Waharoa is a rural community in the

Waikato Waikato () is a 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 City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsul ...

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 ...

. It is located 7 km north of

Matamata Matamata () is a town in Waikato, New Zealand. It is located near the base of the Kaimai Ranges, and is a thriving farming area known for Thoroughbred horse breeding and training pursuits. It is part of the Matamata-Piako District, which takes ...

, and is part of the

Matamata-Piako District Matamata-Piako District is a local government area in the Waikato region of New Zealand. It lies to the east of the city of Hamilton. Geography The district encompasses the southern end of the Hauraki Plains and much of the Thames Valley, and i ...

. It is located at the junction of the

Kinleith Branch The Kinleith Branch railway line is located in the Waikato region of New Zealand. The line was constructed by the Thames Valley and Rotorua Railway Company, Taupo Totara Timber Company and rebuilt by the Public Works Department primarily to ser ...

railway and 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 ...

. State Highway 27 runs through the town, which is serviced by several shops and cafes and by a petrol station.

Matamata Airport Matamata Airport is the airport serving Matamata, New Zealand. It is just over north of Waharoa Waharoa is a rural community in the Waikato Waikato () is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It cov ...

is just over north of Waharoa. Also to the north, near the airport, are the community of Tamihana (where the Raungaiti marae is located) and remnants of the original Matamata pā. To the east lie the communities of Wardville and Turanga-o-moana, to the west the community of

Walton Walton may refer to: People * Walton (given name) * Walton (surname) * Susana, Lady Walton (1926–2010), Argentine writer Places Canada * Walton, Nova Scotia, a community ** Walton River (Nova Scotia) *Walton, Ontario, a hamlet United Kingdo ...

, and to the south the town of

History

Early history

Prior to colonisation, the area surrounding and including present-day Waharoa was held by

Ngāti Hauā Ngāti Hauā is a Māori people, Māori iwi of the eastern Waikato of New Zealand. It is part of the Tainui confederation. Its traditional area includes Matamata, Cambridge, New Zealand, Cambridge, Maungakawa, the Horotiu district along the Wai ...

. In 1830, the Ngāti Hauā chief

Te Waharoa Te Waharoa (died September 1838) was the leader of the Ngāti Hauā ''iwi'' (Māori tribe) of the eastern Waikato in New Zealand in the 1820s and 1830s. His father was Tangimoana of Ngāti Hauā and his mother was Te Kahurangi. As a small child T ...

established the Matamata pā a few kilometers north of the current settlement. Reverend

Alfred Nesbit Brown Alfred Nesbit Brown (23 October 1803 – 7 September 1884) was a member of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and one of a number of missionaries who travelled to New Zealand in the early 19th century to bring Christianity to the Māori pe ...

first visited the area in 1833, and founded the nearby Matamata Mission Station in 1835. A year later, it was abandoned because of a war that broke out between Ngāti Hauā and neighbouring tribes. In 1841, a Catholic mission was established nearby, but by 1844 it had moved to

Rangiaowhia Rangiaowhia (or Rangiawhia, or Rangiaohia) was, for over 20 years, a thriving village on a ridge between two streams in the Waikato region, about east of Te Awamutu. From 1841 it was the site of a very productive Māori mission station until the ...

. In 1865, Josiah Firth began buying up land in the surrounding area from Te Waharoa's son,

Wiremu Tamihana Wiremu Tamihana Tarapipipi Te Waharoa ( – 27 December 1866), generally known as Wiremu Tamihana, was a leader of the Ngāti Hauā Māori iwi in nineteenth century New Zealand, and is sometimes known as the kingmaker for his role in the Māori Kin ...

. Firth gradually converted the land to freehold sections. This area began to be called the Matamata estate. Today, a portion of that area is the settlement of Waharoa.

Establishment

Firth built the township of Waharoa in 1886 around what was then a new railway station, Waharoa Station. He established a church, a school, and a dairy factory and divided the land into ¼-acre sections. In 1921, a butter factory was built in the town. Another local industry was flax production: The town by this time also had a

flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...

mill. St Davids

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

Church was dedicated on Sunday 18 October 1925. Meeting halls were built in 1916 and 1954.

Railway station

Waharoa had 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 ...

opposite Pitt St on the Kinleith Branch from 8 March 1886, opened from Morrinsville to

Tīrau Tīrau is a small town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand, 50 kilometres southeast of Hamilton. The town has a population of 804 (2018 census). In the Māori language, "Tīrau" means "place of many cabbage trees." Tīrau ...

(then called Oxford) on Monday 8 March 1886 by the Thames Valley & Rotorua Railway Co.

New Zealand Railways Department The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR (New Zealand Government Railways) and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway ...

took over the line on 1 April 1886. In 1890 the daily train took about 2 hours to cover the between Waharoa and Frankton (Hamilton). There was a by shelter shed, cattle yards and two cottages. Another state house was added in 1955. There was a Post Office at the station, run by ganger, from 1893 to 1900. By 1896 a platform, cart approach, loading bank, sheep yards 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 33 wagons had been added. The loop had been extended to 40 by 1899 and 62 by 1964. By 1911 there was also a by shed. The station was rebuilt in 1923, had a verandah added in 1924 and closed to passengers on 12 November 1968 and to freight, other than private siding traffic, on 29 March 1981. There is now only a passing loop at the station site and a siding. There was a siding to the Waikato Co-op Dairy from 1925 until the

Anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄγ ...

dairy factory closed in 1995 and was demolished in 2005. Icepak still has a private siding.

Marae

The community of Waharoa is very close, with most people belonging to the

iwi. The local Raungaiti Marae is affiliated with the

hapū of Ngāti Rangi Tawhaki and Ngāti Te Oro, and with the iwi of

Waikato Tainui Waikato Tainui, Waikato or Tainui is a group of Māori ''iwi'' based in Waikato Region, in the western central region of New Zealand's North Island. It is part of the larger Tainui confederation of Polynesian settlers who arrived to New Zealand o ...

. It includes Te Oro meeting house. In October 2020, the Government committed $734,311 from the

Provincial Growth Fund Shane Geoffrey Jones (born 3 September 1959) is a New Zealand politician. He served as a New Zealand First list MP from 2017 to 2020 and was previously a Labour list MP from 2005 to 2014. Jones was a cabinet minister in the Fifth Labour Gove ...

to upgrade the marae and 4 other Ngāti Hauā marae, creating 7 jobs.

Demographics

Statistics New Zealand describes Waharoa as a rural settlement, which covers . Waharoa is part of the larger Waharoa-Peria statistical area. Waharoa had a population of 630 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 156 people (32.9%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 111 people (21.4%) 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 147 households, comprising 321 males and 309 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.04 males per female, with 183 people (29.0%) aged under 15 years, 156 (24.8%) aged 15 to 29, 252 (40.0%) aged 30 to 64, and 36 (5.7%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 34.8% 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 Ze ...

, 75.2%

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 ...

, 4.3% Pacific peoples, 2.9%

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 0.0% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 52.9% had no religion, 35.2% were

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, 1.9% had Māori religious beliefs, 1.4% 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 ...

, 0.5% were

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

and 1.9% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 27 (6.0%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 150 (33.6%) people had no formal qualifications. 24 people (5.4%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 219 (49.0%) people were employed full-time, 60 (13.4%) were part-time, and 66 (14.8%) were unemployed.

Waharoa-Peria statistical area

Waharoa-Peria statistical area covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Waharoa-Peria had a population of 1,521 at the

, an increase of 258 people (20.4%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 207 people (15.8%) since the

. There were 471 households, comprising 771 males and 747 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.03 males per female. The median age was 35.9 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 360 people (23.7%) aged under 15 years, 309 (20.3%) aged 15 to 29, 702 (46.2%) aged 30 to 64, and 150 (9.9%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 67.7% European/

, 36.3%

, 2.6% Pacific peoples, 4.1%

, and 1.0% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 11.0, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 50.1% had no religion, 37.1% were

, 0.8% had Māori religious beliefs, 1.4% were

, 0.2% 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 1.6% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 141 (12.1%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 297 (25.6%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $35,200, compared with $31,800 nationally. 186 people (16.0%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 642 (55.3%) people were employed full-time, 192 (16.5%) were part-time, and 84 (7.2%) were unemployed.

Education

Te Kura o Waharoa is the township's state primary school, teaching Year 1 to 6 students in the

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

. It opened in 1887, with the current buildings dating from 1949, 1957, 1965 and 1967. It has a roll of as of . Wairere School is a co-educational state primary school located in the Wardville area north-west of Waharoa. with a roll of as of .

References

{{Matamata-Piako District Populated places in Waikato Matamata-Piako District