Douglas is a lowly populated locality and a rural centre in east

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth D ...

, surrounded by

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

and

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

pastoral farming Pastoral farming (also known in some regions as ranching, livestock farming or grazing) is aimed at producing livestock, rather than growing crops. Examples include dairy farming, raising beef cattle, and raising sheep for wool. In contrast, ar ...

. It is situated 18 km east of Stratford at the intersection of East Road, Ohura Road, Douglas Road South and Bredow Road. East Road and Ohura Road meet to form State Highway 43, linking Stratford to the

King Country The King Country (Māori: ''Te Rohe Pōtae'' or ''Rohe Pōtae o Maniapoto'') is a region of the western North Island of New Zealand. It extends approximately from the Kawhia Harbour and the town of Otorohanga in the north to the upper reaches of ...

town of

Taumarunui Taumarunui is a small town in the King Country of the central North Island of New Zealand. It is on an alluvial plain set within rugged terrain on the upper reaches of the Whanganui River, 65 km south of Te Kuiti and 55 km west of ...

. The

Stratford–Okahukura Line The Stratford–Okahukura Line (SOL) is a secondary railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, between the Marton - New Plymouth Line (MNPL) and the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) Railway, with 15 intermediate stations. It is long thr ...

, a secondary

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line, runs through Douglas where it veers north-east and away from the state highway for approximately 20 km.

Geography

Douglas is centred on the Toko Stream adjacent to a small saddle crossed by Ohura Road to the east. The wider locality takes in State Highway 43 from Gordon Road in the west to Mangaotuku Road in the east. The reclaimed swamplands of the upper Toko valley are the dominant geographic feature, running from the north to the south-west of Douglas, at approximately 200m above sea level.

Sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

greywacke Greywacke or graywacke (German ''grauwacke'', signifying a grey, earthy rock) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or lit ...

ridges rise to between 300-370m altitude on each side of the valley floor. Peaks include Tarerepo trig to the north-east (366m altitude), Oruru trig to the south-east (329m) and Makuri trig to the south (327m). Crown Road provides access to farms below the Makuri trig, Bredow Road to farms below the Oruru trig, and Douglas Road to farms in the upper end of the valley (Tarerepo trig). Douglas Road links Douglas to Huiroa, Te Popo,

Kiore The Polynesian rat, Pacific rat or little rat (''Rattus exulans''), known to the Māori as ''kiore'', is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the brown rat and black rat. The Polynesian rat originated in Southeast Asia, a ...

and Matau. East of Douglas State Highway 43 (Ohura Road) crosses the Douglas Saddle into the Makuri Valley, which runs parallel to the

Toko Toko is a small rural settlement 10 kilometres east of Stratford, New Zealand, at the intersection of East Road ( State Highway 43) and Toko Road. It is located on a railway, the Stratford–Okahukura Line, the western portion of which was o ...

at approximately 175m above sea level. This is also predominantly reclaimed swamp, while adjoining ridges rise with considerable precipitousness. Walter Road gives access to Makuri valley farms to the north of the main road.

History

Douglas is said to have been named for a member of the Crown's

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

party. It is called ''Oruru'' by

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

after the native

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

ruru (or morepork). The current town was established at the turn of the 20th century and its hinterland cleared for pastoral farming. A hall was established in 1905 and a primary school in 1906. Through the first half of the century Douglas was a lively village with a productive brick

kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...

, a milk factory, a railway station, a store, a number of other businesses, and a church. In the 1930s the Douglas saleyards had the greatest turnover of all Taranaki saleyards, particularly in

Jersey cattle The Jersey is a British list of cattle breeds, breed of small dairy cattle from Jersey, in the British Channel Islands. It is one of three Channel Island cattle breeds, the others being the Alderney (cattle), Alderney – now extinct – and th ...

for

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

and

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...

production. The Douglas Boarding House, which still stands today, served as an important stopping point for eastbound travellers making the long journey through difficult terrain to Whangamōmona or Taumarunui.Church, Ian (1990), The Stratford Inheritance. Heritage Press Ltd., Waikanae, New Zealand. Like other rural settlements, Douglas went into decline from the mid-20th century. Its primary school closed at the end of 2005 in its 100th year, and pupils were transferred to nearby Toko School. The community hall and tennis courts remain in the possession of the community.

Douglas area unit

Douglas lends its name to the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

area unit of Douglas, which covers and takes in those localities within the

Pātea Patea ( ) is the third-largest town in South Taranaki District, New Zealand. It is on the western bank of the Pātea River, 61 kilometres north-west of Whanganui on . Hāwera is 27 km to the north-west, and Waverley 17 km to the ea ...

and Waitara river catchments to the east of

, also including Strathmore, Huiakama, Te Wera, Pohokura, Huiroa,

, Matau,

Tututawa Tututawa is a locality and rural centre in east Taranaki, New Zealand, east of Stratford, with a population of approximately 40. The settlement is centred south of Ohura Road ( State Highway 43), at the intersection of Mangaotuku Road and Tut ...

, Puniwhakau and Makahu. The Douglas statistical area had a population of 672 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 27 people (4.2%) since the 2013 census, and a decrease of 21 people (-3.0%) 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 240 households. There were 348 males and 321 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.08 males per female. The median age was 34.4 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 189 people (28.1%) aged under 15 years, 93 (13.8%) aged 15 to 29, 324 (48.2%) aged 30 to 64, and 66 (9.8%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 95.1% European/Pākehā, 11.6% Māori, 0.9% Pacific peoples, 0.0% Asian, and 2.2% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). The proportion of people born overseas was 7.1%, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people objected to giving their religion, 57.6% had no religion, 34.8% were Christian and 0.4% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 60 (12.4%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 117 (24.2%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $31,900, compared with $31,800 nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 288 (59.6%) people were employed full-time, 96 (19.9%) were part-time, and 15 (3.1%) were unemployed.

Notable residents

* David Walter (born 1939), chairman of Taranaki Regional Council, mayor of Stratford District Council, chairman of Stratford County Council * Edward Walter (1866–1932), member of parliament representing the Stratford electorate (1925–1928) and grandfather of David Walter * Alan Smith (born 1942), All Black & Taranaki Rugby Football representative

Geography

History

Douglas area unit

Notable residents

References

Further reading