Tirau

Tirau is a small town of about 800 inhabitants in the Waikato region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located 50 kilometers southeast of Hamilton in the South Waikato district. Tirau is originally a Farmer City, but has begun in recent years to draw their income from their location on a national thoroughfare. Tirau is in the Maori language " place with many Cabbage trees ( Cordyline australis) ".

History

In the 19th century Tirau was planned as a great place called Oxford in Waikato. The enterprising family Rose bought much of the land in order to make lots of money, but failed, and it was from Oxford only a fairly minor agricultural center. In 1896 it was renamed in Tirau. In the late 1980s he was almost a ghost town.

In 1991 Henry Clothier because of low real estate prices to the idea of ​​opening an antique store in the former business of the Roses. He was followed by many others, so Tirau a popular place to break the journey on the State Highway 1 is now to buy Old, Original or kitsch. Almost all stores have corrugated iron sculptures or are made ​​entirely of corrugated iron, for example, a shop for woolen products in the form of a giant sheep. The tourist office in turn is a large dog.

In 2000, the Toy Museum The Castle was opened.