Manawatu-Wanganui Region - Geography

Geography

The region is dominated and defined by two significant river catchments, the Whanganui and the Manawatu. The Whanganui River, in the region's northwest, is the longest navigable river in New Zealand. The river was extremely important to early Māori as it was the southern link in a chain of waterways that spanned almost two-thirds of the North Island. It was one of the chief areas of Māori settlement with its easily fortified cliffs and ample food supplies. Legends emphasise the importance of the river and it remains sacred to Wanganui iwi. Māori along the coast and lowland plains grew kumara and other crops. The Manawatu River runs across the centre of the region, from rolling hill country in the east to the fertile Manawatu Plains in the west. the main city of Palmerston North is located on these plains, and is an important service city for the southern North Island as a whole. This river is unusual, in that it passes from hill country to plains through a gorge cut into much higher country, an indication that the hills have risen since the river formed.

To the southeast, a further, more sparsely populated area lies between the sources of the Manawatu River and the Pacific coast. This area, often historically connected with both the Hawke's Bay Region to the north and the Wairarapa to the south, was historically simply known as Bush, a name which still survives in some businesses and oprganisations, most notably in the name of the Wairarapa-Bush Rugby Football Union.

The two river catchments have very different natures. While the open Manawatu Plains became more densely settled by Europeans, inland Ruapehu, Rangitikei and Wanganui remained more Māori-dominated, remote and independent, and is still heavily forested. As late as the 1950s the Whanganui River remained a river of mystery. Since then exploitation of the river's commercial potential has opened up the area, often causing friction with local Māori, who have long-standing grievances. The Manawatu-Wanganui Region as a whole is one of the most important pastoral areas in New Zealand, its status recognised when the government opened the Massey Agricultural College in the 1920s.

Much of the Manawatu-Wanganui Region was fertile and bush-covered when Europeans arrived and developed the area as a source of timber. Saw milling and flax milling dominated the 19th century, followed by an influx of sheep farmers who exploited the newly-cleared ground. Deforestation, burn-offs of timber and scrub and large scale drainage combined with overgrazing, resulted in considerable environmental degradation. In the early 1900s authorities realised that careful management was needed to maintain this important agricultural area.