Taumarunui

Taumarunui is a small town within the King Country of the imperative North Island of New Zealand. It is on an alluvial plain set inside rugged terrain on the higher reaches of the Whanganui River, sixty five km south of Te Kuiti and fifty five km west of Turangi. It is below the jurisdiction of Ruapehu District, Manawatu-Wanganui Region. Its population is 4,500, nevertheless making it the largest centre for a massive distance in any route. It is on State Highway four and the North Island Main Trunk railway. The call Taumarunui is stated to be the death phrases of the Maori leader Pehi Turoa taumaru meaning display screen and nui big, actually translated as Big Screen, being constructed to shelter him from the sun, or greater generally recognized to mean "The area of massive safe haven".

There are also references to Taumarunui being referred to as large sheltered region for growing kumara. In the 1980s guide Roll Back the Years there are some info on how Taumarunui got its name. Extract: "According to Frank T Brown, who wrote in the Taumarunui Press in 1926, the call Taumarunui is carefully connected with the advent of and conquering of that part of the King Country by way of the Whanganui River natives in the course of the 18th century.