Historians are looking at preserving the most important dairy factory at the roots of the nation's biggest business, the Fonterra dairy cooperative.
The Kaupokonui Cooperative Dairy Co Ltd in Taranaki -- once the most commercially successful dairy company in the world -- is being considered for registration by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT).
Sited only 20km from Fonterra's Hawera complex, Kaupokonui is regarded by the trust as having "outstanding local and national significance" qualifying it as a Category 1 historic place, the trust said.
In the early decades of the 20th century, the factory made a key contribution to New Zealand's export earnings, making 12 percent of the nation's cheese output in 1908.
Through mergers and amalgamations it went on to form the base of Kiwi Cooperative Dairies, one of the three legacy companies of Fonterra, the world's biggest dairy trader.
The Kaupokonui Cooperative Dairy Company Ltd was established in 1897. A 1910 fire destroyed the original timber factory but it was rebuilt within a year using reinforced concrete.
The factory still has its own hydro-electricity plant, which uses a weir built in 1940. Lou Butler -- a self-taught local bridge designer, builder and inventor - built it with an innovative system using pre-cast concrete.
The NZHPT said today the weir was an essential part of the history of the wider factory complex and that it is working with the Taranaki Regional Council to have a new fish pass built at the weir.
The company merged with the Joll dairy company in 1962 to form Kiwi, which continued using the factory until 1975, when it was occupied by the Pacific Natural Gut String company.
The trust wants the South Taranaki District Council to protect the dairy factory complex by listing it in its district plan, and has called for public submissions on the factory's registration by May 29.