Story: Climate

Wairarapa drought

Bruce McKenzie, a Wairarapa farmer, looks anxious during a drought in Janurary 1998. When climate change brings increased droughts, it threatens the very livelihood of such people.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP/1998/0080/32A

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

Brett Mullan, Andrew Tait and Craig Thompson, Climate – Climate and life in New Zealand, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/7742/wairarapa-drought (accessed 10 June 2026).

Story by Brett Mullan, Andrew Tait and Craig Thompson, published 2 March 2009.