Otorohanga
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Otorohanga is a north King Country town at the southern end of the Waikato region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is a service town for the surrounding dairy farming district. The population was 2592 in the 2006 Census, a decrease of 39 from 2001.[1]
The town is 53 kilometres south of Hamilton and 18 kilometres north of Te Kuiti, on the Waipa River.
It has been recognised as the "Kiwiana Town" of New Zealand.
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[edit] District Council
Otorohanga is part of, and the seat of, the Otorohanga District Council. The council has a population of 9,075, with Otorohanga being the main centre. Other places in the district include Te Kawa and Kawhia.[1] The district has a land area of 2,063.44 km² (796.70 sq mi).
Otorohanga is renowned for its local kiwi house. Otorohanga is the gateway to the Waitomo Caves, which is located about 15 minutes away and has a population of around 300. The Otorohanga District was declared in 1979.
[edit] Harrodsville
In 1986, the town briefly changed its name to "Harrodsville". An Otorohanga businessman Barry Marx saw a TV news item about a restaurateur, Henry Harrod, who had been operating a family restaurant in Palmerston North city. Harrod had called his business "Harrod's Family Restaurant", resulting in threatening lawsuits from Mohammed Al Fayed, the owner of Harrod's department store in London. Henry Harrod had been served an injunction by a Wellington firm of solicitors under instruction of Harrods of Knightsbridge in London England.
Marx thought this was rather heavy handed considering Henry Harrod was using his own surname and the restaurant had been trading since the 1950's. He commented that Harrods would probably next serve notice on the Haddad brothers, men's outfitters in Otorohanga, claiming their family name was too similar.
Given that Otorohanga's population was less than 3000, this was seen by the people of Otorohanga as an extremely heavy-handed and bullying action.[2]
As a show of solidarity for Henry Harrod of Palmerston North and in anticipation of actions against other similar sounding businesses, Marx proposed that every business in Otorohanga should change their names to "Harrods". 72 out of 74 businesses took up the challenge and after several weeks of planning, overnight all the names were changed. This included the District Council offices, the Post Office, all the banks and even the Chinese fast food outlet which became "Harrod's Flying Horse Take-aways."
With full support of the District Council, Otorohanga "officially" changed the town's name to "Harrodsville". After being lampooned in the British tabloid newspapers, Al Fayed dropped the legal action and "Harrodsville" and its shops reverted to their former names.
In the mean time, Barry Marx had changed the name of his engineering company to "Marx and Sparks" a play on the popular name for the London rival of Harrods, Marks and Spencer Ltd.
The "send up" raised wide-spread media interest around the world. The BBC world service covering the event, and newspapers in Greece, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Canada giving illustrated coverage. Radio networks in many countries contacted Barry Marx and Otorohanga business leaders for interviews.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- The district council's site
- The Otorohanga Community site
- Long Term Council Community Plan 2006-2016
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Coordinates: 38°11′S 175°12′E / 38.183°S 175.2°E
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