Dannevirke, meaning 'Danes work', is a rural service town in the southern
Hawkes Bay region of
New Zealand. It is the major town of the administrative district of
Tararua[?]. The surrounding area has developed into dairy & sheep farming, which now provides the major income for the town's population of 6,000.
The town was founded in
1872 by Danish settlers, who arrived at the port of
Napier and moved inland. The settlers, who arrived under the
Public Works Act[?], build their intial settlement in a clearing of the
Seventy Mile Bush[?]. The settlement quickly earned the nickname of 'sleeper town', as the town's purpose was to provide
totara sleepers for the
Napier-Wellington railway[?]. At one stage the area had 50 operating sawmills. After the
native bush[?] was cleared, the land was turned into pasture for grazing animals.
- Tararua District Council (http://www.tararuadc.govt.nz/)
- http://www.angelfire.com/az/nzgenweb/dannevirke.html (http://www.angelfire.com/az/nzgenweb/dannevirke.html)
- Google Search: dannevirke (http://www.google.com/search?q=dannevirke)