The development of Bush Multisport Park as the largest sporting, cultural and corporate hub in the Tararua District was born from the vision of two local Trust members and realised by a community motivated to grow sport and recreation opportunities in the district. The Bush Multisport Trust's vision was for a multisport facility to benefit all local sports clubs. The project has gone through four stages of transformative development, to establish an innovative multisport community complex that has grown into a sustainable sports club and recreation model in the Tararua. The Trust operates on behalf of Tararua District Council, and the community was empowered by council to develop its own facilities, which has been the main reason developments to date have been so successful.

Bush Multisport Trust board was established in 2000 to grow sport and recreation in the Tararua district as well as to meet the changing needs of local community. Around that time, a number of sports clubs faced uncertain futures, with player numbers decreasing, greater funding required in order to meet the growing operational costs, and facilities in need of future upgrades. The Trust also recognized a need to develop a multi-purpose facility that the local community could utilise for purposes other than sport. The formation of the Trust was a Millennium Shooting Star project and the inaugural Trustees had terrific foresight to locate all sporting codes to the existing stadium and recreational grounds.

The Trust operates the Park on behalf of the Tararua District Council, this partnership is key in supporting annual operation. Council’s support allows the Trust to concentrate on facility improvement and encouraging recreational opportunities. All development work and smaller projects have been made possible by various funding grants and the generosity of our local community and businesses.

The Trust is very much a story of a small rural community punching well above its weight. It is proud of its achievement in providing fantastic facilities that are extensively utilised by the community.

Development Stages

Stage One Development (completed 2004)

Stage one was an extension to the existing Stadium.  The extension included four changing rooms, administration office, fitness gym, lounge, kitchen, bar and deck area. 

Stage one also included the levelling, draining and re-grassing of the grounds to produce a quality sports fields with field lighting.  This project attracted rugby to move to the park and provided improved grounds and facilities for league, cricket and football.

Stage Two Development (completed 2009)

Stage Two was a new artificial Multisport Turf directly opposite the existing park.  The turf was laid with a sand based astro-grass surface to allow multisport use.  Six tennis, one hockey and six netball courts are marked on the turf.  The completion of this facility saw netball, tennis and hockey join the Bush Multisport Trust and the affiliated codes numbered eleven at its completion.

Stage Three Development (completed in 2011)

Stage Three was the addition of a Pavilion adjacent to the artificial turf. The Trust was very fortunate to acquire the Fonterra Social Clubrooms to use as the top storey of the Pavilion. Fonterra generously donated this building.

The upstairs of the Pavilion has a lounge and kitchen area, used for exercise classes, social functions and additional meeting space. Downstairs level houses Girl Guides and turf changing areas. The addition of this facility to the Bush Multisport Park has helped accommodate additional bookings for seminars, meetings and social functions.

The Pavilion & Turf is the home to Hockey, Outdoor Netball and Tennis and is a wet weather training alternative for various sporting codes. The Pavilion and turf currently attract participants from the wider Tararua area and the Manawatu district. 

Stage Four (completed in 2018)

Bush Multisport Trust in conjunction with the local community board “Pahiatua on Track” completed the fourth stage of development on the remaining Pahiatua Sale-yards land adjacent to existing facilities (which Tararua District Council purchased). The acquisition of this land has allowed the Bush Multisport Park to expand with further green-field space and it was Pahiatua on Track’s desired location for their community Wheel Park (for all abilities of skateboard, BMX and scooters).

We received funding from Waireka to install the “Waireka Half Basketball Court” on the Sale-yards site. This was completed late 2018.