Masterton
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.[4] In April 1965, one of the country's worst industrial accidents occurred at the General Plastics Factory on 170 Dixon Street.[6][7] 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.Due to the geography of the Wairarapa valley and the Tararua Range directly to the west, the town's temperature fluctuates more than the nearby inland city of Palmerston North.Masterton experiences warmer, dry summers with highs above 30 °C possible and colder winters with frequent frost and lows below 0 °C.[21] The current council members are:[22] Gary Caffell (M), general ward; Bex Johnson (DM), Tom Hullena, Tim Nelson, Craig Bowyer, at large; David Holmes, Stella Lennox, Brent Goodwin, Māori ward; Marama Tuuta.[27] The Wairarapa Midweek, a weekly community paper with an audited circulation of 21,186,[28] 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[29] which has now relocated to UCOL.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).[34] Typhoid epidemics broke out each year in Masterton[35] and in 1896 Parliament approved a Borough Council loan to build a drainage and water supply system.[36] 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.[37] A covered reservoir and treatment plant at Fernridge was supplied by an intake from springs beside the Waingawa four miles further up river.[42][43] Around half of the eels (about 20 tonnes), were rescued by the iwi Ngati Kahungunu for relocation into other Wairarapa lakes and streams.[45] In April 2023, the council was strongly criticised for continuing incidents of overflow of raw sewage into properties in Cockburn Street during periods of heavy rain, a recurring problem that dates from 2006.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.[49] Masterton Gas Company was established by the Borough Council in 1886[50] by the corner of Bannister and Kirton Streets.On 31 May 1919, Masterton became the first town in New Zealand to have a fully automatic (Western Electric 7A Rotary) telephone exchange.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.Masterton is linked to Wellington and the Hutt Valley by the Wairarapa Connection, a Tranz Metro passenger service run for Greater Wellington Region's Metlink, 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.To cope with an increase in logging in the Wairarapa, an additional 2.5 hectare rail freight hub has been operational in Norfolk Road, Waingawa since March 2016.From early 2009 until late 2013, Air New Zealand provided flights to Auckland, operated by subsidiary Eagle Airways six days a week, mainly to serve business customers in the Wairarapa.[57] There have been a few other unsuccessful attempts at commercial air travel in Masterton, mostly failing due to its proximity to major airports in Wellington and Palmerston North.Queen Elizabeth Park covers more than 20 hectares (49 acres) near the heart of Masterton on land set aside for the purpose in 1854.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.[66] In rugby union, Heartland Championship team Wairarapa Bush is based in Masterton, playing their home games at Memorial Park.[68] It opened in November 1971 and was a significant venue for important speedway events, including the final of the New Zealand Solo Championship in 1978 and 1984.
Masterton (disambiguation)MāoriTerritorial authority districtNorth IslandRegionGreater WellingtonDistrictNZ ParliamentIkaroa-RāwhitiWairarapaMike ButterickNationalCushla Tangaere-ManuelLabourTerritorial authorityTime zoneUTC+12UTC+13Area codeGreater Wellington RegionNew ZealandWellingtonRemutakaWaipoua streamRuamāhungaWaingawa RiversEketāhunabusinessesfarmersGolden Shearssheep-shearingLansdowneEastsideUpper PlainFernridgeNgaumutawaMasterton WestKuripuniSolwayJoseph MastersWorld War IIUnited States Marine CorpsEuropean UnionNgāti KahungunuKahukuraawhitiaKahukuranuiNgāti Te HinaTahu o KahungunuTamahauWhiungaRangitāneHinetearorangiNgāi TamahauNgāti HāmuaNgāti TaimahuNgāti TangatakauNgāti Te NotiNgāti Te RaeteaNgāti Te WhātuiProvincial Growth FundNgāi Tumapuhia a Rangi ki OkauteteMotuwairakaPāpāwaiKohunuiHurunui o RangiNgāti Te AhuahuNgāti MātangiuruCharles Natusch2023 New Zealand census2018 census2013 censusother gendersLGBTIQ+EuropeanPākehāPasifikaNew Zealand Sign LanguageChristianMāori religious beliefsBuddhistNew AgeJewishno religiontemperate climateTararua RangePalmerston Northrelative humiditysunshine hoursMayor of MastertonMyer CaselbergFirst Past the PostHadlowWairarapa CollegeMakoura CollegeChanel CollegeRathkeale CollegeSt Matthew's CollegiateSolway CollegeTimes-AgeWairarapa Times-AgeThe Postcommunity paperFab labTVNZ 1Mount KaukauWharite PeakWaingawaRuamahanga Riverseptic tankHomebushNgati KahungunuMangahaoBunnythorpeGenesis EnergyPowercoTranspowernatural gasRotaryCartertonemergency number 111Rimutaka RangesState Highway 2Rimutaka railway tunnelWairarapa LinerailwayLower Hutt