New Zealand - Bay of Plenty - Aerial view of Kawerau - #3 of 9 - 1987 Kawerau - A town in the Bay of Plenty region - Situated 100 km south-east of Tauranga - Kawerau was one of the worst-affected towns in the 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake. - Kawerau, one of the youngest towns in New Zealand, was founded in 1953 as a mill town for the new Tasman pulp and paper mill - Unlike most other towns of its size, Kawerau was carefully planned before construction. The town was built with an impressive number of facilities, to accommodate a multinational specialist workforce. The mill continues to drive the local economy and greatly influences the fortunes of the town. - The town's population peaked in the early 1980s (8718 in the 1981 census) but has declined significantly since then due to the restructuring of the mill and of associated industries. --------------------- Image source: LINZ CC-BY 3.0 Sourced from https://retrolens.co.nz/ Date taken: 13/03/1987 Survey Number: SN8732 Copyright: Crown Elevation: 5000 Run Number: Q Photo Number: 5 Scale: 10000