Every civilisation has told Its children of Its past — for how else will they know? The story of the growth of a community orientates the new generations to those who have gone before, and guides them into the future Learning of the past can be an enjoyable and fascinating experience; learning from the past should be an instructive and profitable one
The writing of this history has been undertaken as a project associated with the Centennial of the Fitzherbert East (now Aokautere) School in March. 1989. It seemed appropriate to use this occasion to record the story of the whole community in the area lying between the Manawatu River and the top of the Tararua Range, extending from the Turitea Stream almost to the Manawatu Gorge.
Although its forests, streams and hills had been known to many generations of the Rangitane people. there was no Maori name for the area as defined above when it was first surveyed by J. T. Stewart in 1858-9. The whole strip from Linton to the Gorge was covered by the name Fitzherbert (commemorating William Fitzherbert. Superintendent of the Provincial Government), the portion northeast of the Turitea Valley being called Fitzherbert East It was under this name that the school serving the newly settled district was opened in 1889.
The year 1905 saw the establishment of a Post Office at the store at the foot of the Pahiatua Track In accordance with Post Office policy at the time to seek a Maori name for new offices. It was decided to commemorate Aokautere. who had been chief of the pas at Te Motu o Potoa (now Anzac Park) and Te Kuripaka (south of the confluence of the Turitea Stream and Manawatu River) during the 1820s. From about 1915 onward. Aokautere started to supplant Fitzherbert East as a name for the district, slowly at first, but with increasing frequency. The change was essentially complete with the Wanganui Education Board’s approval for the renaming of the school in 1968.
It has taken us more than two years to unearth and assemble the information and the stories Included in this book Many hours of research have been undertaken in an attempt to make history as accurate and comprehensive as possible.
Occasionally, the information presented here is at variance with that found in the 75th Jubilee publication of Fitzherbert East School, and in some newspaper articles. This has resulted from our having consulted original documents as far as possible. In spite of our best efforts, there have been some primary sources that proved impossible for us to track down in the time available Other potentially valuable materials are known to have been destroyed or lost; the loss by fire of the pre-1900 copies of the Manawatu Evening Standard, and the disappearance of the first log book of the Fitzherbert East School, are two particularly unfortunate examples As a result, we have sometimes had to rely on a variety of personal recollections This has the disadvantage of the imperfection of memory, but provides a more human touch to the narrative than can ever be gleaned from official documents.
We are indebted to those who prepared the book for the school's 75th Jubilee, and are grateful to many present and former residents and descendants of pioneers who responded to invitations to provide family histories, anecdotes, photographs, and documents It is regretted that space constraints have forced us to omit many interesting details, and have limited the amount of photographic material that we have been able to include All of this unedited material will be deposited at Aokautere School for future reference
No doubt, some Inaccuracies remain, for which the Editorial Committee must accept responsibility. Where undocumented evidence for any errors can be provided, the Committee would be grateful to have this brought to Its attention.
Already, much of the early history of the settle men! of tire Aokautere district has been lost. We can only urge residents before any more disappears. to sort all those old photographs and annotate them with names, dates, and places We would also encourage people to commit to paper the details of their family histones. In this way. the task of those who come to write the next history of the district will be made easier.
Editorial Committee Aokautere School RD 1. Palmerston North July 1989

Every civilisation has told Its children of Its past — for how else will they know? The story of the growth of a community orientates the new generations to those who have gone before, and guides them into the future Learning of the past can be an enjoyable and fascinating experience; learning from the past should be an instructive and profitable one
The writing of this history has been undertaken as a project associated with the Centennial of the Fitzherbert East (now Aokautere) School in March. 1989. It seemed appropriate to use this occasion to record the story of the whole community in the area lying between the Manawatu River and the top of the Tararua Range, and extending from the Turitea Stream almost to the Manawatu Gorge.
Although its forests, streams and hills had been known to many generations of the Rangitane people. there was no Maori name for the area as defined above when it was first surveyed by J. T. Stewart in 1858-9. The whole strip from Linton to the Gorge was covered by the name Fitzherbert (commemorating William Fitzherbert. Superintendent of the Provincial Government), the portion northeast of the Turitea Valley being called Fitzherbert East It was under this name that the school serving the newly settled district was opened in 1889.
The year 1905 saw the establishment of a Post Office at the store at the foot of the Pahiatua Track In accordance with Post Office policy at the time to seek a Maori name for new offices. It was decided to commemorate Aokautere. who had been chief of the pas at Te Motu o Potoa (now Anzac Park) and Te Kuripaka (south of the confluence of the Turitea Stream and Manawatu River) during the 1820s. From about 1915 onward. Aokautere started to supplant Fitzherbert East as a name for the district, slowly at first, but with increasing frequency. The change was essentially complete with the Wanganui Education Board’s approval for the renaming of the school in 1968.
It has taken us more than two years to unearth and assemble the information and the stories Included in this book Many hours of research have been undertaken in an attempt to make history as accurate and comprehensive as possible.

Occasionally, the information presented here is at variance with that found in the 75th Jubilee publication of Fitzherbert East School, and in some newspaper articles. This has resulted from our having consulted original documents as far as possible. In spite of our best efforts, there have been some primary sources that proved impossible for us to track down in the time available Other potentially valuable materials are known to have been destroyed or lost; the loss by fire of the pre-1900 copies of the Manawatu Evening Standard, and the disappearance of the first log book of the Fitzherbert East School, are two particularly unfortunate examples As a result, we have sometimes had to rely on a variety of personal recollections This has the disadvantage of the imperfection of memory but provides a more human touch to the narrative than can ever be gleaned from official documents.
We are indebted to those who prepared the book for the school's 75th Jubilee and are grateful to many present and former residents and descendants of pioneers who responded to invitations to provide family histories, anecdotes, photographs and documents It is regretted that space constraints have forced us to omit many interesting details, and have limited the amount of photographic material that we have been able to include All of this unedited material will be deposited at Aokautere School for future reference
No doubt, some Inaccuracies remain, for which the Editorial Committee must accept responsibility. Where undocumented evidence for any errors can be provided, the Committee would be grateful to have this brought to Its attention.
Already, much of the early history of the settle men! of tire Aokautere district has been lost. We can only urge residents before any more disappears. to sort all those old photographs and annotate them with names, dates, and places We would also encourage people to commit to paper the details of their family histones. In this way. the task of those who come to write the next history of the district will be made easier.


Editorial Committee
Aokautere School RD 1.
Palmerston North
July 1989