Pukekawa
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Pukekawa is a town in the Lower Waikato River area of New Zealand's North Island, 66 km south of central
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 ...
. The area's fertile soils are used to grow a range of vegetables, including onions, potatoes and carrots. The town was in the
Franklin District Franklin District was a New Zealand territorial authority that lay between the Auckland metropolitan area and the Waikato Plains. As a formal territory it was abolished on 31 October 2010 and divided between Auckland Council in the Auckland Re ...
until the district's abolition in 2010. There is the Pukekawa primary school which is located opposite the garage/store. Most of the services, supermarkets, banks, chemist and shops are located at Tuakau some 8 kilometres away and a further 10 km there is Pukekohe which is a thriving New Zealand rural town. The Onewhero Golf Club is listed by newzealand.com as the sole recreational activity in Pukekawa. The former State Highway 22 runs through Pukekawa. An ancient Maori '' '' (fortress) lies on the summit of Pukekawa hill. Otherwise Pukekawa shows no signs of pre-European contact Maori settlement. Its name pukekawa (bitter hill) tells why. The hill could not grow the kumara (sweet potato). In the 1920s James Cowan described Pukekawa as a "beautiful round green hill on the west side of Waikato".


History


The New Zealand Wars

From the beginning of the Waikato military campaigns, Ngati Maniapoto made Pukekawa their entrenched headquarters. From Pukekawa they launched raids upon the neighbouring British settlements. From a raid from Pukekawa the British army supply depot Cameron town was raided and burnt to the ground in 1863. A British detachment sent to attack the about one hundred men Maori raiding war party was scattered by gun fire and through the night the soldiers were hunted down in the bush.


The Pakeha Peace

In a peace agreement with the New Zealand Government in the 1880s, Pukekawa was returned to Ngati Maniapoto. In 1888, the Maori, King, Tawhiao, moved there with his followers. By 1892 there were 80–90 Maori houses (whare) on Pukekawa. King Tawhiao's house, a large whare, stood there. The Maori settlers grew on Pukekawa market garden crops, mostly potatoes and maize. Market gardens have been the staple crops on Pukekawa ever since. Pukekawa became famous by the early 1890s with both Māori and Pakeha for its horse racing and betting. Hundreds of Māori and Pakeha attended the Pukekawa races. The Pukekawa racing cup had the prize of twenty pounds which far eclipsed the neighbouring Pakeha racing cups. From Pukekawa King Tawhiao and his Court made every year regular regal tours through the North Island. King Tawhiao set up in Pukekawa an alternate Māori Government which was not recognised by the The Crown, Crown nor the New Zealand Government.


The Pukekawa Affair

In 1890 a detachment of armed soldiers raided Pukekawa and arrested and incarcerated Tawhiao's secretary, Kerei, for the destruction of a surveyor's trig on Pukekawa. Kerei was arrested without resistance in the presence of the Maori King to his distress. King Tawhiao later complained to the New Zealand Government that they had broken the 1880s peace agreement when the Kingites had surrendered all their guns. One account described it as "electioneering tactics".


The Pakeha era

After Tawhiao's death and sales to Pakeha farmers, by the early 1900s Pukekawa became a Pakeha rural settlement. By 1920 Pukekawa was described as a "typical township of a Post Office, a store and a few buildings". Pukekawa shared in the Waikato prosperity and later depopulation of the 1950s to 1990s. By 1970 Pukekawa was an affluent rural community and service centre of several hundred people but nationally notorious for the Crewe murders. The community was divided between two feuding camps of Thomas and Crown supporters. To some degree the issue split on class and economic divisions. The film, ''Beyond Reasonable Doubt'', was filmed in Pukekawa with both camps participating in its production. In the twenty-first century, Pukekawa has again rebirthed as a centre for life style housing. Houses of several hundred thousand and million dollar values are being advertised and sold. An 1850s Auckland colonial villa has been shifted and sold in Pukekawa. Land agents advertise the views to the Waikato river. Farms are being advertised, sold and rented out to urban New Zealanders and foreigners to enjoy the kiwi rural life. Backpacker hostels are listed. The farm of Arthur Thomas is still owned and farmed by the Thomas family. At its front gate there used to stand a cross that listed "Justice" , "free Thomas " supporters and a helpful New Zealand policeman. The cross has been moved into nearby bush and its legend obliterated. Pukekawa farming has shifted back to market gardening. Pukekawa has gone full circle from Maori horticulture to Pakeha dairying back to horticulture.


The Eyre Murder

On the night of 24 August 1920 a farmer, Sydney Eyre, was shot in his bedroom in the presence of his wife on his Pukekawa farm. Police found hoof marks and cartridges that led to a former employee on the Eyre farm, Samuel Thorn. Thorn was that year convicted in the Auckland Supreme Court and hanged for murder. Thorn died protesting his innocence. The trial was a national sensation. Eyre's wife confessed in the court that she had been "intimate" with Thorn.


The Crewe Murders

The murders of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe in their living room on their farm on about 17 June 1970 thrust Pukekawa into the national headlines again. Their bodies were thrown into the Waikato river and found separately many weeks later. A woman never officially identified was observed to be in the Crewe house before the Crewes were reported missing. The Crewe baby Rochelle and the farm animals were fed by an unknown person. Local farmer
Arthur Allan Thomas Arthur Allan Thomas (born 2 January 1938) is a New Zealand man who was granted a Royal Pardon and compensation after being wrongfully convicted of the murders of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe in June 1970. Thomas was married and farming a property in ...
was twice convicted in the Auckland Supreme Court and jailed for the murders. His motives were attributed by the The Crown, Crown to a passion for Jeannette Crewe. He was found to have been wrongly convicted and was pardoned by the Governor-General on 17 December 1979. He was awarded $1 million compensation. The story was made into a film in 1980 called ''
Beyond Reasonable Doubt Beyond a reasonable doubt is a legal standard of proof required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems. It is a higher standard of proof than the balance of probabilities standard commonly used in civil cases, bec ...
''. The Crewe murders continue to divide the district into two feuding camps without apparent closure. Pukekawa water supply contractor, Des Thomas, brother of Arthur, continues to investigate for the murders a local man, "farmer X". The release in July 2014 of a police report on the murders cleared suspects the late Len Demler (father of Jeannette) and his second wife after the murders, Norma Demler. The report implied Arthur Thomas remains a suspect to the police. The police report also said the cartridge case that incriminated Arthur Thomas may have been "fabricated evidence". The murder house is still occupied. At the local Tuakau cemetery the graves of Arthur Thomas' parents are present. Twenty seven metres away lie the neglected graves of the Crewes. The names of the still alive Arthur Thomas and Rochelle Crewe are both listed on the grave sites.


Sweetwaters festivals

In the 1980s Pukekawa was listed as the district that staged on a farm three rock and pop Sweetwaters Music Festivals.


Demographics

Pukekawa settlement is in an SA1 statistical area which covers . The SA1 area is part of the larger Pukekawa statistical area. The SA1 area had a population of 150 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 15 people (11.1%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 39 people (35.1%) 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 51 households, comprising 81 males and 69 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.17 males per female. The median age was 44.4 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 33 people (22.0%) aged under 15 years, 18 (12.0%) aged 15 to 29, 75 (50.0%) aged 30 to 64, and 24 (16.0%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 94.0% European/
Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non- Māori New Z ...
, 18.0%
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 ...
, 2.0% Pacific peoples, and 4.0%
Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 66.0% had no religion, 26.0% were Christian and 2.0% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 21 (17.9%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 24 (20.5%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $35,700, compared with $31,800 nationally. 27 people (23.1%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 66 (56.4%) people were employed full-time, 21 (17.9%) were part-time, and 3 (2.6%) were unemployed.


Pukekawa statistical area

Pukekawa statistical area covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. Pukekawa statistical area had a population of 1,476 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 246 people (20.0%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 243 people (19.7%) 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 504 households, comprising 741 males and 732 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.01 males per female. The median age was 43.6 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 315 people (21.3%) aged under 15 years, 234 (15.9%) aged 15 to 29, 762 (51.6%) aged 30 to 64, and 165 (11.2%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 88.6% European/
Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non- Māori New Z ...
, 17.1%
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 ...
, 2.4% Pacific peoples, 2.4%
Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, and 2.0% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 15.0, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 63.0% had no religion, 26.0% were Christian, 0.6% had Māori religious beliefs, 0.4% were
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
, 0.2% were Muslim, 0.6% were
Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
and 1.2% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 171 (14.7%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 213 (18.3%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $40,600, compared with $31,800 nationally. 288 people (24.8%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 696 (59.9%) people were employed full-time, 195 (16.8%) were part-time, and 36 (3.1%) were unemployed.


Education

Pukekawa School is a co-educational state primary school, with a roll of as of


References


External links


IMDb entry for ''Beyond Reasonable Doubt''
{{Waikato District Volcanoes of Waikato Waikato District Populated places in Waikato Populated places on the Waikato River