Halberg
    Sir Murray Gordon Halberg, ONZ, MBE is a former New Zealand middle distance runner who won the gold medal in the 5000 metres event at the 1960 Olympics. He also won gold medals in the 3 miles events at the 1958 and 1962 Commonwealth Games...

    , middle distance runner and Olympic gold medalist, at Eketahuna
    Eketahuna
    Eketahuna is a small rural service town, the most southerly in the Tararua District in the Manawatu-Wanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand, but is considered to be in northern Wairarapa. It was called Mellenskov, but was renamed soon after its founding.The town is located at the foot of...

  • Sir Brian Lochore, All Black captain and World Cup-winning coach, at Masterton
    Masterton
    Masterton is a large town and local government district in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a region separated from Wellington by the Rimutaka ranges...

  • Marcus Daniell
    Marcus Daniell
    Marcus Daniell is a professional tennis player from rural Wairarapa in New Zealand.- Tennis career :While mainly playing in futures events, Daniell received a doubles wild card entry to play in the 2010 Heineken Open, an ATP 250 event in his home country of New Zealand. With new doubles partner,...

     Masterton-born professional tennis player.
  • Keith Holyoake
    Keith Holyoake
    Sir Keith Jacka Holyoake, KG, GCMG, CH, QSO, KStJ was a New Zealand politician. The only person to have been both Prime Minister and Governor-General of New Zealand, Holyoake was National Party Prime Minister from 20 September 1957 to 12 December 1957, then again from 12 December 1960 to 7...

    , former Prime Minister of New Zealand
    Prime Minister of New Zealand
    The Prime Minister of New Zealand is New Zealand's head of government consequent on being the leader of the party or coalition with majority support in the Parliament of New Zealand...

    , at Pahiatua.
  • Maurice Wilkins
    Maurice Wilkins
    Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins CBE FRS was a New Zealand-born English physicist and molecular biologist, and Nobel Laureate whose research contributed to the scientific understanding of phosphorescence, isotope separation, optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction, and to the development of radar...

    , scientist, whose work led to the discovery of DNA
    DNA
    Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

    , at Pongaroa
    Pongaroa
    The small township of Pongaroa lies in Tararua, in the southeast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located 110 kilometres southwest of Hastings and 200 kilometres northeast of Wellington. The nearest town is Pahiatua, 50 kilometres to the west. Popular Akitio Beach is 30 kilometres to the...

    .
  • Alan Graham MacDiarmid, Nobel Prize
    Nobel Prize
    The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...

    -winning chemist, born in Masterton
    Masterton
    Masterton is a large town and local government district in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a region separated from Wellington by the Rimutaka ranges...

    .
  • Vincent Ward
    Vincent Ward
    Vincent Ward, ONZM is a film director and screenwriter.-Biography:Vincent Ward was awarded an Order of New Zealand Merit in 2007 for his contribution to film making. He was born in Greytown, New Zealand. He was educated at St Patrick's College, Silverstream and trained as an artist at the...

    , Film director, at Greytown
    Greytown
    Greytown may refer to one of several places:*Greytown, New Zealand, a town in the southern North Island's Wairarapa region*Greytown, Nicaragua, the capital city of the municipality of San Juan de Nicaragua*Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal, a town in South Africa...

     (What dreams may come, The Navigator, Vigil, River Queen)
  • Raybon Kan
    Raybon Kan
    Raybon Kan is a Masterton, New Zealand-born Han Chinese comedian and newspaper columnist.-Early life and family:Kan's family moved to Wellington, New Zealand soon after his birth, where he began his education at St Mark's Church School and continued through to Wellington College where he was...

    , Comedian, at Masterton
    Masterton
    Masterton is a large town and local government district in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a region separated from Wellington by the Rimutaka ranges...

  • Mike Fabulous, member of The Black Seeds
    The Black Seeds
    The Black Seeds are a musical group from Wellington, New Zealand. Their music is a fusion of dub, funk, afrobeat and soul.The Black Seeds have two double-platinum selling albums at home, and successful European album releases through the German-based Sonar Kollektiv label...

     and Fly My Pretties
    Fly My Pretties
    Fly My Pretties is a collaboration of musicians from Wellington, New Zealand that only records live albums, in various locations in New Zealand. The different musical backgrounds of the members make for an eclectic mix of songs on their releases...


See also

  • List of regions in New Zealand
  • Georgina Beyer
    Georgina Beyer
    Georgina Beyer was the world's first openly transsexual mayor, as well as the world's first openly transsexual Member of Parliament, and from 27 November 1999 until 14 February 2007 was an MP for the Labour Party in New Zealand.-Early life:Georgina Bertrand was born and assigned male at birth, and...

    , Ex MP for Wairarapa, ex Mayor of Carterton.
  • Grant Batty
    Grant Batty
    Grant Bernard Batty is a former rugby union footballer. A diminutive but effective wing for the All Blacks, he has also coached Yamaha Jubilo, a team in Japan's Top League. His son Sam Batty played halfback for the Gold Coast Breakers, However is now playing for Port Douglas, in the Cairns and...

    , Greytown, Ex *All Black*
  • Geoffrey Fisken
    Geoffrey Fisken
    Geoffrey Bryson Fisken, DFC , was a New Zealand fighter pilot who was the British Commonwealth’s leading air ace in the Pacific theatre of World War II. He is credited with shooting down 11 Japanese aircraft.-Early life:...

    , Grazier, Fighter Pilot
  • Zac Guildford, Masterton, All Black

External links

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