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Kōrero: Northland places

Kawakawa public toilets

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Kawakawa public toilets

The main tourist attraction in Kawakawa is the colourful public toilet designed by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. First visiting New Zealand in the 1970s for an exhibition of his work, he decided to make the country his second home and bought property on the Waikare inlet, east of Kawakawa. In 1998 with the help of the community he transformed the town’s public toilets into a work of art.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

by Shirley Williams

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Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Claudia Orange, Northland places – The Waiōmio valley, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/7817/kawakawa-public-toilets (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Claudia Orange, i tāngia i te 2 March 2009, updated 1 May 2015.