Hunter Street (Hāwera)

Hunter Street in Hāwera acknowledges the life and contribution to the district of one of South Taranaki’s largest land owners and most successful farmers.

When young Scotsman Moore Hunter left home he lived for a few years in Canada. It was only after he arrived in New Zealand that he found what he was looking for in life. He bought a farm in Kai Iwi, then one in Waitotara. By the 1870s he had sold up and settled in Hāwera.

He bought land on the southwestern edge of the town. At his peak, it was estimated he owned more than a thousand acres [405 hectares] of land. He became a noted breeder of cattle, sheep and horses.

He was also prominent politically. In the 1880s he was chairman of the local roads board and elected to the county council. He played a prominent role establishing the A & P Society.

Moore Hunter died in 1897, aged only 62, after a period of poor health. Before his death he had formed a trust and his children continued to manage the farm and breed livestock. They did this for many years. However over time, the land was also sold off for housing.

Hunter Street was first surveyed in 1903. After World War One land there was bought by the Hāwera Hospital Board. A new hospital was opened on Hunter Street in 1927.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.