Takamatua

Takamatua, formerly known as German Bay, is a small town situated in Akaroa Harbour on Banks Peninsula in New Zealand. The main road to Akaroa (State Highway 75) passes through this locality. It is north of Akaroa township.

== History == At the time of French settlement in August 1840 in Akaroa, a small number of German families settled in this bay. Five German men, four of them single, chose to have land in Takamatua rather than Akaroa. The men were Breitmeyer, Hahn, Hettich, Waeckerle, Walther and Woll. The bay was named German Bay up until 1916 when the residents called on the Minister for Internal Affairs, George Warren Russell, to change the name to Takamatua, as a patriotic reaction to World War I. The German Bay Dairy Co-operative Factory was established in 1893. The Factory's cheese won first prize at the Dunedin Agricultural Show in 1901 and 1902.