Greytown county almanac

Greytown, is my turangawaewae, the place where I stand, the place where I was born. Wellington and the Wairarapa are where my family settled in the nineteenth century, migrating from Christchurch in the South Island, intent upon moving in on land belonging to Maori. My ancestors walked the streets of Wellington, Pahiatua, Masterton and the shores of Paremata and Pahatanui, as I do now. I could have said that Greytown or Te Hupenui, is about an hour’s drive from Wellington, over the Rimutaka mountain range, that it was first settled by Europeans in 1854 on land bought from local Maori, that it was named after Sir George Grey, but I am more interested in saying something about Greytown's natural history, and what the Wairarapa was like before humans, Maori and Pakeha, arrived here. Scientists report from the evidence of pollen grains that before humans arrived here,  85-90% of New Zealand, including the Wairarapa, was covered with forest. Grassland or shrubland occurred,...