Stratford, New Zealand

From Free net encyclopedia

Stratford is the main town of the central Taranaki region, aptly named as the 'Stratford District'. Situated directly inland from Mount Taranaki, Stratford is a rural service centre with a 2001 population of 5225. The surrounding rural area has a 2001 population of 3661.

Image:Mt Taranaki.JPG Image:NZ-Stratford.png

The Patea River flows through the town, and its supposed similarity to the River Avon in England led to the town's name, which before it's current name was Stratford-on-Patea. The William Shakespeare 'connection' is played upon by the naming of 67 streets after Shakespearian characters from 27 of his plays, and the clocktower features New Zealand's only glockenspiel playing the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet three times a day.

The town was formally classified as a town in June 1878, and on 31 August 1878 an auction of 455 sections saw the first sections sold. By 1881 the population was 97, comprising 56 males and 41 females, with 22 houses. By 1891 this had grown to a population of 342 and by 1896 1,256.

There are two secondary schools in the area, Stratford High School, a co-educational state school with a roll of 550, and St Mary's Diocesan School, an integrated Anglican girls school with a roll of 200 day and boarding students. There are three primary schools: Avon School, St Josephs School and Stratford Primary School. Stratord is surrounded by several smaller primary schools including Toko School

The local government administration is the Stratford District Council

The Stratford District represents about one quarter of the Taranaki Region with a quarter of the District comprising the Egmont Ring Plain which is predominantly dairying and the balance being rolling to hill country supporting dry stock farming and bush (57,300 dairy; 42,000 beef cattle; 281,300 sheep).

Stratford District is the gateway to two National Parks - the Egmont National Park with its spectacular mountain and the Whanganui National Park with its vast areas of virgin rain forest and walkways.

The energy and tourism activities are both of growing significance to the Stratford District.