Ballance, New Zealand

Ballance is a farming community in Tararua District and Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. The main settlement is located on the west back of the Mangahao River, south and west of Woodville and 11 km north-west of Pahiatua.

Tararua Wind Farm, the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere, is located in the area.[1]

The Ballance area includes part of the Manawatū Gorge west of Woodville, including the Ballance Bridge on State Highway 3.[2] The Manawatu Gorge Track extends from Ballance in the east to the outskirts of Palmerston North in the west.[3]

History

European settlement

The settlement was founded in 1886 as one of several government-sponsored special settlements, established under a scheme of Land Minister John Ballance.[4] It was named after Ballance, a Liberal Party politician who later went on to become Premier.[1]

By 1890, the area was still covered in dense forest.[4]

The Ballance Co-operative Dairy Company established a butter factory near the township which became central to the township's economy and identity.[4] A hundred tons of prime butter was being produced by the factory each year. Factory manager Thomas Broome was born in Christchurch in 1864, and had learned butter and cheese making in Lincoln and Dunedin.[4] A photograph, taken about 1895, shows two men standing outside the factory in front of suppliers with horses, wagons, milk cans and carts.[5]

The Ballance Public School was established in 1891.[6] By September 1896, it had a headmaster and teacher, a roll of 82, and an average attendance of 64. Headmaster Andrew Anderson had been born in Edinburgh, Scotland, educated in Geelong, Victoria, and had arrived in New Zealand in 1874.[4]

By 1897, Ballance also had about a dozen houses, and a Weslayan Church and public hall built by volunteers. It connected to Pahiatua by a high-quality but narrow road, via the Mangatainoka Bridge, still incomplete Pahiatua railway station, a windy hilly stretch of road, Mangahao Valley, and Mangahao bridge.[4]

It also had a store and post office run by Thomas Murphy, a native of Kerry, Ireland who had arrived in New Zealand in 1866 and also farmed 114 acres with dairy cows.[4]

Ballance Bridge

The original wooden Ballance Bridge was designed by James Fulton and opened by the Premier Richard Seddon and opened in 1904. It was closed in 1968 due to safety issues, and demolished on 23 February 1972.[7]

A new iron-concrete Ballance Bridge was opened in 1971.[2] Two bluffs had to be removed for the new bridge.[8]

Recent history

In early 2004, a once-in-a-century flood took out fences, and covered dairy farms in silt.[9]

An entry in Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, published in 2007, says Ballance has "failed to thrive" as John Ballance had originally intended.[1]

In March 2009, Massey University student Catherine Peters died while jumping from the bridge when her rope came loose from her harness. The director of the company overseeing the jump was charged with manslaughter.[10] He was found guilty in an emotionally-charged trial in June 2010.[11][12]

Education

Ballance School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students,[13] with a roll of 17 as of March 2020.[14]

The school is surrounded by farms and wind turbines.[6]

In 2009, a Ministry of Education review proposed closing eight of the ten schools in the Tararua bush area, including Ballance School. The school had a roll of 25 at the time.[15]

Principal Keryl Kelleher told the Dominion Post the proposal was a "bombshell":

""The school is the heart of this community, it's not just affecting the school kids. All the schools have to fight together."[15]

References
  1. Schrader, Ben. "Ballance". Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
  2. "Ballance Bridge, Tararua District". manawatuheritage.pncc.govt.nz. Manawatū District Council.
  3. "Manawatu Gorge Track". doc.govt.nz. Department of Conservation.
  4. The Cyclopedia of New Zealand. Wellington: Cyclopedia Company Limited. 1897.
  5. "Ballance Co-operative Dairy Company, Limited. Butter factory, circa 1895". tamiro.massey.ac.nz. Massey University.
  6. "Ballance School". ballance.school.nz.
  7. "Ballance Bridge, near Woodville". manawatuheritage.pncc.govt.nz. Manawatū District Council.
  8. Tuckey, Karoline (12 October 2017). "Looking back at 145 years of the Manawatū Gorge road". stuff.co.nz. Manawatu Standard.
  9. Hutchinson, Erin (5 February 2014). "Finding their way to farm ownership". GlobalHQ. AgriHQ.
  10. Leask, Anna (30 August 2009). "Fatal bridge fall victim's final seconds". Australian Provincial Newspapers. Herald on Sunday.
  11. Staff reporter (8 June 2010). "Bridge-swinging death accused was distracted, court told". Australian Provincial Newspapers. New Zealand Press Association.
  12. Staff reporter (17 June 2010). "Court fills with sobs over guilty verdict". Australian Provincial Newspapers. New Zealand Press Association.
  13. "Ballance School Ministry of Education School Profile". educationcounts.govt.nz. Ministry of Education.
  14. "Ballance School Education Review Office Report". ero.govt.nz. Education Review Office.
  15. "Schools fight to survive". stuff.co.nz. Dominion Post. 7 August 2009.

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