Eltham is a small inland town in South Taranaki, New Zealand, located south of the city of

New Plymouth New Plymouth () is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, in Devon, from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. The New Pl ...

and southeast of the

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

cone of

Mount Taranaki Mount Taranaki (), officially Taranaki Maunga and also known as Mount Egmont, is a dormant stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. At , it is the second highest mountain in the North Island, afte ...

. Stratford is north, Kaponga 13 km west, and

Hāwera Hāwera is the second-largest centre in the Taranaki region of New Zealand's North Island, with a population of . It is near the coast of the South Taranaki Bight. The origins of the town lie in a government military base that was establishe ...

is south. State Highway 3 runs through the town. Eltham is South Taranaki's second largest town. Eltham is known as the cradle of the Taranaki dairy industry (the co-operative system in particular), and for being the one place in New Zealand that manufactured

rennet Rennet () is a complex set of enzymes produced in the stomachs of ruminant mammals. Chymosin, its key component, is a protease, protease enzyme that curdling, curdles the casein in milk. In addition to chymosin, rennet contains other enzymes, su ...

which is important in

cheesemaking Cheesemaking (or caseiculture) is the craft of making cheese. The production of cheese, like many other food preservation processes, allows the nutritional and economic value of a food material, in this case milk, to be preserved in concentrate ...

. It was also the first place to export butter to England.

History

European settlement began in Eltham in the 1870s, with blocks of densely forested land being taken up mainly to the north of Mountain Road. A profusion of sawmilling companies cleared the district which, when grassed, proved ideal for dairy farming. In 1884, the year Eltham was declared a town district, settlers, mainly from England, arrived there and the town had a population of 25. Eltham was declared a borough in 1901, and became part of South Taranaki District with the local body amalgamations of 1989. High Street (which runs through the centre of town - as part of State Highway 3 connecting Stratford, Ngaere, Normanby and

) and Bridge Street (which heads westward towards Kaponga and joins State Highway 45 near

Ōpunake Ōpunake () is a small urban area in the North Island of New Zealand, located within the Taranaki region and governed by the South Taranaki District Council. Positioned along State Highway 45, it lies between Hāwera to the south and New Plymo ...

), were the first tar-sealed roads in New Zealand.

Geography

Rivers and lakes

The two main watercourses which run through Eltham itself are the Mangawharawhara Stream, and the Waingongoro River. The Mangawharawhara Stream runs to the east of the Main Trunk railway line, flows under the central business district via a culvert, and on past Eltham School and the Eltham Golf Club to the south of the town. The Waingongoro River forms a western boundary to the town itself, flowing through the

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism, Protestant tradition named for its form of ecclesiastical polity, church government by representative assemblies of Presbyterian polity#Elder, elders, known as ...

campsite (in the town's northwest) and Taumata Park (the town's main camping area and sports ground - in the western part of the town) and winding itself southwestward to meet the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...

at Ohawe Beach, near

. Eltham is also the gateway to Lake Rotokare, a scenic, natural lake surrounded by native bush (to the east of the town), and to the man-made

Lake Rotorangi Lake Rotorangi is the largest lake in the New Zealand region of Taranaki. The reservoir was created in 1984 by the damming of the Pātea River. History Lake Rotorangi was formed in 1984 as a reservoir for hydroelectric power. The lake was for ...

Demographics

Eltham covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Before the 2023 census, Eltham had a smaller boundary, covering . Using that boundary, Eltham had a population of 1,935 at the

2018 New Zealand census The 2018 New Zealand census, which took place on Tuesday 6 March 2018, was the thirty-fourth national census in New Zealand. The population of New Zealand was counted as 4,699,755 – an increase of 457,707 (10.79%) over the 2013 census. Resu ...

, an increase of 81 people (4.4%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 36 people (1.9%) since the 2006 census. There were 801 households, comprising 984 males and 951 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.03 males per female. The median age was 39.7 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 423 people (21.9%) aged under 15 years, 315 (16.3%) aged 15 to 29, 870 (45.0%) aged 30 to 64, and 321 (16.6%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 79.4% European/

Pākehā ''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...

, 30.2%

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 Co ...

, 3.4% Pacific peoples, 3.7% Asian, and 1.9% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 8.4, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 53.5% had no religion, 30.1% were

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

, 2.2% had

Māori religious beliefs 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 ...

, 0.2% were

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

, 0.9% were

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

, 0.3% were

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and 2.8% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 102 (6.7%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 510 (33.7%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $24,400, compared with $31,800 nationally. 111 people (7.3%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 684 (45.2%) people were employed full-time, 189 (12.5%) were part-time, and 90 (6.0%) were unemployed.

Local administration

Eltham and the surrounding community enjoys a full library and council service (coming under the aegis of the

South Taranaki District Council South Taranaki is a territorial authority on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island that contains the towns of Hāwera (the seat of the district), Manaia, Ōpunake, Patea, Eltham, and Waverley. The District has a land area of 3,575.46& ...

, based in

). Services provided include being able to register your dog, pay your rates or inquire about obtaining a building permit. The LibraryPlus is also a NZ Post agency. Other services include a Tot Time for the under 5s and regular ‘coffee and blog’ meetings for locals to learn about new technologies in a friendly environment. The LibraryPlus also has three APN computers, offering free internet and Skype to the public.

Industry

The town's main industry is cheese production, with much of Mainland Cheese's speciality range such as

feta Feta ( ; ) is a Greek brined white cheese made from sheep milk or from a mixture of sheep and goat milk. It is soft, with small or no holes, and no skin. Crumbly with a slightly grainy texture, it is formed into large blocks and aged in brin ...

and

camembert Camembert ( , , ) is a moist, soft, creamy, surface-ripened cow's milk cheese. It was first made in the late 18th century in Camembert, Normandy, in northwest France. It is sometimes compared in look, taste and texture to brie cheese, albe ...

being produced in the Bridge Street factory. Other cheese products such as the

processed cheese Processed cheese (also known as process cheese; related terms include cheese food, prepared cheese, cheese product, and/or government cheese) is a product made from cheese mixed with an emulsifying agent (actually a calcium chelator). Additiona ...

used in many burgers are produced at the company's Collingwood Street site, formerly occupied by the Taranaki Co-operative Dairy Company's milk powder plant, but now extensively remodelled. Cheese has been used as a central symbol of the town, and to reinforce this view, the town's water supply tank was painted to represent a large block of cheese in 2002. Eltham's other significant industry is the ANZCO ( formerly Riverlands)

freezing works In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a meat ...

, which has a satellite plant in

Bulls Bulls may refer to: *The plural of bull, an adult male bovine * Bulls, New Zealand, a small town in the Rangitikei District Sports *Bucking bull, used in the sport of bull riding *Bulls (rugby union), a South African rugby union franchise operated ...

, in Manawatu. Both plants can process up to 1250 head of cattle daily.

Education

Eltham School is a coeducational full primary school (years 1-8), with a roll of as of The school was founded in 1886.

Notable people

Amyas Connell Amyas Douglas Connell (23 June 1901 – 19 April 1980) was a highly influential New Zealand architect of the mid-twentieth century. He achieved early and conspicuous success as a student, winning the British Prix de Rome in Architecture in 192 ...

(1901–1980), architect * Martin Donnelly (1917–1999), cricketer and rugby union player * Gavin Hill (born 1965), rugby union and rugby league player * Charles Knight aka Tankboy (born 1967), television producer * Brian Muller (1942–2019), rugby union player * Geoff Old (born 1956), rugby union player * Bryce Robins (born 1980), rugby union player *

Ronald Syme Sir Ronald Syme, (11 March 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a New Zealand-born historian and classicist. He was regarded as the greatest historian of ancient Rome since Theodor Mommsen and the most brilliant exponent of the history of the Roma ...

(1903–1989), historian and classicist * Walter Symes (1852–1914), politician * Chau Tseung (or Chew Chong) (1828–1920), founder of the factory system of butter manufacture in the late 1880s * Roger Urbahn (1934–1984), rugby union player * Stephen Cox (born 1956), New Zealand Olympic Cyclist

References

External links

South Taranaki District Council

Eltham School website
{{South Taranaki District South Taranaki District Populated places in Taranaki