Hāwera

The town has some of the best villa style homes to be found anywhere, and being the main town in the South Taranaki district it has every amenity including two golf courses and its own race course and horse training facilities.

Hāwera is the site of the largest dairy factory complex in the world, “Whareroa”, which has its own gas-fired power plant. The complex is owned by Fonterra, having been built by the former Kiwi Co-operative Dairies Limited (whose original plant opened on that site in 1975).

Hāwera is also home to Tawhiti Museum, well known for its hand-crafted life-sized wax sculptures depicting scenes of local heritage and history, and its scale models of local Maori pa.

History: Hāwera is Māori for burnt place, from fighting between two local sub-tribes, which culminated in the setting ablaze of the sleeping whare (house) of the tribe under attack. The name became apt when the town suffered extensive blazes in 1884, 1888, and 1912. For this reason a large water tower was built in the center of town to increase water pressure; and this became one of Taranaki’s best-known landmarks (appearing, for example, on the cover of the 1974 telephone directory). After falling into disrepair the tower was closed to the public in 2001, but after an extensive restoration program it opened again in 2004.