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Upokongaro or Ūpokongaro is a settlement adjacent to the Whanganui River, located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) upriver from Whanganui, New Zealand, in the Makirikiri Valley. Settled by Europeans in the 1860s, it was an important ferry crossing and riverboat stop. A spectacular discovery of moa bones was made in the area in the 1930s.

Māori history

The village's name in Māori, ūpoko (head) ngaro (hidden), refers to a story of how chief's daughter Ira-nga-rangi arranged to have her head removed upon her death and hidden by relatives, who feared it might be desecrated by enemies. Supposedly the preserved head was hidden in a cave on the banks of the Ūpokongaro Stream north of the settlement, from which the village takes its name.

At the time of European contact, both Ūpokongaro and adjacent settlements Waipakura and Kukuta were home to the Ngāti Patutokotoko hapū of the iwi Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi. Ngāti Iringirangi and Nga Paerangi are also noted as being present. The fortified hilltop pā at Ūpokongaro was called Opiu; during the tense times of the 1840s, Opiu was pulled down and abandoned.

Waipakura, south of Ūpokongaro, was one of a number of native reserves set aside in the 1848 Deed of Sale; some of it was leased to settlers in the 1860s. Ūpokongaro was described as a "small pā" in 1865, and Māori settlement persisted until at least the 1880s. The pā site at Opiu was used as a refuge for settlers' wives and children in 1862, when there were fears of Hau Hau war parties, and was later turned into a redoubt.

European settlement

In 1866, settler John Kennedy built a hotel and a store (later the post office); during the 1870s and '80s, the local name for Ūpokongaro was "Kennedy's". A school was built in 1870, known from 1873–1879 as the North Makirikiri or "River Bank" school.

The schoolroom functioned for Anglican services in the mid 1870s, but in 1877 St Mary's Anglican Church was built. Designed by local architect Edward Morgan and built by John Randal, St Mary's is distinctive in having a spire with a triangular cross-section, on a four-sided steeple. Its stained glass window was installed in 1879, in memory of Archibald Montgomery, a young Upokongaro man lost in the sinking of the clipper Avalanche in the English Channel just before the church was completed. St Mary's is the oldest church in the Whanganui District on its original site.

Moa discovery

In the 1930s, thousands of moa bones were recovered from mud springs in the Upokongaro Valley at Makirikiri by a Whanganui Museum expedition. Life-sized concrete moa sculptures commemorating this can be seen on the main road outside the Upokongaro Cafe.

Education

Upokongaro School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students, with a roll of 115 as of August 2024.

Cycle trail

Ūpokongaro is on the Mountains to Sea cycle trail (Ngā Ara Tūhono), at the junction of the 67 km (42 mi) Whanganui River Road and 19 km (12 mi) Ūpokongaro to the Tasman Sea sections. The sections are linked by Ūpokongaro Cycle Bridge, which opened on 2 December 2020. The 130 m (430 ft) long bridge and cycle path link to it cost $3.4m.

Nankeen night heron

The Nankeen night heron is rare in New Zealand, but a population has established along the Whanganui River. This is the only place in New Zealand where they are known to be resident. The first confirmed breeding of Nankeen night herons in the Whanganui area was observed at Pipiriki in February 1994. Night herons have been observed in trees behind a cafe in Upokongaro, and nested there in 2023, attracting the interest of bird watchers and photographers, and leading to the publication of a book about the bird.

References

1. Chapple, L. J. B.; Veitch, H. C. (1939). Wanganui. Hawera, NZ: Hawera Star Publishing. p. 228.
2. ^ Walton, A. (1994). "Settlement Patterns in the Whanganui River Valley, 1839–1864" (PDF). New Zealand Journal of Archaeology. 16: 123–168.
3. Best, Elsdon (1 January 1900). "Te Awa Nui a Rua (The Whanganui River)". New Zealand Illustrated Magazine. 1 (4): 51.
4. ^ Pettigrew, Wendy (2002). The Church by the River: St Mary's Upokongaro. Whanganui: Parish of Eastern Wanganui. ISBN 0476013704.
5. Beaglehole, Diana (20 March 2014). "Whanganui places: River Settlements". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
6. Worthy, Trevor H. (1989). "An analysis of moa bones (Aves: Dinornithiformes) from three lowland North Island swamp sites: Makirikiri, Riverlands and Takapau Road". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 19 (4): 419–432. Bibcode:1989JRSNZ..19..419W. doi:10.1080/03036758.1989.10421845.
7. "Official School Website". upokongaro.school.nz.
8. "Ministry of Education School Profile". educationcounts.govt.nz. Ministry of Education.
9. "Education Review Office Report". ero.govt.nz. Education Review Office.
10. "Whanganui River Road". Mountains to Sea Cycle Trail. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
11. "The Mountains to Sea Cycle Trail will take your breath away". Mountains to Sea Cycle Trail. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
12. "Cycle bridge opens in time for summer". www.whanganui.govt.nz. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
13. "Whanganui mayor accepts blame for delays to Upokongaro Cycle Bridge". Stuff. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
14. "Upokongaro cycle bridge opening confirmed". www.whanganui.govt.nz. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
15. "Nankeen night heron - Umu kōtuku". New Zealand Birds Online. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
16. Marsh, Norman; Lövei, Gábor L. (1997). "The first confirmed breeding by the Nankeen Night Heron (Nycticorax caledonicus) in New Zealand" (PDF). Notornis. 44 (3): 152–155.
17. "Tranquil Upokongaro garden cafe". Whanganui Chronicle. 19 April 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2023 – via New Zealand Herald.
18. Wylie, Liz (16 December 2023). "The rare bird only found along the Whanganui River". Whanganui Chronicle. Retrieved 19 April 2024 – via New Zealand Herald.

External links

• Sole, Laraine (2018). Upokongaro: The Community Up-river, 1840-1960.

39°52′S 175°08′E / 39.867°S 175.133°E / -39.867; 175.133

• Whanganui River
• Populated places in Manawatū-Whanganui
• Settlements on the Whanganui River
• Whanganui District