C/- Tawa Community Centre, 7 Cambridge Terrace, Tawa, Wellington 5028 ; Secretary ph 232 5901
Website: tawahistory.org.nz
The Tawa Historian
Newsletter #65 – August 2025
I always think of the second half of a calendar year as being the busy time for the THS and 2025 is no exception.
Firstly, as per the information on our website, our Annual General Meeting approaches. This year’s AGM will be held on Monday, 25 August at 7.30pm in the board-room of the Tawa Community Centre in Cambridge Street. Please come along and show your support for the Society.
As is our custom, after the administrative formalities the evening will conclude with a guest speaker talking about an historical topic with particular reference to the Tawa area. This year David Watt, a former Mayor of Tawa Borough and later Deputy Mayor of Wellington will speak to members and supporters present. His topic will be “Looking back at our proud Tawa Borough History”.
We hope that all members in the area will be able to attend.
Most members of the committee are available for re-election, but others may also put their names forward for involvement. We would welcome new participants in our group to provide new ideas and fresh perspectives on what we do and how we do it. Please contact me if you have the skills and interest to serve the membership and help promote the THS in the community. Our current Treasurer, Michelle Calitz, is resigning from her role with effect from the AGM. I would like to thank Michelle for her work in the role over the past couple of years and her innovative ideas for promoting and growing the society in that time. I am glad to report that I have invited one of our current members, Mark Hodson, to be Treasurer and he has accepted. Mark has professional experience with one of the ‘Big Four’ accounting firms and is an experienced Treasurer for some other not-profit organisations.
Next on the society’s agenda is the regular, six-monthly presentation to the Tawa U3A History group on a local history topic. This occurs in April and October each year. The topic for my talk at 10am on 6 October at the Union church in Elena Place will be “A walk along Main Road from A to B (Arohata to the Baptist Church)”. It will look at the development of businesses along Main Road in the past 100 years or so. Please come along if you can to support both the THS and the local U3A group (gold coin donation appreciated).
The Tawa Historical Society will again have a stand at the annual “Spring into Tawa” event on Saturday 18 October. A selection of our in-print books will be available for purchase. Sadly, this year we will not have a calendar for the New Year for sale. Please come and make yourself known to the team on duty on the day and of course support a range of Tawa businesses and organisations that will also be present along Main Road.
Another presentation to the local U3A, this time the Science and Technology interest group, will occur at 10am on Wednesday 26 November, also at the Union Church. The presentation will cover the construction of the Tawa Flat (Railway) Deviation (that’s the current rail line between here and Wellington) in the 1930s. This event will be co-hosted with a couple of regular members of the S & T group David Wratt and Tim Davin. As with the October event, please come along if you can to support the THS and the U3A.
One event that we will NOT be participating in this year is the annual Wellington Heritage Festival that runs from (about) Labour Weekend to early November. A Google search of Wellington Heritage Festival will find the event’s website (www.wellingtonheritageweek.co.nz) and describe a myriad of local-ish historical activities (walks, displays, talks, visits) that you can register and attend over the period of the festival.
And before we know it, it will be Christmas and then 2026.
David Parsons
Chairperson,
Tawa Historical Society