Blog: 3. Farmlands to Suburbs
In the late 1880’s, the settlement of the Pāpāmoa area was initiated by a group of local people who wanted to purchase land. They were from Te Puke and Tauranga and they formed the Papamoa Homestead Association.
Negotiations between Government and Maōri owners were completed in 1893 and 485 hectares were purchased by the Association and divided into 40 hectare farms in 1885. Later that year a further 1214 hectares were purchased and by 1900, Pāpāmoa was a thriving agricultural region.
Farmland was mostly in Upper Pāpāmoa as Lower Pāpāmoa was mostly sand dunes and swamp. The swamps were eventually drained by farmers and they used the very fertile soils to grow feed for cattle, including turnips and maize crops.
The road from Tauranga to Te Puke through Lower Papamoa was a hazardous and often impassable stretch. Heavily laden wagons often bogged down or capsized and sections of the road gave way into the deep and spongy peat. Another hazard was the herds of wild cattle encountered on the road. However, with the farms came roading and by the early 1900’s they had built many roads connecting farms, including Pāpāmoa Beach Road which ran along the coast.
With roads came the schools and three were built in the district. School numbers didn’t exceed 30 children but included the McNaughtons family who still farm today over 100 years later.
The 1930’s saw many changes as the area consolidated. A Society was formed and after intensive fundraising and local labour, the Papamoa Hall was built and opened in 1931. It is now on what is State Highway 2 between Bell and Welcome Bay roads. It was used by the community of about 2000 people before falling empty and then succumbing to an arson attack in 2014 where it burnt down to the ground.
Papamoa remained a predominantly farming area with some horticulture until the early 1950’s when the first land was opened for subdivision. This was land fronting what is now Papamoa Beach Road east of Domain Road. Around 1952 some gravel was laid for a distance of about a kilometre but the remainder was just a sand track. The sections sold for 200 pounds.
Around the same time in 1952 the Taylors subdivision at the far eastern end of Papamoa Beach Road, including Motiti Road and Karewa Parade, began their excavations. This involved levelling dunes to fill lagoons that ran parallel to the coast.
By the 1970’s the population of Papamoa had grown to over 2000 residents and in 1973 residents of Papamoa Beach voted to become a County Town. In 1989 as part of nationwide restructuring of local government, Pāpāmoa became part of a new Tauranga District Council, later enlarged to form the Western Bay of Plenty Council.
Today the population is over 37,000 people with a proposed development that could increase Papamoa East's population by 15,500 people. The proposed Te Tumu development would stretch over 5.5 kilometres of coastal land, and would extend Papamoa East to the Kaituna River.
Pāpāmoa was formed from ancient volcanoes and became home to Maōri from the 1400’s. Colonisation brought significant change to the land with farmers turning it from bush, swamp and peat into farmland for dairying from the late 1800’s. From the 1950’s onwards, the coastal farmlands became suburbs and today, Pāpāmoa is now Tauranga’s largest suburb with over 34,000 people calling it their home.
As a resident here for the last 10 years, I have witnesed the incredible growth of Pāpāmoa East and its easy to understand why. With accessibility to a beautiful beach and the Pāpāmoa Hills Regional Park, new shopping districts and a warmer than average climate… it is a beautiful place to be.