Te Aroha Information Office

The information centre is in the corner of the Domain. Apart from visiting the Edwardian spa complex you can embark on a number of walks. The art deco library building (1938) is close by in Rewi Street. Other unique buildings survive including the Grand Hotel.

Te Aroha was an early spa town and the museum in the Domain was once the Cadman Bathhouse. The spa complex is an authentic survivor of Victorian/Edwardian government sponsored tourist initiatives as explained in the audio guide.

Victorian/Edwardian tourism

Colonial New Zealand had a State-sponsored tourist industry. The Scenery Preservation Acts 1903 and 1906 were also inspired as much by an eye for the tourist pound as any desire to save historic or beautiful places. The government also hoped that the subsidy payments it made to the ‘All Red Route’ mail liner service to Vancouver would also bring in big-spending visitors. Te Aroha’s European history took off around 1880 with the discovery of gold. Hotels sprang up, served by a coach link to Hamilton. In 1884 the Te Aroha Hot Springs Domain Board was formed and three bathhouses were operating; the number had grown to seven by 1886, the year the railway came through the town. Between 1885 and 1902 all but two of the early bathhouses were enlarged or replaced. For a while Te Aroha drew more visitors than either Rotorua or Hanmer Springs. That changed after the Department of Tourist and Health Resorts took over in 1903, for it favoured Rotorua. The government held onto Te Aroha until 1978, by which time many of the facilities had been closed down. Te Aroha Springs is New Zealand’s most authentic Victorian/ Edwardian spa resort. The many buildings and objects include the Cadman Building (1898, now the local museum), and rotunda (1898), tea kiosk (1908), gardener’s cottage (1907), office block (1894), number two bathhouse (1885) and the Maori bathhouse (1885, enlarged 1892), along with more recent structures. Do not forget to take the 100-year-old track up to the top of Bald Spur.

© 2002 Original text – Gavin McLean.

Further reading: Ian Rockel, Taking the Waters, GP Books, Wellington, 1986.

Image Credits: NZPlaces and Te Aroha, Burton Brothers, date unknown, Te Papa