Masterton East (also known as Eastside or Cameron Block) is a suburb of Masterton, a town on New Zealand's North Island.

Suburb of Masterton in Masterton District Council, New Zealand

Masterton East
Suburb of Masterton
Queen Elizabeth Park entrance
Coordinates: 40.958202°S 175.665622°E / -40.958202; 175.665622
Country	New Zealand
City	Masterton
Local authority	Masterton District Council
Area [1]
• Land	239 ha (591 acres)
Population  (June 2021)[2]
• Total	4,140

Masterton West	Masterton Central	Lansdowne
Kuripuni	Masterton East
Solway

It is a low socio-economic area with social housing, with about 15% of Masterton's population. About 30% of the population are Māori, primarily belonging to Rangitāne and Ngāti Kahungunu.[3]

A central feature of the park is McJorrow Park, a soccer park. Playgrounds, an asphalt basketball court, a sunshade, seating and outside tables were installed in the park between 2015 and 2017.[4]

The park features Te Awhina Cameron Community House, a community centre that hosts English as a Second Language classes, playgroup, cooking classes and furniture workshops. The building was renovated between 2013 and 2014.[5]

In 2018, Masterton District Council and the Eastside Community Group worked on a project to slow vehicles through the area. Some cars were significantly damaged by one steep obstacle installed on River Road.[6]

Later the same year, Massey University students developed ideas to improve the area, including further road changes and turning graffiti into public art.[3] The ideas was passed on to the Eastside Community Group to consider.[7]

Demographics

Masterton East, comprising the statistical areas of Cameron and Soldiers Park and McJorrow Park, covers 2.39 km² (0.92 sq mi).[1] It had an estimated population of 4,140 as of June 2021, with a population density of 1,732 people per km².

Masterton East had a population of 3,837 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 261 people (7.3%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 444 people (13.1%) since the 2006 census. There were 1,449 households. There were 1,860 males and 1,977 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.94 males per female, with 822 people (21.4%) aged under 15 years, 816 (21.3%) aged 15 to 29, 1,533 (40.0%) aged 30 to 64, and 663 (17.3%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 72.0% European/Pākehā, 36.8% Māori, 7.6% Pacific peoples, 4.3% Asian, and 1.3% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities).

The proportion of people born overseas was 10.7%, compared with 27.1% nationally.

Although some people objected to giving their religion, 52.6% had no religion, 32.1% were Christian, 0.6% were Hindu, 0.2% were Muslim, 0.2% were Buddhist and 6.3% had other religions.

Of those at least 15 years old, 285 (9.5%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 852 (28.3%) people had no formal qualifications. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 1,227 (40.7%) people were employed full-time, 426 (14.1%) were part-time, and 171 (5.7%) were unemployed.[8]

Education

Makoura College is a co-educational state secondary school for Year 9 to 13 students,[11] with a roll of 290 as of March 2022.[12] It was founded in 1968.[13]

The Wairarapa Teen Parent Unit is attached to the school.[14]

Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Wairarapa is a co-educational state Māori language immersion area school for Year 1 to 15 students,[15] with a roll of 96.[16]

References