Paekākāriki
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Paekākāriki () is a town in the
Kāpiti Coast District The Kāpiti Coast District (officially the Kapiti Coast District), is a Districts of New Zealand, local government district of the Wellington Region in the lower North Island of New Zealand, north of Wellington, Wellington City. The district i ...
in the south-western
North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...
, New Zealand, and one of the northernmost
towns A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
of the wider
Wellington Wellington 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 third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
region. It lies north of
Porirua Porirua, () a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area. The name 'Poriru ...
and northeast of the Wellington CBD. The town's name comes from the
Māori language Māori (; endonym: 'the Māori language', commonly shortened to ) is an Eastern Polynesian languages, Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost membe ...
and can mean " parakeet perch". Paekākāriki had a population of 1,665 at the time of the 2013 census, up 66 from the 2006 census. Paekākāriki lies on a narrowing of the thin coastal plain between 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 ...
and the Akatarawa Ranges (a spur of the
Tararua Ranges The Tararua Range, often referred to as the Tararua Ranges or Tararua, is one of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand. The Tararua Range runs northeast–southwest for from near Palmerston North to the upper reaches of ...
), and thus serves as an important transportation node. To the south, State Highway 59 climbs towards Porirua; to the north the plains extend inland from the Kāpiti Coast; at Paekākāriki the highway and
North Island Main Trunk The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city Wellington with the country's largest city, Auckland. The line is long, built to the New Zealand rail gauge of and ser ...
railway run close together between the coast and hills. Paekākāriki is also served by the nearby Transmission Gully and
Kāpiti Expressway The Kāpiti Expressway is a four-lane grade-separated expressway on New Zealand's State Highway 1 route through the Kāpiti Coast north of Wellington. From the northernmost terminus of the Transmission Gully Motorway at Mackays Crossing just ...
(both part of State Highway 1).


Etymology

The town's name comes from the
Māori language Māori (; endonym: 'the Māori language', commonly shortened to ) is an Eastern Polynesian languages, Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost membe ...
''Paekākāriki''. ''Pae'' in Māori can mean 'perch' and ''kākāriki'' ' parakeet', so ''pae kākāriki'' can mean 'parakeet perch'. Though usually written in English without macrons, the
New Zealand Geographic Board The New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB) is the authority over geographical and hydrographic names within New Zealand and its territorial waters. This includes the naming of small urban settlements, localities, mounta ...
changed the official name to ''Paekākāriki'' on 21 June 2019. The name was also spelt ''Paikakariki'' prior to 1905.


History

Prior to European settlement, the area was contested by Māori groups including Rangitāne and Muaūpoko. During the 1820s the war leader
Te Rauparaha Te Rauparaha ( – 27 November 1849) was a Māori rangatira, warlord, and chief of the Ngāti Toa iwi. One of the most powerful military leaders of the Musket Wars, Te Rauparaha fought a war of conquest that greatly expanded Ngāti Toa south ...
defeated and expelled the earlier inhabitants and claimed the region for
Ngāti Toa Ngāti Toa, also called Ngāti Toarangatira or Ngāti Toa Rangatira, is a Māori people, Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) based in the southern North Island and the northern South Island of New Zealand. Ngāti Toa remains a small iwi with a population of ...
and their allies. Ngāti Haumia, a
hapū In Māori language, Māori and New Zealand English, a ' ("subtribe", or "clan") functions as "the basic political unit within Māori society". A Māori person can belong to or have links to many hapū. Historically, each hapū had its own chief ...
of Ngāti Toa, built their pa by the mouth of the Wainui steam at the northern end of Paekākāriki. Te Rauparaha, whose pa was on nearby
Kapiti Island Kapiti Island (), sometimes written as Kāpiti Island, is an island nature reserve located off the west coast of the lower North Island of New Zealand and within the Kāpiti Coast District. Parts of the island were previously farmed, but it is ...
, died in 1849, the same year that a road connecting Paekākāriki with Porirua was completed. In 1850 the New Zealand Government resettled Wainui's inhabitants and merged their pa with the new settlement of Paekākāriki. Paekākāriki's history has been intimately linked with the railway, and there is a museum at the Paekākāriki railway station commemorating this heritage. In 1886 the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company's line from Wellington to
Longburn Longburn (or Karere) is a rural settlement just outside Palmerston North in the Manawatū-Whanganui area of New Zealand. Made up of large dairy processing plants Longburn is often mistaken to be a small township and not seen as a large satellit ...
was completed, and Paekākāriki became an important stop on the journey. In 1908, the line was incorporated into the national network of the
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 Rail transport in New Zealand, New Zealand's railway infrastruc ...
and became part of the North Island Main Trunk linking Wellington and
Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
, the North Island's most important line. In 1917, NZR withdrew dining cars from its passenger trains due to World War I economic difficulties and Paekākāriki became a main refreshment stop on the trip north; originally a temporary measure, the dining cars did not return for decades and Paekākāriki's status remained until the 1960s. From 1940 the line south to Wellington through the new Tawa Flat deviation was electrified and at Paekakariki engines were changed, with a steam engine depot at Paekakariki. Electrified commuter services were also extended to Paekakariki. The locomotive depot gradually declined in importance due to changing motive power, and nowadays only FP/FT "Matangi" class
electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...
s are stabled here. The old
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...
depot is now the location of "The Engine Shed", the base of
Steam Incorporated Steam Incorporated, often abbreviated to Steam Inc., is a railway heritage and preservation society based at the Paekākāriki railway station, Paekākāriki at the southern end of the Kāpiti Coast, approximately 50 minutes north of Wellington o ...
, one of New Zealand's premier railway preservation societies. The Paekakariki Station Precinct Trust has been established to manage the station area, including the museum and Steam Incorporated's depot, and firmly establish it as a historical and tourist attraction. During the Second World War Paekākāriki served as a major base for US Marines fighting in the Pacific Campaign. There were three main camps, all situated in or adjacent to present-day Queen Elizabeth Park. At the height of the occupation there were over 20,000 Americans stationed in the region, significantly outnumbering locals. The camps were used for training purposes, as well as rest and recreation for those returning from the Pacific combat zone. Paekākāriki's steep surrounding hills proved suitable terrain for marching and mortar practice, whilst its beaches were used to stage amphibian invasions. They were the scene of an unfortunate tragedy in June 1943 when a landing craft was swamped by a wave during a nighttime training exercise. Nine men drowned in the heavy surf according to official figures; local rumour put the toll higher. The incident was not reported at the time due to wartime censorship provisions. While the American base in Paekākāriki was only in existence for a few years it had an important and lingering impact on the region. Several local place names remain as reminders of this wartime presence.
Tarawa Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''
It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. Before the 2023 census, Paekākāriki had a smaller boundary, covering . Using that boundary, Paekākāriki had a population of 1,746 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 78 people (4.7%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 144 people (9.0%) since the 2006 census. There were 711 households, comprising 831 males and 915 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.91 males per female. The median age was 44.9 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 327 people (18.7%) aged under 15 years, 222 (12.7%) aged 15 to 29, 930 (53.3%) aged 30 to 64, and 267 (15.3%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 89.3% 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 ...
, 17.4% Māori, 3.1% Pasifika, 2.7% Asian, and 3.6% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 21.5, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 68.9% had no religion, 19.9% 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 ...
, 0.5% 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 ...
, 0.2% 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 ...
, 0.9% 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 2.9% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 573 (40.4%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 126 (8.9%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $35,800, compared with $31,800 nationally. 339 people (23.9%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 702 (49.5%) people were employed full-time, 267 (18.8%) were part-time, and 48 (3.4%) were unemployed.


Local government

Paekākāriki is administered by the Kāpiti Coast District Council and elects the Paekākāriki Community Board, one of the Council's four community boards.


Education

Paekākāriki School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students, with a roll of as of .


In popular culture

* The town was featured in the 1999 song ''"Paekakariki Beach"'', by the British rock group
New Model Army The New Model Army or New Modelled Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 t ...
. and in the 1948 song ''"Paekakariki, the land of the Tiki"'' by Ken Avery. * The town also appeared in an animated
documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
by the Simmonds Brothers, entitled: "Paekakariki: Center of the Universe". * The American writer Leon Uris was stationed as a marine in Paekākāriki during World War II. He drew on his experiences there when writing his first novel ''Battle Cry''. * An album entitled "Paekakariki Moon" by Warwick Murray, featuring songs written and sounds recorded in the town, was released in 2017.


Notes


References

*


External links


Paekakariki Surf Lifeguards

''Paekakariki in the land of the Tiki'' (cover of music to 1948 song, with photo of composer Ken Avery)
* *
The US Marines in Kāpiti, New Zealand, 1942–1944
* * * * * * {{Authority control Populated places in the Wellington Region Kāpiti Coast District