Hikutaia is a locality on the

Hauraki Plains The Hauraki Plains are a geographical feature and non-administrative area (though Hauraki Plains County Council existed from 1920 to 1989 and a statistical Area Unit remains) located in the northern North Island of New Zealand, at the lower ( ...

of New Zealand. It lies on State Highway 26, south east of

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

and north of

Paeroa Paeroa is a town in the Hauraki District of the Waikato Region in the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula, it is close to the junction of the Waihou River and Ohinemuri River, and is approximately 20 kilo ...

. The Hikutaia River runs from the

Coromandel Range A true-colour image showing Auckland city (left), the Hauraki Gulf (centre) and the Coromandel Peninsula (right). The scene was acquired by NASA's Terra satellite, on October 23, 2002. The Coromandel Range is a mountain range running the length ...

through the area to join the

Waihou River The Waihou River is located in the northern North Island of New Zealand. Its former name, Thames River, was bestowed by Captain James Cook in November 1769, when he explored of the river from the mouth. An older Māori name was "Wai Kahou Roun ...

History and culture

The area has a rich history of

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 ...

settlement, with several pā in the vicinity.

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

and

Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James ...

rowed up the Waihou River on 20 November 1769 and disembarked near Hikutaia. They were impressed by the

kahikatea ''Dacrycarpus dacrydioides'', commonly known as kahikatea (from Māori) and white pine, is a coniferous tree endemic to New Zealand. A podocarp, it is New Zealand's tallest tree, gaining heights of 60 m and a life span of 600 years. It was firs ...

which formed a dense forest in the area. Banks described it as "the finest timber my Eyes ever beheld". In 1794, acting on Cook's description of the forest, Captain Dell and his crew of the ship ''Fancy'' camped in a place they called Graves End, which is now Hikutaia, and took 213 kahikatea trees with assistance from local Māori. At least five ships came for more timber by the end of the century. Four Europeans were living at Hikutaia in 1799, assisting the trade in timber and the sale of Māori labour. These men lived with and married Māori. Cultural misunderstandings between traders and Māori sometimes led to violence. Hikutaia was known for its cheese factory in the mid 1960s. The factory opened in 1917.

Marae

Hikutaiā Marae is a traditional meeting ground for the local Ngāti Maru tribe.

Ngāti Paoa Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

have also traditionally lived in the area.

Education

Hikutaia School is a coeducational full primary (years 1-8) school with a decile rating of 4 and a roll of 86.

Railway station

Hikutaia had a railway station from 1898 to 1995 on the

Thames Branch The Thames Branch railway line connected Thames, New Zealand, with Hamilton and was originally part of the East Coast Main Trunk railway. Part of the line between Morrinsville and Waitoa remains open and is in use as the Waitoa Branch line, ...

. Larkins and O'Brien built the Kopu to Hikutaia section from August 1885 for £10,879, had made good progress by January 1886 and completed that section in May 1887. Heath and Irwin started building the Hikutaia to Paeroa section in January 1887. The road to the station was built in 1888. Work on the Paeroa to Te Aroha section began in 1892, but in 1895 it was said, "a Parliamentary faction stopped the workers in their work". Work on the bridges resumed in 1897, including the Hikutaia River bridge, with spans of 3 x , , and . The Minister of Public Works was able to travel by train from Hikutaia to Thames in July 1897. Hikutaia_railway_station_site

The Thames to Paeroa section of the line opened on Monday, 19 December 1898, with Hikutaia as a

flag station In public transport, a request stop, flag stop, or whistle stop is a stop or station at which buses or trains, respectively, stop only on request; that is, only if there are passengers or freight to be picked up or dropped off. In this way, st ...

. It had a partly built 6th class station (a shelter shed), x passenger platform, x goods shed with verandah, loading bank, cattle and sheep yards. A year later there were also urinals and a

passing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains or ...

for 50 wagons. In 1906 the siding was extended, but goods were being stolen, as the goods shed wasn't locked and the station was unstaffed. Security improved in 1914, when a

tablet Tablet may refer to: Medicine * Tablet (pharmacy), a mixture of pharmacological substances pressed into a small cake or bar, colloquially called a "pill" Computing * Tablet computer, a mobile computer that is primarily operated by touching the s ...

porter was appointed and lighting was added in 1915. Signals were installed in 1916 and 1919. In 1920 it was said the station was sometimes beyond its capacity and improvements were needed. As government gave support to roads and cut railway spending, decline started, tablet working ending in 1930, with only 3

mixed trains A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. Although common in the early days of railways, by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. Typically, servic ...

a day each way between Paeroa and Thames, the porter moved to Auckland, the tablet equipment to Mangapehi and passenger trains withdrawn on 28 March 1951. The crossing loop was reduced to 37 wagons in 1958, the platform was removed in September 1959 and the privy and urinal in November 1959. In the 1960s the cheese factory at Wharepoa started sending its cheese from Hikutaia, rather than Wharepoa Road. By 1965 the main traffic was coal to New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company and produce from it. From 17 July 1966 only traffic in wagon loads was handled and the station building and goods shed were sold on 19 April 1967 and the 2 railway houses in 1969. The stock yards were unused in 1971 and closed in March 1972, when they too were sold. The crossing loop was out of use by 1974 and removed in January 1976, though another record says it was still in place in 1981. By 1980, only 982 tonnes were carried, all of it lime and fertiliser. On Sunday, 26 April 1981 Hikutaia closed to all traffic. However, in July 1982, it re-opened for maintenance trains. June 28, 1991, was the last day of commercial traffic on the Thames branch and the line officially closed on March 29, 1995. It is now used by the

Hauraki Rail Trail The Hauraki Rail Trail is one of the Great Rides of the New Zealand Cycle Trail system, using parts of the abandoned ECMT and Thames Branch railways in the Hauraki Gulf plains and the Coromandel Peninsula. The trail officially starts from Ka ...

Notes

{{Thames-Coromandel District 1799 establishments in New Zealand Populated places established in 1799 Thames-Coromandel District Populated places in Waikato