Tawa more than just an upturned bucket
What makes Tawa tick? Tom Hunt takes a look and finds a peaceful community with affordable housing.
There is a real Lynn of Tawa: Lynn Reeve. And of course she is one of the owners of the Bucket Tree Lodge. The Bucket Tree Lodge is so-named because it sits in the shadow of Tawa’s Bucket Tree, a large macrocarpa that has been trimmed into the shape of an upside-down bucket.
Detractors may scoff at Tawa, Wellington’s last gasp north before the city becomes Porirua.
They may say the upturned bucket is a fitting symbol for the place. They may say the nearby women’s prison is an equally-apt symbol.
They may know nothing more than the aspect portrayed by Ginette McDonald in her 1970s and 1980s character Lyn of Tawa.
Some may say Tawa has remained in the same era.
The signage of the Pink Pineapple bakery on the main drag certainly looks that old.
But those who live in Tawa see another side.
‘‘We came here because the houses were a bit more affordable,’’ Leanne Ellis says, while son Felix shows off the house’s distinctive buzzy-bee letterbox.
There is also the fact of good schools, a good community, and an easy train into the city.
Back at the Bucket Tree Lodge, Lynn’s husband, Murray Reeve, is not feeling presentable enough for a photo. He is covered in clippings from said Bucket Tree.
Once a year, Wellington City Council prunes the tree but the rest of the time it is down to Murray.
According to Lynn, the story goes the tree was originally shaped into a bell but all the children sliding down it took off the edges so it had to become a bucket.
The tree has a history – it is thought to have been planted around 1860 – but so too does the lodge.
The Reeves have owned it for 25 years meaning, Murray Reeve says, they are the longest-running motel owners in Wellington.
At the suburb’s Salvation Army premises – where a preschool music session is in full flight – pastor and officer Jess Bezzant has lived in many communities but said Tawa was the best so far.
‘‘It is a very caring, loving community. It is really supportive,’’ she says.
Bruce Murray has lived in Tawa for 55 years and has seen the suburb transform. His wife moved from Gore to Tawa in 1958.
‘‘One thing she appreciated about Tawa in 1958 is she could look out the kitchen window and see sheep. It reminded her of Gore and she did not feel homesick.’’
Looking out that same window now it is just houses and pine forest.
He recalls a virtually selfsufficient village in 1958. The kind of place where you would queue to pay for your pound of nails at the local hardware store on a Saturday morning.
Now, big shopping precincts in Porirua to the north and Johnsonville to the south have killed that.
In fact, he reckons that if you took out the food outlets, the hairdressers and real estate agents from the main drag it would be allbut empty.
But some things remain the same. His children could walk to school in relative safety and so too can the children today. Three of his children have moved back to the suburb with their children.