Whatever happened to Tuatapere?

The focus of this study is on Tuatapere, a rural south island community and how it managed the dramatic social changes over the past fifty years. Government policies,changes in international trade and markets, envoronmental policies, globalisation, change in the structure of local and regional government and legislative changes impacted on all new Zealand during this period but the rural hinterland of new Zealand was affected in particular ways. This is a qualitative study in which four women and four men were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire exploring their views on social change, the way the community has responded to changes in service provision, how they managed the move from being a vibrant rural service community to a tourist town.