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Originally this was a meat processing works that was built in 1917 . from 1919 it lay idle until being converted into a wool scouring plant until it was closed in 2006



The Kakariki Wool Scour was located close to the village of Halcombe, approximately 17 km from Feilding, in the Manawatu region. It was built in 1917 as a Farmer's Cooperative Freezing Works but only ran for two years before closure. It basically stood idle until 1948 when the site was bought by Feltex on the proposal of the then Managing Director who owned a farm in the area and thought that it would make an ideal wool scouring plant. A scouring train was relocated from Melbourne and scouring has continued since.

The wool arrived in from the sheep farms to the plant for wool scouring. The wool scour used only readily biodegradable detergents for processing.

The site was responsible for the purchase and scouring of all Feltex Wool for Australia and New Zealand, spending approximately $30 million per year.

Approximately half of Kakariki's production was for Feltex's own requirement, the balance being used to provide a commission scouring service to NZ wool exporters with the product being shipped directly from the scour to the ships' side for delivery world wide.

Kakariki had a staff of 49 and was one of the smallest plants. It ran 24 hours per day, seven days per week using two twelve hour shifts.

In 2006 Godfrey Hirst closed the plant.