Taranaki town 48 km south-east of New Plymouth. Stratford was established on the Pātea River in 1877–78. The town is central Taranaki’s main rural servicing centre. The Waihapa oil and gas field, discovered in 1988, and its production station are 6 km south-east. The first talking movies in the southern hemisphere were shown at the King’s Theatre in 1925. Stratford has seven war memorials; a hall of remembrance at the old municipal buildings displays framed photos of all of the district’s First World War dead.
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Meaning of place name
Named after William Shakespeare’s birthplace Stratford-on-Avon. Many of the streets are named after Shakespearean characters, including Oberon, Cordelia, Titania, Juliet and Hamlet.
