Terawhiti Station is one of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

's oldest and largest sheep stations, located along the south coast of

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

. Terawhiti Station has seen a diverse range of land uses over the past 160 years. Originally a cattle station, Terawhiti grew into one of New Zealand's largest sheep stations before returning to cattle in 1993. The station originally consisted of the upraised marine terrace at Tongue Point on Wellington's south coast and was purchased by two Wellington businessmen Samuel Revans and

William Mein Smith William Mein Smith (also known as Kapene Mete; 1798 – 3 January 1869) was a key figure in the settlement of Wellington, New Zealand. As the Surveyor General for Edward Wakefield's New Zealand Company at Port Nicholson from 1840 to 1843, h ...

following the sale of Crown 'waste lands'. Captain

William Barnard Rhodes William Barnard Rhodes (1807? – 11 February 1878), casually referred to as Barney Rhodes, was a New Zealand landowner, pastoralist, businessman and politician. He was probably born in Lincolnshire, England, but took up a career at sea at an ...

later bought Revans’s land at Tongue Point stocking it with shorthorn cattle. His young manager, James McMenamen (known as Terawhiti Jack), later bought the Tongue Point farm and neighbouring blocks, forming Terawhiti Station and (later) Te Kamaru Station (at Te Ika a maru Bay). Today the station is approximately in size, running from Te Ika a Maru Bay in the north, down to Karori Stream in the south and

Cape Terawhiti Cape Terawhiti is the southwesternmost point of the North Island of New Zealand. The cape is located 16 kilometres to the west of Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. Ohau Point, located on the northern tip of Cape Terawhiti and, along ...

in the West. The area boasts a rich and varied history.

Gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface, ...

was prominent on the station during the 19th century. The first alluvial 'rush' began in the 1850s, while the more concerted effort to extract gold from Cape Terawhiti followed in the 1880s. The latter of which failed to provide an economic return. Problems arose when miners encountered the fragmented geological landforms that make up much of the

Wellington region Greater Wellington, also known as the Wellington Region (Māori: ''Te Upoko o te Ika''), is a non-unitary region of New Zealand that occupies the southernmost part of the North Island. The region covers an area of , and has a population of T ...

. While payable quartz veins, containing gold, would be located, these seams come to an abrupt end, making mining a fragmented, and expensive exercise. This eventually caused the demise of gold mining on

. The company to expend the most time and money into the Terawhiti goldfield was the Albion Gold Mining Company. Th
Albion Battery
built in 1883, is one of the last remaining remnants of the short-lived gold rush. The farm still remains in the family of James McMenamen's descendants. Wind farming is seen as a new chapter of land-use in the ongoing story of survival in this harsh landscape.

Meridian Energy Meridian Energy Limited is a New Zealand electricity generator and retailer. The company generates the largest proportion of New Zealand's electricity, generating 35 percent of the country's electricity in the year ending December 2014, and is ...

completed the 62 turbine Project West Wind in 2009 in Mākara over the combined project area of Terawhiti Station and Makara Farm. The energy produced by

Project West Wind West Wind is a wind farm located at Terawhiti Station and Mākara, west of Wellington, New Zealand. It is the first wind farm for the capital city, and has a capacity of 143 MW. Construction of the wind farm project began in September 2007 and ...

has a capacity of 143 MW – enough power for all the houses in

Wellington City Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and ...

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most ...

Upper Hutt Upper Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. Geography The Upper Hutt city centre lies approximately 26 km north- ...

and

Porirua Porirua, ( mi, Pari-ā-Rua) a city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. The name 'Porirua' is a corruption of 'Pari-rua', meaning "the tide sw ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Terawhiti Station Buildings and structures in the Wellington Region Hill Country stations Geography of the Wellington Region