Brunswick is a rural community in the

Whanganui District Whanganui District is one of the districts of New Zealand. It includes the city of Whanganui and surrounding areas. Geography Formerly spelled "Wanganui", the Whanganui District Council resulted from the amalgamation of Wanganui and Waitotara cou ...

and Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located about north-west of Whanganui, and includes lifestyle blocks and livestock farming.

History

The first European settlers to the area were the Campbell family, who arrived in February 1853 from the Canadian province of

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. They began farming 225 acres, which they called Brunswick farm; it later became a name for the whole area. Politician

John Bryce John Bryce (14 September 1833 – 17 January 1913) was a New Zealand politician from 1871 to 1891 and Minister of Native Affairs from 1879 to 1884. In his attitudes to Māori land questions, he favoured strict legal actions against Māori oppo ...

purchased a farm in Brunswick in 1851, following a short time in the Australian goldfields. He continued farming there for 50 years, including during his time as a local MP, the Minister of Native Affairs and the Leader of the Opposition. In 1865, settler and provincial councillor James Hewett was killed by Māori, prompting European settlers to build four fortifications in the area. In November 1871, Bryce personally directed the invasion of the Māori settlement of

Parihaka Parihaka is a community in the Taranaki region of New Zealand, located between Mount Taranaki and the Tasman Sea. In the 1870s and 1880s the settlement, then reputed to be the largest Māori village in New Zealand, became the centre of a major camp ...

and the arrest of the leaders of the movement, in line with his strict legal action against non-compliant Māori following the

New Zealand Wars The New Zealand Wars took place from 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. They were previously commonly referred to as the Land Wars or the ...

. The National Library of New Zealand holds records of horses, cattle and gardens at Brunswick in the early 20th century, most from the Motohau Station farm. In the 1930s, local dairy farms would deliver milk and cream by horse-drawn cart for local households.≈ Brunswick has a war memorial for the 12 local men who died in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the three locals who died in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Demographics

The statistical area of Brunswick-Papaiti, which covers , and also includes Westmere, had a population of 1,371 at the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the sho ...

, an increase of 87 people (6.8%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 231 people (20.3%) since the

2006 census 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. There were 525 households. There were 696 males and 678 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.03 males per female. The median age was 48 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 267 people (19.5%) aged under 15 years, 168 (12.3%) aged 15 to 29, 699 (51.0%) aged 30 to 64, and 243 (17.7%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 95.6% European/Pākehā, 9.2% Māori, 1.3% Pacific peoples, 1.3% Asian, and 1.3% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). The proportion of people born overseas was 13.6%, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people objected to giving their religion, 51.4% had no religion, 38.7% were Christian, 0.2% were Muslim, 0.4% were Buddhist and 1.3% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 222 (20.1%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 177 (16.0%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $35,300, compared with $31,800 nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 594 (53.8%) people were employed full-time, 201 (18.2%) were part-time, and 27 (2.4%) were unemployed.

Education

Brunswick School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students, with a roll of as of .

References

{{Whanganui District Whanganui District Populated places in Manawatū-Whanganui