Ruawaro is a rural community in the

Waikato District Waikato District is a territorial authority of New Zealand, in the northern part of Waikato region, North Island. Waikato District is administered by the Waikato District Council, with headquarters in Ngāruawāhia. The district is centred to t ...

and

Waikato Waikato () is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton City ...

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 ...

, situated south of

Lake Whangape Lake Whangape (also written as Wangape, Whangapu, or Whangapae) is shallow, supertrophic, lateral and the second largest lake (after Lake Waikare) in the lower Waikato River basin in New Zealand. One source said the name translated to 'a large s ...

and west of

Huntly Huntly ( gd, Srath Bhalgaidh or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlemen ...

. The location of the 1933 Lakey murders and the childhood home of

Topp Twins The Topp Twins (born 14 May 1958) are the folk singing and activist sister comedy duo of New Zealand entertainers Jools and Lynda Topp. They are known for their country music influenced style, live shows and television performances. They often ...

are both located in the area. Ruawaro's Central Memorial Hall is a brick hall opened in 1953, built as a Second World War memorial for the small mining and farming settlements of Rotongaro, Ruawaro, Pukekapia and Waikokowai. It features a wooden table commemorating those who served, and a bronze plaque commemorating the eight local men were killed in action during the war. As of 2017, Puketotara Station, a local intensive beef and lamb finishing farm, is owned by an equity firm.

History

Lakey murders

Ruawaro attracted national media attention when local couple Samuel and Christobel Lakey were murdered on their Ruawaro farm on Sunday 15 October 1933. Christobel's body was found by neighbours who were investigating why the couple's cows hadn't been milked. An intensive and high-profile homicide investigation using ground-breaking forensic science led to neighbour

William Alfred Bayly William Alfred Bayly (15 July 1906 – 20 July 1934) was a New Zealand farmer and convicted murderer. He was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 15 July 1906. In October 1928, Bayly's cousin, 17-year-old Elsie Walker found dead in the bushes w ...

being convicted and hanged for the crime. Bayly had been farming in Ruawaro since November 1928. To some locals, he was a "handsome dare-devil fellow" with a "magnetic" personality. To others, he was a scary and arrogant man who rode around the area on his horse. Samuel Lakey had purchased the neighbouring property from Bayly's father, who he had worked for as a carpenter. Relations were initially friendly, but soured when Christobel Lakey was said to have accused Bayly of having murdered his niece. Samuel Lakey's remains were finally reunited with this wife's remains at Huntly Cemetery at a ceremony in 2015, attended by the granddaughter of one of the neighbours.

Topp Twins

The

were raised on a local dairy farm and attended Ruawaro Combined School during the 1960s and early 1970s. They left home and moved to Christchurch in 1975, at the age of 17. Staff and students at the school compiled memorabilia from their time at the school when they returned during the 1990s. '' The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls'', a 2009 documentary feature film about the sisters directed by

Leanne Pooley Leanne Pooley ONZM is a Canadian filmmaker based in Auckland, New Zealand. Pooley was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, she immigrated to New Zealand in the mid-1980s and began working in the New Zealand television and film industry ...

, covers their often difficult childhood in the deeply conservative rural community. The film screened at film festivals around the world, and won awards at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venice Film Fest ...

Göteborg International Film Festival Göteborg Film Festival (GFF), formerly Göteborg International Film Festival (GIFF), known in English as the Gothenburg Film Festival, formerly Gothenburg International Film Festival, is an annual film festival in Gothenburg, Sweden and the la ...

Portland International Film Festival PAM CUT–Center for an Untold Tomorrow, formerly the ''Northwest Film Center'' is a regional media arts resource and service organization based in Portland, Oregon, United States that was founded to encourage the study, appreciation, and utilizat ...

and the 2009 New Zealand Film and Television Awards.

Education

Ruawaro Combined School is a co-educational state primary school, with a roll of as of .

References

{{coord, -37.527937, 175.040822, region:NZ_type:city, display=title Waikato District Populated places in Waikato