The Buried Village of Te Wairoa

Until the late 19th century, the shores of Rotomahana, in northern New Zealand, were adorned by one of the most spectacular travertine terraces called the Pink and White Terraces . They were the largest travertine terraces in the world, created by the deposition of minerals from the nearby hot water springs. So wonderful were these terraces that they were called the ‘eighth wonder of the natural world’ and were New Zealand's most famous tourist attraction. On the morning of 10 June 1886, Mount Tarawera's three peaks erupted in a violent explosion that ripped through the center of Lake Rotomahana hurling tons of lakefloor sediment for miles around covering everything around with meters thick mud. The terraces were almost completely destroyed, along with several villages that were buried in mud. One of these villages, Te Wairoa, with its half-buried houses is now a tourist attraction. Photo: Amanda Mcgrath Te Wairo was established in the late 1850s in a small valley near Lake Tarawera by Revered Seymore Spencer. Although it was a Maori village, Te Wairo was laid out in European style with a grid-based layout and houses along the streets, each having its own 100 square meter garden. By 1870, Te Wairo had become the starting point for expeditions to the pink-and-white terraces of Rotomahana, and tourism became an important industry for the town. At the time of the eruption, Te Waira was a thriving tourist town with several hotels and a population of around 140. Not long after the eruption, Te Wairo began to draw visitors willing to brave the bridle track to the site. One of the hotels still had a couple of habitable rooms which the sightseers used during their visit to the “buried village”. A Maori meeting house called Hinemihi that sheltered villagers during the eruption was relocated in 1892 to Clandon Park as a garden building dedicated to William Onslow, 4th Earl of Onslow.