Ngamahanga is a rural community, in the northeastern part of
Rangitikei District
The Rangitikei District is a territorial authority district located primarily in the Manawatū-Whanganui region in the North Island of New Zealand, although a small part, the town of Ngamatea (13.63% by land area), lies in the Hawke's Bay Regio ...
, in the
Hawke's Bay
Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...
region of New Zealand's
North Island
The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...
. The rest of the Rangitikei District is located in the
Manawatū-Whanganui
Manawatū-Whanganui (; spelled Manawatu-Wanganui prior to 2019) is a region in the lower half of the North Island of New Zealand, whose main population centres are the cities of Palmerston North and Whanganui. It is administered by the Manawat ...
region.
Ngamahanga has been farmed by Europeans since the 1870s.
It is one of the most vast and remote areas of New Zealand,
far away from many of the comforts of modern civilisation.
The area includes Ngamatea Station, a 70,000 hectare high country sheep and beef
station, with areas for free-range
sika deer
The sika deer (''Cervus nippon''), also known as the Northern spotted deer or the Japanese deer, is a species of deer native to much of East Asia and introduced to other parts of the world. Previously found from northern Vietnam in the south to ...
hunting and trout fishing.
Geography
Ngamahanga corresponds with the
Statistics New Zealand
Statistics New Zealand ( mi, Tatauranga Aotearoa), branded as Stats NZ, is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the collection of statistics related to the economy, population and society of New Zealand. To this end, Stats ...
statistical area of Ngamatea, which covers an area of 611.55 km², 13.64% of the total area of Rangitikei. At the
2018 census, only 24 people or 0.2% of the district's population lived in the area.
The Ngamatea statistical area is bordered by
Taharua
Taharua is a rural community in the Taupō District and Hawke's Bay Region of New Zealand's North Island, located around the Ōamaru and Taharua Rivers, which are tributaries of the Mohaka River.
Demographics
Taharua statistical area cove ...
(
Taupo District, Hawke's Bay) to the north,
Puketitiri-Tutira (
Hastings District
Hastings is a town in the United Kingdom, most famous for the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Hastings may also refer to:
Places Australia
* Hastings, Tasmania, a locality
* Hastings, Victoria, Australia
** Electoral district of Hastings, Victoria, ...
, Hawke's Bay) to the northeast and east,
Sherenden-Crownthorpe (Hastings) to the southeast and
Mokai Patea to the west.
History
19th century
Māori had some farming in the area before the arrival of Europeans.
Europeans began farming sheep farming in the area in the 1870s.
The initial Ngamatea Station had no boundaries, with sheep and cattle eventually grazing up to 100,000 hectares.
20th century
The Fernie family began farming the Ngamatea Station for wool in 1932, after previous farmers had been driven away by rabbits, low prices, and the hard work involved in farming the area.
Musterers would be hired for eight months of the year to bring sheep in from the far reaches of the station, and spending a year on the farm became a rite of passage for many young farmers.
Ngamahanga became a community of farm workers, cooks, shearers, shepherds, gardeners, rabbit hunters, and "tough, eccentric landowners".
The area remained extremely remote, often taking people several days to travel to.
Colin Wheeler painted the homestead area of the station in 1973, including dogs’ kennels, shepherds’ quarters and other buildings.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Government subsidies were provided to permanently clear tussock and scrub.
21st century
By 2006, Ngamatea Station had transitioned to producing prime lamb. However, the Ngamahanga was still hilly, remote back-country, where "tough, self-reliant, real men and women" worked across vast distances.
In 2015, the station was still one of the largest and remote farms in New Zealand.
In July 2020, a 26-year-old Ngamahanga man died in a single-car crash on the road between Ngamahanga and
Taihape
Taihape is in the Rangitikei District of the North Island of New Zealand. It serves a large rural community. State Highway 1, which runs North to South through the centre of the North Island, passes through the town.
History and culture
Early ...
.
Government and politics
Local government
As part of the Rangitikei District, the current
Mayor of Rangitikei
The Mayor of Rangitikei is the head of the Rangitikei District Council in New Zealand. The role was created in 1989 with the formation of the Rangitikei District as part of the 1989 local government reforms. The current mayor since 2013 Rangitikei ...
since
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
is
Andy Watson.
The area forms part of the Northern ward of the
Rangitikei District Council, which elects three of the eleven district councillors. The three councillors of the Taihape ward are Richard Aslett, Angus Gordon and Ruth Rainey.
The mayor and councillors are all due for re-election in
October 2016.
Central government
The area is part of the
general electorate of
Rangitīkei and in the
Māori electorate of
Te Tai Hauāuru
Te Tai Hauāuru electorate boundaries used since the
Te Tai Hauāuru is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives, that was first formed for the . The electorat ...
. Rangitīkei is a safe
National Party seat since the
1938 election with the exception of 1978–1984 when it was held by
Bruce Beetham
Bruce Craig Beetham (16 February 1936 – 3 May 1997) was an academic and politician from New Zealand, whose career spanned the 1970s and early 1980s.
A lecturer at Hamilton's University of Waikato and at the Hamilton Teachers' Training Colle ...
of the
Social Credit Party. Since
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
it is held by
Ian McKelvie
Ian Robert Flockhart McKelvie (born 1952) is a New Zealand politician and a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. He is a member of the National Party.
Early life and career
McKelvie was born to parents John and Rosemary in Palmer ...
.
Te Tai Hauāuru is a more unstable seat, having been held by three different parties since
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
, i.e.
New Zealand First
New Zealand First ( mi, Aotearoa Tuatahi), commonly abbreviated to NZ First, is a nationalist and populist political party in New Zealand. The party formed in July 1993 following the resignation on 19 March 1993 of its leader and founder, Winst ...
, the
Māori Party
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 Co ...
and the
Labour Party. Since
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
it is held by
Adrian Rurawhe
Adrian Paki Rurawhe (born 1961) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician of Ngāti Apa descent. He is the speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, the second Māori to hold the position, and Member of Parliament for Te Tai Hauāuru. ...
of the Labour Party.
Demographics
The Ngamatea statistical area, which covers .
had a population of 24 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 ...
, a decrease of 3 people (-11.1%) since the
2013 census, and a decrease of 15 people (-38.5%) 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 6 households. There were 15 males and 6 females, giving a sex ratio of 2.5 males per female. The median age was 24.5 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 3 people (12.5%) aged under 15 years, 12 (50.0%) aged 15 to 29, 9 (37.5%) aged 30 to 64, and none aged 65 or older.
Ethnicities were 75.0% European/Pākehā and 12.5% Māori.
Although some people objected to giving their religion, 50.0% had no religion and 25.0% were Christian.
Of those at least 15 years old, 6 (28.6%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $36,200, compared with $31,800 nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 12 (57.1%) people were employed full-time, and 6 (28.6%) were part-time.
Transport
Roads
There are no
state highways
A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...
in the area. The main road through the area is Taihape-Napier Road, also known as the Gentle Annie.
Springvale Suspension Bridge
The historic
Springvale Suspension Bridge, in use from 1925 to 1970, crosses the Rangitīkei River at Ngamahanga. It is a designated Category II historic site by
Heritage New Zealand
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...
.
References
External links
Ngamatea Station website
{{Rangitikei District
Rangitikei District
Populated places in the Hawke's Bay Region