upper moutere

Upper Moutere is a township in the upper Moutere valley, 18 km south of Motueka. German immigrants settled here in 1843 but winter floods forced them out of the upper valley to Waimea and Ranzau (later called Hope). Some returned later, and they retained their language and culture up until about the 1900s. Germans brought the first grapes into the region. Upper Moutere was known as St Paulidorf, and also as Sarau, after a town in northern Germany. During the First World War Germans were pressured to share their fellow New Zealanders’ allegiance to Britain. German names were anglicised and Sarau became Upper Moutere.