to a website dedicated to
Whakarongo
a farming & lifestyle block district, near Palmerston North, in Manawatu, New Zealand, that was once called Stoney Creek
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Whakarongo School photographed from the Stoney Creek Road/Napier Road intersection - Winter 2002.
Whakarongo (formerly called Stoney Creek) was once the nerve centre of a small, but thriving, rural Manawatu community. However, the advent of motor vehicles, along with such things as farm amalgamation and changes to land usage (i.e. from dairying to sheep farming or agriculture), resulted in many rural communities discovering that their schools, community halls, small businesses, dairy factories and Government agencies, were less in demand than in slower moving times. Whakarongo is no exception. Where once it had a progression of three dairy factories (on three sites), a shop, post office, hall, school, railway station, and a wide range of social clubs, now it only has the school and hall.
The district began in 1871 as the Stoney Creek Scandinavian and Roadmen's Block, with the Kelvin Grove area also being part of the Scandinavian block. It was subdivided into many small farms, which were allotted to new settlers. It, and the Karere Scandinavian Block (between Awapuni and Longburn) were the first Special Settlements established in New Zealand by the General Government. The settlers concerned were from the first two batches on Scandinavians brought to New Zealand under the Vogel Immigration & Public Works Scheme. Most were from the second shipload (the England), who arrived in April 1871, however, four families were from the first ship (the Celaeno), which had arrived in February 1871. The 'Roadmen' were the men who became the mostly British workmates of these Scandinavians. They had protested at not receiving the same conditions as the newcomers, so this was arranged.
Whakarongo has long been known as a centre for market gardening and dairying. In the early days, vegetable cropping was an important source of income for these people, although as everything ripened at once, gluts tended to occur. When a flourmill was established in Palmerston North in 1878, these farmers could produce a more durable product that could reach distant (NZ) markets by coastal shipping and the new railway. Once dairy factories became available, dairy farming became the main farming activity in the area. This lasted from the 1890s to the 1970s, when many ceased operating due to amalgamation, or conversion to dry stock or market gardening. Nowadays, the market gardens are also much less evident, and much of the area now consists of lifestyle blocks, where the owners work in town, but have sought to live in a rural environment.
A notable feature of the district has been the mix of ethnic groups that lived there. In the earliest days of post-European settlement, the predominant culture was Scandinavian (a mixture of Danes, Norwegians and Swedes), but with a number of people from the Germanic countries - and of course people from the various British countries. Over time and generations, these grouping blended, with the mix of languages giving away to English - which was the only one taught in the schools. Around 1950, Chinese immigrant families began moving into the area and establishing small market gardens in paddocks they rented around the Te Matai Road area. As a result, the school again went through a period of unique cultural mix, as it had with the Scandinavians in the 1870s and 1880s.
Nowadays, though, most of the Chinese market gardeners have retired and their former gardens are often carrying livestock once again. The school has also increased considerably in size during the 1990s, this being a result of the arrival of the many lifestyle block families.
Scenes around the Whakarongo District
Books on Whakarongo
visitors 
since 16/7/2001
This website was created on 16/7/2001
