Taihape, gumboot capital

Published: Aug. 30, 2011, 5 a.m.

Gumboots - black rubber Wellington boots - were celebrated by satirist John Clarke in his comic persona as laconic farmer Fred Dagg, who sang the boots' praises in the 1970s. In the 1980s, suffering from job losses and a rural economic downturn, the small town of Taihape rebranded itself as the world's gumboot capital. Today it still hosts an annual Gumboot Day. Archival audio sourced from Radio New Zealand Sound Archives, http://www.soundarchives.co.nz/. Sound files may not be reused without permission from Radio New Zealand Sound Archives (Reference number 06/095/318).