Manawatu District

The Manawatu District is a local government district in the Manawatu-Wanganui Region in the North Island of New Zealand.

Commonly referred to as "The Manawatu", the district is based on the town of Feilding and includes most of the area between the Manawatu River in the south and the Rangitikei River in the north; stretching from slightly south of the settlement of Himatangi in the south, to just south of Mangaweka in the north; and from the Rangitikei River to the summits of the Ruahine Ranges in the east. The district does not include the area around Foxton, Foxton Beach or the mouth of the Manawatu River. It also excludes the area around the city of Palmerston North (including Ashhurst). The district has an area of 2,624 km².

Name

Manawatu is said to have received its name by Hau, the great Māori explorer. On his quest to find his wife who had left him for another lover, Hau is said to have pursued her along the south west coast of the North Island. As he travelled, he came across and named river mouths including Whanganui, Whangaehu and Rangitikei according to events that befell him at the time. He came across a large, wide river mouth. In awe of the sight and in fear he might not be able to cross it, he stated "Ka tū taku manawa" (My heart stands still).

Manawatu (New Zealand electorate)

Manawatu was a parliamentary electorate in the Manawatu-Wanganui Region of New Zealand that existed during three periods between 1871 and 1996.

Population centres

The 1870 electoral redistribution was undertaken by a parliamentary select committee based on population data from the 1867 census. Eight sub-committees were formed, with two members each making decisions for their own province; thus members set their own electorate boundaries. The number of electorates was increased from 61 to 72, and Manawatu was one of the new electorates.

History

The electorate existed during three periods: from 1871 to 1890, 1896 to 1911, and 1919 to 1996.

The first representative was Walter Woods Johnston, who was elected at the 1871 general election. He won the three subsequent general elections, and retired at the end of the parliamentary term in 1884. In the 1876 election, Johnston was challenged by the lawyer, naturalist and ornithologist Walter Buller. The contest was close and Buller had a small majority in the district of two votes, but the voters from Wellington who were eligible to vote in the Manawatu and who made the arduous journey (the route was affected by recent flooding) to the nearest polling booth in Paikakariki gave Johnston the advantage. Johnston was succeeded by Douglas Hastings Macarthur in the 1884 general election. Macarthur held the electorate for two terms until 1890, when it was abolished. He successfully contested Rangitikei in the 1890 general election.

Red Sox Manawatu

Red Sox Manawatu is a soccer and netball club in Palmerston North, Manawatu, New Zealand.

The club caters for men's, women's and youth soccer/Football teams and women's netball teams. Riverside RedSox is affiliated to Red Sox Manawatu and caters for junior boys and girls soccer.

Convoluted history of club mergers

The Manawatu Red Sox history is a complicated one, the club having been formed by the gradual merger and name-changes of a multitude of teams from the Palmerston North area. The oldest of these clubs was Saint Andrew's, which was founded in the 1920s. St Andrew's joined forces with Palmerston City (formed in 1938 as Palmerston North Thistle) in 1971, continuing as Palmerston City until 1974 when the club changed its name to Manawatu United. This club became Manawatu AFC in 1992 upon its merger with Rose City - a club which had itself been formed via a merger. Manawatu AFC combined with Riverside Red Sox (a team formed from the 1998 merger of Riverside and Red Sox) in 2004.