Paekakariki is a town in the Kapiti Coast District in the south-western North Island of New Zealand. It is 22 km north of Porirua and 45 km north-east of Wellington, the nation's capital city.

Paekakariki's population at the 2001 New Zealand census was 1731. The town's name in Māori means "perching place of the kakariki (green parrot)".

Paekakariki lies on a narrowing of the thin coastal plain between the Tasman Sea and the Akatarawa Ranges (a spur of the Tararua Ranges) and was an important transportation node. To the south, State Highway 1 climbs towards Porirua; to the north the plains extend inland from the Kapiti Coast; at Paekakariki the highway and North Island Main Trunk Railway run close together between the coast and hills.

History

Immediately prior to European settlement the area had a violent history, due mainly to the presence of the great Māori warrior leader Te Rauparaha, whose pa was on nearby Kapiti Island. He died in 1849, the same year that a road connecting Paekakariki with Porirua was completed.

Paekakariki's history has been intimately linked with the railway, and there is a museum at the railway station commemorating this heritage. In 1886 the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company's line from Wellington to Longburn was completed, and Paekakariki became an important stop on the journey. In 1908, the line was incorporated into the national network of the New Zealand Railways Department and became part of the North Island Main Trunk linking Wellington and Auckland, the North Island's most important line. In 1917, NZR withdrew dining cars from its passenger trains due to World War I economic difficulties and Paekakariki became a main refreshment stop on the trip north; originally a temporary measure, the dining cars did not return for decades and Paekakariki's status remained until the 1960s.

The locomotive depot gradually declined in importance due to changing motive power, and nowadays only EM class electric multiple units are stabled here. The old steam locomotive depot is now the location of "The Engine Shed", the base of Steam Incorporated, one of New Zealand's premier railway preservation societies. The Paekakariki Station Precinct Trust has been established to manage the station area, including the museum and Steam Incorporated's depot, and firmly establish it as a historical and tourist attraction.

A notable historic building is the former restaurant 'The 1906', currently unoccupied, pending demolition to make way for a change in the motorway.

Trivia

• The town was immortalised as an almost mythical distant place in the song "Paekakariki Beach" by British rock group New Model Army, written in 1999.
• The town also appeared in an animated documentary by the Simmonds Brothers, entitled: "Paekakariki: Center of the Universe".
• The New Zealand rugby player Christian Cullen was named the "Paekakariki Express" for his speed.
• Paekakariki was a camp site for U.S. Marines during World War II.
• The famous and historic Paekakariki Hotel, the town's only pub, was demolished in 2005 to make way for an apartment building.
• Among the many musicians living in Paekakariki is Wayne Mason, who penned 'Nature', voted most popular New Zealand pop song by a national jury of peers.

External links

• The Paekakariki Railway and Heritage Museum
• Paekakariki community website
• Paekakariki Surf Lifeguards
• Paekakariki in the land of the Tiki (cover of music to 1948 song, with photo of composer Ken Avery)

Notes

1. The Complete NMA Lyrics Pages
2. The camps - US Forces in New Zealand

References