Abstract:
The term "Wairarapa" is often used today to define all the area east of the North Island axis ranges, from Woodville southwards to Palliser Bay, but this is not the historical context in which the name is used in this essay. Being in large measure an historical interpretation of dairying in terms of small farm settlement, the present work refers to the Wairarapa as that area in which small farm settlements had been established prior to 1873 and which was known at the time as the Wairarapa. On this basis the Wairarapa is defined as that area east of the Tararua and Rimutaka Ranges from Mauriceville south.
Since most dairying within this delimited zone has traditionally been located on the "Wairarapa Lowland", the unity of the survey area is established by all except the northernmost portion of the "Mauriceville Settlement", being within the catchment of the Ruamahunga River. The Mauriceville Settlement has been included because, although one of the "Forty Mile Bush" Settlements, its historical associations have traditionally been with the Wairarapa Lowland rather than with the other "Bush Settlements" further to the north.
