Dannevirke

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Dannevirke
Tāmaki-nui-a-Rua (Māori)
Dannevirke is located in North Island
Dannevirke
Dannevirke
Location in North Island, New Zealand
Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Country New Zealand
Region Manawatu-Wanganui
Territorial authority Tararua District
Population (June 2015 estimate)[1]
 • Total 5,240
Postcode(s) 4930

Dannevirke (Danish: "Danish creation" or "Danes' work" and a reference to Danevirke), is a rural service town in the Manawatu-Wanganui Region of the North Island, New Zealand. It is the major town of the administrative Tararua District, the easternmost of the districts in which the Regional Council has responsibilities. The surrounding area has developed into dairy, beef cattle and sheep farming, which now provides the major income for the town's population of 6,000.

History

Before European settlers arrived in the 1870s, the line of descent for Maori in the area was from the Takitimu / Kurahaupo waka. The tribe of the area is the Ngati Kahungunu / Rangitane, with geographic distinction to Te Rangiwhakaewa in the immediate Dannevirke region. The first known 'Aotea' meeting house was established approximately 15 generations ago (from 2010) followed by the building of a marae at Makirikiri near Dannevirke at about the same time as the first Nordic settlers arrived from Napier and Hawkes Bay.

The town was founded on 15 October 1872 by Danish, Norwegian and Swedish settlers, adherents of Scandinavism, who arrived at the port of Napier and moved inland. The settlers, who arrived under the Public Works Act, built their initial settlement in a clearing of the Seventy Mile Bush.[2]

The Dannevirke after which the town was named is an extensive Viking age fortification line in Denmark which had a strong emotive symbolic role for 19th-century Danes, especially after the site had fallen into German hands in the German-Danish War of 1864 - a recent and very painful event for these settlers.

The settlement quickly earned the nickname of "sleeper town", as the town's purpose was to provide totara sleepers for the Napier - Wellington railway line. At one stage the area had 50 operating sawmills. After the native bush was cleared, the land was turned into pasture for grazing animals.

Totara College hosts the Dannevirke Garden and Craft Expo, an annual event that has grown to a considerable size.

The Australian politician and former Premier of Queensland Joh Bjelke-Petersen was born in Dannevirke

Sport

Dannevirke has produced a number of sports men and women in a number of different disciplines, among them rugby player John Timu, who made New Zealand teams in both union and league. Ewen Chatfield, who was an important member of the successful New Zealand cricket team of the 1980s Hadlee-Coney-Crowe era, is from Dannevirke, as is former All Black Duncan Hales, who now resides in the United States.

Other Dannevirke All Blacks were Colin Loader (1950s), Blair Furlong (1970 to South Africa), Lui Paewai who is widely acknowledged as the youngest All Black in history at just 17 years old (1924 Invincibles) and whose brother, nephews and grand-nephews(Doc, Hepa, Nathan and Murdoch respectively) went on to have good careers for Hawkes Bay and the New Zealand Maori side, and Roy White (post-war All Black in 1947-48.) Other All Blacks who spent time in Dannevirke included 1981 All Black tourist to Romania and France Wayne Neville, who attended Dannevirke High School, and John Ashworth, who moved from Canterbury to a farm near Dannevirke late in his career.

The Dannevirke Sports Club and Aotea Sports Club are the major outlets for sport in the town with netball, cricket and soccer teams as well as a rugby team that compete in the Premier Manawatu Senior Competition and the Hawke's Bay 1st Division.

Climate

Dannevirke has an Oceanic climate, (Köppen:Cfb).[3] Despite its high altitude the summer temperatures are often cooler compared to other Eastern North Island towns, such as Masterton, Napier and Gisborne, while in winter Dannevirke can regularly experiences frosts like other parts of New Zealand. Snow is rare, the latest snow to hit Dannevirke was 15 August 2011 [4]

Climate data for Dannevirke, New Zealand
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 22.3
(72.1)
22.6
(72.7)
20.9
(69.6)
17.7
(63.9)
14.3
(57.7)
11.9
(53.4)
11.3
(52.3)
12.3
(54.1)
14.2
(57.6)
16.5
(61.7)
18.5
(65.3)
20.6
(69.1)
16.9
(62.4)
Daily mean °C (°F) 17.3
(63.1)
17.2
(63)
15.8
(60.4)
13.0
(55.4)
10.2
(50.4)
8.0
(46.4)
7.5
(45.5)
8.3
(46.9)
10.1
(50.2)
12.1
(53.8)
13.8
(56.8)
15.8
(60.4)
12.4
(54.3)
Average low °C (°F) 12.2
(54)
11.9
(53.4)
10.8
(51.4)
8.3
(46.9)
6.0
(42.8)
4.1
(39.4)
3.6
(38.5)
4.3
(39.7)
6.1
(43)
7.6
(45.7)
9.1
(48.4)
11.0
(51.8)
7.9
(46.2)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 69.5
(2.736)
63.7
(2.508)
90.4
(3.559)
82.9
(3.264)
91.6
(3.606)
96.9
(3.815)
115.5
(4.547)
94.8
(3.732)
90.1
(3.547)
85.3
(3.358)
74.1
(2.917)
102.6
(4.039)
1,057.1
(41.618)
Source: climate-charts.com[5]

Notable residents

References

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  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. Zealand/Dannevirke, New Zealand
  4. [1]
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External links