Masterton ( mi, Whakaoriori), a large town in the Greater Wellington Region of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a region separated from

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

by the Rimutaka ranges. It stands on the Waipoua stream between the Ruamahunga and Waingawa Rivers - 100 kilometres north-east of Wellington and 39.4 kilometres south of Eketahuna. Masterton has an urban population of , and district population of Masterton

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." Having a business name does not separ ...

es include services for surrounding

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...

s. Three new industrial parks are being developed in Waingawa, Solway and Upper Plain. The town functions as the headquarters of the annual

Golden Shears The Golden Shears International Shearing and Woolhandling Championships is the world's most prestigious sheep shearing event. It was founded in Masterton, New Zealand, and been held in the town's War Memorial Stadium each March since 1961. It in ...

sheep-shearing Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a '' shearer''. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year (a sheep may be said to have been "shorn" or ...

competition.

Suburbs

Masterton suburbs include: * Lansdowne, Te Ore Ore on the northern side * Eastside and Homebush on the eastern side * Upper Plain, Fernridge, Ngaumutawa, Akura and Masterton West on the western side * Kuripuni and Solway on the southern side

History and culture

Early history

Masterton was founded in 1854 by the Small Farms Association. The association was led by Joseph Masters – after whom the town was named – and aimed to settle working people in villages and on the land. At first Masterton grew slowly, but as its farming hinterland became more productive it began to prosper. In the 1870s it overtook Greytown as Wairarapa's major town. It became a borough in 1877 and was reached by the railway line from Wellington in 1880. The railway became for a time the main line from Wellington to the north of New Zealand and its arrival cemented the town's position as the Wairarapa region's main market and distribution centre. Waipoua timber mill was producing butter boxes as early as 1884. In April 1965 one of the country's worst industrial accidents occurred at the General Plastics Factory on 170 Dixon Street. Masterton Railway Station c.1887 - c.1915 (10469055393).jpg, The railway station opened 1880, demolished 1967 Queen Elizabeth II standing on platform of her railway carriage at Masterton. PHOTOGRAPHER J.F. Le Cren DATE 15 January 1954 (cropped).jpg, Railway station, 15 January 1954 Queen Street, Masterton (21320336331) (cropped).jpg, Queen Street in the early 1900s 1912 Post Office Masterton (3537174276).jpg, The Post Office opened 1900, demolished 1960 General_Plastics_(N.Z.)_Ltd._Explosion_and_Fire_(1965)_(26271497746).jpg, 4 killed in the General Plastics Explosion and Fire 1965

Modern history

In essence providing support services for rural industry - living off the sheep's back - Masterton's real growth ended with that sector's retrenchment after the 1974 British entry to the trade and political grouping now the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

. Efforts to decentralise industry to New Zealand's provinces gave Masterton a print works and some other industries but the lost economic activity was not restored. From the 1970s, people and businesses left for opportunities elsewhere. In the 1980s, with government deregulation and protective tariffs lifted, more businesses closed and the town declined further.DNZB "Wairarapa places" - Masterton by Ben Schrader Retrieved 12 January 2014 It did not quite qualify to be a city by 1989 when the minimum population requirement for that status was lifted from 20,000 to 50,000.

Marae

Te Oreore marae and Ngā Tau e Waru meeting house, located in Masterton, is affiliated with the iwi of Ngāti Kahungunu and its

hapū In Māori and New Zealand English, a ' ("subtribe", or "clan") functions as "the basic political unit within Māori society". A Māori person can belong to or have links to many hapū. Historically, each hapū had its own chief and normally opera ...

of Kahukuraawhitia, Kahukuranui, Ngāti Te Hina, Tahu o Kahungunu, Tamahau and Whiunga, and with the iwi of

Rangitāne Rangitāne is a Māori iwi (tribe). Their rohe (territory) is in the Manawatū, Horowhenua, Wairarapa and Marlborough areas of New Zealand.Hinetearorangi, Ngāi Tamahau,

Ngāti Hāmua Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, a ...

, Ngāti Taimahu, Ngāti Tangatakau, Ngāti Te Noti, Ngāti Te Raetea and Ngāti Te Whātui. In October 2020, the Government committed $2,179,654 from the Provincial Growth Fund to upgrade Ngāi Tumapuhia a Rangi ki Okautete,

Motuwairaka Whareama is a rural area in the Wellington Region of New Zealand's North Island. The Whareama River flows through the area. Marae The community has two ''marae'' affiliated with the Ngāti Kahungunu ''hapū'' of Ngāi Tumapuhia-a-Rangi: Motu ...

Pāpāwai Greytown ( mi, Te Hūpēnui), population 2,202 (at the 2013 Census), is a rural town in the centre of the Wairarapa region of New Zealand, in the lower North Island. It is 80 km north-east of Wellington and 25 kilometres southwest of Maste ...

, Kohunui,

Hurunui o Rangi Gladstone is a lightly populated locality in the Carterton District of New Zealand's North Island, located on the Mangahuia Stream near where the Tauweru River joins the Ruamahanga River. The nearest town is Carterton 15 kilometres to the ...

and Te Oreore marae. The projects were expected to create 19.8 full time jobs. Another local marae, Akura Marae, is affiliated with the Ngāti Kahungunu hapū of Ngāti Te Ahuahu and Ngāti Te Hina. and with the

Rangitāne Rangitāne is a Māori iwi (tribe). Their rohe (territory) is in the Manawatū, Horowhenua, Wairarapa and Marlborough areas of New Zealand.Ngāti Mātangiuru and Ngāti Te Hina.

Demographics

Masterton District covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². The Masterton urban area covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Masterton District had a population of 25,557 at the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short ...

, an increase of 2,205 people (9.4%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 2,934 people (13.0%) since the 2006 census. There were 9,936 households. There were 12,372 males and 13,185 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.94 males per female. The median age was 43.2 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 4,968 people (19.4%) aged under 15 years, 4,371 (17.1%) aged 15 to 29, 10,857 (42.5%) aged 30 to 64, and 5,361 (21.0%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 84.7% European/Pākehā, 21.3% Māori, 4.0% Pacific peoples, 3.9% Asian, and 1.6% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 12.9, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people objected to giving their religion, 50.2% had no religion, 37.7% were Christian, 0.7% were Hindu, 0.1% were Muslim, 0.4% were Buddhist and 3.1% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 3,030 (14.7%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 4,803 (23.3%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $27,800, compared with $31,800 nationally. 2,403 people (11.7%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 9,420 (45.8%) people were employed full-time, 3,270 (15.9%) were part-time, and 705 (3.4%) were unemployed.

Climate

Masterton enjoys a mild temperate climate grading towards a

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

. Due to the geography of the Wairarapa valley and the Tararua Range directly to the west, the town's temperature fluctuates more than nearby inland city of

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

. Masterton experiences warmer, dry summers with highs above 30 °C possible and colder winters with frequent frost and lows below 0 °C.

Government

Between 1877 and 1989, Masterton Borough Council administered the area. An early mayor was the storekeeper

Myer Caselberg Myer Caselberg (1841 – 23 June 1922) was a New Zealand storekeeper, businessman and local politician. He was born in Gaorah, Poland in 1841. He was Mayor of Masterton from 1886 to 1888. Wairarapa Farmers Co-operative Association Caselber ...

(1886–1888). The Masterton District Council (MDC) is the Masterton District territorial authority. It is made up of an elected mayor, a deputy mayor/councillor, and nine additional councillors. They are elected under the

First Past the Post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

system in triennial elections, with the last election being held on Saturday 12 October 2019. The current council members are: Lyn Patterson (M), Graham McClymont (DM), Gary Caffell, Brent Gare, David Holmes, Bex Johnson, Frazer Mailman, Tim Nelson, Tina Nixon, Chris Petersen and Sandy Ryan. All councillors are elected 'At Large'. There are also two Iwi representatives, Ra Smith and Tirau Te Tau. Nationally, Masterton is part of the general electorate and the Māori electorate.

Politics 2013 to 2016

Applications for local government reorganisation from the Greater Wellington Regional Council and the Wairarapa district councils in mid-2013 led to a proposal from the Local Government Commission for a region-wide unitary authority. In June 2015, the Commission decided not to proceed with this proposal due to lack of public support. Instead, because about 40 per cent of submissions suggested alternatives to the status quo, the Commission decided work with councils and the community to achieve some consensus on the challenges it faced, and to collaborate in identifying possible options to address the challenges.

Education

Masterton's schools were reviewed over 2003 to take into account a changing demographic of the population, with several primary schools closing and merging. Today, there are five state primary schools in the township – four state contributing primaries: Douglas Park, Fernridge, Masterton Primary and Solway; and one state full primary: Lakeview. In addition, there are five state full primary schools in the surrounding district: Mauriceville, Opaki, Tinui, Wainuiouru and Whareama, and two state-integrated primaries: St Patrick's, a Catholic contributing primary, and Hadlow, an Anglican full primary. Masterton Intermediate School, with over 500 students, is the only intermediate school in Masterton (and the Wairarapa), bridging the gap between the state contributing primary schools and the secondary schools. Two state secondary schools serve Masterton: Wairarapa College is the largest of the two with 1050 students, serving the western side of the town, while

Makoura College Makoura College (spelled Makora College prior to 1990) is a state co-educational secondary school located in Masterton, New Zealand. The school opened in 1968 as the town's second state secondary school, alongside Wairarapa College. Serving Y ...

with 320 students serves the eastern side of town. Four state-integrated schools also serve the town: Chanel College is a coeducational Catholic school with its own intermediate department; Rathkeale College and St Matthew's Collegiate are Anglican boys and girls schools respectively, with St Matthew's having an intermediate department; and Solway College is a Presbyterian girls school with intermediate. There is also a composite (primary/secondary combined) Māori immersion school in the town: Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Wairarapa. Masterton has its own polytechnic, run by UCOL (Universal College of Learning). The Masterton District Library and Archive, situated on Queen Street, are part of the Lower North Island SMART Libraries group, which involves sharing books and information between 22 libraries.

Media

Newspapers

There are several newspapers circulated in Masterton, including two daily publications (

Wairarapa Times-Age The ''Wairarapa Times-Age'' is the regional daily paper for New Zealand's Wairarapa where it is prepared, and published in Masterton. Though its roots are deep in Wairarapa's community, it joined a national combine in 2002 only to leave the com ...

, The Dominion-Post) and a free community title, Wairarapa Midweek. The Wairarapa Times-Age is the only daily newspaper based in Masterton. Formed by a merger between the Wairarapa Age and the Wairarapa Daily Times on 1 April 1938, The Wairarapa Times-Age has an audited paid circulation of 5,427. The Wairarapa Times-Age is owned by Andrew Denholm of National Media Limited. NZME Publishing Limited sold the business, which includes the Wairarapa Midweek and TA Property papers in June 2016. Andrew Denholm was the previous general manager. Seamus Boyer is current editor. The Wairarapa Midweek, a weekly community paper with an audited circulation of 21,186, is distributed every Wednesday along with the TA Property. The Wairarapa Times Age building at 70 Chapel Street no longer holds the presses, and the space was used by the nascent Masterton Fab lab which has now relocated to UCOL. Fairfax NZ owned The Dominion Post is widely circulated in the Masterton district. The Wellington-based metropolitan daily newspaper has an office, Media House, at 123 Chapel Street in Masterton. The Dominion-Post has an audited paid circulation of 55,496.

Radio

Masterton is serviced by one local radio station. Wairarapa's MORE FM 89.5 or 105.9 for the coastal frequency. MORE FM broadcasts locally from 6am to 10am daily from studios in Kuripuni. The station was founded by controversial Broadcaster Paul Henry, as TODAY FM 89.3 in Carterton in 1991. Later the station was rebranded as Hitz 89FM, Wairarapa's Best Music. The MORE FM Breakfast Show has been hosted by well-known local broadcaster Brent Gare, since 2004. The Saturday sports show at 8am has been hosted by local sports-caster Chris "Coggie" Cogdale since 1992.

Television

Television coverage reached Masterton in 1963, after the Otahoua transmitter east of the town was commissioned to relay Wellington's WNTV1 channel (now part of TVNZ 1). The town was early receiving television since the Otahoua transmitter was required to repeat the signal from the Mount Victoria (and later Mount Kaukau) transmitter in Wellington to the Wharite Peak transmitter near Palmerston North (also commissioned in 1963). Digital terrestrial television (Freeview HD) was introduced to the Masterton area in July 2011, in preparedness for the area's digital switchover in September 2013. The service broadcasts from the Popoiti transmitter, south of the township.

Utilities

Water

Masterton's water is piped from the Waingawa through a Masterton District Council treatment plant on the river about 10 kilometres west of the town. The water is clarified and filtered then chlorinated and fluoridated. Lime is added to neutralise the pH to protect the pipes. There is a fluoride-free drinking water tap in Manuka Reserve in Manuka Street. Typhoid epidemics broke out each year in Masterton and in 1896 Parliament approved a Borough Council loan to build a drainage and water supply system. Work on the water supply did not begin until 1899 delayed by disagreements over the appropriate sources for water. It was finished at the end of 1900 when at the formal opening ceremony there was enough pressure to send a jet right over the Post Office tower to the accompaniment of the Masterton Municipal Brass Band. The mayor, Mr Pownall, said he was now ready to pour cold water on the scheme's opponents. A covered reservoir and treatment plant at Fernridge was supplied by an intake from springs beside the Waingawa four miles further up river. The main was duplicated in 1915. It was replaced by the current system completed in 1983. The sewage system was completed in 1901. It drained through settlement ponds and filter beds to the Ruamahanga south of the town. The sewage farm's system included a newfangled "

septic tank A septic tank is an underground chamber made of concrete, fiberglass, or plastic through which domestic wastewater ( sewage) flows for basic sewage treatment. Settling and anaerobic digestion processes reduce solids and organics, but the treatm ...

" which was subject to failures.

Energy

The Wairarapa Electric Power Board was established in Carterton in 1920With nine members, two from Masterton Borough and one each from Carterton Borough, Greytown Borough, Featherston Borough, Martinborough Town District and portion of Masterton County, a portion of Wairarapa South County, and a portion of Featherston County. ''Wairarapa Age'', 10 April 1920, page 4 to supply the Wairarapa with electricity from the Kourarau hydro power station at Gladstone, southeast of both towns. Masterton was connected to Mangahao on 17 May 1925 when the transmission line from

Bunnythorpe Bunnythorpe is a village in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island, north of the region's major city, Palmerston North. Dairy farms predominate the surrounding area but the community facilities include Bunnythorpe School, w ...

to Masterton (via Woodville and Mangamaire) and the Masterton substation were commissioned. The Wairarapa Electric Power Board moved to headquarters in Masterton in the 1950s. The power board, then named Wairarapa Electricity, dissolved following the 1998 electricity sector reforms. The retail business was sold to Genesis Energy and the distribution lines business sold to

Powerco Powerco is the second-largest gas and largest electricity distributor in New Zealand. It is one of only two companies to distribute both electricity and natural gas through their network (the other being Vector Limited). Its network delivers el ...

. Today Powerco continues to operate the local distribution network in the town and surrounding district with electricity fed from Transpower's national grid at its Masterton substation in Waingawa. Masterton Gas Company was established by the Borough Council in 1886 by the corner of Bannister and Kirton Streets. About 20 years later it was moved to the end of Bentley Street just south of the railway station. The large quantities of coal were brought in by rail. By 1945 it had become clear consumers preferred electricity and the gasworks closed in the 1950s. There is no

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon d ...

network in Masterton, making it the largest North Island urban area without one. There has been no more than a proposal to connect Masterton to the North Island natural gas network via a branch off the Palmerston North to Hastings high-pressure pipeline commissioned in 1983.

Telephone

The Masterton magneto telephone exchange opened on 31 January 1897, with 53 subscribers. On 31 May 1919, Masterton became the first town in New Zealand to have a fully automatic (Western Electric 7A Rotary) telephone exchange. Masterton and nearby Carterton were the first towns in New Zealand to introduce the emergency number 111, in September 1958. Before the 1991 to 1993 changes, the area code for Masterton was 059. Today the area code is 06, and numbers generally begin with 370, 372 (rural areas), 377, 378 and 946. Numbers beginning 946 are businesses.

Internet

On 3 December 2015 the UFB rollout to the town was completed.

Transport

Masterton is very well served by public transport with rail and bus links. Despite Masterton and the Wairarapa valley being reasonably close to

, they are separated by the Rimutaka Ranges with State Highway 2 cutting a winding hill road through the range, and the Rimutaka railway tunnel. The Wairarapa Line

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

allows access to

, Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt. Unlike other parts of the country, the Wairarapa has seen passenger rail services remain, largely due to its proximity to Wellington and the Rimutaka Tunnel's advantage over the Rimutaka Hill road. There has been talk of constructing a road tunnel through the ranges for decades, but this has been ruled out due to the extremely high cost. According to the latest transportation plan from the Greater Wellington Regional Council, the only work planned is for upgrades to the Rimutaka Hill road and the addition of passing lanes between Featherston and Masterton.

Rail

Masterton is linked to Wellington and the Hutt Valley by the Wairarapa Connection, a

Tranz Metro Tranz Metro (formerly Cityrail and before that Cityline) was a New Zealand public transport operator. Beginning as the New Zealand Railways Corporation's Cityline division as a result of restructuring in the 1980s, in its final form Tranz Metr ...

passenger service run for Greater Wellington Region's

Metlink Metlink was the marketing body and umbrella brand for public train, tram and bus transport operators in Melbourne, Australia. On 2 April 2012, the operations of Metlink were transferred to the newly created public transport planning and manag ...

, primarily operating at peak times serving commuters from Masterton and the Wairarapa with five return services on Monday to Thursday, six on Friday and two at weekends and public holidays. There are three railway stations in the town; Masterton, Renall Street and Solway. Four stations north of Masterton used to operate at Opaki, Kopuranga, Mauriceville and Mangamahoe. Services to these stations ceased between 1969 and 1988. To cope with an increase in logging in the Wairarapa, an additional 2.5 hectare rail freight hub is due to be operational in Norfolk Road, Waingawa by March 2016.

Bus

There is a local

bus service in Masterton operated by Tranzit. The buses operate on five routes: three suburban and two regional including: There is also the MPN: Masterton to Palmerston North (via Woodville) service, not operated under the Metlink brand.

Air

Hood Aerodrome is 2 miles southwest of the town of Masterton. As of 2015, there are no commercial flights from Hood Aerodrome. From early 2009 until late 2013, Air New Zealand provided flights to Auckland, operated by subsidiary

Eagle Airways Eagle Airways was a regional airline based in Hamilton, New Zealand and was wholly owned by Air New Zealand, operating regional services under the Air New Zealand Link brand. The airline was disbanded on 26 August 2016, with staff absorbed int ...

six days a week, mainly to serve business customers in the Wairarapa. There have been a few other unsuccessful attempts at commercial air travel in Masterton, mostly failing due to its proximity to major airports in

and

. The most significant was by

South Pacific Airlines of New Zealand South Pacific Airlines of New Zealand was a New Zealand airline, operating between 1960 and 1966. It is regarded as a forerunner to Ansett New Zealand. History South Pacific Airlines of New Zealand (SPANZ) was founded in 1960 by Bob Anderson a ...

(SPANZ), which operated daily flights using DC3s during the sixties to destinations nationwide until the airline's closure in 1966. Queen Elizabeth Park Masterton (23166740666)

Queen Elizabeth Park

Queen Elizabeth Park covers more than 20 hectares (50 acres) near the heart of Masterton on land set aside for the purpose in 1854. Its most notable aspects are the Giant Sequoia ('' Sequoiadendron giganteum'') trees planted in 1875, its other mature trees, and sheltered oval cricket ground. Queen Elizabeth came to Masterton Park in 1954 to be noisily welcomed by the mayor and the citizens and every schoolchild of the Wairarapa. After that she rested at the Empire hotel, waved to the crowd from the balcony and graciously gave her own name for the park.

Miniature railway

Queen_Elizabeth_Park_Railway,_Masterton_-_panoramio

The park contains a miniature railway, built by the Jaycees and opened in 1972 by

Norman Kirk Norman Eric Kirk (6 January 1923 – 31 August 1974) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 29th prime minister of New Zealand from 1972 until his sudden death in 1974. Born into poverty in Southern Canterbury, Kirk left school at ...

. It has a single station, Waipoua, and is upkept by a group of volunteers. A ride on the train costs $1, a fare that has been unchanged since 1984. The line has a steam locomotive, restored in 2021, which formerly operated at Gisborne and at Caroline Bay, Timaru, where a steam locomotive was operating in 1942. The locomotive's origin is unknown, though it is similar to many

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

steam engines built by

Bassett-Lowke Bassett-Lowke was an English toy manufacturing company based in Northampton. Founded by Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke in 1898 or 1899, the company specialized in model railways, boats and ships, and construction sets. Bassett-Lowke started as a ...

from 1911.

Museum

Aratoi Wairarapa Museum of Art and History opened in Masterton in 1969. A sculpture by

Barbara Hepworth Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth (10 January 1903 – 20 May 1975) was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a lea ...

was the first item in the museum's collection. It now contains almost 4,000 items.

Sports

In rugby union,

Heartland Championship The Heartland Championship competition, known for sponsorship reasons as the Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship, is a domestic rugby union competition in New Zealand. It was founded in 2006 as one of two successor competitions to the countr ...

team Wairarapa Bush is based in Masterton, playing their home games at Memorial Park. In association football, Central Premier League side Wairarapa United play some of their home games at Masterton; also playing in Carterton. In

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

, the Hawke Cup team Wairarapa have their headquarters in Masterton. Their home ground is Queen Elizabeth Park.

Notable people

Sylvia Ashton-Warner Sylvia Constance Ashton-Warner (17 December 1908 – 28 April 1984) was a New Zealand novelist, non-fiction writer, poet, pianist and world figure in the teaching of children. Her ideas for a child-based or organic approach to the teaching of ...

* Mary Gertrude Banahan * Barry Barclay * Harold Barrowclough, Chief Justice of New Zealand * Amanda Billing * Roger Blackley, art historian * Constance Bolton, artist *

Russell Calvert Russell John Calvert (1 February 1909 – 20 August 2011) was a New Zealand local-body politician. He served as Mayor of Dunedin between 1965 and 1968. Biography Early life Calvert was born in Masterton in 1909. He was educated at Nelson Co ...

, politician * Ted Chamberlain, plant pathologist * Jemaine Clement, actor, comedian and musician * Wyatt Creech, politician * Helen Cowie, Doctor *

Ian Cross Ian Robert Cross (6 November 1925 – 2 November 2019) was a New Zealand novelist, journalist and administrator, and contributed significantly to New Zealand letters. His first novel, '' The God Boy'', was released in 1957 to critical acclaim. ...

, novelist *

Barry Dallas Barry Mitchell Dallas (1 December 1926 – 21 April 1992) was a New Zealand politician and doctor. He was twice mayor of Greymouth on the West Coast of New Zealand. Biography Dallas was born in Masterton and attended Wairarapa College. He q ...

, medical practitioner and politician * George Davis-Goff, naval officer * Haddon Donald, soldier, businessman and politician * Pat Evison *

John Falloon John Howard Falloon (17 February 1942 – 4 October 2005) was a New Zealand politician. He was an MP from 1977 to 1996, representing the National Party in the Pahiatua electorate. Early life and family Falloon was born in Masterton on 17 Fe ...

* Bill Francis * George Groombridge *

Christopher Hodson Christopher John Hodson is a New Zealand barrister and judge, Judge Advocate General of the New Zealand Armed Forces, and the Chief Judge of the Court Martial of New Zealand. Early life Hodson was born in Masterton, where he grew up on his fami ...

* Alexander Hogg, newspaper editor and politician *

Thomas W. Horton Thomas W. Horton (born May 24, 1961) is a partner of Global Infrastructure Partners and is lead director at Walmart Inc. and General Electric Corp. He was chairman, president, and CEO of AMR Corporation until it merged with US Airways Group to fo ...

, RAF officer *

Raybon Kan Raybon Kan (born 1966) is a New Zealand comedian and newspaper columnist. Early life and family Kan's family moved to Wellington, New Zealand soon after his birth in Masterton. He began his education at St Mark's Church School. He showed an ea ...

, writer and stand-up comedian * Ladyhawke, singer-songwriter * Jack Lewin, prominent public servant * Sir Brian Lochore, All Black * Alan MacDiarmid, Nobel Prize winning chemist * Ron Mark, soldier and politician * Harold Miller, librarian * David Nicholson, Australian politician * Susan Parkinson, nutritionist * Edwin Perry, politician * George Petersen, historian *

Arthur Prior Arthur Norman Prior (4 December 1914 – 6 October 1969), usually cited as A. N. Prior, was a New Zealand–born logician and philosopher. Prior (1957) founded tense logic, now also known as temporal logic, and made important contributi ...

, logician and philosopher * Ian Prior, doctor and epidemiologist *

Frances Rutherford Frances Rutherford (29 April 1912 – 22 November 2006) was a New Zealand artist and occupational therapist. Early life A daughter of Alethea Mary Robinson and her husband Charles William Rutherford, a cousin of nuclear physicist Ernest Ruth ...

, artist *

Brad Shields Bradley David Fenner Shields (born 2 April 1991) is a rugby union player for USA Perpignan in the Top 14. He played 8 times for the England national rugby union team in 2018 and 2019. He previously played for in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 ...

. Rugby player * Campbell Smith, playwright * Harold Smith, politician * J. Valentine Smith, landowner * Olive Rose Sutherland, teacher *

Ivan Sutherland Ivan Edward Sutherland (born May 16, 1938) is an American computer scientist and Internet pioneer, widely regarded as a pioneer of computer graphics. His early work in computer graphics as well as his teaching with David C. Evans in that subject ...

, ethnologist * Selina Sutherland, nurse, founder of Masterton Hospital * Bill Tolhurst, politician * Elwyn Welch, farmer, ornithologist, conservationist and missionary *

Aaron Slight Aaron Tony Slight (born 19 January 1966) is a New Zealand former professional motorcycle road racer. He competed in the Superbike World Championships from to , finishing second in the championship twice and third four times. He later compet ...

, World Superbike motorcycle racer

Sister cities

Masterton has sister-city relationships with: * Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima, Japan *

Changchun Changchun (, ; ), also romanized as Ch'angch'un, is the capital and largest city of Jilin Province, People's Republic of China. Lying in the center of the Songliao Plain, Changchun is administered as a , comprising 7 districts, 1 county and 3 ...

, China * Armidale, New South Wales, Australia

Notes

References

External links

Masterton District Council

Masterton Tourist Information
{{Authority control Masterton District Populated places in the Wellington Region