The Republic of Whangamomona

The Republic of Whangamomona is a small township located along Highway 43, also known as the Forgotten Highway. The town of Whangamomona was officially established in 1897, 2 years after settlers arrived in the area. In 1989 it became a Republic, in protest of a change in boundary lines for the regional councils. Until 1989, Whangamomona was in the Taranaki district, but the new boundaries would change that so the township became part of the Manawatu-Wanganui district.

The township wanted to remain part of Taranaki, and since new boundary lines did not allow this, they declared themselves a Republic. Since then, there have been 27 Republic of Whangamomona Independence Day celebrations. They are now held once every two years, and have become a festival which attracts visitors from far and wide. An important part of the celebration is electing the next president. The first president was Ian Kjestrup, and was in office for 10 years. The first elected animal president was Billy Gumboot the Goat, who won the 1999 election by eating the other candidates’ ballots.

The 2015 Independence Day celebration was held on 24 January. It was a lovely sunny summer day, the hottest so far this summer. It would be hard to say how many people attended, but the number of people in the space available made it look like a good crowd. When you reached the edge of the Republic you were greeted by border control, who presented you with a Republic of Whangamomona passport, in exchange for $5. Once you cleared the border, you were sent to immigration to get your official entry stamp on the passport.

I got there just in time to watch the Gutbuster. Each year contestants join in a race up to the top of an incredibly steep hill (which also doubles as a sheep field) and back down. I was quite impressed with how quickly some of the runners made it to the top. The oldest contestant was 67 (he apparently runs the race every time they hold it), and the youngest looked to be somewhere between 6 and 9. All I could think was kudos to them, both because of the temperature (the race was held at 1230, so not the coolest part of the day), and because of the course for the race.

While we browsed stalls selling all manner of local arts, crafts, and trinkets (and yummy things like meat pies, homemade baking and ice cream), we had the pleasure of enjoying a bagpipe band populated by local players of all ages. After a nice picnic lunch in the shade (the sun was ridiculously hot, 27 degrees Celcius), we enjoyed the next round of competitions.

Teams of 5 people were put together for this event. One person hammered a nail into a stump, the next had to shear a sheep, up third was a wood-chopper, followed by a pie-eater and lastly a pint-drinker. The competition was open to anyone willing to take the challenge. Some of the wood-choppers were as young as 8 or 10, and eager to show off their skills.

Blade shearing

Team Sports

Shearing competition t-shirt

 The last event I saw before deciding it was time to head towards home was a demonstration of how to shear a sheep with blades instead of an electric shearer, (blade-shearing is the traditional way). I’d say it definitely takes a bit of skill to wield said shears, as the handle alone was bigger than my hand. Following the sheep shearing was a demonstration on how to skin possums. New Zealand possums look quite different from the US variety, but they are still not cute. Apparently the tail is the most valuable fur off the possum. The fur can be sold and it goes for making Possum/Merino scarves, hats, etc.

NZ possum

Although I did not stay all day, other events planned for the remainder of the day was a sheep race, electing the new president of the Republic, and gumboot throwing.