History
 

Paekakariki about 1911 with island platform built by NZR

 Chronological History of Paekakariki / Paraparaumu Area and the Railway


1788 - 1800 - Whalers on the scene
1814 - Samual Marsden brings Gospel to NZ
1817 - Tamati Waka Nene Patuone, Te Rauparaha visit the area
1819 - Te Rauparaha commences his migration with Ngati Toa
1820's - Whalers like Bush, Rutherford, Burns, Evans, Lewis, Mayhew,
Bolton, Nicol on the scene
While Te Rauparaha commences inhabiting Otaki - Kapiti
1824 - 1826 - Whalers trade with Te Rauparaha
1826 - Te Pehi gets to England
1827 - John Guard and Dicky Barrett, whaling
1828 - Te Rauparaha raids Middle South Island
1832 - McDonald, ex whaler at Otaki
1834 - Burns settles at Otaki
1839 - The "Tory" arrives and so do Henry Williams, Octavius Hadfield
and E.J. Wakefield.
1840 - First accommodation House Built.
1843 - The Church ( Rangiatua ) is built at Kenakena ( Paraparaumu Beach North )
1844 - Jenkins has an accommodation house
1845 - Whalers and wives settle at Otaki
1848 - Wilson at Arapawaiti - Ferry Hotel.
The road from Wellington to Porirua is finished.
1849 - The Church - Rangiatea - is constructed at Otaki
Te Rauparaha died.
Hadfield settled in Otaki.
The road on East side of Porirua Harbour is finished and extended to Paekakariki over the hill.
1850 - The Godleys travelled by dog-cart from Wellington to Otaki.
McDonalds farms in bigger way at Otaki
1854 - Hadfield's church at Kenakena in a state of disrepair.
1858 - Cobb & Co establish a coach link between Wellington & Wanganui.
1869 - First Post Office opened.
Between 1850 and 1870 the economy of the country slumped, the Maori Wars erupted and there was ferment throughout the land.
1884 - First Railway Station, house and signal box constructed.
1886 - Wellington Manawatu Railway Completed.
1886 - First School opened.
1896 - WMR Locomotive No. 13 derailed at tunnel No. 13.
1909 - NZR Took control of WMR Company.
1910 - Present Station Opened and marshalling yards developed.
1910 - Refreshment rooms opened - Private lease
1922 - Public Water Supply opened.
1927 - NZR took full control of Refreshment Rooms.
1940 - Electrification Wellington to Paekakariki.
1942 - First stage of Rail/Air shed erected.
1949 - First Electric unit service commenced.
1968 - Refreshment Rooms closed.
1971 - Steam Incorporated established.
1992 - Public section of station building closed.
1993 - Paekakariki Station Precinct Trust Established.
1995 - Paekakariki Station Museum opened.
   
 
PAEKAKARIKI IN THE EARLY DAYS  
During the early days of Paekakariki, one of the first Europeans associated with Paekakariki was a whaler and trader named "Scotch Jack" Nicol, who roamed about cook strait and the east coast.  Well known to local Maoris, he married a Maori of high birth, Te Rau-o-Te-Rangi (known as "betty").  Betty achieved fame by swimming from Kapiti Island to the mainland near Waikanae with her child strapped to her back to warn of an impending Maori attack.  One of the couple's daughters later became the mother of Sir Maui Pomare.

In the days before the European settlement there was a Maori Pa, although not a very big one, at Paekakariki.  Te Rauparaha was badly worsted at Paekakariki about 1823 by local Wellington tribes after crossing to the mainland from his Kapiti Island re-treat and was subsequently forced to fee to the north.

From that date on little is known about Paekakariki.  Not far away from Paekakariki, however, in the Horokiwi  Valley which leads up to the Paekakariki hill road there was fighting against the formidable Te Rangihaeata.  The Paekakariki hill road was constructed in 1848 by soldiers of the 58th regiment.

The old quarry built to supply the Wellington Manawatu Railway Company with ballast - opposite the engine shed.

In the 1840's Nicol and his wife set up and accommodation house at Paekakariki which gained high reputation for its hospitality and cleanliness.

The 1896 "Cyclopedia of NZ records that the Paekakariki accommodation house and the hotel had been burned down three times up to 1883".  The one then built, then built in the early days of the Wellington Manawatu Railway Company, According to an old newspaper report, stood beside the railway line opposite where the signal box recently stood and was so conveniently situated that the passengers could step off the train and into the bar.  The present hotel which has been altered several times, was built on its present site, further to the south, following yet another fire, in the early 1900's.

Paekakariki Railway staff around 1913.

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