FIFTY YEARS OF FINE CHINA
When former US president Barack Obama visited Northland’s luxury Kauri Cliffs golf course in 2018, it’s not known if he had a snack while on the premises. Chances are that if he did, the tableware he used would likely have contained a product mined on the property just down the road. That’s because the fine white halloysite clay used in the production of high-end tableware today is found right there at Matauri Bay in the Far North.
Kauri Cliffs and Imerys, locally known as the clay-works property were both once part of the same estate. Past owners included my husband’s great-great-grandmother Eleanor Stephenson who bought the place called Waiaua but also known as Tepene Tablelands (Tepene
