Tirau transformed into Waikato's boom town

By KEVIN TAYLOR

In the 1980s tiny Tirau was dying.

Then in 1989 businessman Henry Clothier moved in and started a revival.

Empty shops lined the main streets as the south Waikato town of 800 became a victim of centralisation and urban drift.

Undeterred, Mr Clothier opened an antique shop. He was told it would not last two months, but it operated for 12 years and became the largest antiques store in the Waikato.

More businesses soon followed - and where once there were three eating houses there are now at least 13.

Tirau is now on a roll.

A senior lecturer in sociology at Auckland University Dr Claudia Bell said Tirau had successfully done what many rural New Zealand towns sought to do - put themselves on the map.

New valuations released in January show Tirau's commercial land values have risen by an average of 30 per cent, while commercial property values in neighbouring Putaruru and Tokoroa have fallen by the same amount.

These days the few houses put up for sale in Tirau are snapped up.

And at the weekend, locals and hundreds of visitors celebrated the opening of Tirau's latest attraction - the castle. The prominent building houses a toy and doll museum.

Kelvin and Pam Baker, the couple behind the $500,000 castle, had to fight off jibes that they were crazy. They also had to fight off an Environment Court appeal to get started.

In keeping with the castle's medieval theme about 20 members of the Auckland-based Knights Draconis, a medieval re-enactment society, staged mock fights at the opening.

Dr Bell, author of the award-winning New Zealand book Putting Our Town on the Map, said Tirau had worked as a destination because everyone had got behind its promotional ideas.

Rural towns had to brand themselves these days to attract visitors, she said.

Tirau information centre manager Dalton Poppe said the town's population had remained static at about 800 - but businesses were healthier, and more were coming. This week sees the opening of a fifth antiques shop.

Mr Poppe said Tirau had natural geographic advantages. It was about equal driving distance between Tauranga, Rotorua and Hamilton, about two hours from Auckland, and two and half hours from Mt Ruapehu.





Mr Clothier said that in the past few years Tirau had moved from being a tourist stop to a genuine attraction in its own right - so much so that another motel is now needed.

South Waikato Mayor Gordon Blake said Tirau was the "jewel in the crown" of the district. "If you had said 10 years ago that people are going to spend weekends in Tirau, I probably would have thought you were a couple of cents short of the dollar."