Matamata

In the early nineteenth century, the area including and surrounding the present-day Matamata township was part of the territory of the 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.[3] 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.[3] 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.[3] Firth constructed a dray road to Cambridge and cleared the Waihou River so that it was navigable by his (small) boats.[3]

Peria, on the outskirts of Matamata, was the scene of the Kīngitanga meeting of 1863.[4][5]

Firth's estate later failed and by 1904 had been wholly obtained by the Crown and was subdivided into dairy farm units[6] to take advantage of the new technology of refrigeration.[7] It became a dependent Town District in 1917, an independent Town District in 1919 and was constituted a borough in 1935.[3] 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[8] and is registered in Council’s District Plan for Hetana St[9]

Matamata was a station on the Kinleith Branch, from 8 March 1886,[10] initially 40 minutes north of the temporary terminus at Oxford and about an hour from Morrinsville.[11] It was 6.03 km (3.75 mi) south of Waharoa, 7.91 km (4.92 mi) north of Hinuera[12] and for a while seems to have become a flag station,[13][14] though it did have a goods shed.[15] It had two members of staff from 1913[16] and by 1950 8,868 tickets were sold at Matamata and it transported 42,322 sheep and pigs.[17] It closed to passengers on 12 November 1968,[10] but reopened to serve the Geyserland Express[18] from 9 December 1991 until 7 October 2001.

The station building was replaced in the 1960s[8] and has been the Railside by the Green community centre since 2002,[19] though it is fenced off from the platform.[20] Occasional excursions still use the platform.[21][22]

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,[23][24] with a roll of 740 as of March 2020.[25]

Matamata Intermediate is the town's co-educational state intermediate school,[26][27] with a roll of 397.[28]

There are two co-educational state primary schools: Matamata Primary School,[29][30] with a roll of 415;[31] and Firth School,[32] with a roll of 193.[33] The motto for Firth School is E Tipu E Rea, which translates as Grow and Flourish.[34]

Matamata Christian School is a co-educational state integrated Christian primary school,[35][36] with a roll of 81.[37]

St Joseph's Catholic School is a co-educational state integrated Catholic school,[38] with a roll of 35.[39]

• 
  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