Tawa, New Zealand

Tawa Flat was first settled by Pākehā in the mid-19th century under the direction of Edward Gibbon Wakefield of the New Zealand Company. It was divided into 100-acre blocks, providing some of the 100-acre "in the country" blocks that accompanied the one-acre "in town" (i.e., central Wellington) blocks, similar to other New Zealand Company settlements. Much of the eastern side of the Tawa valley came to be owned by a single family until the demand for housing land overtook the benefits of farming the land. In 1951, a Town District was established covering Tawa and Linden. Within two years this had become Tawa Flat Borough.

The development of Tawa, like many population centres, has been strongly tied with the development of transportation networks. Tawa was on the Old Porirua Road, developed from a Māori track to a road in the 1840s.

A single track railway line built by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company connected Tawa to Wellington from September 1885, and to Palmerston North from November 1886. It followed a circuitous route from Wellington via the Ngaio Gorge and Johnsonville. This line was incorporated into the New Zealand Railways Department network in December 1908. Tawa's first railway station, Tawa Flat station, opened on 24 September 1885 on what is now Duncan Street on the straight section of road about 180 metres north of the intersection of Duncan Street with the junction of Tawa Street and Tawa Terrace.

From June 1937, the double-tracked Tawa Flat deviation diverted the North Island Main Trunk railway from Thorndon through Kaiwharawhara and two significant new tunnels to the Tawa valley to provide a shorter faster rail route with easier grades and higher speed curves. The old and new routes diverged in Thorndon and merged again north of the present day Tawa Railway Station near the front entrance to Tawa College. Part of the old rail route through Tawa, from Tawa Street to Tawa College, became the southern part of Duncan Street and the old railway alignment from Tawa Street to Takapu Road remained as a pleasant walking track.

The new deviation provided two new railway stations that opened on 20 June 1937, one at Takapu Road and a new Tawa Flat Railway Station on an island platform built on the flat, below and 400 metres north of the old railway station. A crossing loop was provided at Tawa Flat with crossovers north and south of the station that allowed trains to terminate at Tawa Flat and return to Wellington or Porirua. A siding was provided to support local businesses. The new Tawa Flat station was equipped with an enclosed waiting room, toilets for men and women, and a stationmaster's office with a ticket sale window opening to the waiting room. A miniature lever frame allowed signals to be locally controlled. Trains between Kaiwharawhara and Tawa ran on double line automatic signalling and the tablet system remained in use on the single line section from Tawa to Porirua.

With the completion of the deviation, the Johnsonville line from Wellington to Johnsonville was electrified and reopened as the Johnsonville Branch. The railway connection between Johnsonville and Tawa was severed on 19 June 1937.[15] The railway line from Tawa to Porirua remained single track with no stations between Tawa and Porirua until the new Linden station opened on 28 July 1940.

Electrification of the North Island Main Trunk was completed from Wellington to Paekakariki in 1940 and a modern automatic signalling system installed to enable trains to operate at frequent intervals. From 1940, the shorter and faster train service to Wellington using passenger cars hauled by electric locomotives made Tawa a more desirable place to live.

Arohata Women's Prison, located at the southern end of Tawa, was built in 1944 and was originally a women's borstal. It became a youth prison in 1981 and a women's prison in 1987.

A much improved, faster, and more frequent, rail service resulted from the Tawa Flat deviation in the late 1930s, electrification of the railway line with an automatic signalling system in 1940, and the arrival of additional electric multiple units in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The first multiple units operated on the line on 5 September 1949 but electric locomotive hauled trains continued to operate in peak periods as there were insufficient multiple units. It was now quicker and easier for residents of Tawa to commute to Wellington to work in the central Wellington area.[10] Travel time by rail from Tawa to central Wellington was now shorter than from many Wellington City suburbs and the fares were competitive. On 15 December 1957, duplication of the railway line from Tawa to Porirua was completed and a new railway station on an island platform was opened at Linden. With the duplication to Porirua, double line automatic signalling was extended to Porirua and the miniature lever frame controlling the signalling in Tawa could now be "switched-in" when required for shunting of goods trains or other movements requiring the use of the crossovers or "switched-out" to automatic double track operation. This meant that Tawa station did not require manning for most through train movements. Two new railway stations were built in the 1960s to meet the growing demand for rail services: Kenepuru station opening on 8 April 1963 and Redwood station on 15 December 1963. Tawa was now served by five railway stations. A feature of the new Redwood station was the staggering of the platforms north and south of the level crossing at Tawa Street to avoid the excessive operation of the warning lights and bells and barrier arms at the Tawa Street level crossing.

During the 1950s, the high-speed Johnsonville–Porirua Motorway was built through Tawa on the eastern side of the valley. The first section that broadly followed the line of the old North Island Main Trunk railway from Johnsonville to the Tawa turnoff at Takapu Road at the southern entrance to Tawa was opened on 15 December 1951.[10] The second section, from Takapu Road to Porirua, was opened about five years later and the Johnsonville bypass connecting the south end of the motorway to the top of Ngauranga Gorge about the same time. The first section reduced road travel times and considerably improved access to Wellington by eliminating the need to use the narrow winding road through the bottom of the valley and Glenside. The second section allowed through traffic to bypass Tawa reducing traffic on the Main Road in Tawa. The southern and northern accesses to Tawa were improved by straightening and widening narrow sections of the Main Road at Takapu Road and Kenepuru Drive between Linden and Porirua.

Demand for new housing diminished in the 1930s and early 1940s, but from the mid-1940s a country-wide surge in marriage and birth rates occurred. With a shortage of suitable new housing areas in Wellington City, and with Tawa now more accessible with improved road and rail access, Tawa became a popular place for new private housing. Land was at a premium in the steep terrain of the Wellington region and the flat areas and moderate hills of Tawa were attractive. The Tawa microclimate, sometimes up to five degrees Celsius warmer than Wellington when the foehn effect occurs at the tail end of a southerly wind, was an added attraction. It could be fine and warm in Tawa when Wellington was cold and overcast. New subdivisions followed and the population expanded rapidly, and Tawa became one of the fastest-growing areas in the country. State housing subdivisions at Kenepuru and Hampton Hill in the late 1950s and early 1960s added to the population growth.

Population growth and a need to ensure primary schools were within walking distance for children led to the opening of new schools. A new public primary school was opened at Linden in 1952 to take the pressure off the long-established Tawa School. Tawa College was opened in 1960 eliminating the need for Tawa students to travel to Porirua or into Wellington for Secondary Education. Tawa College was built on land that straddles the motorway, with the main school campus west of the motorway and additional playing fields to the east. A subway under the motorway links the two parts of Tawa College and provides public access. St. Francis Xavier School, a Catholic primary school, opened in Redwood in 1960. The demand for new primary schools continued in the 1960s: Hampton Hill School was opened in 1965 and Redwood School in 1966.[10]

During the 1970s, Tawa experienced significant residential growth, Redwood and parts of Sundale in particular expanded outward. To meet the growth, Greenacres primary school opened in 1972 and Tawa Intermediate in 1975. The opening of Tawa Intermediate took pressure off the primary schools by catering for year 7 and 8 education that was previously provided by the primary schools.

Since the 1990s, Tawa has been expanding more slowly. By the turn of the 21st Century, most of the green field residential growth in Tawa has been occurring to the east of the Motorway, mainly spreading eastward up toward the parallel Takapu Valley in the direction of the Belmont Range.

Whilst green field residential growth has slowed, there has been significant infill housing as property owners, particularly owners of older quarter acre sections, subdivide their properties. Along with infill housing, the turn of the 21st century has seen the redevelopment of some of Tawa's previously industrial area including the development of Dress Smart - an outlet shopping centre - and the retirement village, Redwood village. Tawa's latest retail development is located on what is colloquially known as "Takapu Island"; a site located alongside the Tawa motorway off-ramp where a new supermarket was opened in September 2012. Conversely, one of Tawa's other shopping centres, Tawa Junction, closed in 2008 after a lengthy period with few occupants and has since been mooted as a location for another retirement village.

On 27 November 1999 Tawa, along with Mount Eden and Mount Roskill, became the last place in New Zealand to vote in favour of becoming "wet" in local restoration polls. Voting to become "wet" allowed the purchase of alcohol within the suburb for the first time and since then several pubs and bars have opened.[16]

Tawa School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students,[18] with a roll of 360 as of March 2020.[19][20]

Hampton Hill School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students,[21] with a roll of 223.[22] It was founded in 1965.[23]

Greenacres School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 6 students,[24] with a roll of 194.[25] It was founded in 1972.[26]

Tawa Intermediate is a co-educational state intermediate school for Year 7 to 8 students,[27] with a roll of 552.[28] It was founded in 1975.[29]

Tawa College is a co-educational state secondary school for Year 9 to 13 students,[30] with a roll of 1447.[31] It was founded in 1961.[32]

Tawa has a number of community facilities. Upgraded in 2002 at a cost of NZ$1.6 million, the Mervyn Kemp Library is located on the corner of the Main Rd and Cambridge St. Also on Cambridge St is the Tawa Community Centre, which now also occupies the space vacated by the ANZ Bank when it closed its Tawa Branch. On November 13, 2004 the $2.4 million Tawa Recreation Centre was opened. The Centre is located at Tawa College and is a partnership between the College and the Wellington City Council.[33] Located on Davies St is the Tawa Pool, which features a 25-metre heated indoor swimming pool, learner pool, toddler pool, spa and sauna.[34]

Along with Outlet City, much of Tawa's current retail and manufacturing businesses are located along the Main Road. The section of the Main Road between Lyndhurst Road and Lincoln Ave forms the village center of Tawa and provides day-to-day retail services including supermarket, mail, and pharmacy services. Also present in along the Main Road are the Mervyn Kemp Library, medical centre, dentists, banks, many restaurants and takeaway shops. A secondary retail center is located alongside Linden Station.

Tawa is also home to a number of other community run sporting facilities. Alongside the Tawa pool is the Tawa Bowls club. Tawa St is home to the North Wellington Badminton Association, which boasts a 6 court tournament class stadium. Also on Tawa St is the Tawa-Lyndhurst Tennis Club, which has 8 plexipave tennis courts. Tawa-Lyndhurst Tennis Club is also where Tennis Inc coaching academy is based. There are a number of Rugby Union grounds in Tawa, with Tawa Rugby located at Lyndhurst park. There are a number of Cricket ovals in Tawa, including Linden Park. The Tawa Squash club is located on the Main Rd. There are several Football grounds for different grades in Tawa, including the use of the College grounds, the clubroom is shared with the Tawa Softball Club. Tawa is also home to the Tawa Mah Jong Club, which hosts the Wellington Mah Jong Tournament each June,[35] as well as the Kapi Mana Bridge Club.[36]

Along with built facilities, Tawa also boasts a large number of landscaped and natural parks, many of which contain play areas and open spaces. The Porirua Stream flows through a number of these parks. Community groups in Tawa, including the Friends of Tawa Bush Reserves, have increasingly worked in partnership with the local council to take interest and ownership of protecting Tawa's bush-clad environment, waterways and community parks.