Фокстон: от льняной промышленности к культурному центру Новой Зеландии.

Town in Manawatū Whanganui, New Zealand

The 50 or so flax mills that once operated in Foxton's vicinity slowly disappeared before WWII, while the Feltex carpet factory closed in 2008, causing unemployment. What was once an industrious flax industry town, had to reinvent itself. These days, Foxton is trying to create a new local economy, by attracting visitors from throughout the region. Several cafés intersperse the boutique shops on Main Street. A Cultural Park includes a Dutch windmill, a Maori carving workshop and the Flax Stripper Museum. De Molen hosts some 45,000 customers p. a. while the multi cultural community and visitor hub Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom, attracts some 150,000 users through its doors annually. As the centre piece of the Cultural Park, the Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom facility was awarded a top 'excellence' museum award in 2018. The Piriharakeke and Oranjehof museums, a gallery, and exhibitions enable visitors to reflect on their own heritage and family’s roots. The multi cultural and multi lingual Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom reflects diversity, and offers learning spaces through its library, heritage room and children's area with educational toys. Foxton Beach caters to those interested in active life style pursuits. According to the Department of Conservation: "The diversity and number of wading and shore birds that visit the Manawatu Estuary make it one of the best bird watching spots in the country.". Foxton Beach is a popular swimming and fishing spot that is patrolled in the weekends and public holidays in summer by the Foxton Surf Life Saving Club.

The first inhabitants of the Manawatū area were Māori who probably arrived in the thirteenth or fourteenth century. Compared to other parts of the North Island the district was sparsely populated, but there was a major marae at Matakarapa, across the river from Te Awahou (now Foxton) as well as kāinga (villages) and pā (fortified villages) along much of the river. A number of tribes have occupied the area; the Rangitāne had replaced the Ngāti Ara and the Ngāti Mamoe by the 1800s and were in their turn invaded by the Ngāti Toa and allies so that in the 1840s the site of Te Awahou (which was to become Foxton) was occupied by the Ngāti Ngarongo and Ngati Takihiku under the leadership of Ihakara Tukumaru. In the early years of European settlement it was an important trading post and shipping port as the sea was the easiest way to transport goods and people to the Manawatū. The Manawatū River was then the main access to the rich hinterland. The west coast of the lower North Island is not naturally supplied with harbours and the Foxton harbour had a dangerous bar at the river mouth. As the only real harbour between Whanganui and Wellington it was used anyway.

Foxton was named after Sir William Fox, and has a history of flax stripping, which was used to make wool packs, matting and rope. Other industries associated with the town have included clothing manufacturing and sawmilling. The town is known for producing the soda drink Foxton Fizz, although the products are now made in Putāruru. Early on, Foxton became a thriving regional centre, and with that status came a newspaper the Manawatu Herald (est. in 1878). It was only with the advent of the Palmerston North Wellington railway that Palmerston North began to overtake it as the most important centre in the Manawatū. The central government had originally proposed that Foxton was to be on the route of the main line from Wellington to Auckland via Palmerston North, and a tramway linking Foxton and Palmerston North was upgraded into the Foxton Branch railway in the 1870s. However, due to government delays in extending the line further south, a group of Wellingtonian businessmen established the Wellington and Manawatu Railway (WMR), which announced in February 1881 that the "West Coast" line would run to Longburn, bypassing Foxton. This was a shorter and more direct route to Napier and Auckland, and avoided "unproductive country". When this line opened in 1886, Foxton's status as a port slipped, and this position deteriorated further when the WMR was incorporated into the government's national rail network in 1908. The branch railway closed in 1959, leaving only road access to the town. The mycologist Kathleen Curtis (1892–1994) was born in Foxton.

Kere Kere statistical area surrounds but does not include Foxton or Foxton Beach. It covers

The area is sand country with a temperate climate, average monthly temperatures ranging from 8 °C (July) to 17.4 °C (January), with a minimum/maximum of −4 °C to 27 °C. Foxton has an average of about 2,000 sunshine hours a year, and average precipitation of about 900 mm annually. The prevailing winds in the area are west northwest and have driven the sand back from the coast to create the most extensive transgressive sand dune system in New Zealand.

SH1 runs through Foxton. The town is served by three InterCity buses a day and a commuter bus runs to Palmerston North at 7:05am, returning at 5:20pm. There is also a shoppers' bus to Levin on Fridays.

Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom and the Cultural Park is located in the centre of town. The fully restored BNZ building on Main Street, and the oldest cottage in the region 'Nye Cottage' on Harbour Street are both within view of the Park. In 2003, a full size replica of a Dutch windmill, called De Molen was completed and opened. This working Stellingmolen windmill produces stone ground flour, which can be purchased inside the mill's Dutch Deli. Visitors can climb up three floors, to witness the wooden mechanical workings of the mill in action examples of traditional Dutch 17th Century engineering. The miller sets the blades in motion on windy days, and is available for tours to explain the history of milling, or for a more casual conversation. The Foxton Fizz factory, opened in 1918, is open to visitors. The National Museum of Audio Visual Arts & Sciences, also known as the MAVTech Museum, opened in the 1970s. It's located in authentic restored movie theatre, first opened as the Coronation Hall in 1911, was exhibits the development of audiovisual technology. The Foxton Courthouse building houses the Foxton Museum, which was closed due to earthquake risk. Flax Stripper Museum, a museum about the area's flax industry history, opened in 1990.

Manawatū College is a co educational state secondary school, with a roll of as of
Foxton has two co educational state primary schools for Year 1 to 8 students: Coley Street School, with a roll of and Foxton School, with a roll of ,. St Mary's School is a co educational state integrated Catholic primary school for Year 1 to 8 students, with a roll of .