[2] It has a rare surviving example of a basic railway station, a cafe, developed from the former post office and store[3] about 1969,[4] and a truck repair workshop.

[6] Matamau was in the 20,600 acres (8,300 ha) Te Ohu Block,[8] which was part of the 183,430 acres (74,230 ha) Seventy Mile Bush, bought by Government for £17,552 on 16 August 1871,[9] from Hohepa Paewai, a chief of the Rangitāne iwi.

[23] St Michaels and All Angels Anglican church was on the other side of the main road, on O'Kane Rd, from later in 1911[24] to 1994.

[29] It had almost halved by the 2018 census to 144 (18 Māori, 117 European) in meshblock 7018799, which covers 63.6 km2 (24.6 sq mi) around Matamau.

[30] J Mortensen leased the bush as far as Piripiri in 1885 and set up a sawmills at Matamau[31] (near the station),[32] Piripiri and Mangatera, in over 11,000 acres (4,500 ha) of the Seventy Mile Bush,[33] to cut totara, mataī, rimu and kahikatea.

[37] In 1899 Bosher Bros of Feilding put a sawmill on France Rd,[38] in the Te Ohu block, near Matamau, after buying Gamman and Simmond's lease of 1250 acres.

[48] Before the purchase of Seventy Mile Bush was complete, Government was advertising contracts to clear a 66 ft (20 m) wide strip through it, for what is now SH2, from Takapau to Manawatū Gorge.

[55] Part of Matamau's cemetery (opened in 1890)[56] was moved in 1957, when the road was realigned through a cutting.

[64] For almost 6 months it was the southern terminus of the 71 mi 58 ch (115.4 km) line from Napier.

When completed on 9 Mar 1891, the line extended to Palmerston North, then 40 mi 11 ch (64.6 km) away.

Matamau Post Office opened in 1883,[69] closed in March 1885,[70] and from 1886 to 1909 was at the station, staffed by a ganger.

[75] On 8 February 1985 a train derailed, causing much damage to the track, after which the station siding was removed.

[77] The 4 mi 22 ch (6.9 km) extension south, from Makotuku to Matamau, took 5 years to build.

[80] Construction stopped shortly after the line reached Makotuku, in August 1880, due to the depression.

[82] The final 1 mi 22 ch (2.1 km) to Matamau was divided into 9 contracts in 1883 to allow local settlers to tender for the work of forming the railway.

[83] In February 1884, after a public meeting protested at the slow progress,[84] the Minister of Public Works promised the local MP, William Cowper Smith, that a daily train would run to Matamau, as soon as the tracks and station were built,[85] which was on Monday, 23 June 1884,[86][78] though it wasn't taken over by the Railways Department until Tuesday, 9 September 1884.

On 8 June 1883 Jay and Haynes took on a £13,615 contract to build the 8+1⁄4 mi (13.3 km) extension south from Matamau to Tahoraite (or Tahoraiti, later renamed Tapuata).

[97][98] Te Ohu, 62 ch (1.2 km) east of Matamau, had a 13-wagon siding for the Sash & Door Co sawmill.

The siding was reported as taken up in 1911,[101] but that may have been just for reconstruction of the viaduct, as the sawmill's tramway horses weren't sold until 1921.