Aramoho

Aramoho is a settlement on the Whanganui River, in the Whanganui District and Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. It is an outlying suburb of Whanganui.[1]

Te Ao Hou Marae and Te Puawaitanga meeting house is located in Aramoho.[2] It is a tribal meeting ground of Ngāti Tupoho, and the Ngāti Rangi hapū of Ngāti Rangi-ki-tai.[3]

History
The remains of the Kempthorne Prosser Chemical Works at Aramoho.

The settlement was established on the river in the 1860s, upstream from the European Wanganui settlement and the Māori Pūtiki settlement. A school was established in 1873.[4][5]

A rail bridge at Aramoho was completed in 1877.[6]

In the early 20th century, families would travel up the river on a paddle steamer for an annual picnic at Hipango Park. Parents also raised money for a school pool, where generations of children learned to swim.[4]

The National Library of New Zealand holds a photograph of school students and staff from 1915, showing boys wearing shorts, long socks, ties and blazers, and girls wearing dresses, on a small field in front of a school house.[7] Another photo of children at the school featured in the New Zealand Railways Magazine in 1937.[8]

A rose garden was planted near the school after World War I who commemorate locals who had died in the war. The garden later became a memorial to all pupils and teachers who had died in both world wars.[4]

In 1926, Kempthorne Prosser opened a drug and fertiliser factory in Aramoho. It has since been used as a fertiliser plant and a medical centre.[9]

In the 1930s, the Duchess Theatre or Duck Theatre began showing films. It later became the Aramoho Plaza.[10]

The suburb expanded after World War II with a meatworks, a pickle factory, tea gardens, a fruit evaporating company, a zoo, and various hotels and boarding houses.[11]

Education

Churton School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 6 students,[12] with a roll of 150 as of March 2020.[13]

The original Aramaho School was established in 1973 and closed in 2016 due to an aging local population and the growth of kohanga reo and other schools.[14][4] The Education Review Office had raised several concerns about how the school was being managed before its closure.[15][16]

The Born and Raised Pasifika preschool was established on part of the Aramoho School site in 2003.[4]

The Holy Infancy School opened in Aramoho in 1889 to provide Catholic education, becoming known as Sister Rita's School for the sister who ran the school for 40 years. It was renamed St Joseph's School in 1966, became an intermediate school for girls in 1970, and finally closed in 1979.[17]

References
  1. "Aramoho". idnz.co.nz.
  2. "Māori Maps". maorimaps.com. Te Potiki National Trust.
  3. "Te Kāhui Māngai directory". tkm.govt.nz. Te Puni Kōkiri.
  4. Wylie, Liz (18 December 2016). "A fond farewell to Aramoho School". New Zealand Media and Entertainment. Whanganui Chronicle.
  5. Aramoho school in retrospect : official. Wanganui: Aramoho School Jubilee Committee. 1953.
  6. Black, Sandi (25 March 2019). "Museum Notebook: The Wanganui Town Bridge Cog". New Zealand Media and Entertainment. Whanganui Chronicle.
  7. "Aramoho School". natlib.govt.nz. National Library of New Zealand.
  8. "Aramoho Primary School". New Zealand Railways Magazine. 11 (10). 1 January 1937.
  9. Stark, Frank (29 August 2019). "Museum notebook: What's behind the Drews Avenue revival?". New Zealand Media and Entertainment. Whanganui Chronicle.
  10. Staff reporter (5 November 2015). "Cinema series brings flashbacks". Whanganui Chronicle.
  11. "Suburb's social history explored". APN New Zealand. Whanganui Chronicle. 18 January 2014.
  12. "Ministry of Education School Profile". educationcounts.govt.nz. Ministry of Education.
  13. "Education Review Office Report". ero.govt.nz. Education Review Office.
  14. Gerritsen, John (6 March 2018). "Lots of space, not enough students: Whanganui schools struggling for enrolments". Radio New Zealand. rnz.co.nz.
  15. Gebbie, Joyce. "Aramoho School - 25/02/2014". ero.govt.nz. Education Review Office.
  16. Gebbie, Joyce. "Aramoho School - 14/09/2016". ero.govt.nz. Education Review Office.
  17. Sharpe, Libby (25 April 2018). "Museum: Catholic education in Whanganui". New Zealand Media and Entertainment. Whanganui Chronicle.

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