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Story: Pulp and paper, aluminium and steel industries

Kawerau mill, 1955

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Kawerau mill, 1955

The Kawerau site was developed in the mid-1950s, and when finished included two pulp and paper mills. The mills built in New Zealand after the Second World War were very differently organised from the earlier ones. The later mills were one part of a massive operation that processed wood for several purposes, including sawmilling, chipping, production of fibreboard and pulp and paper, and in one case a shook factory, which produced short boards that were made into boxes. The waste from one operation, such as sawmilling, could be used in another, such as making pulp and paper.

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Alexander Turnbull Library, National Publicity Studios Collection

Reference: 1/2-020473; F (AAQT 6401, A39933)

by W. Walker

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Megan Cook, Pulp and paper, aluminium and steel industries – The pulp and paper boom, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/21169/kawerau-mill-1955 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Megan Cook, published 21 January 2010.