Waipukurau is the largest town in the Central Hawke's Bay District on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on the banks of the Tukituki River, 7 kilometres south of Waipawa and 50 kilometres southwest of Hastings.
History and culture
Māori Central Hawkes Bay, where the town is located was settled by Te Aitanga a Whatonga, the descendants of Whatonga, grandson of Toi Kairakau. These were the Ngati Tara and Rangitāne peoples. In the mid 1500s the Ngāti Kahungunu invaded the area from the north and in the subsequent fighting drove the Rangitāne south into the Tahoraiti area (Dannevirke). Warfare continued through the 1600s until the time of Te Rangikoianake. His first child Te Kikiri was adopted by the Ngai Toroiwaho to be their chief - he had mana over the Waipukurau district.Aramoana Beach, Historical and Archaeological Report, Patrick Parsons, Central Hawkes Bay District Council, January 2001 - Waipukurau Library copy
Fighting broke out again in the 1800s at Mangatoetoe between Ngai Te Upokoiri and Ngāti Te Rangikoianake of Poukawa. Several of Te Rangikoianake's grand children were killed in this fight. Pareihe, a Ngati Rangikoianake Chief, avenged the defeat in a battle at Pukekaihau, Waipukurau after which a peace accord was made between the two tribes.
The accord was short lived with the death of Te Wanikau's brother-in-law (Chief of Ngai Te Upokoiri) prompting further conflict over the erection of rahui poles on Lake Poukawa, Ngati Rangikoianake's eel fishing area. The conflict, starting around 1819 and lasting till 1824 ended with the Ngati Rangikoianake and other local tribes evacuating the area and settling at Mahia. In the latter part of the 1820s Pareihe attacked the Ngai Te Upokoiri and regained the lands they had lost, with the Ngai Te Upokoiri taking refuge in the Manawatū. A peace accord was made between Pareihe and the Ngāti Tūwharetoa in the late 1830s. The Ngati Tuwharetoa had been allied with the Ngai Te Upokoiri.
Within the current township is Pukekaihau hill, now in Paul Hunter Memorial Park, the site of the Māori Pā, from which it gets its name. Waipukurau is said to mean the water of pukerau, wai being water and pukerau being either a type of giant puffball fungus, Calvatia gigantea, or the immature fruiting bodies of Ileodictyon cibarium (white basket fungus). The pa was near the old Māori trail from the Manawatū Gorge and Hawkes Bay. The first Europeans who are known to have passed through the area were Bishop George Selwyn and Chief Justice Sir William Martin in November 1842 en route to Napier.Waipukurau, An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, 1966, AW Reed and Co
European
In December 1850 Donald McLean and his party of Land Commissioners met with the Central Hawkes Bay tribes to discuss purchasing a large block of land for European settlement. Negotiations proceeded through till 4 November 1851 when an area of land called the Waipukurau Block, some 279,000 acres, including the land the town is situated on was acquired from local Māori, led by Te Hapuku for £4,800."Parliamentary Papers. Correspondence relative to land purchases, District of Napier", Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=5 |issue=316, 16 September 1862 |page=2 retrieved 18 December 2015 Henry Russell acquired the land surrounding Waipukurau, calling it Mount Herbert station.
In 1857 there was an accommodation house run by a Mr Aveson.Open column, Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=I |issue=9, 21 November 1857 |page=3 retrieved 17 December 2015 This was sold in October 1858 to George Lloyd and renamed Lloyds Hotel.Page 2 Advertisements Column 1, Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=2 |issue=58, 30 October 1858 |page=2 retrieved 17 December 2015 The Hotel was transferred again in 1861 becoming Moss's Inn or the Tavistock Hotel.Page 1 Advertisements Column 4, Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=4 |issue=159, 6 October 1860 |page=1 retrieved 17 December 2015"Local Intelligence", Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=4 |issue=166, 24 November 1860 |page=5 retrieved 17 December 2015 It was moved to its present site nearer the railway in 1916 and has been empty since 2013. A Town Hall was built nearby in 1877. It burnt down on 18 November 1922.
Horse racing started in 1859 with the first recorded meeting on 2 February."Waipukurau reces, 1859", Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=2 |issue=74, 19 February 1859 |page=3 retrieved 17 December 2015 The provincial council approved construction of roading from Waipukurau to Pōrangahau, a goal, and the appointment of a Constable at Waipukurau in 1859."Thursday, May 12", Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=2 |issue=87, 21 May 1859 |page=3 retrieved 17 December 2015 Roading to Forty-mile bush was not commenced until late 1867."Provincial Council", Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=12 |issue=887, 26 October 1867 |page=2 retrieved 21 December 2015
By at least 1858 Waipukurau was used as a hub for mail delivery to the district, a sale yard for stock, and a court venue."Local Intelligence", Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=1 |issue=42, 10 July 1858 |page=2 retrieved 17 December 2015Port Napier, Daily Southern Cross |volume=XV |issue=1183, 29 October 1858 |page=2 retrieved 17 December 2015 In 1863 land was offered to the Agricultural Society for a show.Editorial, Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=6 |issue=371, 25 March 1863 |page=2 retrieved 18 December 2015 By 1864 the Presbyterians were looking to set up a church in Waipukurau."General assembly of the Presbyterian Church", Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=7 |issue=544, 8 November 1864 |page=3 There was a school in town by 1866 but this was closed when the building it used was destroyed by fire that year."Education", Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=11 |issue=819, 19 January 1867 |page=4 retrieved 21 December 2015 The school was replaced in August 1867 by new building which was to serve as both a church and a school."Waipukurau", Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=11 |issue=868, 20 August 1867 |page=2 The school had 9 pupils."Report on education", Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=12 |issue=935, 18 April 1868 |page=3 retrieved 21 December 2015
In 1867 Russell acquired the Pa Flat native reserve and founded Waipukurau on it as a model village. Russel chose the residents and approved the house plans.http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=2R32 H.R.Russell retrieved 17 December 2015
Cobb and Co commenced the first coach service to the town in October 1867.Untitled, Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=12 |issue=881, 5 October 1867 |page=2 retrieved 21 December 2015 A coach road to the south reached Norsewood in December 1873 and the Manawatū Gorge in February 1874.Editorial, Wairarapa Standard |volume=2 |issue=145, 28 January 1874 |page=2 retrieved 22 December 2015 Tenders for a coach service from Waipukurau to Palmerston North were called for in March.Wairarapa, Wellington Independent |volume=XXIX |issue=4058, 20 March 1874 |page=3 The contract was awarded to Andrew Young, whose coach operated from Foxton. On his first journey from Foxton to Waipukurau his coach was intercepted by Alexander MacDonald as he was attempting to cross the Oroua River on former Ngāti Kauwhata land near Schultz's Hotel at Awahuri. MacDonald shot one of the lead horses preventing Young from continuing his journey.Attack on the Napier coach, Evening Post |volume=X |issue=62, 1 May 1874 |page=2 retrieved 22 December 2015 MacDonald was a staunch supporter of the Ngāti Kauwhata and had been seeking redress for the dispossession of the tribe from its land on 15 December 1866. MacDonald was imprisoned for three months because of this action, but his action did result in the tribe regaining some 6,200 acres of its land."Cultural impact assessment of the Feilding sewage treatment plant discharges upon the cultural values of Ngāti Kauwhata", Rauhuia Environmental Services, Te Maru o Ruahine Trust and Ngā Kaitiaki o Ngāti Kawhata, 9 November 2012, p. 24.
In October 1867 a dispute broke out between the residents of Waipukurau and the neighbouring township of Waipawa over the location of a telegraph station."Letters to the Editor", Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=12 |issue=886, 22 October 1867 |page=3 The Provincial Council favoured Waipawa as the location."Provincial Council Wednesday, 15th October", Hawke's Bay Weekly Times |volume=I |issue=44, 28 October 1867 |page=266 However, the Government's Telegraph Department preferred Waipukurau due its slightly more central location."Waipawa", Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=12 |issue=916, 11 February 1868 |page=2 retrieved 21 December 2015 The office was opened on 9 June 1868.Untitled, Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=12 |issue=950, 9 June 1868 |page=2 retrieved 21 December 2015 Several weeks later on 22 June Frederick Christian Schäfer, passed through the town. Schäfer was a global traveller from Carlhafen in Hesse-Cassel who had walked through most of Europe, Palestine, two thirds of the way across the United States, Australia, Japan, China, Batavia, and Sumatra. He walked from Wellington to Waipukurau in 18 days.Waipukurau, Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=12 |issue=955, 27 June 1868 |page=3 retrieved 21 December 2015Mr Christian Frederick Schafer, Evening Post |volume=IV |issue=88, 27 May 1868, p. 2.
One of the first sheep shearing competitions in New Zealand took place at Waipukurau in January 1868. Its purpose was to improve the quality of shearing,Untitled, Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=12 |issue=910, 18 January 1868 |page=2 retrieved 21 December 2015. As a local response to Te Kooti's escape and conflict on the East Coast, a stockade was erected in late 1869,Untitled, Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=13 |issue=1090, 8 October 1869 |page=2 in what is now Hunter Memorial Park.
In November 1869 a Methodist Church was formed in the town.Untitled, Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=13 |issue=1101, 16 November 1869 |page=3 retrieved 22 December 2015 A boiling down works was constructed in March 1870, the same time a brewery was proposed and a flax mill opened.Untitled, Hawke's Bay Herald |volume=14 |issue=1131, 1 March 1870 |page=5
Railway station
Construction of a railway from Napier to Waipukurau commenced in 1872. The target was to complete the line by September 1873.Parliamentary, New Zealand Herald |volume=IX |issue=2724, 21 October 1872 |page=3 This was not achieved and the extension to Waipukurau was opened just three days after Waipawa on 1 September 1876. A holiday was declared and two trains ran from Napier to celebrate the opening on Friday 8 September. The link to Palmerston North was not completed until 9 March 1891 due in part to the more difficult country and the impact of the Long Depression.John Yonge (editor), New Zealand Railway and Tramway Atlas, 4th edition (Exeter: Quail Map Company, 1993), 13. The extension to Waipukurau was built by the international contractor, Brogdens, for £9,469 7s 9d.
In 1874 Edmund G Allen won a £14,100 contract for the extension south to Takapau. Waipukurau had been the terminus of the line for just over 6 months, when it opened on 12 March 1877. There were then two trains a day from Napier, one of which continued to Takapau.