Raglan

Raglan or Whāingaroa or Rakarana is a small beachside town located around 50km west of Hamilton, New Zealand on State Highway 23. It is known for its surfing and volcanic black sand beaches.

The settlement dates from 1854, when the government began buying land in the area. First called Whāingaroa village, in 1858 it was renamed after Lord Raglan, British commander in the Crimean War. During the Waikato war Te Awa-i-taia protected the settlement, and it was garrisoned by troops. Raglan relied on shipping until adequate roads were developed.

In 1879 a road, known as the Old Mountain Road, was formed between Raglan and Hamilton. Very winding, with steep gradients, it proved unsuitable for motor traffic so a deviation was constructed from Whatawhata to north of Waitetuna between 1907 and 1913. The road was not properly upgraded until the late 1950s and became a state highway in 1961. 

Dairy farming started nearby in the late 1800s, but from the 1930s many dairy units changed to sheep farming, which was more suited to the hilly terrain. Near Raglan, the farming settlements of Te Hutewai, Te Mata, Kauroa and Te Uku emerged.

The Raglan Harbour is 13km long and 2–3km wide, with two arms fed by the Waingaro and Waitetuna rivers. Whāingaroa means ‘the long pursuit’, referring to the Tainui waka’s search for its destination. From the late 1700s the Ngāti Māhanga tribe occupied surrounding land.

In the 1820s flax trader John Rodolphus Kent called at the harbour, and in the 1830s it was surveyed by Captain Thomas Wing. Ngāti Māhanga chief Wiremu Nēra Te Awa-i-taia, a Christian convert, supported the establishment of a Wesleyan mission station at Te Horea on the northern shore in 1835–36. It shifted to Nihi Nihi, near present-day Raglan, in 1839.

There was a port from the 1850s, but by the 1970s only cement was landed, and it closed in 1981.

Raglan supports a commercial fishing industry. A seaside resort for Hamiltonians, it has also been a surfing town since the 1960s. South of Raglan, Manu Bay and Whale Bay are among New Zealand’s premier surf locations, with unusual left-hand surf breaks.