Whakahoro is a small (now mostly empty) settlement located south of

Taumarunui Taumarunui is a small town in the King Country of the central North Island of New Zealand. It is on an alluvial plain set within rugged terrain on the upper reaches of the Whanganui River, 65 km south of Te Kūiti and 55 km west of T� ...

on the junction of the Retaruke and

Whanganui River The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the country's third-longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people. In March 2017 it became the world's second natur ...

s, about upstream from

Whanganui Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whanganui is ...

. By

gravel road A gravel road is a type of unpaved road surfaced with gravel that has been brought to the site from a quarry or stream bed. Gravel roads are common in less-developed nations, and also in the rural areas of developed nations such as Canada and ...

s it is west of

Raurimu Raurimu is a settlement in Ruapehu District, New Zealand. passes through it, and the North Island Main Trunk railway line runs to the east. The Raurimu Spiral, which allows the railway to climb 139 metres, is described as an engineering maste ...

and south west of

Ōwhango Ōwhango is a small town in New Zealand situated about south of Taumarunui on New Zealand State Highway 4, State Highway 4 (SH4), and about west of the Whakapapa River, a tributary of the nascent Whanganui River. Ōwhango has been the New Zea ...

. The settlement lies close to the northern edge of the

Whanganui National Park The Whanganui National Park is a national park located in the North Island of New Zealand. Established in 1986, it covers an area of 742 km2 bordering the Whanganui River. It incorporates areas of Crown land, former state forest and a numb ...

in a rugged and largely inaccessible part of the country, connected to the national road network only via Oio Road, which links it to SH 4 via the townships of Retaruke and Kaitieke. Whakahoro is located on

Te Araroa Te Araroa (The Long Pathway) is New Zealand's long distance tramping route, stretching circa along the length of the country's two main islands from Cape Reinga to Bluff. Officially opened in 2011, it is made up of a mixture of previously m ...

, a major walking route which stretches the length of New Zealand and follows the Whanganui River for part of its length. Tree planting has been done in the 21st century, but many sheep and wild pigs remain. The settlement's name is from

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

, and means "To break into pieces". Wade's Landing has made itself into various modern hand-held

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide geol ...

databases, probably due to its historical nautical significance. Today a bus tour includes Whakahoro, or a

jetboat A jetboat is a boat propelled by a jet of water ejected from the back of the craft. Unlike a powerboat or motorboat that uses an external propeller in the water below or behind the boat, a jetboat draws the water from under the boat through a ...

can be chartered locally to take passengers up river to Taumarunui or down river to

Pipiriki Pipiriki is a settlement in New Zealand, on the east bank of the Whanganui River, due west of the town of Raetihi and upriver from Whanganui; it was originally on the opposite bank. It is the location of the Paraweka Marae of the hapū Ngāti ...

and

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

History

Whakahoro_Bridge_deck_over_Retaruke_River

Historically, Whakahoro's Wade's Landing was a stopover point for

riverboats A riverboat is a watercraft designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury u ...

steaming up and down the

. The landing was located just below Whakahoro at the confluence with the Retaruke River. Work on it started in 1913 and it was in use by 1914. It was here that wool from the Retaruke valley's sheep farms was originally freighted to Wanganui for eventual export. Improvements to navigation were gradually made. The first Hatrick launches reached the Retaruke in 1903. In 1908 work started on more improvements. A stone wall was built in 1920 to improve navigation on the river. At that time Whakaoro was the name used for the west bank and Whakatara for the east bank settlement. Over the Whanganui River was the site of a

community. The land was subsequently leased to the Rusling family for

sheep farming Sheep farming or sheep husbandry is the raising and breeding of domestic sheep. It is a branch of animal husbandry. Sheep are raised principally for their meat (lamb and mutton), milk (sheep's milk), and fiber (wool). They also yield sheepskin ...

, but now has reverted to bush. The ''Roadway'' and ''Camp Road'' from here to the self-styled Republic of Whangamomona are no longer maintained. Just above the confluence is the former Lacy's hotel, which is now a farm house. It had its own separate landing, tennis courts, and in the 1920s locals would meet for a friendly game of

Rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

in their hobnail boots. From 1927 there was a river boat semi-permanently anchored at the junction. This river boat served alcohol beverages. As the

King Country The King Country ( Māori: ''Te Rohe Pōtae'' or ''Rohe Pōtae o Maniapoto'') is a region of the western North Island of New Zealand. It extends approximately from Kawhia Harbour and the town of Ōtorohanga in the north to the upper reaches of th ...

was a dry area, such beverages were actually banned; the boat was considered "offshore" from the King Country. A township with 16

sections Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

was mapped in 1929. Whakahoro had several streets, notably Lover's Lane and Dempsey Ave. A school had been established by 1932. In 1933 the teacher married local farmer, Frank Lacy. The 1946 Whakahoro School building, still stands, and has been converted into a stop over hostel for down-river canoeists. Lacy's Bridge crosses the Retaruke River at Whakahoro. This was built in 1932 to replace an earlier bridge built in 1915–16. The houseboat caught fire in 1933.

References

{{Whanganui River Populated places in Manawatū-Whanganui Ruapehu District Ghost towns in New Zealand Settlements on the Whanganui River

History

See also

References