Poukawa, Hastings: Settlement Guide to Lake Country and Farming Life

Last updated October 2026

Poukawa is a rural settlement in Hastings District, on the plains south of Hastings and reached from State Highway 2. It is farming country rather than a town centre: cropping paddocks, grazing land, a primary school and a community hall sit around the shallow basin of Lake Poukawa.

The locality has a long association with Ngāti Kahungunu hapū, and two marae remain important gathering places. Visitors come for wide views across the lake basin and for a landscape shaped by drainage, earthquakes and the old railway. It is a quiet place to understand the southern edge of the Heretaunga plains, not a resort or a shopping stop.

Official Locality Facts

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About Poukawa

Poukawa lies in a broad basin between the Raukawa Range and the Kaokaoroa Range. The ground is mostly farmland, with shelter belts, farm tracks and the line of the Palmerston North–Gisborne railway crossing the flats.

Lake Poukawa, close to the settlement of Te Hauke, is the feature that gives the basin its name. It is a small, shallow hard-water lake in peat country, less than one metre deep and about 1.5 kilometres across. The Poukawa Stream drains it north-east through the Pekapeka Wetland and on towards the Clive River.

A Hastings District Council heritage trail records a traditional explanation of the name. Pou means pole and kawa means lean. The account says two local chiefs, Te Rangihirawea and Te Rangikawhiua, disagreed over fishing rights.

Te Rangihirawea set a pole in the lake to mark his share, leaving the less favoured part, and its lean eels (tuna kawa), to the other chief. The trail notes that the pole is held by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington.

The lake was once a maze of waterways, raupō, swamp grasses and standing stumps, and it was deeper in the past, about 2.5 metres. It was artificially drained after the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake. From the 1950s, Harry Brownrigg led a reclamation of the swamp with heavy machinery and, for a time, large herds of horses.

Later family members continued the work. The council trail describes the reclaimed land as used mainly for cropping, sheep and cattle, and notes that strip farming is still a visual mark of the basin. Tree stumps can still work their way to the surface.

Today Poukawa is a dispersed rural community. There is no town centre. Poukawa School and Poukawa Hall are the everyday public anchors, while Te Whatuiāpiti Marae and Kahurānaki Marae carry the hapū life of the area.

People live on farms and lifestyle blocks along roads such as Poukawa Road and Te Mahanga Road. Hastings is the place for most shops, health services and secondary schooling.

History and Heritage

The basin was a Māori route as well as a food source. A council heritage trail notes that one of the well-used tracks south from the coast ran by way of Pakipaki and Poukawa, and that a canoe route once linked the Tukituki side of the hills with Lake Poukawa and the normally dry Lake Rotoatara.

The same trail places the site of Te Wheao Pā on a lower spur near Te Hauke. Young chiefs were trained there in culture and warfare. A local saying recorded on the trail is that Te Wheao is the pā and Te Whatuiāpiti is the man, referring to the great chief of the 1650s.

In the nineteenth century the rangatira Te Hapuku farmed at Poukawa in his later years. Hastings District Council records that he died on 23 May 1878, after a visit from Premier Sir George Grey, and that a full military funeral was held on 31 May. He had been a signatory to the Treaty of Waitangi and was present when land was set aside for Te Aute College.

The railway arrived early. Poukawa was a flag station on the Paki Paki to Te Aute section of what is now the Palmerston North–Gisborne Line, opened on 16 February 1876. By the 1890s it had a shelter, platform, cart approach, loading bank and a short siding.

The 1931 earthquake shifted the line near Te Mahanga Road by about 1.5 metres. Passenger trains stopped calling on 3 August 1959, and the station closed on 1 August 1971. A short platform at Te Hauke, opened after an 1884 petition, had already closed to all traffic in 1958.

The lake bed is also a noted fossil site. From 1956, paleontologist Russell Price excavated the deposits and found a rich Pleistocene and Holocene waterfowl fauna, including several extinct species. More than 13,400 anatid bones have been recorded from the site. It is a scientific locality, not a place for casual collecting.

Getting Around

State Highway 2 is the main road south from Hastings through this part of the district. Poukawa itself sits off the highway on local roads. There is no passenger station, so a private vehicle is the practical way to arrive. The railway still passes through, but it does not serve local travellers.

Some rural roads and bridges in the wider Poukawa area were damaged in Cyclone Gabrielle. Hastings District Council is repairing that network as part of a long district recovery programme. Before using back roads, especially after heavy rain, check the council’s roading updates.

Burma Road, on the Raukawa Range, is described in the council heritage trail as a public viewpoint with a panorama over the Lake Poukawa basin. It is a lookout, not a lakeside reserve.

Community Facilities

Poukawa School is the local state primary school. It is co-educational and was established in 1921. Te Hauke School, nearer the pā site, closed in 2009, so Poukawa School is the primary school still serving this locality.

Poukawa Hall is the community meeting place. Hastings District Council has reported local gatherings there, including an annual Christmas party run by the hall committee, and council support for work on the building. It is a rural hall, not a visitor centre, so check with the committee before assuming it is open.

Two Ngāti Kahungunu marae serve the community. Te Whatuiāpiti Marae and its meeting house are a meeting place of Ngāti Whatuiāpiti. Kahurānaki Marae and the Kahurānaki meeting house are a meeting place of Ngāi Te Rangikoianake and Ngāti Whatuiāpiti. These are living marae. Visitors should not arrive uninvited for events, and should follow marae kawa if they are welcomed on.

Where to Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Poukawa?
Poukawa is a rural settlement in Hastings District, Hawke’s Bay, south of Hastings and off State Highway 2. It sits in the basin around Lake Poukawa.

How do you get to Poukawa?
Drive south from Hastings on State Highway 2 and turn onto local roads such as Poukawa Road. There is no passenger train stop.

What does the name Poukawa mean?
A council heritage trail records the explanation pou (pole) and kawa (lean). It refers to a pole set in the lake during a dispute over fishing rights, and to the lean eels on one side of that line.

Is there a school in Poukawa?
Yes. Poukawa School is a co-educational state primary school, established in 1921. Te Hauke School, nearby, closed in 2009.

Can you visit Lake Poukawa?
The lake sits in a farmed basin and is not promoted in council sources as a public swimming reserve. A panorama is described from Burma Road. Do not cross private land or disturb fossil deposits without permission.

Which marae are associated with Poukawa?
Te Whatuiāpiti Marae is a meeting place of Ngāti Whatuiāpiti. Kahurānaki Marae is a meeting place of Ngāi Te Rangikoianake and Ngāti Whatuiāpiti. Both are Ngāti Kahungunu marae.

Is there a shop or town centre in Poukawa?
No town shopping strip is recorded for Poukawa. Everyday shops and services are in Hastings.

Does the train still stop at Poukawa?
No. The flag station opened in 1876, lost its passenger service in 1959 and closed in 1971. The railway line still runs through the area.

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Explore Hastings only lists suburbs officially recognised by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), and Poukawa is one of them. Suburb boundary: LINZ, CC BY 4.0.