📍Pahiatua, Tararua, New Zealand
1904 – 1983“I was born Keith Jacka Holyoake on the 11th of February 1904 in Pahiatua, a small town in the Tararua district of the North Island, the son of a farmer. I left school at twelve to work on the family farm, and the land and the farming life were always central to my identity and my politics. I entered Parliament in 1932, became leader of the National Party, and served as Prime Minister twice — briefly in 1957 and then for the long decade from 1960 to 1972, one of New Zealand's longest-serving Prime Ministers. I was known as Kiwi Keith — approachable, decent, a man of the land who understood ordinary New Zealanders. I navigated New Zealand through the Cold War and the Vietnam period with careful pragmatism. I later served as Governor-General. Pahiatua and the Tararua farmlands were always home.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today
Sources: Bassett, M. The State in New Zealand 1840-1984 (1998), Auckland University Press; Wood, F. The New Zealand People at War (1958), War History Branch