Kairanga

Description

More Than One Hundred Years

The Kairanga is a farming area with a mighty reputation for the quality and quantity of its agricultural produce. The boundary of the region that now claims to belong to Kairanga extends a long way beyond the limits of the original sale-block survey, enclosing thousands of acres more than the 8,500 acres first so designated. Despite the world fame acquired by the productiveness of its land it is not uncommon for mention of the name Kairanga in nearby Palmerston North to attract the response, “Kairanga, where’s that?” A question such as this naturally begs an answer, so this book is written to place Kairanga, the farming district, squarely on the map, and at the same time to document the history and development of our region. Because the modern Kairanga had essentially unpopulated origins, we must not assume that our history begins with the official formation of a district and the arrival of the European settler. A broader approach to the subject has been taken. Beginning with the wider aspect of the legendary and traditional Maori past, we narrow down to relevant points in their more recent and documented history, and from there proceed to Kairanga as it is today, examining its development and its important physical, agricultural, industrial and social features.

Published in 1989.