Rural Road Names

Have you ever travelled down a street or road and wondered why it was named what it is? By examining the historical significance behind many of the rural roads in the South Waikato District, you are given a glimpse of the people and events that make the district what it is today. Most of the rural roads are named after early settlers of the district, in remembrance of an historical event, or are of Māori or Pacific Island descent.

Note: Anyone who can further contribute to this page, or who has some inaccuracies to correct, is welcome to contact the Communications Manager.

• Barnett Road: named after Mr FC Barnett, who was a Matamata Councillor from 1909-1920.
• Baldwin Road: named after the original settler.
• Bayly Road: named after the original settler. Family members still live on the property today.
• Browns Road (a portion of this road is in the South Waikato, properties on the southern side of the road are in the South Waikato): named after Eustace James Brown, who came with his family to Okoroire in 1916 where he purchased part of the Selwyn Block west of the Tapapa Te Poi Road. His son Eustace Gordon Brown and his wife Edna inherited the farm. They subsequently subdivided the farm and sold it to two of their five children, Peter and Allan. Both Gordon and Edna died in 1990. Peter Brown married Shirley Ensor, daughter of Gilbert Ensor, a previous County Engineer. Their daughter Alison married Ian Ramsay, who was employed at one time at the South Waikato District Council. Peter and Shirley sold the farm in 1977 when they moved to Welcome Bay, Tauranga. Brown Road was not fully formed until the 1970s when it was required to be upgraded for subdivision reasons.
• Burnett Road: named after the original settler.
• Campbell Road: named after Mr John Campbell JP who came to Tokoroa in 1918 to manage 9,000 acres owned by a Hawkes Bay Company. He played a large part in identifying the cobalt deficiencies and was a director of the Tokoroa Co-Op Dairy Company and A&P Association.
• Carmicheal Road: named after the Carmicheal family.
• Cox Road: named after Mr Kenneth Seymour Cox who came from Christchurch to the Waikato in 1918. Mr Cox is remembered for his service to the Putāruru Agricultural & Pastoral (A&P) Association and the Putāruru Branch of the Farmers' Union. Mr Cox is also remembered for the discovery of the lack of cobalt as a trace element which for so many years impeded pastoral farming development in the South Waikato (see also McMeekan). He was a Tokoroa Riding member of Council in 1923. His contribution to soil creation in 1936 and other services to the community were recognised later in life with award of an MBE.
• Crabb Road: named after the Crabb family.
• Crawford Road: named after the original settler.
• Darby Road: named after Mr EJ Darby, an Auckland school teacher who was allegedly in and out of mental asylums, but could prove he was sane as he had a certificate to say so. The question of his sanity aside, he was later a very successful farmer who predicted that Arapuni was a suitable hydro dam site long before the current power station was constructed there in 1928. Mr Darby served as a Matamata County Councillor from 1923-1929.
• Domain Road: named in line with its geographic location: surrounding the Putāruru Domain.
• Fitzgerald Glade: named after Mr ME Fitzgerald OBE, who was well-known as a County Engineer and for his conservation activities. He often complained about the unnecessary felling of native trees and the invasion by ragwort. In 1923, he was appointed County Engineer when only 49 miles of the Matamata County's 532 miles of road were metalled. He retired in 1948, having improved more than half the roads in the system at that time.
• Hall Road: named after the hall, which stands on the corner.
• Harris Road: named after the Harris family.
• Harwoods Road: named after the Harwood family who arrived here in 1919. The road was originally surveyed around 1873 to connect Armed Constabulary camps.
• Hetherington Road: named after the original settler.
• Hildreth Road: named after the original settler.
• Jones Road: named after the original settler.
• Kokako Road named by the original Māori occupants prior to European settlement. The road itself is not old (about 1960's).
• Lake Road: named after the small lake off the end of the road.
• Langlands Road: named after the original settler, whose piece of land is still owned by family members today.
• Lewis Road: named after Robert Glen Lewis who owned land there from 1910-1920. His children were early pupils of the Okoroire School.
• Matarawa Road: named after the stream.
• McMeekan Road: named after Dr McMeekan, a scientist at Ruakura who was involved in the bush sickness and cobalt deficiency problem. He came to an untimely end, when he fell off his yacht and was drowned.
• Momona Road: a very recent road, which is a part of the old state highway.
• Ngātira Road: named after the local Marae.
• Nicholson Road: named after the original settler.
• Okoroire Road: the word "okoroire" is of Māori decent and means "place of the duck". The Koroire is an extinct duck, which was once plentiful in the area.
• Pahihi Road: an old Māori name.
• Pakaraka Road: descended from an old Māori name, sometimes referred to as the Upper Waiomou Road.
• Paparamu Road: an old Māori name. There is a marae on the road which is commonly, but incorrectly, called the Paparamu Marae.
• Peach Road: named after an original settler.
• Pearce Road: named after Mr GA Pearce, a Matamata Councillor from 1935-1941.
• Pearson Road: named after the original settler.
• Pepperill Road: named after the original settler.
• Pine Road: named by Council when the State Highway was detoured about 1960. This road was named Pine as it leads to Pinedale Road, a private New Zealand Forest Products Road which led to the Pinedale Sawmill.
• Powell Road: named after the original settler.
• Prendergast Road: named after a nearby farmer, who spent considerable time in Tokanui and was well known for his turbulent attitudes!
• Puketirau Road: named after the local hill.
• Puriri Road: named by New Zealand Forest Products, after the predominant trees in the area.
• Rangitanuku Road: an early Māori name for this road which was surveyed about 1880.
• Rollett Road: named after the Rollett family. Mr H Rollett, the original landowner was a close friend of their neighbours, the West's (see West Road).
• Scriveners Road: named after the early settlers.
• Scott Road: a fairly new road, which is named after an early settler.
• Shine Road: named after the original settler.
• Sneddon Road: named after the original settler.
• Somerville Road: named after the Somerville family.Somerville Road was named after Edmund Somerville who purchased the 1,000 acre woodstock estate along the Waihou River in 1910 from the Nathan family, who also owned the adjacent Okoroire Hot Springs Hotel. Edmund was a prominent farmer and a founder and director of the Farmers Trading Company, a farming cooperative that merged with Laidlaw Leeds during the first World War to become the well known department store. The Somerville family sold the farm in 2000.
• Spains Road: named after the original settler.
• Stringers Road: named after the original settler.
• Taumangi Road: an old Maori name.
• Te Whetu Road: named after the Te Whetu Mill, a name originally given by the local Maori.
• Tomalin Road : named after the family of John and Alice Tomalin who took up ballot land with their family on February 12 1906. John was English, a boot maker by trade, and had a shop in Frodsham, Cheshire before immigrating to New Zealand , a move he never regretted. He was born at Long Buckby, Northampton , an area famous for boot and shoe manufacturing. Mr Tomalin sailed to New Zealand in 1904 and first bought land in Auckland . Mrs Tomalin, with their seven children arrived in 1905. Mrs Tomalin's name came up in the first draw for a block of ballot land of 300 acres in Overdale Road and family members still reside on that property.
• Totman Road: named after the Totman family, an early settler with a large landholding.
• Vospers Road: named after Mr AR Vosper, who staunchly assisted the construction of the terraces at Glenshea Park, Putaruru.
• Waimakariri Road: named after the local stream.
• Waiohutu Road: an old Māori name.
• Wawa Road: an original Māori name.
• Webster Road: named after the original settler.
• Wells Road: named after the original settler Mr Christie Wells. Family members still live on the property today.
• West Road: named after the West family who moved to the area in 1908 having purchased 4,000 acres of land here. Much of this land was later sold to NZ Perpetual Forests. This road was, at one time, part of the state highway. Other West families claim connections with this road, including Mr JE West, a Matamata Councillor from 1920-23, who came to the area in 1916 and was active in local affairs and education. Also, two brothers, John West, a journalist, and Harry West, a cartoonist who arrived in 1912 and leased land in the area.
• Whites Road: named after Mr ED White, a past Chairman of the Matamata County who was known for his regular meetings with ratepayers and creating an excellent harmony in the County administration. Mr White's parents settled in New Zealand in 1870 and moved to the area in 1916. In addition to his Local Authority activities he was active as a discreet benefactor, and for 10 years was Director of the New Zealand Rennett Co Ltd and later as a Director of the Auckland Farmers Freezing Company and the New Zealand Co-Op Dairy Company Limited. His son Mr E White also served as a Matamata County Councillor until his untimely death in 1983.
• Wiltsdown Road: named after a small settlement that developed around a sawmill, which has since been abandoned.
• Wood Road: named after Mr IK Wood, an original farmer and a Matamata County Council Chairman.
• Young Road: named after a nearby farmer.