What is Masterton?

Masterton is a town (and local government district) in the Wellington region of New Zealand. It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a geographical region that is separated from metropolitan Wellington by the Rimutaka ranges. It is 100 kilometres north-east of Wellington, 28 kilometres south of Eketahuna, and stands on the Ruamahanga River.

Masterton is a thriving community with a 2001 population of 22,617^[1]. It therefore did not quite qualify to be a city by 1989 when the minimum population requirement for that status was lifted from 20,000 to 50,000. A commuter rail link allows many residents easy access to work in the cities of Wellington, Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt.

Named after pioneer Joseph Masters, it was first settled by Europeans on 21 May 1854. It gained borough status in 1877, and the Masterton District is now part of the Greater Wellington Regional Council.

Local industries involve service industries for the surrounding farming community. The town is the headquarters of the annual Golden Shears sheep-shearing competition.

Education

Following the reform of schools in 2004, the Masterton district contains has 12 primary schools (Douglas Park, Fernridge, Hadlow, Lakeview, Mauriceville, Masterton Primary, Opaki, Solway, St Patricks, Tinui, Wainuiouru, Whareama), one intermediate school (Masterton Intermediate), and 6 secondary schools (Chanel, Makoura, Rathkeale, Solway, St Matthews, Wairarapa).

Masterton has its own polytechnic, run by UCOL.

Communications

Telephone

Masterton's telephone exchange opened 1897 with 53 subscribers. In 1919, Masterton was the first town in New Zealand to have a completely automatic telephone exchange.

Before the 1991 to 1993 changes, the area code for Masterton was 059. Today, the area code is 06, and numbers begin with 370, 372, 377, 378, 379, and 946.

Internet

There are currently two Wireless Internet Service in Masterton Providers based in Masterton, providing high speed broadband access to the towns and rural areas of the Wairarapa. WISE Net (purchased by Orcon Internet Limited in 2006, and in January 2007 Canning & Associates purchased Orcon WiseNet Wireless Network) and Canning & Associates. ADSL access is also widely available.

Transport

Although Masterton and the Wairarapa valley are reasonably close to Wellington, they are separated by the Rimutaka Ranges with a winding road and the Rimutaka railway tunnel. It is linked to Wellington and the Hutt Valley by the Wairarapa Connection, a regular passenger rail service, primarily operating at peak times.

There has been conjectural talk of constructing a road tunnel through the ranges for decades, but this has been ruled out due to the extremely high cost. According to the latest transportation plan from the Greater Wellington Regional Council^[2], the only work planned is for upgrades to the existing Rimutaka Hill road and the addition of passing lanes between Featherston and Masterton.

The Hood Aerodrome, Masterton is south of Masterton.

Sister cities

Masterton enjoys Sister City relationships with Hatsukaichi City, Japan, Changchun, China and Armidale, Australia.

External links

• Masterton District Council
• Masterton Community Website
• WISE Net
• Orcon Internet
• Canning & Associates
• Hood Aerodrome

References

1. ^  2001 Census of Population and Dwellings: Final Counts, Wellington Region. Retrieved on September 5, 2005.
2. ^  Greater Wellington Regional Council Wairarapa Corridor Plan, December 2003. Retrieved on September 5, 2005.

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