The Hawke's Bay region, located on the eastern side of the North Island, extends in a direct line from Wairoa in the north to Woodville in the south, a distance of approximately 120 miles. Rarely does the region exceed 40 miles in width. The mountainous country of the Ruahine and Kaweka Ranges forms the western boundary, whilst lower hill country forms the northern limit. The Pacific Ocean lies on the eastern side, and in the vicinity of Hawke Bay the extensive and fertile plains of the Napier-Hastings districts (Heretaunga Plains) extend to the coast, whereas south from Cape Kidnappers the extensive belt of hill country reaches right to the coast. Lower lying land compressed between the Ruahines in the west and the eastern belt of hill country stretches southwards from the Heretaunga Plains towards the Manawatu Gorge, which can be regarded as the southernmost limit of the region. The regional boundaries outlined here correspond closely with the limits of the former Hawke's Bay Province and they include the counties of Wairoa, Hawke's Bay, Waipawa, Waipukurau, Patangata, Dannevirke, and Woodville, which with their interior boroughs and cities form the basic units for the collection of statistics. The figures for Weber County, which has been incorporated with Dannevirke County, are not shown separately, having been included for each year within the Dannevirke County totals. By including the whole of Wairoa County one may have rather exceeded the conventional limits ascribed to the region, but this is of little consequence as the bulk of the county's population resides in the coastal regions which are effectively part of Hawke's Bay. Napier (urban area population 1961, 32,716) and Hastings (urban area population 1961, 32,490) are the principal towns of the region which in 1961 registered a total population of 116,576 (4·82 per cent of the national total), 11·52 per cent of which were classified as Maoris.
The European settlement of Hawke's Bay reveals many similarities to the settlement of the Wairarapa because, like that region, Hawke's Bay was originally covered partly in dense bush in the south, and partly in scrub and fern and short-tussock grassland in the central and northern parts. Consequently, as in the Wairarapa, the open country was soon exploited by large sheep graziers, especially after 1850, some of the graziers in fact coming from the Wairarapa; whereas the development of the bush lands (the Seventy Mile Bush) was not commenced until the 1870s and only accomplished during the last decade of the nineteenth century. Koch's map of 1874 clearly displays the contrasting development of the two regions. The railway line is shown extending from Napier as far south as the bush line a little beyond Takapau. To the east and west of the line across the Ruataniwha Plains and out to the coast at Blackhead lie the properties of the large graziers. Koch has drawn in the boundaries and named the owners, so that the map reads like a list of Hawke's Bay notables: Bell, Carlyon, McLean, Ormond, Russell, Tiffen, and Williams; in contrast, only three names of property owners appear in the bush country, all located in the vicinity of the Dannevirke clearing. For the most part the bush area stretching from the Ruahines in the west across the region towards Akitio in the east is unoccupied and grossly divided into survey blocks designated only by numbers.
The approximate position of the original bush line is still apparent to the observant traveller. Highway 2, which crosses the level surface of the Takapau Plains to the west of Waipukurau, turns south-westerly as it draws near to the Ruahine Range. The change of direction is accompanied by a change in grade, for the road is forced to climb up and down the valley sides of the Manawatu tributaries which flow across the general direction taken by the highway. The number of indigenous tree types along these valley slopes is conspicuous and the break in country corresponds closely to the original bush line.
Hawke's Bay, however, was more favoured than the Wairarapa in possessing its own port at Napier, which acted both as the provincial capital and as the main economic centre of the whole region. It was not until the 1890s that a rail link was established with the Manawatu and the Wairarapa. Previous to that period the region had been largely isolated from the rest of the North Island by the difficult and poorly developed hill country to the north, by the Ruahine and Kaweka Ranges to the west (the road journey between Napier and Taupo has remained an exciting one even until the present decade) and by the Seventy Mile Bush to the south. Despite its isolation, Hawke's Bay was a prosperous region, its prosperity and the advantages of an early start being illustrated by the fact that by 1878 Napier, with 5,415 persons, was the seventh largest city in the Dominion. By 1896, with a population of 9,231, Napier was ranked fifth.
The frequent comparison of Hawke's Bay with the Wairarapa is inevitable, for both regions are structurally part of the North Island eastern hill country, and stemming from this basic geological unity are many physiographic and even climatic similarities. The western ranges produce a rain-shadow effect on Hawke's Bay which is noted for its low rainfall and large number of sunshine hours. Napier has, after Nelson and Blenheim, the third highest annual average for hours of bright sunshine, 2,320. The mean daily maximum temperature for the whole year averages 64·8F; the mean daily minimum, 48·7F. In January the mean day maximum reaches 73·9F. The average number of rain days is 114, the average annual rainfall being 31·2 in.
In the vicinity of Dannevirke the likeness to the northern Wairarapa is complete. The trend of country is NNE-SSW with the basic pattern of main axial range, “vale”, and eastern hill country. The Ruahine Range reaches an altitude of 3,500 ft in this district. It is bush covered and its slopes fall sharply towards the “vale” which is composed of the alluvium of the Manawatu and its tributaries lying above sedimentary materials. The Manawatu system has dissected the area into a pattern of broad interfluves and deep square-bottomed valleys. Immediately to the east higher ranges composed of Tertiary rocks are found; the Waewaepa (2,500 ft), the Whangai, and the Turiri Ranges obtain an altitude close to 2,000 ft. Further east towards the coast there is a succession of ridges and valleys characteristic of this hill country. In this part of the region the hill country was originally covered with bush and, like most of the bush country, was settled by men with limited capital who engaged in small-scale farming. Now the hill country is farmed in large units for store sheep, for the topography is unsuited for dairy farming and the district as a whole is too inaccessible.
The belt of country at the foot of the Ruahine Range and extending from Woodville in the south to Norsewood in the north is largely dairying country. More than anything else, the excellent black top and wide country roads illustrate the prosperity of the area and suggest the volume of traffic associated with the transportation of milk to the dairy factories. Two factors help to explain the existence of dairying: the higher rainfall (annual average rainfall at Woodville is 50·46 in. and 178 days with rain) and the pattern of small properties arising out of the settlement of the bush. It is noticeable, therefore, that the number of cows in milk per hundred sheep shorn is highest in Woodville County, 4·98, and that the average size of holding, 266 acres, is the lowest for the whole region. Nevertheless, the raising of fat lambs is not an unimportant farming activity.
In the latitude of Waipukurau the Ruahines obtain an altitude of over 5,000 ft, and the eastern hill country is a little lower and the climate a little drier. The principal change occurs in the “vale”, which is now composed of the gravels poured out by the Tukituki system and which appears as a huge extent of flat, imperceptibly sloping land. It is droughty land subjected to strong drying winds, which account for the shelter belts that have broken the vistas of the old Ruataniwha Plains, but, nevertheless, it is excellent fat-lamb country. At Waipukurau and Waipawa the rivers break the escarpment of the Raukawa Range, which stands as a spectacular ridge of limestone (1,374 ft) above Otane and Lake Poukawa, both favoured farming districts. Between the Raukawa and Wakarara Range (highest point 3,307 ft) is a belt of level country over a thousand feet in altitude and intricately dissected by the tributaries of the Waipawa and the Ngaruroro system. This is a rich piece of sheep-farming country containing a number of very attractive and prosperous holdings, rarely visited by tourists, but offering some superb vistas to the north. Like Dannevirke, which is the main marketing centre for the southern districts, Waipawa and Waipukurau, with their important sheep sales, perform the same functions for the surrounding district. In addition, there are a number of smaller settlements, the most important of which is Takapau, acting as local servicing centres for the rural community. Some of them, like Ongaonga and Tikokino, were originally bush settlements and concerned with the timber trade. Others, like Ashley Clinton and Makaretu, had similar origins but now have no nucleated settlement whatsoever.
The most celebrated district of Hawke's Bay, the Heretaunga Plains, is composed of the deposits and gravels of the Tutaekuri, Ngaruroro, and Tukituki Rivers, which, with their varying materials, levels of deposition, and water tables, give rise to a rich complex of soils carrying fat lambs, a great deal of cropping, and, notably, orchards and market gardens. Cropping, especially for the canning and freezing industry, is a largely post-war development, and in the season 1959–60, 5,391 acres of vegetable crops for processing were reported, compared with 1,615 acres for the 1951–52 season. This spectacular development should not obscure the 7,657 acres of chou moellier and the 2,992 acres of rape which are grown for fodder crops, or the production of grass seed (5,449 acres), but none of these activities is as strictly located in the Heretaunga Plains as is the production of vegetables. With 4,801 acres of orchards and market gardens, largely in the vicinity of Hastings, Hawke's Bay ranks as the second region of production in New Zealand. Apples account for approximately two-thirds of the value of production, with peaches and pears tying for second place and apricots coming in third place. Three hundred and eighty-seven acres of vineyard, worked by 15 growers, are located on the lower slopes of the hills near Taradale and Havelock North, and a range of white and red wines is produced.
North of Napier the characteristic features of Hawke's Bay are gradually overwhelmed in a landscape which has more affinities with the East Cape. In the vicinity of Sherenden and Rissington the sweeping and well groomed landscapes of the Hawke's Bay back country are preserved. But beyond Tutira towards the Mohaka River and Waikaremoana, the land is more broken, the soils poor, and the pastures subjected to weed infestation. Access is difficult and the population is either dispersed and lightly settled or concentrated in the coastal regions, especially near to Wairoa. Indicative of the more extensive nature of farming is the average size of holding for Wairoa county, 1,087 acres, and quite significant is the low rate of growth both of the numbers of sheep shorn (3·73 per cent) and of lambs shorn (28·51 per cent) in the period 1951—52 to 1959—60, compared with the respective regional totals of 14·28 per cent and 7140 per cent.
The combined population of the Napier and Hastings urban areas reaches the sizable figure of 65,206. The most important distinction between the two cities rests upon Napier's function as a port, though the importance of orcharding and the associated food-processing industries to Hastings, the more differentiated manufacturing structure of Napier, and the strikingly different sites of the two cities confirm one in an impression of two vigorously independent towns. Napier is much the older settlement – at the turn of the century Hastings' population was only half that of Napier's – and, though time may have reduced its relative importance, it has shown no signs of decline. During the period 1955–60 both the number of ships calling at the port and the tonnage handled has increased by somewhat more than a half. A list of cargo outwards constitutes a survey of the region's economy: 54,314 tons of frozen meat, 43,838 tons of wool, 26,540 tons of fresh fruit. The list of inwards cargo by coastal and overseas shipping reveals some of the basic imports required for production: 108,545 tons of manure, 107,954 tons of oil and petroleum products, and 20,391 tons of cement.
During the last decade (1951 – 61) the total population of the region has grown at the same rate as the national population (Hawke's Bay region 24·43 per cent, New Zealand 24·46 per cent), and, expectedly, the rate of growth of the urban population (33·58 per cent) has exceeded the rate of growth of the rural population (11·52 per cent). Hastings, with a 45·37 per cent increase, was the fastest growing centre; Dannevirke, with 18·2 per cent increase, was amongst the slowest. What is particularly impressive is the slight but continued growth of the county population, especially Patangata County, which contains no nucleated settlements of more than 500 persons. Dannevirke and Woodville Counties, however, which contain some of the wetter and more difficult hill country, have experienced continuing declines, as has Wairoa County, despite its large Maori population. With 13,434 Maoris, 11·52 per cent of the total population, Hawke's Bay contains a more than average proportion of Maoris, the majority of whom are located in the coastal regions of Wairoa County and Mahia (4,543) and Wairoa borough (772). The remainder are located in Napier and Hastings and in rural localities of the Heretaunga Plains and adjacent areas, such as Bridge Pa, Omahu, Pakipaki, Te Hauke, and Waimarama.
In the period April 1953 to April 1961 the total labour force grew by 20·13 per cent and those engaged in manufacturing by 36·66 per cent, both rates being well above the national levels. 21·59 per cent of the total labour force are engaged in primary industry, and this underlines the importance of agriculture in the region's economy. Nevertheless, compared with many other predominantly agricultural regions, Hawke's Bay has a relatively high proportion engaged in manufacturing (23·29 per cent). This relationship between manufacturing and agricultural activities is one of the more impressive reasons for anticipating a continued prosperity for the region. In the general lore of the North Island the Hawke's Bay sheep farmers have been selected, not without exaggeration, to typify the affluent element of the farming community. Some of this impression derives from the traditions of the early large runholders, and much of it is confirmed by a visit to any local gymkhana. All this is a tribute to the prosperity of the region, a prosperity enhanced by the background of well kept pastures and the delight of changing seasonal colours. Nevertheless, although attention is rightly focused upon the prosperous and central parts of the region the more marginal conditions prevailing in the peripheral parts should never be forgotten.
by Samuel Harvey Franklin, B.COM.GEOG., M.A.(BIRMINGHAM), Senior Lecturer, Geography Department, Victoria University of Wellington.
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Statistics: Hawke's Bay Region
Urban Population |
|||||
| Town | 1911 | 1936 | 1951 | 1961 |
1961 Maoris |
| Wairoa | 1,097 | 2,524 | 3,348 | 4,303 | 772 |
| Napier | 10,537 | 15,302 | 19,709 | 24,579 | 716 |
| Taradale | 894 | 1,206 | 2,472 | 4,846 | 260 |
| Hastings | 6,286 | 12,750 | 17,238 | 23,383 | 999 |
| Havelock North | .. | 1,145 | 1,828 | 3,622 | 55 |
| Waipawa | 1,083 | 1,157 | 1,415 | 1,714 | 154 |
| Waipukurau | 1,043 | 2,050 | 2,525 | 3,250 | 147 |
| Dannevirke | 3,368 | 4,385 | 4,664 | 5,508 | 207 |
| Woodville | 1,165 | 1,031 | 1,279 | 1,530 | 41 |
| Total | 25,473 | 41,550 | 54,478 | 72,735 | 3,351 |
| County Population | |||||
| County | 1911 | 1936 | 1951 | 1961 |
1961 Maoris |
| Wairoa | 1,876 | 6,970 | 7,776 | 7,715 | 4,543 |
| Hawke's Bay | 10,114 | 14,864 | 17,203 | 21,052 | 3,992 |
| Waipawa | 3,041 | 3,522 | 3,655 | 4,021 | 323 |
| Waipukurau | 538 | 1,034 | 1,089 | 1,289 | 65 |
| Patangata | 1,936 | 2,731 | 3,055 | 3,432 | 632 |
| Dannevirke | 5,209 | 5,086 | 4,693 | 4,597 | 423 |
| Woodville | 1,880 | 1,935 | 1,813 | 1,735 | 105 |
| Total county | 24,594 | 36,142 | 39,284 | 43,841 | 10,083 |
| Total region | 50,067 | 77,692 | 93,762 | 116,576 | 13,434 |
| Cows in Milk | ||||
| County | Cows in Milk | Dairy Cows in Milk Per 100 Sheep Shorn | ||
| 1921–22 | 1951–52 | 1959–60 | 1960 | |
| Wairoa | 1,972 | 7,364 | 5,185 | 0·76 |
| Hawke's Bay | 8,565 | 12,473 | 9,741 | 0·58 |
| Waipawa | 5,089 | 4,113 | 2,482 | 0·35 |
| Waipukurau | 802 | 431 | 515 | 0·22 |
| Patangata | 1,734 | 1,807 | 1,346 | 0·14 |
| Dannevirke | 13,970 | 15,728 | 13,052 | 1·78 |
| Woodville | 7,362 | 11,048 | 9,272 | 4·98 |
| Land Occupation | ||
| County | Average Area of Holdings | Area Occupied |
|
1960 Acres |
1960 Acres |
|
| Wairoa | 1,087 | 693,725 |
| Hawke's Bay | 527 | 855,129 |
| Waipawa | 526 | 269,966 |
| Waipukurau | 513 | 75,963 |
| Fatangata | 960 | 424,517 |
| Dannevirke | 411 | 324,223 |
| Woodville | 266 | 87,740 |