Ballance near Palmerston North: Rural Area Guide to Gorge Country and Farm Life

Last updated October 2026

Ballance is a farming locality in Tararua District, not a suburb of Palmerston North, though the city is the nearest large centre.

The main settlement sits on the western side of the Mangahao River, south and west of Woodville and about 11 kilometres north-west of Pahiatua. Dairy and sheep country fills most of the area, with turbines of the Tararua Wind Farm on the ranges above the farms.

To the north, Ballance Bridge leads to the eastern entrance of Te Āpiti, the Manawatū Gorge, where short bush walks start a few minutes from Woodville. It is a quiet rural place to live in or pass through, with a long-running country school and a history tied to a nineteenth-century land-settlement scheme.

Official Locality Facts

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About Ballance

Ballance is open farming country on the Tararua side of the ranges that separate Palmerston North from Woodville and Pahiatua. The locality takes in river flats and low hills rather than a town centre.

Houses and farm buildings sit among pasture, and the country school is the clearest public landmark in the settlement itself. From higher ground, wind turbines are part of the everyday view.

The name is not a Māori place name. The settlement was founded in 1886 as one of the government special settlements set up under a scheme of John Ballance, then Minister of Lands, and it was named after him. He later became Premier.

The scheme was meant to put families on small holdings. In practice, Ballance remained a farming community rather than growing into a town. An entry in Te Ara has described it as a place that did not thrive in the way its founder intended.

The wider landscape has a much older story. The gorge to the north is Te Āpiti, the Manawatū Gorge, a long-used route between the western plains and the country east of the ranges.

Tararua District Council uses the name Tāmaki-nui-a-Rua for its Māori ward, and local Māori education in the district is tied to Rangitāne. Ballance itself, as a mapped locality, is the European farming settlement and the rural land around it.

For visitors, the reason to stop is usually the gorge rather than a main street. The eastern track entrance sits just across Ballance Bridge, a short drive from Woodville. For people living here, daily life is rural: the school, the farms, and trips into Woodville or Pahiatua for shops, health services and council counters.

Getting Around

Ballance is reached by rural roads, not by a town bypass or a rail station of its own. The school frontage is on Post Office Road, and council speed-zone plans also cover stretches of Gorge Road and Ballance Road. Woodville is the closer service town to the north. Pahiatua lies about 11 kilometres to the south-east, across the Mangahao valley.

The signed turn for the gorge carpark is Ballance Gorge Road, off State Highway 3. Department of Conservation directions say to cross Ballance Bridge to the track entrance. That carpark is about 5 kilometres, or about five minutes, from Woodville. Palmerston North is a longer drive, via the present state highway route rather than a shortcut through the settlement.

There is no shopping strip in the locality. Woodville has cafés, restaurants and speciality shops, many of them open seven days, and the Tararua i-SITE is at 45 Vogel Street. Pahiatua has its own main street, library and council service centre. Those two towns are where residents do ordinary errands.

Getting Outdoors

The standout public walk is the Ballance Loop Track in the Manawatū Gorge Scenic Reserve. It is an easy, well-formed loop of 15 to 30 minutes, clearly signposted, and suitable for pushchairs.

From the carpark it follows the longer gorge track for a short way, then turns left through bush and returns to the same carpark. Small signs along the way record how students from a Palmerston North school see the forest. Dogs are not allowed in the reserve.

The Manawatū Gorge Track also starts at this Woodville end, at the carpark across Ballance Bridge. It climbs above the gorge, with viewpoints over the river, the old road and railway corridor, and turbines on the ranges. It is not a loop. A through-walk toward the Ashhurst end needs a car at the other side, or a turn-back at a viewpoint.

The short loop is the better choice if you have only one vehicle. Steep drops, landslide risk, slippery sections, wasp nests and ongaonga (stinging nettle) are all noted by the Department of Conservation. Stay on the track, supervise children, and check entrance signs for pest-control toxins.

The Tararua Wind Farm stands on farmland in the Ballance area, including Hall Block Road. The turbines are a clear part of the landscape and can be seen from public roads and from gorge viewpoints.

The farm itself is private land, so there is no general public access past the farm gate. The Mangahao River borders the settlement, but this is working farmland rather than a developed swimming or picnic reserve.

History and Heritage

In 1890 the Ballance area was still covered in dense forest. Clearing for farms followed the special-settlement survey. A public school opened in late 1890. By 1896 it had a headmaster, a second teacher and a roll in the eighties, a reminder of how many families were on the land while the bush was coming down.

By 1897 the settlement had about a dozen houses, a Wesleyan church, a public hall built by volunteers, and a store and post office. A narrow road linked it to Pahiatua by way of the Mangahao valley.

Butter-making anchored the early economy. The Ballance Co-operative Dairy Company ran a factory near the township, and a late-nineteenth-century account put annual output at about a hundred tons of butter.

A photograph from about 1895 shows suppliers with horses, wagons and milk cans outside the factory. Dairying is still part of the district, now alongside other farming and the wind farm on the ranges above.

Ballance Bridge is the other fixed point in the local record. The original wooden bridge, designed by James Fulton, was opened by Premier Richard Seddon in 1904 and carried the gorge road over the Manawatū River. It was closed in 1968 because it was considered unsafe, and it was demolished on 23 February 1972.

A new concrete bridge opened in 1971, after two bluffs were removed for the alignment. Manawatū Heritage holds photographs of the earlier bridge, with the gorge road running off to one side. The present bridge is the one walkers cross to reach the track carpark.

Ballance School remains the main community institution. Tararua District Council describes it as a country school that has taught Years 0 to 8 for more than 130 years.

In 2009 a Ministry of Education review proposed closing it, along with other small Tararua schools. It stayed open. The school sits among farms and turbines, and it is still the place where the locality gathers around its children.

Where to Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Ballance part of Palmerston North?
No. Ballance is a locality in Tararua District, in the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Palmerston North is the nearest city, but the locality is administered by Tararua District Council, not Palmerston North City Council.

How do you get to Ballance?
By road from the Woodville side of the district. The school is on Post Office Road, with Ballance Road and Gorge Road also serving the area. For the gorge walks, turn off State Highway 3 onto Ballance Gorge Road and cross Ballance Bridge. The carpark is about five minutes from Woodville.

Is there a school in Ballance?
Yes. Ballance School is a state primary school for Years 0 to 8 on Post Office Road. It opened in late 1890. Older students go to secondary schools in nearby towns, including Tararua College in Pahiatua.

Where do residents shop?
There is no town centre in Ballance. Woodville is the closer place for cafés, restaurants and speciality shops. Pahiatua, about 11 kilometres to the south-east, is the other nearby service town, with shops along Main Street.

Can you walk in the gorge from Ballance?
Yes. The Ballance Loop Track starts at the carpark across Ballance Bridge and takes 15 to 30 minutes. It is easy, well formed and suitable for pushchairs. The longer Manawatū Gorge Track also starts here and runs west toward Ashhurst. That track is not a loop, so a through-walk needs transport at the far end.

Are dogs allowed on the gorge tracks?
No. Dogs are not allowed in the Manawatū Gorge Scenic Reserve. The Department of Conservation also warns of steep drops, wasps and ongaonga on the tracks.

Why is the place called Ballance?
It was named after John Ballance, the Minister of Lands whose village-settlement scheme created the community in 1886. He later became Premier of New Zealand. The name does not come from te reo Māori.

Can you visit the Tararua Wind Farm?
The turbines stand on farmland in the Ballance area, including Hall Block Road, and they are easy to see from public roads and from gorge viewpoints. The farm is private land, so there is no general public access past the farm gate.

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Explore Palmerston North only lists suburbs officially recognised by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), and Ballance is one of them. Suburb boundary: LINZ, CC BY 4.0.