Te Awamutu

History and culture

Tainui Māori first settled in the area in about 1450, according to noted Tainui historian Te Hurinui-Jones. Te Awamutu means "the river cut short", as it marked the end of the navigable section of the Mangapiko Stream.

Te Awamutu was the birthplace of the first Māori King, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero (died 1860).

The first European missionaries visited the area in 1834. A missionary settlement was set up by Benjamin Yate Ashwell of the Church Missionary Society (CMS). and Māori Christians in July 1839 after they observed Tainui warriors, who had been fighting at Rotorua, return with 60 backpacks of human remains and proceed to cook and eat them in the Otawhao Pā. In 1842 the Rev. John Morgan moved to the Otawhao Mission Station. Otawhao was to the south west of Te Awamutu, on the rise overlooking what is now Centennial Park.

The CMS missionaries established a flourishing trade school that focused on developing agricultural skills. The missionaries introduced European crops such as wheat, potatoes and peaches. In 1846 Morgan provided advice and some capital to help local Māori to construct eight water mills to grind wheat into flour. Morgan assisted in finding a suitable miller to operate the mills and to train Māori in this skill.

Possibly the oldest surviving building in the Waikato is St John's church, built in 1853 as part of the mission station. It is in Gothic Revival style. During the 1850s the wider area prospered on the back of sending surplus farm produce to Auckland. For a brief period wheat was even sent overseas. By the late 1850s prices dropped as cheaper flour and other foodstuffs were imported from Australia. This caused huge resentment among local Māori who had grown use to the wealth provided by trade. Some of the more warlike Māori such as Rewi Maniapoto blamed the missionaries for having a negative influence on Māori tikanga (cultural practices). He attempted to kill the local missionary and burnt down the trade school and other mission buildings. Some Christian Māori warned Europeans to leave the Waikato as their lives were in danger. Te Awamutu was a major site during the New Zealand Wars of the 19th century, serving as a garrison town for the colonial settlers from 1864. European settlement began at the conclusion of the Waikato Wars (1863–1865).

Marae

The local Mangatoatoa Marae and Te Maru o Ihowa meeting house is a meeting place for the Ngāti Maniapoto hapū of Ngutu, Pare te Kawa and Parewaeono, and the Waikato Tainui hapū of Ngāti Ngutu and Ngāti Paretekawa.

Local government

Rangiaowhia, or Rangiaohia Highway Board administered the roads in the town until Te Awamutu Town Board's election on 1 November 1884. The board first met on 8 November, though there had been an earlier attempt to form a board and there was an unsuccessful challenge to the legality of the election. Te Awamutu Borough Council took over from the board and first met on 10 May 1915. It was merged into Waipā District Council on 23 October 1989.

Geography

Te Awamutu literally means in English "The River's End". The town is on gently undulating land close to the banks of a tributary of the Waipā River. The Waikato Plains lie to the north and east, and the promontory of Mount Pirongia, 20 kilometres to the west, is easily visible. Inside the township are two streams called the Mangapiko Stream and the Mangaohoi Stream. The Mangaohoi ends and becomes the Tributary of the Mangapiko near Memorial park.

The town is close to the extinct Kakepuku and Pirongia volcanoes (and other volcanoes of the Alexandra Volcanic Group). Maungatautari, another extinct volcanic cone, now the site of New Zealand's largest ecological restoration project, is also nearby.

Other towns surrounding Te Awamutu include Cambridge, 25 kilometres to the northeast, Ōtorohanga, 30 kilometres to the southwest, and Raglan 50 kilometres to the northwest. The small town of Kihikihi lies just to the south of Te Awamutu.

The main thoroughfare is Alexandra Street, so named because it was once the main road to the town of Alexandra (since renamed to Pirongia to avoid confusion with the town of Alexandra in the South Island).

Demographics

Te Awamutu covers 14.18 km2 and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2.

Te Awamutu had a population of 13,380 in the 2023 New Zealand census, an increase of 837 people (6.7%) since the 2018 census, and an increase of 2,526 people (23.3%) since the 2013 census. There were 6,429 males, 6,903 females, and 45 people of other genders in 5,136 dwellings. 2.7% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. The median age was 40.2 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 2,532 people (18.9%) aged under 15 years, 2,355 (17.6%) aged 15 to 29, 5,580 (41.7%) aged 30 to 64, and 2,910 (21.7%) aged 65 or older.

People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 80.4% European (Pākehā); 24.1% Māori; 3.2% Pasifika; 6.9% Asian; 0.6% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 2.0% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 96.7%, Māori by 5.5%, Samoan by 0.4%, and other languages by 7.4%. No language could be spoken by 2.5% (e.g. too young to talk). New Zealand Sign Language was known by 0.5%. The percentage of people born overseas was 16.9, compared with 28.8% nationally.

Religious affiliations were 33.2% Christian, 1.1% Hindu, 0.4% Islam, 1.2% Māori religious beliefs, 0.7% Buddhist, 0.4% New Age, 0.1% Jewish, and 1.6% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 52.9%, and 8.4% of people did not answer the census question.

Of those at least 15 years old, 1,833 (16.9%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 5,883 (54.2%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 3,129 (28.8%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $40,600, compared with $41,500 nationally. 924 people (8.5%) earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was 5,469 (50.4%) full-time, 1,257 (11.6%) part-time, and 264 (2.4%) unemployed.

For earlier censuses, Te Awamutu was divided into four area units, central, east, south and west, as in this table. Māori formed 19.7% of the population in central, 22.8% in east, 23.2% in south and 25.7% in west.

Facilities and attractions

Te Awamutu Museum was established in 1935. The museum has a number of permanent exhibitions focusing on the history of Te Awamutu and the surrounding area.

The museum contains one of the most famous early Māori artefacts, a large carved post known simply as Te Uenuku. This impressive carving has caused much controversy because its style is markedly different from any other early Māori work, yet it is clearly of a Māori design.

Te Awamutu itself is located on SH3, one of the major routes used when touring the North Island of New Zealand.

The town has three large supermarkets, electronics retailers, a well equipped sports / leisure centre and The Kihikihi Trail cycleway, which opened in 2017.

The town has a large dairy factory, and serves as an important centre in the local dairy industry.

Education

Te Awamutu has two state primary schools: Te Awamutu Primary School, with a roll of , and Pekapekarau School with a roll of . Te Awamutu Primary was founded in 1877. Pekapekarau opened in 1958 as Te Awamutu No 2 School, then was given the name Pekerau School, a misspelling of Pekarau. It changed its name to Pekapekarau School in 2022.

Many of these students then progress on to Te Awamutu Intermediate, established 1959, with a roll of , and Te Awamutu College, with a roll of . Te Awamutu District High School was established in 1921, split between two or more sites. It was replaced by Te Awamutu College in 1947.

There are also three other schools in the town:

• St Patrick's Catholic School is a Year 1–8 state integrated Catholic primary school, with a roll of . It was founded in 1921.
• Waipa Christian School is a Year 1–8 state integrated Christian primary school, with a roll of . It opened in the early 1990s, and plans to include years 9 and 10 in the future.
• Te Wharekura o Ngā Purapura o te Aroha is a Year 1–15 state school, with a roll of as of The school, which teaches in the Māori language, opened in 2007 and moved to its current site in 2020.

All these schools are co-educational. Rolls are as of .

Notable residents

Main article: People from Te Awamutu

The town's best known residents are the Finn Brothers, Tim and Neil, whose musical careers have stretched from Split Enz through the internationally successful Crowded House to their current solo and collaborative works. The town is mentioned in Split Enz's song "Haul Away", and also in Crowded House's 1986 song "Mean to Me", the debut single from their self-titled debut album.

Writer Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, was born in the town in 1953. She was inducted into the Te Awamutu Walk of Fame in 2019.

Musician Spencer P. Jones (The Beasts of Bourbon, Paul Kelly and The Coloured Girls) was also born in Te Awamutu.

Two Anglican priests of note were the last incumbent vicars of the old St Johns Church. They were The Rev Martin Gloster Sullivan, vicar prior to WW2 who in 1950 became Dean of Christchurch Cathedral and, later Dean of St Pauls Cathedral London, and The Rev John David Hogg who was to become the Anglican Archdeacon of Waikato and Vicar General of the Waikato Diocese.

References

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