Matamata

Sign in Matamata identifying town as the location where the Hobbiton scenes from the Lord of the Rings were filmed

Livestock in Matamata

Matamata, comprising the statistical areas of Matamata North and Matamata South, had a population of 7,806 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 720 people (10.2%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 1,509 people (24.0%) since the 2006 census. There were 3,111 households. There were 3,717 males and 4,089 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.91 males per female, with 1,374 people (17.6%) aged under 15 years, 1,314 (16.8%) aged 15 to 29, 2,934 (37.6%) aged 30 to 64, and 2,187 (28.0%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 84.5% European/Pākehā, 15.7% Māori, 1.7% Pacific peoples, 5.9% Asian, and 1.4% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities).

The proportion of people born overseas was 16.6%, compared with 27.1% nationally.

Although some people objected to giving their religion, 49.2% had no religion, 37.2% were Christian, 1.0% were Hindu, 0.2% were Muslim, 0.7% were Buddhist and 3.0% had other religions.

Of those at least 15 years old, 678 (10.5%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 1,848 (28.7%) people had no formal qualifications. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 2,763 (43.0%) people were employed full-time, 849 (13.2%) were part-time, and 198 (3.1%) were unemployed.[3]

In the early nineteenth century, the area including and surrounding the present-day Matamata township was part of the territory of the Ngāti Hinerangi iwi and Ngāti Hauā. The Matamata pā itself was actually located near the present-day settlement of Waharoa, approximately 6 kilometres (4 miles) to the north.

The first European thought to have visited the Matamata area was the trader Phillip Tapsell in about 1830.[4] In 1833 the Reverend Alfred Nesbit Brown visited the area and in 1835 opened a mission near Matamata Pa, but this closed the following year when intertribal warfare broke out.[4] In 1865 Josiah Firth negotiated with Ngāti Hauā leader Wiremu Tamihana and leased a large area of land, including the future site of the town which he named after the pā.[4] Firth constructed a dray road to Cambridge and cleared the Waihou River so that it was navigable by his (small) boats.[4]

Peria, on the outskirts of Matamata, was the scene of the Kīngitanga meeting of 1863.[5][6]

Firth's estate later failed and by 1904 had been wholly obtained by the Crown and was subdivided into dairy farm units[7] to take advantage of the new technology of refrigeration.[8] It became a dependent Town District in 1917, an independent Town District in 1919 and was constituted a borough in 1935.[4] With the re-organisation of territorial authorities in New Zealand in 1989, Matamata became part of the Matamata-Piako District.

Railway station

Plantations of oak, larch, chestnut and ash were established near other railway stations but Matamata’s is the sole survivor[9] and is registered in Council’s District Plan for Hetana St[10]

Matamata was a station on the Kinleith Branch, from 8 March 1886,[11] initially 40 minutes north of the temporary terminus at Oxford and about an hour from Morrinsville.[12] It was 6.03 km (3.75 mi) south of Waharoa, 7.91 km (4.92 mi) north of Hinuera[13] and for a while seems to have become a flag station,[14][15] though it did have a goods shed.[16] It had two members of staff from 1913[17] and by 1950 8,868 tickets were sold at Matamata and it transported 42,322 sheep and pigs.[18] It closed to passengers on 12 November 1968,[11] but reopened to serve the Geyserland Express[19] from 9 December 1991 until 7 October 2001.

The station building was replaced in the 1960s[9] and has been the Railside by the Green community centre since 2002,[20] though it is fenced off from the platform.[21] Occasional excursions still use the platform.[22][23]

Matamata is the home of various media outlets, including studios for tvCentral, TV Rotorua and iTV Live, which is unusual for a town of such size.

• Matamata Chronicle
• Scene

Matamata is home to the Matamata Swifts soccer team, who compete in the Lotto Sport Italia NRFL Division 1A.

Matamata College is the town's co-educational state secondary school,[24][25] with a roll of 740 as of March 2020.[26]

Matamata Intermediate is the town's co-educational state intermediate school,[27][28] with a roll of 397.[29]

There are two co-educational state primary schools: Matamata Primary School,[30][31] with a roll of 415;[32] and Firth School,[33] with a roll of 193.[34] The motto for Firth School is E Tipu E Rea, which translates as Grow and Flourish.[35]

Matamata Christian School is a co-educational state integrated Christian primary school,[36][37] with a roll of 81.[38]

St Joseph's Catholic School is a co-educational state integrated Catholic school,[39] with a roll of 35.[40]

• 
  Aerial view of Matamata College in the 1940s
• 
  Front of Matamata College in the 1950s
• 
  Matamata Public School from around 1909.
• 
  Matamata Public School around 1919.

• Shane Dye
• Casey Kopua
• Lance O'Sullivan
• Tim Mikkelson
• Hon Mike Rann CNZM
• Dame Patsy Reddy
• Dame Catherine Tizard
• Matthew Stanley
• Claudia Pond Eyley
• Kyle Wealleans

Smaller towns nearby are:

• Hinuera
• Peria
• Turanga-O-Moana
• Te Poi
• Waharoa
• Walton, New Zealand
• Wardville, New Zealand

• List of towns in New Zealand
• List of reduplicated place names