Kiwitahi

Kiwitahi is a rural community in the Matamata-Piako District and Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island, located directly south of Morrinsville.

The community has a school and a local hall that accommodates up to 120 people.[1]

History

Kiwitahi was occupied by Māori before being converted into farmland by European settlers from the 1870s.[2]

William Chepmell established a 690-acre farm at Kiwitahi in 1871, which he continued operating through the depression of the 1880s and 1890s without having to sell or subdivide. He led a campaign for a road between Morrinsville and Thames and became a politician, serving on the Piako Council and Waitoa Road Board at various times between 1887 and 1914. The remoteness of Kiwitahi meant he rode an estimated 56,000 km to attend council and road board meetings.[3]

In 1985, Chepmell helped fund the construction of an Anglican church. In 1900, he pushed for a school to be built in Kiwitahi despite his own reservations about public education.[3] The school eventually opened thirteen years later.[4]

By 1902 Cyclopedia of New Zealand described Kiwitahi as having "fine grazing farms" and a railway station.[5]

New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company Ltd had a cheese factory from 1919, until it burnt down on 9 October 1937.[6]

In 1923 a poll was held to decide on funding road metalling and there were about 40 or 50 settlers.[7]

Chepmell died in 1930. His farm was brought by the Government after World War II, and subdivided for settling returned servicemen back to the land.[3]

Ecology

A water quality, water flow and ecology monitoring station is located at on the Piako River at Kiwitahi. It is open with a one-metre fenced off buffer on either side of the stream and no riparian planting. Macrophytes choke the softy, silty riverbed during the summer, but are often removed during the winter floods.[8]

Education

Kiwitahi School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 6 students,[9] with a roll of 39 as of March 2020.[10]

The school was established in 1913 and held Golden Jubilee celebrations in 1963.[4]

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gollark: I don't see what you mean by "preventing tail calls" and somehow that putting it in the right place.
gollark: Wait, are you answering why you fixed it or why the REPL does it?
gollark: Why does it do that? WHY?
gollark: Quite a few app stores, one recent one by <@202992030685724675> or something called `pydo` or whatever.

References
  1. "Kiwitahi Hall". mpdc.govt.nz. Matamata-Piako District Council.
  2. Miller, Anne Marygold (1964). Kiwitahi, gem of the Waikato : land of Pakeha and Maori. Morrinsville: Morrinsville Star Print.
  3. Williams, Lyn (1 June 2018). "History: The dead tell tales". Stuff. Waikato Times.
  4. Miller, Anne Marygold (1963). Kiwitahi School golden jubilee, 1913-1963; Kiwitahi district, 1869-1963. Morrinsville: East Waikato Publishers.
  5. Cyclopedia of New Zealand. Christchurch: Cyclopedia Company Limited. 1902.
  6. "Heritage Trail" (PDF). Matamata Piako District Council. 2008.
  7. "PROGRESSIVE WAIKATO - WAIKATO TIMES". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 1 December 1923. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  8. "Piako River at Kiwitahi". lawa.org.nz. Land Air Water Aotearoa.
  9. "Ministry of Education School Profile". educationcounts.govt.nz. Ministry of Education.
  10. "Education Review Office Report". ero.govt.nz. Education Review Office.

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