Tararu is a former gold-mining village on the west coast of the

Coromandel Peninsula The Coromandel Peninsula ( mi, Te Tara-O-Te-Ika-A-Māui) on the North Island of New Zealand extends north from the western end of the Bay of Plenty, forming a natural barrier protecting the Hauraki Gulf and the Firth of Thames in the ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. State Highway 25 runs through it;

Te Puru Te Puru is a locality on the western side of the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand. State Highway 25 runs through it. Tapu lies about 7 km to the north, and Thames is about 12 km to the south. The Te Puru Stream and about 18 tribut ...

being about to the north, and

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

about to the south. Tararu has a boat ramp, a 91-dwelling

retirement village A retirement community is a residential community or housing complex designed for older adults who are generally able to care for themselves; however, assistance from home care agencies is allowed in some communities, and activities and socializ ...

, a store, 2 motels, a holiday park and is the northern terminus of the Thames Connector bus. The Category 1 former Thames North School opened on 25 January 1878, closed in 1971 and was taken over by Thames Coromandel Council in 1978. It is now Thames Art Gallery. In the 2013 census, Tararu's population was 525, made up of 210 in

meshblock Mesh blocks or meshblocks are a small geographic unit used in the census of several countries. New Zealand New Zealand's countrywide meshblock framework was first set up in 1976, although the term dates back to at least the 1916 census. The me ...

1048800, 138 (1048900), 48 (1048700), 39 (1049000) and 90 (1049100). Tararu is connected to the Thames water supply.

Tararu Stream

The Tararu Stream drains a steep hilly catchment of in the

Coromandel Range A true-colour image showing Auckland city (left), the Hauraki Gulf (centre) and the Coromandel Peninsula (right). The scene was acquired by NASA's Terra satellite, on October 23, 2002. The Coromandel Range is a mountain range running the length ...

with regenerating native vegetation and scrub. Most of the village lies on the stream's

alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to semiarid climates, but a ...

on the

Firth of Thames The Firth of Thames ( mi, Tikapa Moana-o-Hauraki) is a large bay located in the north of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the firth of the rivers Waihou and Piako, the former of which was formerly named the Thames River, and the town of ...

coast. Tararu suffered severe flooding during the 'weather bomb 2002'. A flood mitigation scheme has since been created, including lengthening of the SH25 bridge in 2008. The Tararu Track climbs up the valley to meet with other walking tracks at Crosbies Hut.

History

Te Anaputa, just north of Tararu, may have been the place where the Tainui waka first landed. Ngāti Maru owned Tararu until it was sold, amid some controversy, in 1867, after gold had been discovered. The township was laid out in 1868, when it was renamed London, though the name didn't catch on. In 1869 the track from Thames was improved and a bridleway created to Tapu. From 1871 to 1874 a tramway linked Thames to Tararu and, from 1872, to the wharf, built into deeper water at Tararu Point (Wilson Street) by Robert Graham. A track to

Coromandel Coromandel may refer to: Places India *Coromandel Coast, India **Presidency of Coromandel and Bengal Settlements ** Dutch Coromandel *Coromandel, KGF, Karnataka, India New Zealand *Coromandel, New Zealand, a town on the Coromandel Peninsula *Coro ...

was started in 1871. A racecourse was built and pleasure gardens were created in what is now Dickson Holiday Park. From 1874 a decline started, after the wharf and tramway were badly damaged in a severe gale. Much of the ore was hard to process, and poor transport had initially held back development. Tararu transitioned to a residential area for Thames. Tararu_Creek,_Russell's_Gold_Battery_about_1868

Gold

The Tararu valley was part of the Coromandel goldfield and had 5 batteries, with 141 stampers in about 1870, from

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model us ...

Campbell Campbell may refer to: People Surname * Campbell (surname), includes a list of people with surname Campbell Given name * Campbell Brown (footballer), an Australian rules footballer * Campbell Brown (journalist) (born 1968), American television ne ...

& Co at the mouth of the stream, to Tower of London Gold Mining Co at the top. Several

claims Claim may refer to: * Claim (legal) * Claim of Right Act 1689 * Claims-based identity * Claim (philosophy) * Land claim * A ''main contention'', see conclusion of law * Patent claim * The assertion of a proposition; see Douglas N. Walton * A righ ...

were being explored in Tinkers Gully in 1868. The remnants of the workings can be seen from a walkway through the gully. In 1872 Tinkers Gully was described as a source of

kauri ''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of 22 species of evergreen tree. The genus is part of the ancient conifer family Araucariaceae, a group once widespread during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, but now largely res ...

timber and the tramway was being extended to it.

References

External links

Illustrations –
1872 steam tram painting

1872 Tinkers Gully gold mine
* old photos of Tararu �

1959 aerial views – ttps://natlib.govt.nz/records/32240846 northbr>south
{{coord, -37.11241, 175.51907, scale:10000, display=title Thames-Coromandel District Populated places in Waikato Firth of Thames