WAIRARAPA REGION

The Wairarapa is located on the eastern side of the southern part of the North Island, bounded on the west by the Tararua Range and on the east by the Pacific Ocean. Some 40 miles wide, the region extends over a distance of 80 miles from Palliser Bay in the south to the Manawatu Gorge in the north. Included within these limits are the counties of Pahiatua, Akitio, Eketahuna, Mauriceville, Castlepoint, Masterton, Wairarapa South, and Featherston, which, with their boroughs and cities, form the basic units for the presentation of statistics. The figures for Castlepoint County, which is now part of Masterton County, are not shown separately in the statistical table, having in every case been included within the Masterton County totals. Masterton (population 15,128, 1961) is the principal town of the region which in 1961 had a total population of 43,141 (1·78 per cent of the national total), 5·38 per cent of which were classified as Maoris.

Early Settlements

The southern Wairarapa was one of the earliest settled parts of the North Island, owing to the fact that much of it was without bush, or covered in light bush and scrub, at the time of European settlement during the 1840s. Some of the first travellers in the district described it, perhaps misleadingly, as a grassy open plain; but whatever the precise vegetational character of the region, it was sufficiently open to permit swift and easy penetration by the graziers. Consequently, large areas of the plain and of the eastern coastal districts were subdivided into relatively large stations, many of which have remained, in name at least, until the present day. On the western edge of the plain, at the foot of and parallel with the Rimutaka Range, lay an extent of bush country which was exploited by the settlement associations that were responsible for the establishment of the boroughs of Featherston, Greytown, Carterton, and Masterton. Despite the barrier to communications presented by the Rimutaka Range, a road link with Wellington was established by 1859, and Masterton was joined to the port by rail before 1885. Many of the sheep stations maintained communications by coastal shipping, Whareama, Castlepoint, and Akitio being three of the principal loading points. A road between Castlepoint and Masterton was formed by 1880–81. Thus, despite the isolation of the eastern hill country, the swampy nature of the lower Wairarapa, and the difficulties of communication with Wellington, the rural population had reached by the census of 1886 a total figure of 7,930.

A completely contrasting situation existed to the north of Masterton, in the northern Wairarapa or Forty Mile Bush, where the dense bush cover had so restrained settlement that the total rural population at the 1886 census numbered approximately 1,650. The commencement of the clearing of the bush is usually dated by the settlement at Mauriceville in 1873, but the settlement of the Forty Mile Bush was not completed until the turn of the century when the railway line from Wellington to the southern Wairarapa was linked with the Hawke's Bay line at the Manawatu Gorge. The bush was settled largely by men with limited capital, members of settlement associations, often Government sponsored. Consequently, the distinction between the northern and southern parts of the Wairarapa arising out of the differing vegetational character was emphasised further by social and economic factors. Even to the present decade the southern Wairarapa has managed to identify itself socially with the early period of the run holders, whereas the northern Wairarapa has never lost the anonymous character of its early settlement. Many of the original run names are preserved, White Rock (1844), Waitaranga (1846), Flat Point (c. 1851), as are the names of the early run holders, Bidwill, Gillies, McMaster, Riddiford, and Tiffen. Apart from the four towns of Masterton, Carterton, Greytown, and Featherston, all named after men prominent in the affairs and politics of the Wellington Province (Martinborough, c. 1879, is a later foundation), there are few other nucleated settlements. In the Forty Mile Bush villages are numerous, but only the name Ballance (Prime Minister, 1891–93) gives any indication of the period of settlement. All the villages were laid out on a rectangular pattern, the land subdivided into units of 40 acres or less, the farms lying adjacent to the small commercial and artisan centre. Very little of the original property or village pattern persists. The properties have been enlarged to 100 or more acres in the western dairying areas, or to 1,000 acres in the eastern store-sheep hill country which was quite unsuited to the preservation of the small scale farming. The Alfredton area provides an excellent example. Some villages have retained a few services, a shop, school, church, and dairy factory – Mauriceville, Nireaha, and Mangatainoka. The majority of villages now give little indication that once they contained 200 or 300 persons. Mauriceville West is perhaps the most moving case; the remainder are no more than place names.

Morphological Divisions

It is tempting to attribute to climatic causes the pattern of pre-European vegetation, but this is surely superficial, for no allowance is made for the effect of Maori occupance upon vegetation, or for the complexities involved in demonstrating the relationship of climatic change and vegetation. The southern Wairarapa is, however, unquestionably drier than the northern part. This is due in a considerable part to the rain-shadow effect produced by the Tararua Range, which attains its greatest altitude to the east (Hector, 5,016 ft) and north-west (Mitre, 5,154 ft) of Masterton, but which in the northern Wairarapa descends to a low saddle so that the effect is less pronounced. The range forms the western limit of the whole region and is paralleled by a broad “vale” extending from Palliser Bay in the south to the Manawatu River in the North. The vale is claimed by two river systems, that of the southward-flowing Ruamahanga and its tributaries and that of the north-flowing Mangatainoka and Mangaone. The watershed between the two systems is never very high (c. 1,300 ft), but it separates two distinct morphological districts, thus once more emphasising the contrasts between the northern and southern parts of the Wairarapa.

In its western part the southern Wairarapa is morphologically a faulted depression which has been filled in by the alluvial fans and deposits of the Ruamahanga, Waingawa, Waiohine, and Tauherenikau, to form a plain. The fans often appear as flat, even stretches of country with hardly discernible changes in level, but when viewed, for instance, from Bidwills Ridge, the gradual rise of the fans towards the western foothills is quite clear. The western and wetter parts of the plain where, in addition, the holdings are smaller in size, contain most of the dairying units. At Greytown the presence of extremely favourable river silts has aided the establishment of small-fruit growing, but over most of the area fat-lamb farming predominates. In the east a wide belt of hill country is taken up with store sheep and cattle, though the upper slopes of the Aorangi Mountains (3,226 ft) remain in bush. Some parts have experienced marked soil erosion with a consequent aggrading of the rivers. The hill country as a whole is isolated, unfrequented, and lightly populated. The difficulties presented to the farmers by isolation, steep terrain, erosion, and reversion of pasture are reflected in the relatively small increase in the number of sheep shorn between 1951–52 and 1959–60 in Featherston County, 7·78 per cent, compared with Masterton and Wairarapa South Counties, 42·44 per cent and 1717 per cent respectively.

In the northern part of the Wairarapa the “vale” does not present the aspect of a level even plain. It consists of a series of flat-bottomed river valleys separated by broad interfluves, a pattern which is striking to anyone who travels eastwards from Pahiatua. Dairying is the predominant activity, with factories located at such places as Nireaha, Ballance, and Mangatainoka. Immediately east of Pahiatua or Eketahuna one again enters the hill country which attains its maximum elevation in the Puketoi Range (2,000 ft), whose summit remains partly covered in bush. It is impossible in a few words to present intelligibly the topography of the hill country. While the terrain is never so broken as to be a real hindrance to movement, it was sufficiently steep when covered with bush and so distant from the major traffic lines as to render settlement difficult, even in the latter part of the last century. Consequently, small settlements like Pongaroa and Makuri were not founded until the late 1890s. Store-sheep farming now prevails. Over much of the area there is a need for closer fencing, more discing, and greater control of second growth. Relatively poor roads, though admittedly undergoing some improvement during the last decade, raise the cost of fertilisers and materials considerably. Isolation is a feature of the district, and its consequences are difficult to ignore and costly to overcome. The population of Akitio County, which is probably the one most representative of this eastern hill country, totalled 1,421 in 1911, and 1,189 in 1961. In the period 1951–52 to 1959–60 the number of sheep shorn increased by 12·24 per cent, compared to the 13·20 per cent more for the whole region, and the percentage increase of lambs shorn was only 12·17, compared with the regional average of 54·53 per cent.

Statistics of the Wairarapa Region

Masterton acts as the regional centre of the Wairarapa, containing many branches of Government Departments, some educational institutions, and a growing share of industry which, however, is more concerned with supplying regional rather than national markets, textiles and food products being the exception. As a centre for commerce it has to compete with Wellington and Palmerston North which serves much of the northern Wairarapa. With the opening of the Rimutaka Tunnel, 1955, the rail journey to Wellington has been shortened and the Rimutaka Road has been considerably widened and improved. During the period 1911–51, urban development was concentrated in Masterton and Martinborough and, to a lesser extent, in Carterton and Pahiatua, whereas Greytown's growth was relatively slow, whilst Eketahuna registered a small decline. During the last decade, however, Featherston, Carterton, and Martinborough have grown appreciably. The county population has generally shown a decline continuing, in some cases, into the last decade.

Recent Trends

During the past decade (1951–61) the region in every respect has displayed a rate of growth below national levels, though in some cases the growth has been substantial enough. The total population of the Wairarapa increased by 17·54 per cent, the increase being registered largely in the urban areas. The increase in sheep shorn, 13·20 per cent, was markedly below the New Zealand level, and that for lambs shorn, 54·53, somewhat below. The total labour force grew at only half the national rate (7·5 per cent), and although the increase in the manufacturing labour force was higher (18·18 per cent) it fell behind the national figure of 24·14 per cent.

The Wairarapa with 34·96 per cent of its labour force in primary industries is a predominantly agricultural region. Consequently, its development is dependent largely upon the intensification of farming. Without a port, and subsidiary to Wellington and Palmerston North, it has few attractions for the industrialist. Without the stimulus of industry its growth is likely to be slower than that of other North Island regions.

by Samuel Harvey Franklin, B.COM.GEOG., M.A.(BIRMINGHAM), Senior Lecturer, Geography Department, Victoria University of Wellington.

Old Greytown, 1854–1954, Bagnall, A. G. (1953); Masterton's First Hundred Years, Bagnall, A. G. (1954); A History of Carterton, 1857–1957, Bagnall, A. G. (1957); Forest Homes – Scandinavian Settlements in New Zealand, Petersen, G. C. (1956); Proceedings of the Third New Zealand Geography Conference, Palmerston North, 1962, “The Land and the Squatter – Wairarapa 1843–1953”, Hill, R. D.; Pacific Viewpoint, Vol. 1 (1960), “The Village and the Bush – the Evolution of the Village Community, Wellington Province, New Zealand”, Franklin, S. H.; New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Vol. 92 (1956), “Farming in the Wairarapa Plain”, Mason, G.; Ib., Vol. 102 (1961), “Wairarapa Inland Hill Country”, Spite, F. G.