Karori Road has been used since the 1840s to describe part or all of the route from the city to Karori. The earliest settlers made their way up Orangi Kaupapa Road and Military Track, crossing over Northland, down to the Kaiwharawhara Stream and then past Seaforth Terrace and Rosehaugh Avenue to reach Karori Road. Signs mark part of the way. Soon, however, the regular route was up The Rigi, over the hill (later pierced by the Karori Tunnel), down to the Kaiwharawhara Stream, across the Devil's Bridge and up Old Karori Road, then through a deep cutting to Karori Road. A plaque erected by the Wellington City Council in 1989 near the former Karori Garden Centre in Old Karori Road commemorates this route. Karori Road remains the main way through the suburb down to South Karori Road which, with various bridges, gave access to many small dairy farms in the early days.
As part of the Wellington City Council's renaming of many Wellington streets in 1925, it was proposed that the road from the Botanic Garden to the foot of Makara Hill be renamed as follows:
Botanic Garden to Tunnel - Glenmore Street
Tunnel to Cemetery - Karori Road
Cemetery to Makara Hill - Chaytor Street
The argument was that any road to Karori should be known as Karori Road. However, John Burns, a Wellington city councillor, (ex-Karori borough councillor) and Karori resident, was instrumental in switching the proposed Karori Road and Chaytor Street named sections before final approval. The numbering of Karori Road property today follows sequentially from the Old Karori Road numbering. Thus, Karori Road numbering commences at 77, following on from 75A Old Karori Road.
- Will Chapman & Kitty Wood (updated by Judith Burch), Karori Streets 1841-2019, Wellington, 2019, p.59-60.
See also:
History: Rich pickings at the Regal Cinema, 10 February 2020History: How to take a bus, 28 November 2018
History: Wright's Hill Fortress, 29 October 2013
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