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Story: Country towns

Tairua, 1880s

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Tairua, 1880s

The piles of timber sitting on the wharf show that Tairua in the Coromandel began life as a port to export kauri logs from the surrounding hills. Once the trees had been felled the township became a farm settlement. More recently it has become a tourism centre.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, L. R. Young Collection

Reference: 1/2-084881; F

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Jock Phillips, Country towns – Origins, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/19396/tairua-1880s (accessed 11 June 2026).

Story by Jock Phillips, published 1 March 2009.