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Story: Taranaki places

Hāwera observatory

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Hāwera observatory

In a somewhat bizarre transformation in 1953, architect John Duffill’s 1912 band rotunda was converted into an observatory for the Hāwera Astronomical Society. The lower floor of the original octagonal building – erected to celebrate the coronation of King George V in 1911 – was a tearoom, and the upper floor was an open, pillared band rotunda with a hemispherical roof.

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by Anna Butterfield

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How to cite this page

Ron Lambert, Taranaki places – Hāwera, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/25913/hawera-observatory (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Ron Lambert, published 23 February 2010, updated 1 September 2016.