About Te Awamutu & Waipa District

Te Awamutu is a town in the Waikato in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the council seat of the Waipa District and serves as a service town for the farming communities which surround it. It has a population of just under 14,000.

Te Awamutu is located some 30 km south of Hamilton on State Highway 3, one of the two main routes south from Auckland and Hamilton.

The town is often referred to as "The Rosetown of New Zealand", because of its elaborate rosegardens in the centre of the town. Many local businesses use "Rosetown" in their name, and the symbol of the rose is widely used on local signs and billboards. The local paper, Te Awamutu Courier, has a symbol of a rose in the masthead on its front page.

The town is also well known for its large dairy factory.

Te Awamutu literally means in English "The River's End". The town is on gently undulating land close to the banks of a tributary of the Waipa River. The Waikato Plains lie to the north and east, and the promontory of Mount Pirongia, 20 kilometres to the west, is easily visible.

Te Awamutu was a major site during the New Zealand land wars of the 19th century, serving as a garrison town for the colonial settlers.

The town's best known sons are the Finn brothers, Tim and Neil, whose musical careers have stretched from Split Enz through the internationally successful Crowded House to their current solo and collaborative works. The town is mentioned in Split Enz's song "Haul Away", and also in Crowded House's 1986 song "Mean To Me", the debut single off their self-titled debut album. Musician Spencer P. Jones (The Beasts of Bourbon, Paul Kelly and The Coloured Girls) was also born in Te Awamutu

Te Awamutu Museum contains one of the most famous early Maori artefacts, a large carved post known simply as Te Uenuku. This impressive carving has caused much controversy because its style is markedly different from any other early Maori work, yet it is clearly of a Maori design.

The main thoroughfare is Alexandra Street, so named because it was once the main road to the town of Alexandra (since renamed to Pirongia to avoid confusion with the town of Alexandra in the South Island).

Other towns surrounding Te Awamutu include Cambridge, 25 kilometres to the northeast, Otorohanga, 30 kilometres to the southwest, and Raglan 50 kilometres to the northwest. The small town of Kihikihi lies just to the south of Te Awamutu.

Waipa District, in New Zealand's North Island, has a resident population of around 40,000: this is fairly evenly mixed between urban and rural, with the main urban populations centered in the towns of Te Awamutu, Cambridge, Pirongia and Kihikihi.

Because of the high proportion of elite soils, the District boasts a rich agricultural base that is dominated by dairy farming but also features sheep and beef, thoroughbred horse studs, deer farming and fruit production. The District hosts the largest annual agricultural exhibition of its kind in New Zealand, the National Agricultural Fieldays, which attracts visitors from all over the world.

Although landlocked, the District has several large hydro lakes used extensively for watersports and recreation, two major rivers, and many smaller peat lakes that are considered some of the best examples of their type worldwide.

Waipa District is also home to an International Airport serving the Waikato region and nearby Hamilton City.