To observe or not to observe Wellington Anniversary Day - the conundrum in Dannevirke

Dannevirke is caught in the middle between Manawatu and Hawke's Bay making it a little confusing as to which anniversary day residents should be observing. Photo / NZME

Should the Tararua District have its own anniversary day?

With Wellington Anniversary Day on Monday, it seemed rather timely to look at the issue.

Tararua District has had something of an identity crisis for years stemming from confusion on which region it fell under.

Not to mention the fact that a good part of the country doesn’t really know where the Tararua District is.

There is signage indicating where Tararua District begins, but some still don't know much about the district. Photo / Supplied

Back in the late 1980s, the Government decided to amalgamate all the local borough and county councils into one, to form the Tararua District Council.

But it was a move that hadn’t really provided much in the way of cohesion.

Added to that was the fact that many still considered the township of Dannevirke to be under Southern Hawke’s Bay, and many organisations reflected that for years, such as the Women’s Institute, which didn’t change its name from Southern Hawke’s Bay to the Tararua Federation until 2018.

Under local health authorities, the district fell under MidCentral, and Tararua Health Group was one local health provider that recognised that by being closed on Wellington Anniversary day.

The district also came under Horizons Regional Council for regional authority.

Yet the electorate was under the Wairarapa, which covered as far south as Featherston and as far north as Waipawa.

The MetService website showed Dannevirke listed under Wairarapa.

Confused yet?

Some of our sports teams added to the confusion with some coming under Manawatu representation and others under Hawke’s Bay.

So why do we have anniversary days?

A little bit of research provided the answers.

Sir William Hobson, the first governor of New Zealand, designated January 29 to be Auckland’s anniversary in 1841, according to a blog on the Wellington City Libraries website.

Since 1842, it’s been celebrated on the closest Monday to the 29th.

“In Wellington, our anniversary marks the arrival of the ship Aurora,” the blog stated adding that the ship was said to have brought the first organised settlers on January 22, 1840, hence the observance on the closest Monday.

How is this relevant to Dannevirke?

According to Wikipedia, Wellington province covered pretty much the southern half of the North Island, all the way up to Hawke’s Bay.

There wasn’t even a Hawke’s Bay until the late 1850s.

Some locals use the Manawatu River as their cornerstone on which holiday to observe.

But confusion could occur when a local business was a branch of a company where the headquarters was based either in Hawke’s Bay or Manawatu.

For instance, Hawke’s Bay Today is in, naturally, Hawke’s Bay, but in Dannevirke, we take Wellington Anniversary day off, not the Hawke’s Bay anniversary.

One local business owner said he took both days, but it cost too much – having one separate day instead of the two might help with that problem.

A law firm spoken to by Hawke’s Bay Today said they used to celebrate both anniversaries but now only observe Wellington Anniversary.

Dannevirke Chamber of Commerce chairman Bryce Galloway reckoned the town should observe the Hawke’s Bay anniversary.

Since it was usually the Friday before Labour Weekend, that way, people get a four-day weekend, he said.

He was aware of at least one business that did observe both Wellington and Hawke’s Bay anniversary days and appreciated it was something of a conundrum that Dannevirke was in many ways stuck in the middle of both regions.

“There must be other towns in a similar situation,” he said.

“The argument will always be there as long as the town exists.”

Kerry Sutherland agreed it was confusing. Photo / Leanne Warr

Kerry Sutherland, of Property Brokers Dannevirke, and also a Tararua District councillor, agreed.

“It has always been a bit confusing.”

He said most of Dannevirke and the area had celebrated Wellington Anniversary day for a long time.

“The boundary for the Wellington and Hawke’s Bay district celebrations (somewhere between Norsewood and Waipukurau) has always been a bit grey.

Sutherland said his real estate company had always observed Wellington Anniversary day but they also had to be aware of Hawke’s Bay Anniversary day because it was relevant to their business.

“I would love to see a Tararua District Anniversary day. What a great marketing and district-defining change that would be.”