Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Thames
POP 6800
Dinky wooden buildings from the 19th-century gold rush still dominate Thames, but
grizzly prospectors have long been replaced by alternative lifestylers. It's a good base for
tramping or canyoning in the nearby Kauaeranga Valley.
Captain Cook arrived here in 1769, naming the Waihou River the 'Thames' 'on account
of its bearing some resemblance to that river in England'; you may well think otherwise.
This area belonged to Ngati Maru, a tribe of Tainui descent. Their spectacular meeting
house, Hotunui (1878), holds pride of place in the Auckland Museum.
After opening Thames to gold-miners in 1867, Ngati Maru were swamped by 10,000
European settlers within a year. When the initial boom turned to bust, a dubious system of
government advances resulted in Maori debt and forced land sales.
