WEKA PLACE KOTUKU PLACE There can be few cheekier birds in New Zealand than the inquisitive weka. This omnivorous bird, sometimes called the woodhen, will take possession of almost anything left unguarded, especially if bright and shiny. It is an aggressive little...
KERERU PLACE The kereru (also known as the kukupa in some parts of the country) is better known as the wood pigeon. This was once a very common bird and a much-loved delicacy of Maori and pakeha alike. Bird numbers were declining so much that restrictions were...
TAKAHE STREET TUI STREET The story of the discovery of the takahe, a close relative of the ubiquitous pukeko, is one of New Zealand’s conservation success stories. The bird, at one time relatively common in both main islands, was thought to be extinct for 50 years. A...
KIWI STREET HUIA STREET Kiwi Street is named after New Zealand’s national bird and the emblem New Zealanders have chosen to represent their country. The first Maori settlers named the ground dwelling bird after the cry of the male bird. A nocturnal bird, it is...
KAKA STREET One of the first of the “bird” streets was built very near to the original road into Masterton. A.G. Wallis, a local builder, created a subdivision leading from Worksop Road through to the Makoura Stream, close to the site of the old Worksop...
The Masterton passion for thematic naming showed up in the decision to name the block of streets created in the land between Memorial Park, Worksop Road and Herbert Street after native birds. This has led naturally to calling the block of land ‘the Bird...
GRANT CRESCENT STUART CRESCENT Two streets have been named after famous Scottish families – Grant and Stuart Crescents. The Grants are a widespread family, although they seem to trace their ancestry back to a Norman invader as the name does not appear in...
CLYDE STREET Clyde Street is named after the river that flows through Glasgow and through the most important industrial area of Scotland. The Clyde rises in Strathclyde and flows down to the Firth of Clyde, a large estuary, where it is eventually 60 km wide. The...
CAMERON CRESCENT In 1886 George Woodroofe’s second daughter Robina married D.J. Cameron, the son of Donald Cameron, and stepson of Masterton mayor William Lowes. The Cameron family came to New Zealand from the Highlands on the ‘Blenheim’ in the...
COLOMBO ROAD The area to the east of Colombo Road between Johnstone Street and the Waipoua River formed part of the original holdings of the Masterton identity George Woodroofe. Woodroofe, who was a lapidarian in his native Ireland, was a successful cabinetmaker and...
QUEEN ALEXANDRA STREET KING EDWARD STREET Lansdowne’s two regal streets, Queen Alexandra and King Edward Streets were made during the early years of this century and commemorate the newly crowned King Edward VII and his wife, the Danish Princess Alexandra....
JORDAN TERRACE TERRACE END The street which followed the edge of the bank along the river was originally called The Terrace but, following the death of Mayor Thomas Jordan in 1945, the area was renamed Jordan Terrace in his honour. Terrace End is a small street...
OXFORD STREET The area lying between the bank and the Waipoua River, to the west of Opaki Road, was known to Mastertonians at the turn of the century as Adamsville, after William Adams, the first white person to have lived on the site of Masterton. Adams bought a...
COOPER STREET In three cases streets were named after local citizens. Cooper Street was formed in 1920, and named after the developer, Alexander Cooper, a Masterton stock agent and auctioneer. When the Cooper Street extension was added in the late 1960s it was at...
ALLENBY STREET KIPPENBERGER STREET A further military street was added in 1969 when Allenby Street was built. Viscount Allenby served in both the South African War and in France during World War One but is best remembered for his deeds in defeating the Turkish armies...
WAVELL CRESCENT GORT PLACE Further subdivision in the area in the early 1960s resulted in the creation of two new streets, Wavell Crescent and Gort Place. Earl Wavell had been Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in the Middle East, and was later Supreme Commander...
GORDON STREET The last of the streets named after military leaders in 1904 was Gordon Street, named after one of Britain’s greatest generals, Charles Gordon. This Victorian hero is mainly remembered for his defence of Khartoum during a protracted siege which...
FRENCH STREET ROBERTS ROAD RAGLAN STREET The street running parallel to Kitchener Street, behind the old hospital in Totara Street, was named after another South African War general, General Roberts. Roberts was Commander-in-Chief of India 1885-93 and served as...
KITCHENER STREET One of the other categories decided upon for Lansdowne streets was “noted commanders” and the 1904 Masterton County Council meeting named a number of streets under that criterion. The street “running eastward from the...
TARATA GROVE A recent subdivision of the old Totara School site, a circular road entered from Rimu Street, has been named after the tree known to pakeha New Zealanders as the lemonwood, Pittosporum eugenioides, but known to Maori as tarata. A quick growing tree with...
RATA PLACE REWA PLACE It is arguable that the northern rata Metrosideros robusta is New Zealand’s most colourful tree. When the flowers appear at Christmas this near relative of the pohutukawa gives a spectacular display. Rata Place was named after it. The wood...
NIKAU HEIGHTSPURIRI CRESCENT There was some discussion in 1993 about the naming of the old stock route from Gordon Street up to the end of Manuka Street as Nikau Heights. Some members of the Masterton District Council thought that Selina Sutherland, driving force...
KONINI STREET MATIPO STREET Further subdivisions in the Lansdowne area have also picked up the tree theme. Konini Street is named after the berry of the kotukutuku, Fuchsia excorticata, the New Zealand tree fuchsia. The berry can be used to make a jam, and is a...
HINAU PLACE KOWHAI PLACE The theme of streets named after trees continued in 1957 when Hinau Place and Kowhai Place were named in the Walker subdivision. These are both small trees, the kowhai being well-known for its yellow flowers in spring, and the hinau for the...
KAURI GROVE Over the years, as different streets in the Lansdowne area have been constructed, tree names have been applied to them, although sometimes this has been a contentious issue. When a section on Titoki Street was subdivided in 1976 the developers proposed to...
MANUKA STREET TITOKI STREET The streets leading up Ouwaka, Lansdowne Hill, were also named at this time. The road described as leading from Lansdowne homestead to Mr Maunsell’s house (Eridge) was named Titoki Street while the road to the golf course was called...
TOTARA STREET MATAI STREET RIMU STREET The old Masterton Hospital was situated on the banks of the Opaki stream in Te Ore Ore Road, set well off the road and opposite its current position. The road to the west of the hospital was named Totara Street. The street...
FIRST STREETSECOND STREET THIRD STREET FOURTH STREET FIFTH STREET The road north was designated the Opaki Road, and the streets leading off it were “to be called respectively, First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Streets” in the American...
LANSDOWNE CRESCENT Although the name Lansdowne has both English and Irish connections it seems the house and farm were actually named after an Australian locality. Smith married Mary Wild, the daughter of an Australian settler whose estate was south of Sydney, near...
The shape of the borough of Masterton changed over the years, as substantial areas of land were shuffled between county and borough. Lansdowne, now a considerable urban area, did not join the borough until 1921 being until then part of the Masterton County. It was...
DANIELL STREET It was rather unusual that one family whose members have made a long term and significant contribution to Masterton should have had to wait until 1968 to have a street named after them. Charles and Emily Daniell arrived in New Zealand in 1880,...
COCKBURN STREET South of Kuripuni Street two brothers, Alexander and Robert Cockburn owned some 500 hectares of land, which they decided to subdivide in the 1880s. The land was swampy, so they dug a large drain that headed eastwards from South Road, a drain...
KUMMER CRESCENT The Kummer family is remembered in Kummer Crescent, which was formed from land owned by F.W.H. Kummer. Mr Kummer was a noted athlete in his younger days, representing Wairarapa at rugby, but also being well known as a shooter. In adult life he farmed...
CHAMBERLAIN ROADOAK STREET The Chamberlain family came to New Zealand in 1842, settling in Wellington and farming in Karori. They were among the first families to take up land in the Upper Plain area of Masterton where they farmed for many years. They also became...
MACARA STREET James Macara was the district’s most famous coach driver and operator. For a time he was in partnership with William Hastwell of Greytown, their stopping place in the bush north of Masterton being known as Hastwell’s Clearing. When the...
BRUCE STREET KING STREET In the north end of Queen Street there are two streets commemorating early settlers. The first of these, Bruce Street, is one of a number of streets that the Masterton Trust Lands Trust donated to the Masterton Borough Council. It is named...
KIBBLEWHITE ROAD Richard Kibblewhite was a farmer in the Upper Plain area, having brought his family to Masterton in 1855. He decided, in 1878, to sell up much of his land for subdivision, and produced a plan showing a number of streets in the area. The main road...
JOHNSTONE STREET The road now known as Johnstone Street was first recorded as the Makora Road, as it led to that area. The name came to be displaced and is now applied to another street. It was also sometimes known as Mangaakuta Road, Te Whiti Road and Homebush...
JONES PLACE Many of the first settlers in Masterton were Methodists, and the denomination was to have a profound effect on the shape of Masterton’s progress. A small street off Colombo Road is named after the man who was once called “the father of...
WRIGLEY STREET One of Masterton’s most successful early businessmen is remembered in Wrigley Street. James Wrigley was born in Yorkshire in 1825, and learnt the shoemaking trade from his uncle. He immigrated to New Zealand in 1852 and moved on to Masterton in...
BEETHAM STREET George Beetham was a member of the famous Wairarapa farming family whose business interests centred on Brancepeth Station. After the initial breaking in period at Brancepeth, George was not much involved with the day to day running of the farm. He was,...
Russell Street In the plan put forward to the meeting of 1878 the western end of the street now called Russell Street was to be known as Crown Street, but the section from Chapel to Queen Streets was changed to Russell Street, named after the architect-builder (and...
Despite the appropriateness of the name Bridge Street the new Masterton Borough Councillors obviously thought it did not have the dignity required for the main street of their burgeoning town. The name Princes Street was at first proposed, the name Queen Street being...
HOSKING PLACE ARCHER STREET Doctor William Hosking was the first surgeon at the Masterton Hospital when it opened in 1879. Born in Cornwall in 1843, Hosking trained in London before making his way to New Zealand in 1863. He worked as a doctor in Invercargill, but...
SMITH STREET It is difficult to determine just exactly whom one Masterton street – Smith Street – is named for. As might be expected from such a name, there are a number of different candidates. The favourite is John Valentine Smith. Smith was an educated...
CRAYNE STREET The name of Masterton’s first schoolmaster, and his nephew, are both recalled in streets at Kuripuni. Holmes Crayne was the first master at the school held in a multi-purpose building in Queen Street, a building which served as schoolhouse, church...
JEANS STREET ELIZABETH STREET HACKER STREET KEATON STREET Miss Emma Jeans and Mrs Elizabeth Hacker were sisters who lived in close proximity to each other in Church Street. They successfully subdivided much of their land, naming the streets in their subdivisions after...
BENNINGTON STREET Another settling family of 1855 is recalled in Bennington Street. This is a small street that runs from College Street to Masters Crescent, but the name was originally used for part of what is now Cornwall Street. The Benningtons came to Masterton in...
JUDDS ROAD The original Donald homestead, Manaia, was built on land that is now part of the Copthorne Solway Park complex. The Judd brothers, John and George, sons of the early Greytown settler John Judd purchased the property. They formed a road through their land,...
HARLEY STREET VIVIAN STREET The main street through the block was called Donald’s Road, after Donald Donald, W.H.’s son. The name was changed to Harley Street in 1947, to avoid confusion with another road with the same name at Westbush. Donald Donald was...
SOLWAY STREET WILLIAM DONALD DRIVE SOLWAY CRESCENT Before Masterton was settled it was part of the leaseholding of W.H. Donald, whose Manaia Station stretched as far north as the Waipoua River. The Donald family arrived in Wellington in 1842, where W.H. Donald’s...
CRICKET STREET PARK STREET Another of the smaller of Masterton’s streets was named at this time – Cricket Street. This earned its name from being the area of town where cricket was first played – in the 1860s, on land behind the Wairarapa Archive....
LINCOLN ROAD What we now call Lincoln Road once had two different names. The western portion of the street was named after the American President Abraham Lincoln, but the eastern end was named Hall Street after the Town Hall. Masterton’s first Town Hall was...
SOUTH ROAD HIGH STREET The original road into Masterton from the south was along the line that the surveyor John Hughes cut, through the Three Mile Bush and, literally, through the Waingawa River near the current site of the electricity sub-station on Cornwall Road....
CHURCH STREET Church Street was named in recognition of the Church of England’s St Matthew’s Church, which at that time stood on the south-eastern corner of Queen and Church Streets. CHAPEL STREET Chapel Street was named after the Methodist and...
RENALL STREET COLOMBO ROAD Alfred Renall wanted a street to be named after him. Alfred Renall wanted a street to be named after him. The 1878 street naming meeting changed the use of the name of Columba Road. This name, which commemorates the Scottish Saint Columba,...
RUSSELL STREET In the plan put forward to the meeting of 1878 the western end of the street now called Russell Street was to be known as Crown Street, but the section from Chapel to Queen Streets was changed to Russell Street, named after the architect-builder (and...
QUEEN STREET Despite the appropriateness of the name Bridge Street the new Masterton Borough Councillors obviously thought it did not have the dignity required for the main street of their burgeoning town. The name Princes Street was at first proposed, the name Queen...
BRIDGE STREET First known simply as Main Street, the road running from Kuripuni to the Waipoua River came to be called Bridge Street, as a reflection of the number of bridges spanning creeks and depressions in the road. Cabman “Captain” Ned Jones later...
THE FIRST OFFICAL NAMINGS The few roads and streets constructed in the early period were generally not well made. Richard Brown, Masterton’s Town Clerk for many years, remembered the state of the roads on his arrival in 1874. “The roads, formed by digging...
MASTERTON’S FIRST STREETS The first party of Masterton’s Small Farms Association settlers made their way up the Wairarapa valley in May 1854, arriving at the site of the township on the evening of the 21st. The township had been laid out by the surveyor W. Mein Smith,...
CHOOSING NEW NAMES Many Wairarapa placenames recall ancestral homelands. Maori and European alike named places because of similarities to familiar landmarks left behind. In Wairarapa there are a number of hills and mountains called Hikurangi, recalling the famous...
MICHAEL STREET Michael Dixon was born in Coventry, England, and spent his youth working in the ribbon-making trade. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1841, with his wife Sarah and their daughter Emma. He worked for a time as warder in the Wellington Gaol before starting...
BANNISTER STREET BANNISTER COURT Henry Bannister was born in Sedgley, a small town in Staffordshire, England. He was married in England, but his wife died within a year and Bannister decided to migrate to the colonies, going first to Australia. Bannister eventually...
IORNS STREET Richard Iorns, who married Joseph and Sarah Masters’ daughter Sarah, is recalled in the two Iorns Streets, North and South, which are divided by a small paddock. These streets run through Richard Iorns’ original Small Farm block. Iorns, who...
COLE STREET The last member of the first settlement party, John Cole, who built one of the first houses in Masterton, in Queen Street near the Regent Theatre, also has a street named after him. Cole died of blood poisoning following an accident and his brother Henry...
MIRIAM STREET Miriam Street was developed by Thomas Wrigley in 1886. His first suggested name, Charter Street, was declined by the Council, and Wrigley then named the street after his daughter. Wrigley was a prominent amateur entertainer and lived in the US for some...
HESSEY STREET KIRTON STREET HERBERT STREET Charles Dixon died in 1876, and his widow Mary died in 1878. Their children split up the Worksop Farm during the 1880s, naming the streets in the area. Hessey Street was named after relatives, Mary Dixon’s sister having...
Dixon Street Worksop Road There was another Dixon family in early Masterton – Charles and Mary and their children, were destined to play a large part in both the naming of Masterton’s streets, and in the future of the town. Charles Dixon was born in Worksop,...
Street Stories – Early settler names Many of Masterton’s streets are named after the first European families in the area – their personal names, their surnames and the names of their farms. This process started almost with the arrival of the very...
ALTON GROVE Alton Grove is said to have earned its name in a rather quixotic manner. Pix Hurrell is reputed to have had a strong influence over street names during his time as Borough Engineer when he and planning officer Terry Flynn would toss names around,...
UPPER PLAIN ROAD Some streets end up having a multiplicity of names. At various times their informal names change, and developers try to force more ‘up-market’ names onto perfectly serviceable common names. Upper Plain Road is one such street. The name is...
In the late 1960s it became obvious that Masterton needed extra land, and the most logical direction to expand was westward. The proximity to the industrial areas near the railway line seemed to make the land on the western side of Ngaumutawa Road, leading through to...
Many of the King or Queen’s representatives in New Zealand, the Governors and Governors-General, are also commemorated, mainly in a block of streets between High Street and York Street, and between York Street and Hillcrest Street. GREY STREET The oldest street...
Like many towns in New Zealand, Masterton has long shown an enthusiasm for naming streets after members of the British royalty; indeed, when the first official names were given to streets in Masterton the main highway through the centre of the town was named Queen...
Many towns have established a tradition of naming streets after their mayors, and Masterton is no exception – there are 17 streets in Masterton that commemorate various mayors. The pattern is not, however, consistent, as several of the town’s mayors do not...
For a town with a significant Maori population there are surprisingly few Maori names used for streets in Masterton. There are a few descriptive names but no streets named after Maori people. The one street that, at first, appears to be named after a Maori person is...
When migrants arrive in a new country they generally bring a number of things with them including clothing and food, and the skills they learned in their homeland. They also bring something less obvious – they bring their place names with them. Hills and...
It is not altogether surprising that some land developers take advantage of the opportunity to immortalise themselves and name streets after themselves. Perhaps a little more unusual is the way some have chosen to commemorate their middle names. EDITH STREET...
The Masterton passion for thematic naming showed up in the decision to name the block of streets created in the land between Memorial Park, Worksop Road and Herbert Street after native birds. This has led naturally to calling the block of land ‘the Bird Reserve,’ a...
The area to the east of Colombo Road between Johnstone Street and the Waipoua River formed part of the original holdings of the Masterton identity George Woodroofe. Woodroofe, who was a lapidarian in his native Ireland, was a successful cabinetmaker and farmer in his...
KITCHENER STREET One of the other categories decided upon for Lansdowne streets was “noted commanders” and the 1904 Masterton County Council meeting named a number of streets under that criterion. The street “running eastward from the Lansdowne homestead” was...
The shape of the borough of Masterton changed over the years, as substantial areas of land were shuffled between county and borough. Lansdowne, now a considerable urban area, did not join the borough until 1921 being until then part of the Masterton County. It...
BEETHAM STREET George Beetham was a member of the famous Wairarapa farming family whose business interests centred on Brancepeth Station. After the initial breaking in period at Brancepeth, George was not much involved with the day to day running of the...
SOLWAY STREET WILLIAM DONALD DRIVE SOLWAY CRESCENT Before Masterton was settled it was part of the leaseholding of W.H. Donald, whose Manaia Station stretched as far north as the Waipoua River. The Donald family arrived in Wellington in 1842, where W.H....
Many of Masterton’s streets are named after the first European families in the area – their personal names, their surnames and the names of their farms. This process started almost with the arrival of the very first settlers. The first members of the Small...
WHY WE NAME THINGS The naming process is very important to us – it is a way we claim ownership and recognise the specialness of places and things we hold dear. When we name an object we claim proprietorial rights over it. As social animals, we often celebrate our...
