Hawera

Description

Hawera is 75 kilometres south of New Plymouth on State Highway 3 and 20 minutes drive from Mount Taranaki. It is located on State Highway 45, known as Surf Highway 45 for its numerous surf beaches. State Highway 45 passes through Manaia, Opunake and Oakura en route to New Plymouth. Kaponga is a 20-minute drive to the north-west. The Marton–New Plymouth Line railway passes through Hawera and has served the town since 1 August 1881, though it has been freight-only since the cancellation of the last railcar passenger service between Wellington and New Plymouth on 30 July 1977.

Hawera is Maori for burnt place, from fighting between two local sub-tribes, which culminated in the setting ablaze of the sleeping whare (house) of the tribe under attack. The name became apt when the town suffered extensive blazes in 1884, 1888, and 1912. For this reason a large water tower was built in the centre of town to increase water pressure; and this became one of Taranakis best-known landmarks (appearing, for example, on the cover of the 1974 telephone directory). After falling into disrepair the tower was closed to the public in 2001, but after an extensive restoration program it opened again in 2004.[1]

Hawera is the site of the largest dairy factory complex in the world, "Whareroa", which has its own gas-fired power plant. The complex is owned by Fonterra, having been built by the former Kiwi Co-operative Dairies Limited (whose original plant opened on that site in 1975).

Hawera is also home to Tawhiti Museum, well known for its hand-crafted life-sized wax sculptures depicting scenes of local heritage and history, and its scale models of local Maori pa.

Born in Hawera

Education

Hawera Primary School was established in 1875. It developed into a District High School in 1901. The current high school opened as Hawera Technical High School in 1919, and moved to its present site in 1921. The intermediate school opened in 1961.

The Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki has a campus in Hawera, established in 1990.

Hawera High School is a secondary (years 9-13) school with a roll of 782. Hawera Intermediate is an intermediate (years 7-8) school with a roll of 352. Both have a decile rating of 5.

Hawera Primary School, Ramanui School, Tawhiti School and Turuturu School are contributing primary (years 1-6) schools with rolls of 202, 80, 194, and 281, respectively. Hawera Primary and Tawhiti have decile ratings of 4. Ramanui has a decile rating of 2, and Turuturu School has a decile of 6. Hawera Primary celebrated its 125th jubilee in 2000. Ramanui school celebrated its 50th jubilee in 2003.

Belmont Christian Academy and St Josephs School are state integrated full primary (years 1-8) schools with decile ratings of 6 and rolls of 35 and 250 respectively.

Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Ngati Ruanui is a full primary (years 1-8) school with a decile rating of 1 and a roll of 61. It is a Kura Kaupapa Maori school which teaches in the Maori language.

All these schools are coeducational.