Matamata Attractions

60km east of Hamilton, on Highway 27, is the little town of Matamata (Waikato region; pop. 6000), the commercial center of an agricultural region (sheep, dairy farming, horse breeding). The town owes its origin to a 19th C. British immigrant named Firth who leased more than 22,000ha of land from the local Maori chief, Wiremu Tamihana. He drained the swamps, built a road to the military settlement of Cambridge and made the Waihou River navigable for cargo vessels. By the end of the century, however, his little empire had collapsed. He built the three-story Firth Tower (1881; 3km east of Matamata) as a refuge against Maori raids. Beside the tower are his house and a number of other old buildings.