Kaiwharawhara

Kaiwharawhara
Kaiwharawhara viewed from Barnard Street
Kaiwharawhara
Basic information
Local authority	Wellington City Council
Electoral ward	Onslow/Western Ward
Coordinates	41°15′36″S 174°47′22″E / 41.260001°S 174.789466°E / -41.260001; 174.789466Coordinates: 41°15′36″S 174°47′22″E / 41.260001°S 174.789466°E / -41.260001; 174.789466
Population	144 (2013 )
Facilities
Train station(s)	Kaiwharawhara Railway Station
Surrounds
North	Te Kainga
Northeast	Cashmere
East	Wellington Harbour
Southeast	Wellington Harbour
South	Pipitea
Southwest	Highland Park
West	Wadestown
Northwest	Ngaio

Kaiwharawhara, formerly known as Kaiwarra, is an urban seaside suburb of Wellington in New Zealand's North Island. It is located north of the centre of the city on the western shore of Wellington Harbour, where the Kaiwharawhara Stream reaches the sea from its headwaters in Karori. It is a largely commercial and industrial area and thus has little residential population. The 2013 New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings gave the suburb's resident population as 144 which is an increase of 81 people, or 128.6 percent, since the 2006 Census. A recent housing development up the hillside towards Te Kainga has increased the resident population.

Kaiwharawhara contains some major transport infrastructure. Both State Highway 1 and the North Island Main Trunk Railway pass through Kaiwharawhara on their routes from central Wellington northwards. Due to its waterfront location, Kaiwharawhara also has shipping activity, with the Wellington Interislander Ferry terminal located on the boundary of Kaiwharawhara and Pipitea.

Kaiwharawhara Railway Station was closed in 2013, and the suburb is now served by buses. Just north of the station the Wairarapa Line (including the commuter Hutt Valley Line) diverges from the North Island Main Trunk Railway.

In sport, Kaiwharawhara was previously represented in soccer by Waterside, a club formed by dock workers in 1921. In 1988, they merged with the Karori Swifts to form Waterside Karori AFC.

In pre-European times, the area was known as Kaiwharawhara, which is Māori for 'food' (kai) and 'the fruit of the Astelia (wharawhara). Jerningham Wakefield during the 1840s commented that the stream was called after the "wharrawharra", and from this, the name was corrupted to Kaiwarra. The suburb (and the station) was renamed from Kaiwarra to Kaiwharawhara from 9 February 1951 by a decision of the New Zealand Geographic Board