The Norsemen's Settlements

Many a train traveller passing through the southern Hawke's Bay country has expressed curiosity as to the origin of the town-name Dannevirke. When one comes to inquire into the origin of the name, and also that of Norsewood, a little way off the line, an epic of early-days' pioneering is revealed. All this beautiful country of good pastures and countless dairy herds was, until within the last half-century or so, one vast forest, only useful as a Maori bird-spearing and snaring ground, and a hunting place for wild pigs. It remained in its wild state until some colonising parties of Scandinavians arrived here in the early 'seventies, and set to at the heroic task of making homes in a dense bush wilderness.

On September 15, 1872, two sailing ships, bringing Scandinavian immigrants, dropped anchor at Napier within a few hours of each other. One, the “Hoerden,” was from Norway and Denmark; the other, the “Ballarat,” brought mostly Danish families. Their arrival was the response to efforts made by the New Zealand Government to induce Scandinavian agriculturists to settle in the colony. The new-comers took up land in the forested districts now known as Dannevirke, Norsewood, Makotuku, and Ormondville. Dannevirke itself was founded by twenty-two pioneers; of these, fourteen were Danes, six Norwegians, and two Swedes. The appropriate name—“Danes' Work”—given to this little bush settlement, now a thriving town, commemorated an incident in ancient Danish history, the erection of a line of forts by King Gottrick, in the ninth century, as a protection against foreign invasion; it was to that chain of fortresses that the name Dannevirke was originally given. In all, about 3,000 Danes, Swedes and Norwegians, the Danes predominating were settled in the various districts allotted to the Scandinavian immigrants, and no better stock for the breaking-in work of colonisation ever set axe and saw to the New Zealand bush.