Mount Tarawera is a volcanic mountain located near Rotorua on the North Island of New Zealand.

It is a series of rhyolite domes which was fissured down the middle by a basaltic eruption in 1886. Just after midnight on the morning of June 10, 1886 a series of small earthquakes were felt in the Rotorua area. At 1:30am a larger earthquake was felt and followed by the sound of an explosion. By 2:30am Mount Tarawera's three peaks had erupted blasting three distinct columns of smoke and ash thousands of metres into the sky. At 3:30am the bed of Lake Rotomahana blew out.

The eruption was heard as far way as Blenheim and the effects of the ash in the air were observed as far south as Christchurch over 800 km south. In Auckland the sound of the eruption and the flashing sky was thought by some to be an attack by a Russian warships.

The eruption is believed to have killed 153 people, although it is possible that more people were killed. The eruption also destroyed the Pink and White Terraces.

Mount Tarawera from across Lake Tarewera.

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