Gumboots – black rubber Wellington boots – were celebrated by satirist John Clarke in his comic persona as laconic farmer Fred Dagg, who sang the boots’ praises in the 1970s. In the 1980s, suffering from job losses and a rural economic downturn, the small town of Taihape rebranded itself as the world’s gumboot capital. Today it still hosts an annual Gumboot Day.
Listen to a Roadside Story about gumboots and Taihape. Roadside Stories is a series of audio guides to places around New Zealand.
Archival audio sourced from Radio New Zealand Sound Archives. Sound files may not be reused without permission from Radio New Zealand Sound Archives (Reference number 06/095/318).
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