Longburn
Longburn (or Karere) is a rural settlement just outside Palmerston North in the Manawatu-Wanganui area of New Zealand. Made up of large dairy processing plants Longburn is often mistaken to be a small township and not seen as a large satellite town of Palmerston North. The township is home to both Longburn School and Longburn Adventist College.

The population was 651 in 2006.

History

Settlement
Originally a forest clearing before settlement , some of the region's earliest settlers settled in the Longburn area.  Among them were the former Prime Minister of Denmark, Bishop Ditlev Monrad and his family.

Industry
1884 saw a butter factory open and this was followed by a meat freezing works in 1890.

Longburn Freezing Company Limited began their substantial operation in November 1889 on a 26 acres site beside the railway line. It soon experienced severe financial difficulties and, the undercapitalised business having borrowed large sums from them, the National Mortgage and Agency Company of New Zealand took control of the business during 1896. It was sold by NMA in 1940 to Manchester's Co-operative Wholesale Society, and closed in October 1987.

Railway
Longburn is significant in railway history, as the Longburn Railway Station was the northern terminus of New Zealand's most prominent and successful private railway, the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company.  The line between Longburn and Wellington was completed in 1886 and at Longburn, passengers and goods transferred between the Wellington and Manawatu Railway and the New Zealand Railways Department network.  On 8 December 1908, the Wellington and Manawatu was absorbed into the New Zealand Railways, and Longburn lost its significant interchange status.  However, the Foxton Branch was retained until it closed in 1959. The branch line resulted in the official name of the station changing from Long Burn to Longburn Junction. The name was adopted by the Junction Hotel opposite the station. The line through Longburn is now part of the North Island Main Trunk Railway.

Governance
In an attempt to attract growth to the Manawatu region, the Manawatu District Council agreed to cede part of its territory to Palmerston North City. However, Longburn was a part of this only to the eastern side of the North Island Main Trunk Railway, effectively cutting the settlement in half.