Ngātīmoti or Ngatimoti is a town near

Motueka Motueka is a town in the South Island of New Zealand, close to the mouth of the Motueka River on the western shore of Tasman Bay. It is the second largest in the Tasman Region, with a population of as of The surrounding district has a numb ...

in New Zealand's

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

. The town lies on the banks of the

Motueka River The Motueka River is located in the north of the South Island of New Zealand and is a popular tourist destination for watersports and fishing. The Motueka flows from the mountains 40 km west of the city of Nelson, New Zealand, Nelson in th ...

and has been inhabited since 1855 when the Salisbury brothers arrived in the river valley. The local economy includes

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

s and

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

and

dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for the long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a h ...

. It is connected to the town of Motueka by the Motueka Valley Highway (formerly ).

History

The name for this community originated after a Māori boy with the Christian baptismal name Timothy (''Tīmoti'') carved his name into a tree at the corner of what is now Ngatimoti school. On 1 January 1863 the town featured the first formal gathering of the Brethren religious movement, at the house of a local settler,

James George Deck James George Deck (1 November 1807 – 14 August 1884) was a United Kingdom, British-born New Zealand Evangelism, evangelist. Life Deck was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England, to John Deck, a postmaster, and Mary (''née'' Welch or Wel ...

and by the 1900 census the movement had nearly 2% of the total NZ population. This created a tension between Brethren and

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

settlers in the valley. The Anglicans sent troops to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, while the Brethren adopted a semi-pacifist stance. The first New Zealander to die in the conflict was from Ngātīmoti. An ongoing characteristic of the community is the peaceful coexistence and respect for a wide variety of lifestyles and viewpoints, including conservative farmers, hippies and communes. The town experienced major floods in 1877 and 1990, contributed to by extensive deforestation of the steep surrounding region. In 2019, the name of the locality was officially gazetted as Ngātīmoti.

Education

Ngatimoti School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students, with a roll of The school opened on 17 August 1868.

St James Church

St James is an

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

which was erected in 1884. The building is constructed of

tōtara ''Podocarpus totara'' (), commonly known as the , is a species of Podocarpus, podocarp tree endemism, endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island, South Island and rarely on Stewart Island, Stewart Island / Rakiura in lowland, ...

and

rimu ''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a species of tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is a dioecious evergreen conifer, reaching heights of up to , and can have a stout trunk (botany), trunk up to in diameter. It is endemis ...

Notable residents

Noel Edmonds Noel Ernest Edmonds (born 22 December 1948) is an English businessman, and former television presenter, radio DJ, writer and producer. Edmonds first became known as a disc jockey on Radio Luxembourg before moving to BBC Radio 1 in the UK, pres ...

References

External links

Church gets historic bell back
Article from the ''Nelson Mail'', 24/12/2010
Opening of the Peninsula Bridge on 5 July 1913, and description of the bridge with statistics
"Nelson Evening Mail", 7 July 1913, pg 5.

"Our Place: Mud Houses, Schools and Sundry Remnants" An informal history of Ngatimoti. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ngātīmoti Populated places in the Tasman District