The devastating social impact of Government reforms and privatising logging rights to one of the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest man-made forests in the 1980s can still be seen in Kaingaroa Village today.
Its residents remember a utopian period of full employment that fostered a thriving community – but they’ve weathered years of economic hardship since then.
Now, the prospect of new investment and a multimillion-dollar community hub is raising hopes for a brighter future … one they never thought the town would have. Journalist Zoe Hunter reports.