King Country
Encyclopedia
The King Country is a region of the western North Island
of New Zealand
. It extends approximately from the Kawhia Harbour
and the town of Otorohanga in the north to the upper reaches of the Whanganui River
in the south, and from the Hauhungaroa and Rangitoto Ranges in the east to near the Tasman Sea
in the west. It comprises hill country, large parts of which are forested.
The term King Country dates from the New Zealand Land Wars
of the 1860s when colonial forces invaded the Waikato
and Māori forces of the King Movement withdrew to the south.
, and all or part of four districts: Otorohanga
, Ruapehu
, Taupo
and Waitomo
.
regions, producing such features as the Waitomo Caves
.
The area is largely rural and sparsely settled, with no cities or large towns. The most significant townships are the rural service centres of Te Kuiti
(in the north) and Taumarunui
(in the south).
has produced several notable rugby union
players who became All Blacks
: Bill Phillips, John McLean, Ron Bryers, Colin Meads
, Stan Meads
, Graham Whiting and Ryan Gulbransen.
.
.
, especially Ngāti Maniapoto
, Ngāti Tama, and Ngāti Tuwharetoa
.
During the Invasion of Waikato starting in July 1863, the British
colonial Government supported by loyal Maori attacked the rebel Kingitanga movement in the Waikato
with Imperial
and colonial troops. The King Movement, led by Rewi Maniapoto
, attacked Auckland but was beaten in a long series of 18 battles in Auckland and the Waikato. Defeated, he retreated southwards from the Waikato, eventually being forced to flee to the King Country after the final battle at Orakau.
At this time, it also received a Māori name, Rohepotae. This name translates as "Area of the Hat", and is said to have originated when Tawhiao put his white top hat on a large map of the North Island and declared that all land covered by the hat would be under his mana (or authority). This was later the cause of bitter dispute with the resident tribes, especially Maniapoto, who still considered they had mana over their own land. The white hat was originally owned by Te Heuheu of Tu Wharetoa who was asked to be the Maori King. Te Heu heu ,who was the dominant leader in the central North Island, passed the hat to various other chiefs who all refused the position of king. After long debate the hat was taken to Te Whero Whero, the great Waikato Chief and placed on his head. He was reluctant to accept the position as he was old but was eventually persuaded by Wirimu Tamehana(the king maker), who was a clever orator, and others to take the hat which had come to symbolize the Maori monarchy. The hat was a white Bell topper.
In the aftermath of the suppression, the colonial government, having confiscated Kingitanga land in the Waikato valley, was content to leave the King Movement alone. The King Country, mountainous and poor, was not a very attractive conquest, and the thought of fighting the rebels in a mountainous region despite well developed supply lines from Auckland and the construction of a telegraph system, cannot have appealed to General Cameron who was busy in Tauranga. Tawhiao and his followers were able to maintain a sort of "Government in exile" and a refuge for rebel Māori opposed to the Government for more than a decade.
Finally, in 1881, as a result of ongoing friction with his hosts over the question of land sales, Tawhiao emerged and laid down the King Movement's arms and by 1883, after successful negotiations between the government and Wahanui, Rewi and Taonui, the King Country was made accessible to Europeans and opened to road surveying, but with a prohibition on the sale of alcohol throughout the district.http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/MaoriNewZealanders/NgatiManiapoto/4/en The alcohol ban lasted until 1953 - as a young man, John A. Lee
was jailed for smuggling alcohol into the area around 1910.
About this time, the Colonial Government began considering plans for a railway from Auckland to Wellington, and began to send surveyors into the King Country to look for a favourable route. Construction of the railway line began in 1885 and finished in 1908. The completion of the railway greatly improved transport and communications in the King Country and promoted settlement and farming in the area, as well as assisting in the growth of rural service towns such as Taumarunui
.
Throughout the 20th century, the history of the King Country was largely uneventful, as for many areas of rural New Zealand.
The tourism industry has been promoted by the discovery of cave systems such as Waitomo.
From 1966 to 31 March 2010 King Country Radio
(with the call sign 1ZU) operated from Taumarunui
.
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. It extends approximately from the Kawhia Harbour
Kawhia Harbour
Kawhia Harbour is one of three large natural inlets in the Tasman Sea coast of the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located to the south of Raglan Harbour, Ruapuke and Aotea Harbour, 40 kilometres southwest of Hamilton...
and the town of Otorohanga in the north to the upper reaches of the Whanganui River
Whanganui River
The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand.Known for many years as the Wanganui River, the river's name reverted to Whanganui in 1991, according with the wishes of local iwi. Part of the reason was also to avoid confusion with the Wanganui River in the South Island...
in the south, and from the Hauhungaroa and Rangitoto Ranges in the east to near the Tasman Sea
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, approximately across. It extends 2,800 km from north to south. It is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first recorded European...
in the west. It comprises hill country, large parts of which are forested.
The term King Country dates from the New Zealand Land Wars
New Zealand land wars
The New Zealand Wars, sometimes called the Land Wars and also once called the Māori Wars, were a series of armed conflicts that took place in New Zealand between 1845 and 1872...
of the 1860s when colonial forces invaded the Waikato
Waikato
The Waikato Region is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato, Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the northern King Country, much of the Taupo District, and parts of Rotorua District...
and Māori forces of the King Movement withdrew to the south.
Government
The King Country per se is not an entity in local government. It forms part of two local government Regions, Waikato and Manawatu-WanganuiManawatu-Wanganui
Manawatu-Wanganui is a region in the lower half of the North Island of New Zealand, around the cities of Palmerston North and Whanganui. It is administered by the Horizons Regional Council.-Administration:...
, and all or part of four districts: Otorohanga
Otorohanga
Otorohanga is a north King Country town at the southern end of the Waikato region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located 53 kilometres south of Hamilton and 18 kilometres north of Te Kuiti, on the Waipa River...
, Ruapehu
Ruapehu District
Ruapehu District is a territorial authority near the centre of New Zealand's North Island.It has an area of 6,730.185 square kilometers and a population of 13,569 at the 2006 census .-Features:...
, Taupo
Taupo District
The Taupo District covers 6,350 km² of land, as well as a further 610 km² of lake area, both in Lake Taupo, New Zealand's largest lake, and also in the smaller Lake Rotoaira. The district stretches from the small town of Mangakino in the northwest to the Tongariro National Park in the...
and Waitomo
Waitomo District
Waitomo District is a territorial authority in the north of the King Country region in the North Island of New Zealand. A small part of the district, the town of Tiroa, however, lies in the Manawatu-Wanganui region....
.
Geography
The King Country is largely made up of rolling hill country, including the Rangitoto and Hauhungaroa Ranges. It includes extensive karstKARST
Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope is a Chinese telescope project to which FAST is a forerunner. KARST is a set of large spherical reflectors on karst landforms, which are bowlshaped limestone sinkholes named after the Kras region in Slovenia and Northern Italy. It will consist of...
regions, producing such features as the Waitomo Caves
Waitomo Caves
The Waitomo Caves are a village and cave system forming a major tourist attraction in the southern Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand, 12 kilometres northwest of Te Kuiti. The community of Waitomo Caves itself is very small, though the village has many temporary service workers...
.
The area is largely rural and sparsely settled, with no cities or large towns. The most significant townships are the rural service centres of Te Kuiti
Te Kuiti
Te Kuiti is a small town in the south of the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. It lies at the junction of State Highways 3 and 30 and on the North Island Main Trunk Railway, 80 km south of Hamilton....
(in the north) and Taumarunui
Taumarunui
Taumarunui is a town in the King Country of the central North Island of New Zealand. It is on State Highway 4 and the North Island Main Trunk Railway....
(in the south).
Sport
| ||||||||
Rugby
The King CountryKing Country Rugby Football Union
The King Country Rugby Football Union is a constituent union in the New Zealand Rugby Union. It is located in the central North Island of New Zealand...
has produced several notable rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
players who became All Blacks
All Blacks
The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....
: Bill Phillips, John McLean, Ron Bryers, Colin Meads
Colin Meads
Sir Colin Earl Meads, KNZM, MBE , is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer. He played 55 test matches , most frequently in the lock forward position, for New Zealand's national team, the All Blacks, from 1957 until 1971.Meads is widely considered one of the greatest players in history...
, Stan Meads
Stanley Meads
Stanley Thomas Meads was a noted rugby union All Black footballer and brother of Colin Meads, considered by some to be one of the greatest rugby footballers of all time. He played as a lock, No 8 and flanker, and scored four tries for New Zealand in 30 games...
, Graham Whiting and Ryan Gulbransen.
Soccer
The North King Country soccer team plays in a yellow and blue strip. It is based in OtorohangaOtorohanga
Otorohanga is a north King Country town at the southern end of the Waikato region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located 53 kilometres south of Hamilton and 18 kilometres north of Te Kuiti, on the Waipa River...
.
Economy
The greater part of the region's economy is involved in farming (especially pastoral farming) and forestry, with some supporting services. There are some areas of tourist significance, such as Waitomo. The King Country also contains areas of conservation estate, especially Pureora Forest ParkPureora Forest Park
Pureora Forest Park is a protected area in the North Island of New Zealand. Within its rich rain forest are an abundance of 1000 year old podocarp trees. It is “recognized as one of the finest rain forests in the world”...
.
History
Prior to European settlement, the area was occupied by various Māori iwiIwi
In New Zealand society, iwi form the largest everyday social units in Māori culture. The word iwi means "'peoples' or 'nations'. In "the work of European writers which treat iwi and hapū as parts of a hierarchical structure", it has been used to mean "tribe" , or confederation of tribes,...
, especially Ngāti Maniapoto
Ngati Maniapoto
Ngāti Maniapoto is an iwi based in the Waikato-Waitomo region of New Zealand's North Island. It is part of the Tainui confederation, the members of which trace their whakapapa back to people who arrived in New Zealand on the waka Tainui...
, Ngāti Tama, and Ngāti Tuwharetoa
Ngati Tuwharetoa
Ngāti Tūwharetoa is an iwi descended from Ngātoro-i-rangi, the priest who navigated the Arawa canoe to New Zealand. The Tūwharetoa region extends from Te Awa o te Atua at Matata across the central plateau of the North Island to the lands around Mount Tongariro and Lake Taupo.The iwi is identified...
.
During the Invasion of Waikato starting in July 1863, the British
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
colonial Government supported by loyal Maori attacked the rebel Kingitanga movement in the Waikato
Waikato
The Waikato Region is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato, Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the northern King Country, much of the Taupo District, and parts of Rotorua District...
with Imperial
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
and colonial troops. The King Movement, led by Rewi Maniapoto
Rewi Maniapoto
Rewi Manga Maniapoto was a Maniapoto chief who led rebel Kingitanga forces during the New Zealand government Invasion of Waikato during the New Zealand Wars...
, attacked Auckland but was beaten in a long series of 18 battles in Auckland and the Waikato. Defeated, he retreated southwards from the Waikato, eventually being forced to flee to the King Country after the final battle at Orakau.
At this time, it also received a Māori name, Rohepotae. This name translates as "Area of the Hat", and is said to have originated when Tawhiao put his white top hat on a large map of the North Island and declared that all land covered by the hat would be under his mana (or authority). This was later the cause of bitter dispute with the resident tribes, especially Maniapoto, who still considered they had mana over their own land. The white hat was originally owned by Te Heuheu of Tu Wharetoa who was asked to be the Maori King. Te Heu heu ,who was the dominant leader in the central North Island, passed the hat to various other chiefs who all refused the position of king. After long debate the hat was taken to Te Whero Whero, the great Waikato Chief and placed on his head. He was reluctant to accept the position as he was old but was eventually persuaded by Wirimu Tamehana(the king maker), who was a clever orator, and others to take the hat which had come to symbolize the Maori monarchy. The hat was a white Bell topper.
In the aftermath of the suppression, the colonial government, having confiscated Kingitanga land in the Waikato valley, was content to leave the King Movement alone. The King Country, mountainous and poor, was not a very attractive conquest, and the thought of fighting the rebels in a mountainous region despite well developed supply lines from Auckland and the construction of a telegraph system, cannot have appealed to General Cameron who was busy in Tauranga. Tawhiao and his followers were able to maintain a sort of "Government in exile" and a refuge for rebel Māori opposed to the Government for more than a decade.
Finally, in 1881, as a result of ongoing friction with his hosts over the question of land sales, Tawhiao emerged and laid down the King Movement's arms and by 1883, after successful negotiations between the government and Wahanui, Rewi and Taonui, the King Country was made accessible to Europeans and opened to road surveying, but with a prohibition on the sale of alcohol throughout the district.http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/MaoriNewZealanders/NgatiManiapoto/4/en The alcohol ban lasted until 1953 - as a young man, John A. Lee
John A. Lee
John Alfred Alexander Lee DCM was a New Zealand politician and writer. He is one of the more prominent avowed socialists in New Zealand's political history.-Early life:...
was jailed for smuggling alcohol into the area around 1910.
About this time, the Colonial Government began considering plans for a railway from Auckland to Wellington, and began to send surveyors into the King Country to look for a favourable route. Construction of the railway line began in 1885 and finished in 1908. The completion of the railway greatly improved transport and communications in the King Country and promoted settlement and farming in the area, as well as assisting in the growth of rural service towns such as Taumarunui
Taumarunui
Taumarunui is a town in the King Country of the central North Island of New Zealand. It is on State Highway 4 and the North Island Main Trunk Railway....
.
Throughout the 20th century, the history of the King Country was largely uneventful, as for many areas of rural New Zealand.
The tourism industry has been promoted by the discovery of cave systems such as Waitomo.
From 1966 to 31 March 2010 King Country Radio
King Country Radio
King Country Radio was a radio station in Taumarunui broadcasting on 1512AM. The station was first started in 1966 broadcasting 1520AM with the call sign 1ZU. The station moved to 1512AM in 1978 after the AM frequency spacing in New Zealand was adjusted from 10khz to 9khz...
(with the call sign 1ZU) operated from Taumarunui
Taumarunui
Taumarunui is a town in the King Country of the central North Island of New Zealand. It is on State Highway 4 and the North Island Main Trunk Railway....
.