Hopuhopu was a New Zealand Army Camp in use from 1920 to 1989 and located 5 km (3.1 mi) north of the town of Ngāruawāhia.

[5] With he construction of the Auckland to Te Awamutu leg of the North Island Main trunk Line in the 1870s, the land that Hopuhopu occupied was passed into the possession of the New Zealand Railway Department.

[7] Hopuhopu was used as a tented camp for Territorial army training throughout the 1920s whilst construction of the permanent infrastructure was undertaken with the first buildings handed over and taken into use during 1927,[8] with final construction completed in August 1929 at a cost of £130,000 (2019 NZD$12,845,552.24).

Hopuhopu served in its intended role as a mobilisation camp in 1939/40, as elements of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force Mobilised at Hopuhopu for overseas service.

Hopuhopu remained as an active military camp until 1989, where as part of number of base closures across the New Zealand Defence Force, Hopuhopu ceased to be an active military camp.