The Mervyn Kemp Library has a folder containing a few newspaper articles relating to the Tawa Borough Council, and some about the Tawa Community Board. Most of those newspaper articles are available as listed below.

Here is some background (taken from the Tawa Community Board's Community Plan, May 2011) about the Tawa Borough Council which ran the affairs of Tawa when it was an independent borough prior to 1989:

"The Borough of Tawa takes its name from the native Tawa tree (Beilschmiedia tawa) that once covered the area. The name Tawa Flat was first used in 1854 in the Wellington Provincial Gazette. In the 1941 local body elections Tawa Flat was part of Makara county which also included Porirua and Titahi Bay.

In 1953 Tawa Flat and Linden became an independent borough. After rapid housing expansion in the 1950s outside the Tawa Flat area, the name was changed (on 23 February 1959) to the Borough of Tawa. The Tawa Borough Council negotiated for its own water and sewage system to accommodate its expansion into Redwood and Linden.

On 3 October 1988 the Local Government Commission decreed that the Borough of Tawa would be amalgamated with Wellington City. In 1989 the Tawa Community Board was set up to replace the Borough Council."


MAYORS OF TAWA  1953-1989

1953-54   George Turkington  (resigned after six months because of his appointment to the
1953-54   Local Government Commission).<
1954-55   M M Davidson  (resigned after 18 months because of his transfer elsewhere).<
1955-83   Mervyn Kemp.<
1983-86   Roy Mitchell.<
1986-87   Doris Mills  (died in office 17 June 1987).<
1987-89   David Watt.<



Election leaflet for Roy H Mitchell - 1974

"The truth about Tawa" (reference to 'L.. of Tawa') - 17 Jan 1983

"Era closing for Mervyn Kemp" - 29 July 1986

"Mayor Mitchell calls it a day" - 26 Aug 1986

"Cr Mills seeking mayoralty" - 2 Sept 1986

"Cr Thompson standing down" - 2 Sept 1986

"Mayor [Mills] outlines hopes" - 9 Dec 1986

"Mayor [Mills] dies suddenly" - 17 June 1987

"Mayor of Tawa dies suddenly" - 18 June 1987

"Tawa councillor [Wright] stepping down" - 29 July 1987

"Tawa to be a ward of Wellington" - 4 Oct 1988

"Tawa gave independence its 'best shot'" - 18 Oct 1988

"Watt to leave local politics" - 7 June 1995

"Reluctant resident [Kemp] leaves his mark on local politics" - 16 Apr 1996

"Kemp of Tawa: loyal defender" - 29 Jan 2003