Wairoa

The first bridge across the Wairoa river was built in 1888. It was subsequently damaged in the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. A replacement bridge was built and this was completed in 1933. It was destroyed by Cyclone Bola in 1988. The third bridge was completed and officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990.

There have long been tensions between the rival Mongrel Mob and Black Power gangs in Wairoa. In 1988, Wairoa's main street: Marine Parade was the scene of a fatal shooting of two Black Power associates. In 2003, a Mongrel Mob member was killed in February and a sniper shot a Black Power gang member dead in a van following an incident near the Wairoa Courthouse in November. In 2010, a Black Power gang member was shot in the face.Two Black Power members retaliated later that year and shot a Mongrel Mob member several times at a Wairoa petrol station. In 2021, gang related violence flared again with five separate incidents of guns being fired at homes in Wairoa. The police launched Operation Atlas to reduce tensions and stop the ongoing violence in Wairoa.In 2022, a shotgun blast hit the window of a child's bedroom (though the child was not present in the room) and a person received serious leg injuries. This was due to gang-crossfire where two homes were shot at in a drive-by shooting

The Wairoa Harbour Board was established in 1872.The Wairoa lighthouse was built between 1877 and 1878 and its beacon was first lit in 1878. The tower was reinforced in 1879 to provide greater stability after a storm damaged it.

In 2017, Rocket Lab built their rocket launch site on the Mahia Peninsula with Wairoa being the closet town to the site (83 kilometres away). This has led to a number of employment opportunities for Wairoa.

The Wairoa branch of the ANZ bank closed in 2018, and the BNZ and Westpac banks closed in 2021. Wairoa also lost its only dentist in 2020 forcing locals to visit Gisborne or Napier for dental treatment.Read more