Story: Wairarapa region

Clearing the Bush

Eketāhuna was founded in 1872 by Scandinavian settlers at the southern end of the Forty Mile Bush. Settlers laboured to clear the bush and lay out the town, which in this photo is still surrounded by dense forest.

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How to cite this page

Ben Schrader, Wairarapa region – Plants and animals, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/12070/clearing-the-bush (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by Ben Schrader, published 2 March 2009, updated 1 March 2017.

Comments

owen wallbutton
24 March 2023

I am trying to find where Hutt SS OR 55 Block refers to. My Grandmother was born at such a location. I believe that her father was clearing bush in the Wairarapa around 1893. My Grandmothers older sister was named May Waiwera and she would have been born possibility in the same area. My reasoning is that her second name was a location west of Hukanui. Unfortunately she has no birth certificate, but her death certificate has her birth place as Waiwera. Kind regards Owen