Hawera Attractions

Under the south side of Mount Taranaki, at the northwest end of Taranaki Bay, is the agricultural market town of Hawera (pop. 11,000); the Maori name means 'burnt earth'. Threatened by the Hauhau movement after the land wars in the Taranaki region, the settlers withdrew southward to Patea. In 1870 a military post was established at Hawera, and round this a settlement grew. Angered by the government's tolerance in its dealings with the Maori leader Te Whiti and the passive resistance and civil disobedience of his tribe, the local settlers drove out the Maoris in 1879 and proclaimed the Republic of Hawera; the separatist movement was quickly put down by the government.