User:Landspeed/Te Awamutu

Te Awamutu is a town in the Waikato in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the council seat of the Waipa District and serves as a service town for the farming communities which surround it. Te Awamutu is located some 30 km south of Hamilton on State Highway 3, one of the two main routes south from Auckland and Hamilton.

History
The area was first settled by Tainui Maori in the 14th century. It was also the birthplace of the first Maori King. The first European missionaries visited the area in 1834. A missionary settlement was set up by the missionaries and Māori Christians in July 1839 after they observed Tainui cannibals who had been fighting at Rotorua, return with 60 backpacks of human remains and proceed to cook and eat them in the Otawhao Pa. Te Awamutu was a major site during the New Zealand land wars of the 19th century, serving as a garrison town for the colonial settlers. European settlement began at the conclusion of the Waikato Wars (1863-1865).

Te Awamutu Today
The main thoroughfare is Alexandra Street, so named because it was once the main road to the town of Alexandra (since renamed to Pirongia to avoid confusion with the town of Alexandra in the South Island).

The town has a large dairy factory, and serves as an important centre in the local dairy industry.

The town is often referred to as "The Rose town of New Zealand", because of its elaborate rose gardens in the centre of the town. Many local businesses use "Rosetown" in their name, and the symbol of the rose is widely used on local signs and billboards. The local paper, Te Awamutu Courier, has a symbol of a rose in the masthead on its front page.

Geography
Te Awamutu literally means in English "The River's End". The town is on gently undulating land close to the banks of a tributary of the Waipa River. The Waikato Plains lie to the north and east, and the promontory of Mount Pirongia, 20 kilometres to the west, is easily visible. Inside the township are two streams called the Mangapiko Stream and the Mangaohoe Stream. The Mangaohoe ends and becomes the Tributary of the Mangapiko near Memorial park.

The town is close to the extinct Kakepuku and Pirongia volcanoes (and other volcanoes of the Alexandria Volcanics). Maungatautari, another extinct volcanic cone, now the site of New Zealand's largest ecological restoration project, is also nearby.

Other towns surrounding Te Awamutu include Cambridge, 25 kilometres to the northeast, Otorohanga, 30 kilometres to the southwest, and Raglan 50 kilometres to the northwest. The small town of Kihikihi lies just to the south of Te Awamutu.

Demographics
It has a population of 9,777 but with Kihikihi and surrounding rural areas a total population of about 14,000 can be claimed.

Culture
Te Awamutu Museum was established in 1935. The museum has a number of permanent exhibitions focusing on the history of Te Awamutu and the surrounding area. There is also an exhibition, 'True Colours' focusing on Tim and Neil Finn, who went on to form Crowded House.

The museum contains one of the most famous early Māori artefacts, a large carved post known simply as Te Uenuku. This impressive carving has caused much controversy because its style is markedly different from any other early Māori work, yet it is clearly of a Māori design.

Facilities and Attractions
The Te Awamutu Museum is one of the attractions of the town, and has many exhibitions relating to the history of the area. Te Awamutu itself is located on SH3, one of the major routes used when touring the North Island of New Zealand.

The town has three large supermarkets, electronics retailers, and a well equipped sports / leisure centre.

Notable Residents / Former Residents
The town's best known residents are the Finn brothers, Tim and Neil, whose musical careers have stretched from Split Enz through the internationally successful Crowded House to their current solo and collaborative works. The town is mentioned in Split Enz's song "Haul Away", and also in Crowded House's 1986 song "Mean To Me", the debut single off their self-titled debut album. Musician Spencer P. Jones (The Beasts of Bourbon, Paul Kelly and The Coloured Girls) was also born in Te Awamutu