Waiouru

[3] The main attraction of Waiouru is the National Army Museum, opened in 1978, which features static displays of New Zealand's military heritage.The rest of the township consists of a small cluster of a police station, two garages, a petrol station/postal agency, a panel beater, two motels, a tavern and half a dozen cafe/restaurants spread along the highway.On 24 December 1953 the overnight express from Wellington to Auckland passed over Tangiwai railway bridge just after it had been weakened by a lahar from Mount Ruapehu.Sister Mortimer of the Waiouru Camp Hospital, "The Angel of Tangiwai", worked non-stop for three days tending the survivors and laying out the bodies.[4] Merino sheep were brought from Taupō in 1855 by missionary Tom Grace, to graze on the tussock lands in the Waiouru area.In England, the development of steam-powered machinery for making woolen cloth caused the price paid for raw wool to rise to £150 per ton, (about NZ$60 a kilo at today's values).The boundaries had already been sorted out back in 1850 at a huge hui chaired by Wanganui missionary Richard Taylor, with most of the Murimotu land being allotted to various hapu of Ngati Rangi, but no money was at stake back then, and in the intervening 20 years the Hauhau/Titokowaru/Te Kooti wars had been fought, creating new power groups and enmities, especially between the coastal Whanganui guerilla leader Major Kemp/Te Keepa and his upper river rival, Major Topia Turoa, and consequently numerous conflicting claims were put forward.He re-activated his company of seasoned gun-fighters, with whom he had routed the Hauhau at the Battle of Moutua Island 16 years previously, and they rode up from the Whanganui river valley to Waiouru, and then on another 10 km east to the strategic high ground of Auahitotara, where they began some sabre-rattling live-firing practice.But it was a hollow victory for Studholme; although his costs remained high, the price paid for wool plummeted as vast new sheep farms in Australia came into production.And the extremely cold winter of 1893, with deep snow on the ground from Easter to October, killed 20,000 of his sheep and left the rest emaciated.Wally Harding began farming and developing the Waiouru sheep station in 1939, cultivating the tussock land with giant discs pulled by a crawler tractor, and then oversowing with swedes.Its buildings were designed by Sir Miles Warren and it was built alongside State Highway 1 by engineers of the New Zealand Army.[7] From 1949 another 250 km2 of land to the north and east was acquired for training, and for upgrading of the State Highway and constructing a high-voltage power line up the Moawhango valley.
The Overlander , hauled by EF 30163 near Waiouru
Train at Waiouru Railway Station circa 1930s
RegionManawatū-WhanganuiDistrictRuapehu DistrictElectoratesRangitīkeiTe Tai HauāuruMāoriRuapehu District CouncilHorizons Regional CouncilTime zoneUTC+12UTC+13Area codeThe OverlanderEF 30163Manawatū-Whanganui regionNorth Island Volcanic PlateauPalmerston NorthMount RuapehuNational Army Museumpanel beatermilitaryNew Zealand ArmyIrirangiState Highway 1Rangipo DesertTūrangiLake TaupōNorth Island Main TrunkWaiouru Railway StationNew Zealand rail systemNorthern ExplorerOverlanderworst railway disasterWellingtonAucklandWhangaehu RiverTaupōtussockTe KootimerinosHawke's BayJohn StudholmeKaimanawa RangesKereruNapierWanganuirabbitsMiles Warren2018 New Zealand census2013 census2006 censusPākehāPacific peoplesChristianMāori religious beliefsBuddhistWaiouru Military CampLintonRoyal New Zealand Air ForceWaiouru AirfieldC-130 HerculesHMNZS IrirangiRoyal New Zealand NavyMt RuapehuDesert Roadcontinentalsunshine hoursdaylight hourspossible sunshineRuapehu CollegeOhakuneStatistics New ZealandNew ZealandTaumarunuiMatiereŌhuraOngarueTokirimaWaimihaKakahiNgapukePiriakaTaringamotuTongariroKaitiekeNational ParkŌwhangoRaurimuWhakapapa VillageOrautohaRaetihiRangatauaTangiwaiKaimanawa RangeLake MoawhangoLake OtamangakauMatemateāonga RangeMount TongariroMakatote ViaductMana Ariki MaraePiriaka Power StationPureora Forest ParkRaurimu SpiralTongariro Alpine CrossingTongariro National ParkEllis and Burnand TramwayKnight's tramMakatote TramwayState Highway 46State Highway 47State Highway 48State Highway 49HoropitoKarioiManunuiMatapunaOkahukuraPokakaTe KouraWaione SidingDistrict Council