Farming district 15 km north-east of Kaikohe. Today Te Waimate mission house and the ruins of a cottage and blacksmith’s shop are the only remnants of a model Church Missionary Society farm established in 1831. It aimed to teach agricultural and trade skills to Māori, but by 1840 this venture was in decline. From 1842 St John’s College, a combined theological college, high school and technical institute, catered for Māori and Pākehā, but it shifted to Auckland in 1844. Damaged by occupying British forces in 1845, most of the buildings at Waimate North were removed, or disintegrated. Today the remaining buildings are in the care of the Historic Places Trust, and an archaeological walk covers the central part of the once thriving village.
Meaning of place name
Wai: water; mate: dead, sick, or stagnant. This early missionary settlement was first known as Waimate. The word North was added to avoid confusion with Waimate in Canterbury.
