Lower Hutt

History

Before European settlement, thick forest covered most of the Hutt Valley, with areas of marshland close to the river's mouth. Māori inhabited the shoreline, with a pa at each end of Petone beach.

The local Māori welcomed the arrival of the New Zealand Company ship Tory in 1839, and William Wakefield (the company's agent) negotiated with local chiefs to allow settlement. The first immigrant ship, the Aurora, arrived on 22 January 1840, still celebrated every year on the Monday closest as Wellington's Anniversary Day. A settlement, Britannia, grew up close to the mouth of the Hutt River, and settlers set up the infant country's first newspaper and bank.

The city takes its name from the river, named after the founding member, director and chairman of the New Zealand Company, Sir William Hutt.

Within months of settlement the river flooded, and in March 1840 the majority of Britannia settlers decided to move to Thorndon, (as of 2013 in the heart of Wellington city), though some settlers remained at the north end of the harbour. In the 1840s an area on the west bank of the Hutt River formed the village then known as Aglionby.

In 1846 conflict arose between settlers and Māori, which led to skirmishes in the Hutt Valley Campaign.

The 1855 Wairarapa earthquake (in the range 8.1–8.3) raised part of the lower valley, allowing reclamation of land from swamp. The fault escarpment from the earthquake is still visible, notably at Hutt Central School.

On New Year's Day 1859 the first permanent lighthouse to be built in New Zealand was lit at Pencarrow Head, and was home to New Zealand's only female lighthouse keeper, Mary Jane Bennett, was the inaugural operator of the lighthouse.

The railway line from central Wellington reached Lower Hutt station (now Western Hutt) in April 1874, with the line travelling north up the west side of the river to Silverstream opening two years later.

Before the Second World War, urban settlement in the lower Hutt Valley concentrated mainly on Petone, central Lower Hutt and Eastbourne, with a total population of 30,000. In 1927 the Public Works Department completed the construction of a branch railway line to Waterloo on the east side of the river; the route diverging from the main line between Lower Hutt and Petone. Two years later the railway workshops moved from Petone to a new larger site off the new branch at Woburn.

In the late 1940s new suburbs of state housing developed along the eastern side of the Hutt Valley, from Waiwhetu to Taita, to alleviate nationwide housing shortages and to cater for the booming population. Between 1946 and 1954, the railway line from Waterloo was extended through these new suburbs to Haywards, becoming the main line in 1954 when the existing main line was closed between Haywards and Melling. By the end of the 1950s, Lower Hutt had a population of 80,000.

Local

The Hutt City Council is made up of a mayor and 12 councillors. Ray Wallace was elected Lower Hutt mayor in 2010, succeeding David Ogden. The city's six electoral wards (Northern, Western, Central, Eastern, Harbour and Wainuiomata) each elect two councillors.

Neighbouring councils are Wellington City Council (adjoining to the north-west), Porirua City Council to the north, Upper Hutt City Council to the north-east and South Wairarapa District Council to the east. The boundaries of the Lower Hutt city local body have evolved from a series of amalgamations and boundary changes over the years.

The Hutt County Council was established in 1877 and covered the region from Wellington's south coast up to Waikanae, excluding the Wellington City Council area. As the region grew, urban parts of the Hutt county became autonomous boroughs: Petone in 1888, Lower Hutt in 1891, Eastbourne in 1906, Johnsonville in 1908, Upper Hutt in 1908, Porirua in 1962 and Kapiti in 1974.

In 1941 Lower Hutt became a city. It incorporated Normandale in 1957.

In 1987/1989 the New Zealand Government forced local authorities to consolidate, which led to Lower Hutt amalgamating with the adjacent Boroughs of Petone and Eastbourne and with the Wainuiomata District (which had its independence for barely a year), and to the abolition of the Hutt County Council.

National

Lower Hutt is covered by two general electorates, Hutt South and Rimutaka and two Māori electorates, Ikaroa-Rāwhiti and Te Tai Tonga.

Geography

The city centres on the lower (southern) valley of the Hutt River, to the northeast of Wellington. The valley widens as the river nears its mouth, so the central urban area of the city forms a triangle with its longest side along the shoreline. In the upper reaches of the city the Western and Eastern Hutt Hills become closer, culminating in the Taitā Gorge at the northern end of Lower Hutt, separating the city from neighbouring Upper Hutt.

Lower Hutt includes the cluster of small settlements that extend down the eastern coast of Wellington Harbour. These include the two large townships of Wainuiomata (inland) and Eastbourne (on the coast). The city also includes a large area of sparsely-populated land to the east of the harbour, extending to Pencarrow Head and into the Rimutaka Ranges.

Lower Hutt's boundaries include the islands in Wellington Harbour, the largest of which, Matiu/Somes Island, is commonly referred to by its former name of Somes Island.

Climate

Lower Hutt has a humid climate with relatively warm summers and mild winters with the occasional storm.

Hutt River

A single major aquifer dominates the lower Hutt Valley: the Hutt River, originally named Heretaunga and as of 2016 known as Awakairangi / Hutt River. Awakairangi in the Maori language means "river of food from the sky".

Lower Hutt occupies the lower regions of the flood plain of the river, one of the most significant features of the city. In the 20th century stopbanks were built to contain the river, but the threat of flooding from heavy rainfall persists. In 1985 the river burst its banks, and since then floods have been on a smaller scale. Smaller streams and storm-water drains have also caused occasional problems when rainfall exceeds average levels.

Much of the land adjacent to the river is protected as reserve and provides popular recreational areas, with walking and cycling trails and grassed areas at various points along both sides of the river up the Hutt Valley.

With lower river levels in mid-summer, algal blooms have contributed to making slow-flowing areas anoxic. The algal blooms have been attributed as the cause of death of a small number of dogs swimming in the river, as well as of skin reactions in the case of swimmers.

The river is crossed by seven bridges within the city, and has seen many times that number built and replaced since the 1850s.

Tributaries of the Hutt River within Lower Hutt include:

Waiwhetu Stream

Opahu Stream (Black Creek)

Suburbs

Suburbs of Lower Hutt include the following – listed approximately north to south. (Those in italics are unofficial suburbs.)

West of the Hutt River

Haywards; Manor Park; Kelson; Belmont; Tirohanga; Harbour View; Melling; Normandale; Maungaraki; Alicetown; Ava; Korokoro; Petone

East of the Hutt River

Stokes Valley; Pomare; Taitā; Avalon; Wingate; Naenae; Boulcott; Epuni; Fairfield; Lower Hutt Central; Waterloo; Woburn; Waiwhetū; Moera; Gracefield; Seaview Wainuiomata

Eastern harbour

Point Howard; Sorrento Bay; Lowry Bay; York Bay; Mahina Bay; Sunshine Bay; Days Bay; Eastbourne

Demographics

Lower Hutt is home to 103,400 people, of which 102,700 live in the urban area. The city's population has remained stable since the 1990s.

Economy

Historically, Petone, Seaview and Gracefield have been the main area for industry in the Wellington region, with industries including meat processing and freezing, motor vehicle assembly, and timber processing. As business have taken advantage of global manufacturing efficiencies, much of this large scale industry has changed to smaller design-led and medium-sized industries exporting to the world. Over the past 25 years service, distribution, and consumer-oriented sectors have increased. Lower Hutt remains the main location for light industrial activity in the Wellington Region.

In 2010 the lower reaches of the Waiwhetu Stream was cleaned up to remove toxins from decades of industry use. The channel was also widened to better protect against floods and native plantings and management has seen native waterlife and birds return to their habitat.

Petone's Jackson Street and neighbouring areas have seen a resurgence in to one of Wellington's most popular retail and hospitality area.

Lower Hutt has one of the greatest proportion of science, technology and high value manufacturing businesses in New Zealand. Cutting edge Crown Research Institutes such as GNS Science and business accelerator Callagahan Innovation Ltd are based in Lower Hutt along with over 800 research organisations in high-end manufacturing, research and technology.

The suburb of Avalon was home to New Zealand's television industry from 1975 until the late 1980s. The Avalon Television Studios were New Zealand's first purpose-built television studios, and is the largest television studio complex in New Zealand and Australasia. The studios were home to Television One from 1975 to 1980, when it merged with South Pacific Television to form Television New Zealand (TVNZ). After 1989 most of TVNZ's operations moved to Auckland, and the studios were eventually sold off in 2012 to a consortium of Wellington investors. Avalon continues to operate independently with seven film and television studios used as primarily as a feature film production base.

A large proportion of Lower Hutt's residents commute to the mainly commercial and Government offices in Wellington City 12 km to the south-west.

The Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand (CAA) has its headquarters in Aviation House in Petone, Lower Hutt.

Culture and leisure

Several education and research facilities of national significance are in the southern half of the city. Cultural facilities include the Dowse Art Museum and the Avalon film and television studios

The city possesses civic administration buildings constructed in the 1950s that are regarded as representative architecture of the era. A building of national significance is Vogel House, a two-storey wooden residence that was the official residence of the Prime Minister of New Zealand for much of the 20th century. It is a prime example of early colonial architecture in New Zealand and operates today as a tourist attraction.

The city is popular for outdoor sports, especially mountain biking, hiking, recreational walking and fishing. The central city is home to Westfield Queensgate, a large shopping centre. The Riverbank car park adjacent to the central city is home to a Saturday market.

Among the filming locations for The Lord of the Rings (film series) directed by Peter Jackson, Dry Creek quarry, which dominates the hills above the suburb of Taitā, became the site for a huge medieval castle built for scenes of Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith.

Education

Lower Hutt has four state secondary schools: Taita College, Naenae College, Hutt Valley High School (the largest) and Wainuiomata High School. Other secondary schools include Chilton Saint James School, a private girls school; Raphael House Rudolf Steiner School, a state integrated Waldorf education school; Sacred Heart College, a state integrated Catholic girls school; St Bernard's College, a state integrated Catholic boys school; and St Oran's College, a state integrated Presbyterian girls school.

The city is home to two tertiary institutes: the Wellington Institute of Technology in Petone, and The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand in Waterloo.

Media

The city is served by The Dominion Post and community newspapers.

Local LPFM radio station The Cheese broadcasts in the city, and is licensed with APRA and PPNZ in New Zealand for music broadcasting rights. It began Saturday 1 July 2006 and its original frequency was at 88.4 FM from Wainuiomata. The station can be heard in Lower Hutt on 87.9 MHz FM with simulcasting via their official website. Subscribers to Vodafone TV can hear The Cheese on channel 417. The station broadcasts a mix of music from the 80s, 90s, recent and current hits.

Flora and fauna

Hills to about 350 m (1000 ft) line both sides of the valley within the city limits. The western hills have been populated as residential areas, but the eastern side is protected and clad in native bush and scrub, and the ubiquitous gorse in areas that have been cleared as a result of scrub fires or earlier human activity.

Native birds are common, including the New Zealand pigeon, tui, grey fantail, silvereye, shining cuckoo (in season), grey warbler and morepork. Introduced species include the common blackbird, song thrush, house sparrow, European goldfinch, common chaffinch, common starling, and Australian magpie.

Notable people

Brad McKay (doctor) (born 1979), Australian medical doctor, sceptic, television personality and author

Lloyd Jones (born 1955), author

Alan MacDiarmid (1927–2007), Nobel laureate

Anna Paquin (born 1982), Oscar winning actress

Peter Hogg (born 1939), Canadian lawyer, author and legal scholar best known as the leading authority on Canadian constitutional law

Sister-city relationships

Lower Hutt has five sister cities:

Laredo, Texas, The United States of America

Minoh City, Japan

Taizhou, China

Tempe, Arizona, United States of America

Xi'an, China

Tempe was the first Sister City, in 1981; Minoh City in 1995; Xi'an since 2000; Taizhou formalised the agreement in 2008; and Laredo the most recent, in 2011.