Bunnythorpe is a village in the Manawatu-Wanganui region of New Zealand's North Island, 10km north of the region's major city, Palmerston North. Dairy farms predominate the surrounding area but the community facilities include Bunnythorpe School, with a roll of about 80 pupils as of 2010 as well as a Rugby Football Club, Country Club and several manufacturing plants. The population was 222 in the 2013 census.National grid operator Transpower has a large electrical substation near the village. It is the major switching point for high voltage lines in the lower central North Island, and also is responsible for local supply to northern and eastern Palmerston North and the Manawatu district.HistoryThe North Island Main Trunk Railway passed over government owned land, which was subdivided and later became Bunnythorpe. The village takes its name from Henry Bunny, the Secretary-Treasurer of the Wellington Provincial Council, which functioned from 1853 to 1876.On the other side of the rail line, the town of Mugby Junction was to be established. It was proposed in 1878, that the link between the North Island Main Trunk and the Napier line would be here. However plans changed and the junction was located at Palmerston North. The building of Mugby Junction never eventuated.Bunnythorpe gave birth to the Glaxo company and its products. In 1904 Joseph Nathan and Sons founded a baby-food manufacturer which processed local milk into a baby food named Glaxo (sold in the 1930s under the slogan Glaxo builds bonny babies)., still visible on the main street of Bunnythorpe is the factory for drying and processing cows' milk into powder, with the original Glaxo logo clearly visible, but nothing to indicate the birthplace of a major multinational. Products were made in Bunnythorpe until 1973. the building is commercially owned.
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