Carterton District Historical Society
Discover, understand, respect, value and share in our community’s yesterdays.
Establishing the Carterton Township
​History shows that Carterton was never meant to exist as a town.
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Greytown and Masterton were the towns planned for settlement under the auspices of the Small Farms Settlement Scheme. Between these towns was the Taratahi Plain Block most of which had been surveyed as blocks of 60 acres or more. The eastern side of the track known as the Three Mile Bush Road, from the Waiohine river to what is now Park Road was still mainly Maori land. When Greytown was settled the areas of Dalefield and Matarawa were also settled and farmed. The sections on the western side of the Three Mile Bush Road were taken up by ‘absentee owners’ as were a number of other sections in the area.
The settlers of Greytown and Masterton complained at the state of the track between the towns – one suspects Masterton was the main complainant as Greytown did not need the track to get to Wellington. The Provincial Government of the day decided to promote a scheme whereby assisted immigrants would, provided they repaid their passage money, be given a 25% discount which would be given in land. The land between Park Road and Portland Road to the south was acquired and roughly set out in 10-acre blocks. The 10-acre blocks were allocated to those early settlers in 1857, and it is from that year that Carterton claims its beginnings. There were 29 sections along the Three Mile Bush Road, with 10- acre blocks to the rear of them.
Until about 1864 the area was administered by the Provincial Council. In 1864 the land in
the 1857 purchase to the east of the Three Mile Bush Road came under the jurisdiction of
the newly formed Carterton Road Board. In 1867 its members were Thomas Bennett,
chairman, Thomas Moore, J Peters, J Hannah, R Davies and William Vickerstaff were
councillors. Armond Bennett was the rates collector. On the other side of the road, and all
the land surrounding the Carterton Road Board area was administered by the Taratahi Road Board. The next move was in 1871 when the Taratahi and Carterton Road Boards were amalgamated into Ward 4 of the much larger Masterton Highway District. In 1875 Ward 4 became a separate (Taratahi?) District with seven wards. A few months later the Carterton settlers petitioned for their own district to consist of an area half a mile either side of the main road and between Belvedere and Dalefield Road on the west side and between Park Road and Portland Road on the east side. The Carterton Local Board was gazetted on 12 August 1875. On 30th August, probably at a public meeting, Richard Fairbrother was appointed Chief Commissioner, while Robert Dixon, Humphrey Callister, William Vickerstaff and A. Campbell were appointed to the Board. The first meeting of the Board was held on September 17th , 1875.
The Local Board continued for a number of years until September 1881 when minutes
recorded the name as the Carterton Town Board. Suggestions that the town be made a
Borough had been soundly rejected a number of times over the years since 1875, Masterton 1877 and Greytown 1878, had already taken Borough status. It wasn’t until October 1886 that the Borough proposal found favour. It appears that with Borough status came a change in boundary with the Borough stretching north to Booth’s Creek and a change in the eastern and western boundaries.
Carterton was proclaimed a Borough on July 1st , 1887. The final meeting of the Carterton
Town Board was held on June 29th , 1887.
It is unique to remark that in 1897 ‘Carterton is the only Borough in New Zealand that has
no public debt’.
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Carterton Library
Sources:
Bagnall, A G - A History of Carterton The Story of the First Hundred Years of the Settlement of Carterton, 1857 – 1957, The Carterton Borough Council, Carterton, 1957.​
Lawrence, W - ‘Three Mile Bush’.
Carterton District Library
A library for Carterton was a priority for early settlers and the one established in 1874
was one of the longest serving private subscription libraries in the country.
Early settlers were holding ‘readings’ in each other’s homes as early as 1870. Listeners
each paid a penny to be present and the money accumulated was spent on new books. As the collection grew it was housed in a rented room in the first Carterton Town Hall.
A concerted fund-raising effort in 1873 enabled the town to buy 200 books. Charles
Rooking Carter, by then living in London, contributed more money and selected the
books. When they arrived in Carterton the library was established. Mr William Parker was
appointed librarian at an annual salary of £7. Library members paid an annual
subscription of 10/- with an entrance fee of 2/6. By December 1878, 700 volumes had
been purchased thanks to Carter who raised another £50 in London on behalf of the
library. He also contributed a further £12 himself, for more books.
In 1880 the community decided a purpose built library was needed and once again Carter helped by obtaining the land and providing extra funds. The imposing neo-classical style building was completed in 1881 at a cost of £336 for which Mr William Booth supplied the timber. The librarians living quarters were in the south-western corner of the building and continued to be used as a residence until 1988, when it was incorporated into the library for administration use.
Carter’s active interest in the project continued and by 1884 the collection had grown to
2388 books. Upon his death he bequeathed a sizable part of his personal collection to the town.
A public reading room was opened in 1896 and the Carterton Borough Council made an
annual grant of £20 for its use and for public use of the rest room. Being a subscription
library it was managed by a voluntary committee which was elected annually. The
Borough Council increased its grant and Wairarapa South County Council also contributed but maintaining the building and service had become an uphill battle.
In May 1963 at the library’s 87th Annual General Meeting the decision was taken to ask
Carterton Borough Council to take over the management. At the last meeting of the
Carterton Library Committee, Mr W Vaughan handed the deeds to Councillor Andy
McCallum.
It is believed that the Carterton District Library is the oldest purpose-built library in New
Zealand which is still being used as a library.
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Carterton Council Chambers
Sources:
Bagnall A G - A History of Carterton, The Carterton Borough Council, 1957.
Image: A Carterton Public Library subscription card - https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Carterton Council Chambers Building
It is said that this building was the original Carterton Town Hall, 1868, which had been built on the corner of Brooklyn Road and High Street on part of the school acre.
In 1890 it appeared that this land is clear. Prior to 1891 the building was moved to High Street, in the vicinity of the telephone exchange building and the portico was added. The label under the clock has the words Charles Rooking Carter, who presented the clock to the town - the only one in Wairarapa at the time.
The office on the left is the law office of T E Maunsell, and he and Herbert Hart, who worked for him, are pictured in the photo. The window on the right was presumably the office of the Town Clerk.
A fire in 1919 destroyed the Borough Chambers. The Council used the old Post Office
building on the south side as their Chambers until 1956 when the present Borough
Chambers in Holloway Street was built. The Post Office was already on the Holloway Street
corner.
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Carterton Council Chambers Building
Sources:
Carterton District Historical Society. wairarapaschoolhistory.org.nz