The discovery and settlement of the Wairarapa region is connected with several prominent figures of New Zealand’s history. Ancestral figures such as Hau-nui-a-nanaia, Kupe, Whatonga, Tara Ika and Toi have all been said to have connections with the region and are responsible for the naming of many of the Wairarapa’s features and places. It has been estimated that Rangitane settled in the region by about the sixteenth century. Marriage links with Rangitane saw a group of Ngati Kahungunu retreat to the Wairarapa in the subsequent century as the result of internal hapu conflicts. The groups cohabitated mostly in the south Wairarapa for a period, but then the Ngati Kahungunu newcomers negotiated several sections of land for themselves. This process was not seamless and instances of conflict continued between the two iwi over the centuries. The next significant period of change in the area was in the early nineteenth century with the progression of Te Rauparaha and others. This ushered in an era when many different iwi, including Ngati Whatua, Ngati Awa, Ngati Toa, Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Tama, and Ngati Mutunga, made advances into the region and some Ngati Kahungunu hapu withdrew.
Several decades later European incursion into the Wairarapa began after the New Zealand Company’s Port Nicholson settlement was established. Based on the reports of the company’s exploring and surveying parties the southern Wairarapa became one of the first extensive tracts of land to be occupied by Europeans, although the Crown titles, negotiated by Donald McLean, were not obtained until 1853. However, it took substantially longer for settlement to progress beyond Masterton, which was linked to Wellington by road in 1859. Further incursion was slow because the northern Wairarapa was heavily forested. In particular, the forest north of Mount Bruce was dense with rimu, tawa, matai, maire, kahikatea, and rata, and was known as Forty Mile Bush, which was within the larger Seventy Mile Bush that also encompassed the area as far north as Dannevirke and Norsewood. Maori referred to this forest as Te Tapere Nui o Whatonga (The great forest of Whatonga) and an abundance of birdlife resided there amongst giant ancient trees, some of which were large enough for groups of local Maori to shelter within their trunks.
The forest acted as a significant barrier and therefore, while there was some European settlement in the northern Wairarapa before the late nineteenth century, it was not until roads were extended further and the railway link to Wellington established that the area was opened up for substantive settlement. In preparation for the construction of railway the government had an active role in the foundation of several places in the region. Towns such as Mauriceville, Eketahuna, Norsewood, and Dannevirke were all initially formed as bases for the labourers. Part of the preparation for railway construction included clearing the forest and building a road through the district which had progressed by the mid to late 1870s.
This increased, albeit rudimentary, access meant that land sales in the Pahiatua area earnestly began in the early 1880s. An initially slow sales market was boosted greatly by purchases made on behalf of Arthur James Balfour (1848-1930), who later went onto become British Prime Minister and Earl Balfour. In this way, when Pahiatua township was eventually established in 1881 it differed from most of the other settlements in the area because it was not created by the Crown; instead it resulted from private subdivisions of land. The site of Pahiatua had previously been a Maori village called Te Pohatu. It is thought that Pahiatua’s founder, Masterton nurseryman William Wilson McCardle (1844-1921), named the township after his friend and local Maori Chief, Koneke Pahiatua. Pahiatua, which means resting place, or camp, of the atua refers to a seventeenth century event when an atua rescued a Rangitane chief from invading forces to the south.
Once the private subdivisions were made, Pahiatua quickly emerged as a frontrunner to become the main service centre of the area, which attracted further settlement and businesses to the town. By the mid 1880s local tenacity meant that the burgeoning town of about 500 people had shops, a hotel, and a Road Board, but had been by-passed by the railway despite Main Street having been specifically made unusually wide to compensate for the potential railway line down its centre. The fact that Main Street was prone to flooding was a valid reason for the government engineer to recommend the railway tracks be laid west of the town, but Pahiatua people saw this as a deliberate snub.
Because it was a privately created town Pahiatua was slow to accrue many of the public facilities that were established comparatively early in other towns. However, the rapid growth of the town and wider area led to the creation of the Pahiatua County Council in 1888 and the Pahiatua Borough in 1892. Most of the early activity of the County Council seems to have been focused on petitioning the government to create public institutions in Pahiatua. Although a state school had already been opened by the time the council came into effect, it took years of pressure for other institutions to be granted to Pahiatua. For example it was not until 1894 that the town received its first permanent police officer.
This seems to have been an auspicious year for Pahiatua because it was also in 1894 that the town was granted its first purpose-built Post Office. Prior to this the post office had operated out of local shops, and then was based at the railway station several kilometres from the town centre. In 1908 Pahiatua was described as a ‘rising town.’ It was probably in recognition of this growth that the existing late nineteenth century post office building was substantially extended in 1905, before being completely replaced with a new timber one constructed in 1908 on the corner of Main and King Streets. However, within 20 years it was recognised that this building was insufficient for a town the size of Pahiatua, and as such a large site in central Main Street was purchased in 1926. However, the tenders to erect a new Post Office were not called for until late 1935.
Pahiatua’s new post office was designed by John Thomas Mair (1876-1959) in his role as Government Architect, and construction began in 1935. Indeed, Post Office (Former) is typical of his public buildings during the 1930s in that it is a Stripped Classical building with some Art Deco decorative features. Opened on 14 May 1937 by the Postmaster General, Hon. Frederick Jones (1884-1966), the new Post Office cost the reasonably substantial sum of £7,000.
Like many post offices of its size around New Zealand, the Post Office was not only a place to post and collect mail. Throughout much of the twentieth century the Post Office Department was responsible for post and telecommunications, as well as providing banking and funds transfer facilities. This meant that post office buildings were busy places, often teeming with people undertaking their everyday business. As well as the various communications and money services which were based in Post Office (Former), there was also a toll exchange in the building. The staff in the exchange connected telephone calls to other exchanges around the country and administered the relevant charges for the toll calls. However, their role often extended beyond formal duties, for example the ‘toll girls’ were also a good unofficial source of local and national news. One toll exchange employee from the 1930s remembered summer being a particularly busy time at the exchange, with people calling in order to get updates on the various cricket matches happening nationally. The exchange was also vital as a key means of organising emergency services, as well as spreading information about floods and other hazards.
A few decades after Post Office (Former) was built the remainder of the section was taken up by a large telephone exchange constructed at the rear of the site in 1957. This was a separate building but was close enough to the Post Office for the two to be linked by a passageway. The automatic exchange equipment installed in the new building was described as the most modern in the country, but the toll exchange continued to operate out of the Post Office. After 1960 the toll room was extended, nearly doubling its original size.
In 1987 the Post Office Department was broken up into New Zealand Post Limited, Postbank Limited, and Telecom Corporation Limited. Given that the larger part of the buildings at the Post Office site were occupied by telecommunications operations it was Telecom that took ownership of the property, at which time the post office moved out of its 1937 building and the toll exchange also ceased soon after. In 1989 it seems that Telecom desired to convert the former post office area into offices with a new large central entranceway created by removing most of the pilasters and other details from the centre of the front façade. Earlier in 1985 the Post Office Department had similarly proposed eliminating the front windows and Art Deco decorative panels, replacing them with full length glazing sheltered by a diagonal glass verandah. The New Zealand Historic Places Trust was not in favour of the proposal as it stood and the Post Office Department agreed to reassess the matter, however no further action was taken. In 1996 the former Post Office was sold into private ownership, but the Telephone Exchange was retained by Telecom. Recently the toll exchange has been converted into a residence while the main section of the building is currently unoccupied.
