Whanganui
 |
| Wanganui Whanganui | |
| Population: | 38,900 (urban-Wanganui) 43,300 (territorial) (2005 estimate) |
| Urban Area | |
|---|---|
| Extent: | N to Aramoho Valley, NE to Wanganui East; SW to Castlecliff and Gonville, W to Westmere and E to Marybank. |
| Territorial Authority | |
| Name: | Wanganui District |
| Mayor: | Michael Laws |
| Extent: | NW to Matemateaonga Ranges, N to Kakatahi, Pipiriki and Ruapehu District; NE to Rangitikei District; SW to Waitotara and South Taranaki District; S to Tasman Sea & SE to Rangitikei District |
| Land Area: | 2,373km² |
| Website: | http://www.wanganui.govt.nz |
| See also: | Manawatu District, Horowhenua |
| Regional Council | |
| Name: | Manawatu-Wanganui (Horizons Regional Council) |
| Website: | http://www.horizons.govt.nz |
Wanganui is an urban area and district on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is part of the Manawatu-Wanganui region.
Like several New Zealand centres, it was officially designated a city until administrative reorganisation in 1989, and is now run by a District Council. Despite this, it is still regarded as a city by most New Zealanders.
Wanganui City
Wanganui is located on the South Taranaki Bight, close to the mouth of the Whanganui River. It is 200 kilometres north of Wellington and 75 kilometres northwest of Palmerston North, at the junction of State Highways 3 and 4. Most of the town lies on the river's northwestern bank, although some suburbs are located on the opposite side of the river.
It enjoys a temperate climate, with slightly above the national average sunshine (2100 hours per annum), and about 900 mm of annual rainfall. Frosts in winter are uncommon, but not rare.
It is administered by Wanganui District Council. The current mayor is Michael Laws.
History
The area around the mouth of the Whanganui was a major site of pre-European Māori settlement. In the 1820s coastal tribes in the area assaulted the Kapiti Island of Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha. Te Rauparaha retaliated in 1830 sacking Putiki pā and slaughtering the inhabitants.[1] The first European traders arrived in 1831, followed in 1840 by missionaries Octavius Hadfield and Henry Williams who collected signatures for the Treaty of Waitangi.[1] After the New Zealand Company had settled in Wellington the company looked for more suitable places for settlers. Edward Wakefield, son of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, negotiated the sale of 40,000 acres in 1840. A town, originally known as Petre was established at the rivermouth shortly after.[1] The name was officially changed to Wanganui on 20 January 1854.
The early years of the new town were problematic. Purchase of land from the local tribes had been haphazard and irregular, and as such many Māori were angered with the influx of Pākehā onto land that they still claimed. It was not until the town had been established for eight years that agreements were finally reached between the colonials and local tribes, and some resentment continued (and still filters through to the present day).
Wanganui grew rapidly after this time, with land being cleared for pasture. The town was a major military centre during the Land Wars of the 1860s, although local Māori at Putiki Pā remained friendly to the town's settlers. In 1871 the Town Bridge was opened folowed six years later by the railway bridge.[1] THe town was linked by rail to both New Plymouth and Wellington by 1886.
Wanganui was incorporated as a Borough on 1 February 1872 declared a city on 1 July 1924.[1]
Perhaps the city's biggest scandal happened in 1920, when the Mayor, Charles Mackay, shot and wounded a young poet, D'Arcy Cresswell, who had been blackmailing him over his homosexuality. Mackay served seven years in prison and his name was effaced from the city, while Cresswell (himself homosexual) was praised as a "wholesome-minded young man".[2]
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The Whanganui River catchment is seen as a sacred area to Māori, and the Wanganui region is still seen as a focal point for any resentment over land ownership. In 1995, Moutoa Gardens in Wanganui, known to local Māori as Pakaitore, were occupied for 79 days in a mainly peaceful protest by the Whanganui iwi over land claims.
Wanganui was the site of the New Zealand Police Law Enforcement System (LES) from 1976 to 1995. An early Sperry mainframe computer based intelligence and data management system, it was known colloquially as the "Wanganui Computer". The data centre housing the LES was subject to New Zealand's highest profile suicide bombing in 1982 when anarchist Neil Roberts detonated a gelignite bomb in the entry foyer. Roberts was the only casualty of the bombing.
The name
whāngā nui means big bay or big harbour.
The first name of the European settlement was Petre, after Lord Petre, an important officer of the New Zealand Company. It was changed to Wanganui in 1852.
Wanganui or Whanganui?
In the local accent, Māori say wh as w followed by a glottal stop, and the name as something like "W'anganui", hard to reproduce by non-locals. Until recently it was generally written as "Wanganui" and pronounced with a w by non-speakers of Māori and a wh by those Māori speakers from other areas who knew its derivation.
Following an article about the river by David Young in the New Zealand Geographic magazine that used "Whanganui" throughout, in accord with the wishes of the local iwi, the spelling of the river's name reverted to Whanganui in 1991. The region's name is now sometimes also spelt "Whanganui", but the city has kept the spelling "Wanganui".
As a result, many people from outside the area now take pains to pronounce the river and the region as "Whanganui" and the city as "Wanganui", though the variant spellings do not reflect any difference in the underlying name.
A non-binding referendum was held in 2006, where 82% voted for Wanganui without an 'h'. Turnout was 55.4%. [1] [2]
City features
Prominent buildings of the city include the Sarjeant Art Gallery, and the Royal Wanganui Opera House, which was built in 1901.
Cook's Gardens are a major sporting venue, used for cricket, cycling, and athletics. On January 27 1962, a world record time for running the mile was set by Peter Snell on the grass track at the gardens.
Much of the city is on the river's northwest bank. The river is crossed by four bridges - Cobham Bridge, City Bridge, Dublin Street Bridge and Aramoho Railway Bridge (rail and pedestrians only). Close to the southeast end of the City Bridge is one of Wanganui's more unusual features, an elevator leading to a monument on the top of Durie Hill.
Suburbs of the city include (clockwise from due south), Gonville, Castlecliff, Springvale, St. Johns Hill, Aramoho, Wanganui East, Bastia Hill, and Durie Hill. Of these, all except Wanganui East, Bastia Hill, and Durie Hill are on the northwest bank.
Economy
A considerable proportion of Wanganui's economy relates directly to the fertile and prosperous farming area that surrounds the city. Other local industries include engineering and port facilities.
Climate
| Climate data for Wanganui | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Source: NIWA Climate Data[3] | |||||||||||||
Wanganui district
Wanganui District Council resulted from amalgamation of Wanganui and Waitotara county councils and Wanganui City Council. The district has an area of 2373 km². Much of the land in Wanganui district is rough hill country surrounding the valley of the Whanganui River. A large proportion of this is within the Whanganui National Park.
All but some 4,500 people in the Wanganui district live in the city itself, meaning there are few prominent outlying settlements. A small but notable village is Jerusalem.
Sport
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Rugby
Wanganui is one of the oldest rugby unions in New Zealand, but has never held the Ranfurly Shield. The Wanganui environs have produced several All Blacks including Andrew Donald, Bill Osborne, Buff Milner, George Bullock-Douglas, Harrison Rowley, John Blair, John Hogan, Moke Belliss, Mona Thomson, Pat Potaka, Peina Taituha, Peter Johns, Peter McDonnell, Peter Murray, Peter Henderson, Sandy McNicol and Glenn Osborne.
Sister cities
Wanganui has three sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI):
Reno, Nevada, USA since 1974
Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia since 1983
Nagaizumi-cho, Japan since 1988
References
External links
- Wanganui District Council's website
- Wanganui's Official Gateway
- Wanganui's leading private portal on things to do in Wanganui and on the Whanganui River
- Wikitravel Wanganui page
- Wanganui Festival of Organ Music 2007
- Official site of the "Cemetery Circuit" Motorcycle races held each year on Boxing Day