Fraser Road (Hāwera)

Fraser Road is regarded as one of the traditional dairying areas of South Taranaki. The road was named after a surveyor’s assistant.

De Gennes Fraser arrived in New Zealand in 1870. After joining the Lands and Survey Department as a cadet, he was involved in field work in the South Taranaki area. The first surveys forming Fraser Road were probably done in the late 1870s when the surrounding land was still covered in native bush.

In 1882, to encourage settlers to take up land, the government offered thirty year leases at a rate of 1 shilling per acre at the southern end of Fraser Road. A few years later land at the northern end was offered for sale at 22 shillings an acre. But the new settlers had to clear the bush.

About 1887, a big fire was started to clear the area. There were reports of ash falling on Hāwera. The big burn left the soil rich in nutrients and scotch thistle weeds rapidly took over. They were so high and thick slashers were needed to cut pathways. However, once the thistle died away there were no further outbreaks and the land proved to be very suitable for grass growth.

The southern part of Fraser Road was metalled in 1910 and the northern end several years later. By then land in the area was selling for nearly £50 an acre. Prices boomed after the World War One. Rapidly increasing land values is not just a modern occurrence.

Fraser Road was sealed in 1928. Another significant milestone in the area was the hall, funded and built by local people during the depression and opened in 1932. It still stands, unlike a small dairy factory established in 1899, later enlarged and then demolished in the 1980s. The Fraser Road School, established in 1899, closed soon after its centennial year.

After his cadetship was completed, De Gennes Fraser went on to a career working as an engineer at various councils around the North Island. He retired to Auckland in 1919 and died there in 1938.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.