Greytown, New Zealand
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- There is also a Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal (in South Africa).
Greytown, population 2,001 (as at the 2006 Census), is a town in the Wellington region of New Zealand. It lies in the Wairarapa, in the lower North Island. It is 80 km north-west of Wellington and 25 kilometres southwest of Masterton, on State Highway 2. Its coordinates are .
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[edit] History
Greytown was first settled on 27 March, 1854 under the Small Farms Association Settlement Scheme and was named after Governor Sir George Grey, who arranged for the land to be bought from local Māori. It became a Borough in 1878 and a ward of the South Wairarapa District Council in 1989.
The first Arbor Day celebration in New Zealand was held in Greytown on 3 July 1890. Greytown Beautification Society has done a lot to keep the spirit alive for many years, especially Stella Bull and the wonderful park bench in the park dedicated to her, which boldly states, "Only God can make a Tree". Today the town has many beautiful trees and a register is kept to help protect them. Recently some trees were felled in the Old Hospital grounds.
[edit] Image and Architecture
The town is proud of its history, claiming to have the most complete main street of Victorian architecture in the country, and of being New Zealand's first planned inland town. It certainly has played these assets up, today creating a revival largely based on its architecture. Retailers like the butcher have reversed their 1970s street frontage and reverted to a more Victorian one.
Greytown had previously been marketed as "the fruit bowl of the Wairarapa" when fruit was grown on the west of the town with orchards like Westhaven and Pinehaven.
[edit] Tourism - the new fruit
Greytown is a popular weekend and holiday destination. The main street is packed with antique stores and cafes. The soldier’s memorial park is often full of campers during a long weekend or a holiday. Some older residents do not feel part of the new Greytown. In previous periods an unwillingness to more forward culminated in the depressed position the town found itself in by the 1980s.
[edit] Education and Sport
Greytown also has the only college in the South Wairarapa. Kuranui College, (in maori - big school of learning), has around 500 students (as of 2005) and had as many as 1000 in the 1970s (when ruled by its founding principal, the cane carrying Sam Meads). It used to be claimed as the biggest bus school in the country as most of its students travelled by school bus to get there. It has recently completed a $1 million auditorium which is used by the college and Greytown. All Black Grant Batty, the winger of the 1970s, learnt his rugby here.
Greytown Rugby club, established in 1877, is one of the oldest in the country.
Greytown Cricket Club is the 2nd oldest cricket club in New Zealand, it was established in 1867, 10 years before test cricket began! In recent years, Greytown Cricket has been the powerhouse of the Wairarapa competition, with all 3 Senior teams winning their respective competitions in the 2005-2006 season.
Greytown also has a primary school hosting around 400 pupils as of 2005. The school will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2007.
[edit] Te Mana Maori
Papawai is located just to the east of Greytown. Papawai Pā was once an important political and cultural centre with such dignitaries as Richard Seddon regularly attending meetings there. It is said to have had the first (and only) Māori Parliament and a newspaper. The present meeting house dates from 1888 and is unique in that its magnificent carved ancestors which surround the Pa face inward.
The Māori name for Greytown is Te Hepenui which translates to "the big snot", better translated as "the fluid that comes out of your nose at a Tangi i.e. a Māori funeral.
