Pukekawa
Encyclopedia
Pukekawa is a small rural community located in the Lower Waikato
area of Franklin District
, New Zealand
. It is about an hour's drive south of Auckland
. Pukekawa, an extinct volcano, is one of the oldest volcanic cones in the Auckland region. The area's fertile soils are used to grow a range of vegetables, including onions, potatoes and carrots. At the heart of Pukekawa is a primary school, church and a garage/service station.
The murders of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe in June 1970 thrust Pukekawa into the national headlines. Local farmer Arthur Allan Thomas
was jailed for the killings, but he was found to have been wrongly convicted and was pardoned by the Governor-General on 17 December 1979. He was awarded $1 million compensation. The story was made into a film in 1980 called Beyond Reasonable Doubt
.
Waikato Plains
The Waikato Plains are a large area of low-lying land in the northwest of the North Island of New Zealand. They are the floodplains of the Waikato River, the country's longest river....
area of Franklin District
Franklin District
The territorial authority of Franklin District was abolished on 31 October 2010 and was divided between Auckland Council in the Auckland Region to the north and Waikato and Hauraki districts in the Waikato Region to the south and east. It was administered from the town of Pukekohe...
, 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 is about an hour's drive south of Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
. Pukekawa, an extinct volcano, is one of the oldest volcanic cones in the Auckland region. The area's fertile soils are used to grow a range of vegetables, including onions, potatoes and carrots. At the heart of Pukekawa is a primary school, church and a garage/service station.
The murders of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe in June 1970 thrust Pukekawa into the national headlines. Local farmer Arthur Allan Thomas
Arthur Allan Thomas
Arthur Allan Thomas was convicted in 1971 of the Harvey and Jeannette Crewe murders in June 1970 in Pukekawa , south of Auckland, New Zealand. Thomas, who farmed a property in the same district as the Crewes, was twice convicted of their murders but later given a Royal Pardon...
was jailed for the killings, but he was found to have been wrongly convicted and was pardoned by the Governor-General on 17 December 1979. He was awarded $1 million compensation. The story was made into a film in 1980 called Beyond Reasonable Doubt
Beyond Reasonable Doubt (film)
Beyond Reasonable Doubt is a 1980 New Zealand docu-drama feature film about the conviction of Arthur Allan Thomas, later pardoned, for the murder of Harvey and Jeanette Crewe in 1970....
.