Edgecumbe is a town in the

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaw ...

of the North Island of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, 15 kilometres to the west of

Whakatāne Whakatāne ( , ) is the seat of the Bay of Plenty region in the North Island of New Zealand, east of Tauranga and north-east of Rotorua, at the mouth of the Whakatāne River. Whakatāne District is the encompassing territorial authority, ...

and eight kilometres south of the Bay's coast. It is the main service town for the agricultural region surrounding the plains of the

Rangitaiki River The Rangitaiki River is the longest river in the Bay of Plenty region in New Zealand's North Island. It is long, and rises inland from northern Hawkes Bay to the east of the Kaingaroa Forest. The Rangitaiki catchment covers an area of 3005&n ...

, which flows through the town. State Highway 2 and the Tāneatua Branch railway line (disused) pass through the town. The Edgecumbe Dairy Factory, established in 1915, employs 358 people, roughly a fifth of Edgecumbe's total population.

History

The town is named after the small village of Edgecumbe in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, between Penryn and

Helston Helston ( kw, Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map she ...

. Edgecumbe was linked with

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

and

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

by rail, with the opening of the

East Coast Main Trunk Railway The East Coast Main Trunk (ECMT) is a railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, originally running between Hamilton and Taneatua via Tauranga, connecting the Waikato with the Bay of Plenty. The ECMT now runs between Hamilton and Kawerau ...

and

Taneatua Express The ''Taneatua Express'' was an express passenger train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department that ran between Auckland and Taneatua in the Bay of Plenty, serving centres such as Tauranga and Te Puke. It commenced in 1929 and operated ...

in 1928. In 1987, a large earthquake centered on Edgecumbe shook the Bay of Plenty, causing widespread damage and causing much of the population to leave Edgecumbe. In July 2004, May 2005 and April 2017, the town experienced heavy flooding that ruined many homes. In the 2005 flood, the river swelled to within 5 cm of breaching the flood banks that had been put in place seven years prior.

1987 Edgecumbe earthquake

The earthquake was a major turning point in the history of Edgecumbe. It measured 6.3 on the

Richter magnitude scale The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 ...

and struck the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand on 2 March 1987, just after 1.42 pm. The earthquake was very shallow, being centred approximately 8 km from the Earth's surface. The earthquake was one of the most damaging New Zealand's North Island has experienced in recent decades, with approximately 50% of the houses in Edgecumbe being damaged by the quake. There was extensive damage to a local milk factory, with large storage tanks toppled.

Kawerau Kawerau is a town in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is situated 100 km south-east of Tauranga and 58 km east of Rotorua. It is the seat of the Kawerau District Council, and the only town in Kawerau Distri ...

was another nearby town that suffered damage and Whakatane was also badly shaken. An 80-tonne New Zealand Railways DC class locomotive was thrown onto its side. The earthquake caused no fatalities. However, one person died at the time as a result of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

, possibly due to the quake. A

foreshock A foreshock is an earthquake that occurs before a larger seismic event (the mainshock) and is related to it in both time and space. The designation of an earthquake as ''foreshock'', ''mainshock'' or aftershock is only possible after the full se ...

just minutes before had cut the power supply and many people had moved away from heavy machinery and out of their houses. The largest aftershock was measured at 5.2 and struck at 1.52 pm. A crack long opened in the Rangitaiki Plains near Edgecumbe, as a result of the earthquake. It is now known as the 'Edgecumbe Fault'. At one point, the land close to the fault dropped . The

epicentre The epicenter, epicentre () or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Surface damage Before the instrumental pe ...

of the quake was approximately south-south-east of the town of Matata, or north-north-west of Edgecumbe. The intense ground-shaking caused by the earthquake led to a large number of ground surface failures, including

sand boil Sand boils or sand volcanoes occur when water under pressure wells up through a bed of sand. The water looks like it is boiling up from the bed of sand, hence the name. Sand volcano A sand volcano or sand blow is a cone of sand formed by the ...

s, ridge-top shatters and debris avalanches on steeper slopes. Because of the earthquake, many people left and therefore Edgecumbe's population dropped considerably. Edgecumbe is slowly recovering as it has increased by 21 in the years 2006 to 2013, possibly due to many kiwifruit orchards being affected by PSA.

2017 Edgecumbe flood

In April 2017, remnants of

Cyclone Debbie Severe Tropical Cyclone Debbie in 2017 was the strongest tropical cyclone to strike Queensland since Marcia in 2015, and was the costliest tropical cyclone in Australia since Yasi in 2011. Forming as a tropical low on 23 March, the low gradu ...

caused heavy rainfall in the region. At 8:30 am on April 6, water from the

breached a stopbank next to Edgecumbe, causing widespread flooding across the township. A state of emergency was declared for the Whakatane District, and around 2000 people were evacuated to

and Whakatane. More than 300 homes were damaged, with some becoming uninhabitable. There were no deaths due to the flood, yet, over 50 percent of people there were highly effected by it. The largest animal rescue in New Zealand history was recorded during the aftermath of the flood. Approximately 1000 animals were rescued by an

SPCA A Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is a common name for non-profit animal welfare organizations around the world. The oldest SPCA organization is the RSPCA, which was founded in England in 1824. SPCA organizations operate i ...

led operation, with support from local civil defence rescue teams and veterinarians from Massey University. The event highlighted a significant gap in animal welfare emergency management capability in New Zealand.

Demographics

Edgecumbe had a population of 1,644 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 6 people (0.4%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 18 people (1.1%) 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 546 households. There were 855 males and 786 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.09 males per female. The median age was 34.5 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 402 people (24.5%) aged under 15 years, 330 (20.1%) aged 15 to 29, 654 (39.8%) aged 30 to 64, and 255 (15.5%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 66.6% European/Pākehā, 46.4% Māori, 3.3% Pacific peoples, 4.7% Asian, and 2.0% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). The proportion of people born overseas was 9.3%, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people objected to giving their religion, 56.2% had no religion, 28.5% were Christian, 0.5% were Hindu, 0.2% were Muslim, 0.2% were Buddhist and 7.5% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 126 (10.1%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 318 (25.6%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $25,200, compared with $31,800 nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 618 (49.8%) people were employed full-time, 165 (13.3%) were part-time, and 66 (5.3%) were unemployed.

Geography

Edgecumbe is located inland from the coast on the end of the fertile Rangitaiki Plains. The nearby beach is part of

Maketu Maketu is a small town on the Bay of Plenty Coast in New Zealand. Maketu is located in the Western Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. Maketu has an estuary from which the Kaituna River used to flow. It is also adjacent to Newdicks Beach located on t ...

. The volcanic cone of Mount Edgecumbe, 15 kilometres to the south and close to the town of

, is visible from Edgecumbe.

Clubs and organisations

The Association Football Club Plains Rangers AFC is based at the Edgecumbe Domain, along with rugby and hockey. The Edgecumbe Volunteer Fire Brigade is located on SH2 and services the township and surrounding area. The town has a local rugby club, and a Kart Sport track.

Education

Edgecumbe School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students, with a roll of as of . Edgecumbe College is a co-educational state high school for Year 9 to 13 students, with a roll of .

Notable people

Eve Rimmer Eva Marion "Eve" Rimmer née Davies (3 April 1937 – 23 November 1996) was a New Zealand Paralympic athlete. She was born in Whanganui, New Zealand and became one of New Zealand's greatest paraplegic athletes, winning 32 medals – including ...

, paraplegic athlete

References

{{Authority control Whakatane District Populated places in the Bay of Plenty Region