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Story: Manawatū and Horowhenua places

Foxton, 1868

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Foxton, 1868

The sand dunes in the foreground of this 1868 view of Foxton suggest why a journalist dubbed the town ‘Sandopolis’ in 1874. At the time it was thriving from the flax industry, and was the principal European settlement in Manawatū.

Using this item

Kete Horowhenua, Foxton Historical Society

Reference: f2000.2177

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How to cite this page

Malcolm McKinnon, Manawatū and Horowhenua places – Foxton and the coast, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/9445/foxton-1868 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Malcolm McKinnon, published 2 March 2009, updated 22 April 2015.