Dannevirke Gallery of History

Dannevirke, a thriving town in the Tararua District, was originally the centre of a large sawmilling district in the Forty Mile Bush and is situated on the Napier-Wellington Railway, approximately one hundred and twenty kilometers south from Napier. It was originally in the county of Waipawa. About the year 1870 a movement was made by the Government of New Zealand to induce immigration from Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Special land was set apart for such settlers, and, on the 16th September 1872, the first immigrants arrived at Napier, in the ships “Hovding” and “Ballarat”. There were twenty-one families who came on to Dannevirke – fourteen Danish and seven Norwegian and Swedish.