Naenae (, occasionally spelled NaeNae) is a suburb of Lower Hutt, New Zealand. It lies on the eastern edge of the floodplain of the Hutt River, four kilometres from the Lower Hutt Central business district. A small tributary of the Hutt, the Waiwhetū Stream, flows through the suburb. Naenae lies 19.7 km from Wellington Central.
Toponymy
Naenae or nae-nae is a translation from the Māori, meaning "mosquito" or "sandfly", and is widely believed to recall a time prior to the draining of the area, when the mosquito population predominated. However, the name of the suburb 'Naenae' is an incorrect recording by settler populations of the traditional Māori name 'Te Ngaengae.' In fact, 'Naenae’ is derived from 'Te Ngaengae', which means ‘to cause effect through rupture’. The story of Naenae begins with Māui raising the fish Hāhā-te-Whenua, and his brothers cutting the fish and creating mountains, lakes and rivers. There was a freshwater lake where Naenae cemetery is now. Two man-eating taniwha dwelled there, and people were banned from going into the water because they would disappear. One day a child slipped in and the two taniwha raced towards the child and tore each other apart. Thus two rivers were created: Waiwhetū and Te Awamutu. Taniwha are unexplained phenomena, not necessarily the large monsters they are often represented as. Te Ngaengae could be ‘a volcanic activity underwater’. Maui’s fish was called Hāhā-te-Whenua – a reference to plates shifting under the water.
Setting
Naenae occupies a basin and the lower slopes of the Eastern Hutt Hills in the upper reaches of the Waiwhetū Stream catchment area.
Waiwhetū Stream
The stream has its headwaters in the Eastern Hutt hills, above the suburbs of Wingate and Naenae in Lower Hutt. It has a catchment area of around . The stream is around in length and passes through the eastern suburbs of Fairfield, Waterloo, and Waiwhetū, and the industrial areas of Seaview and Gracefield before entering the estuary of the Hutt River Te Awa Kairangi as it reaches Wellington Harbour.
History
As Lower Hutt expanded after the end of World War II in 1945, the Labour Party government under Peter Fraser selected Naenae as an ideal site to become a "designer community", a model suburb of sorts, where a suburban state-housing estate would complement a substantial shopping centre. This community centre would serve as a social hub for the greater area. The planners hoped to encourage nuclear-family life in such a scheme. Due to the increasing urbanization of New Zealand, demand for housing outstripped the need for such centres, leaving the scheme only partially realized.
Ernst Plischke, an Austrian architect, designed plans for the new community centre between 1942 and 1943. However, government architect Gordon Wilson later drastically changed the design.
Naenae Railway Station (opened 1946), on the Hutt Valley section of the Wairarapa Line, adjoins Naenae's shopping centre.
Naenae's post-modern Post Office building, (officially opened in 1966, closed as a postal centre in 2016) pays homage to the Art Deco era Main Post Office in Lower Hutt town centre.
A re-zoning of Naenae made it partly industrial in the 1960s, but it remained principally a residential area. At its peak, Naenae boasted two manufacturers with strong Dutch connections: Philips, which produced televisions and radios. The last television set produced in this factory was made on 11 June 1988. Resene Paints occupied the buildings . Rembrandt Suits, formed following the Second World War by Dutch tailors. It moved out of its 1950s era Naenae factory in 2012.
Swimming pool
Naenae's shopping centre contained an Olympic-size swimming-pool, built when New Zealand hosted an international diving championships. The pool was opened on 10 November 1956, and had three diving boards. Originally open-air, a roof over the pool was completed in 1987, making it usable all year round. A hydroslide was constructed adjacent to the main pool in the same project. The toddlers' paddling pool remained open-air for a few years more. At the time of the completion of the roof, the pool was the only facility in Wellington with both a 50 metre pool and competition diving platforms.