Kiwitahi

Kiwitahi is a rural community in the Matamata-Piako District and Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island, located directly south of Morrinsville.

[3] William Chepmell established a 690-acre farm at Kiwitahi in 1871, which he continued operating through the depression of the 1880s and 1890s without having to sell or subdivide.

The remoteness of Kiwitahi meant he would have ridden approximately 56,000 km total to attend council and road board meetings.

[6] New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company Ltd had a cheese factory near the railway station,[7] from 1919, until it burnt down on 9 October 1937,[8] by which time it was producing casein.

His farm was brought by the Government after World War II, and subdivided for settling returned servicemen back to the land.

By the 1960s the pasture in the area was highly sought-after due to extensive eradication efforts by the Kiwitahi Rabbit Board.

[2]: 145 In 1960 the Piako County Council established a Māori housing settlement in Kiwitahi to replace earlier homes that were demolished in Waharoa.

[2]: 270 Kiwitahi had a flag station about 4 mi (6.4 km) from the village, on the East Coast Main Trunk,[6] opened from Morrinsville to Tīrau (then called Oxford) on Monday 8 March 1886[11] by the Thames Valley & Rotorua Railway Co. New Zealand Railways Department took over the line on 1 April 1886.