Hakalau is a small unincorporated community located along the Hamakua coast about north of Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii at . The Hakalau Stream flows from the slopes of Mauna Kea, in the area of and flows into the Pacific Ocean. Hakalau was once a thriving, multiethnic sugarcane plantation town up until the early 1960s when the plantation originally called Hakalau Plantation Company began to decline. In 1963 it was merged into the Pepeekeo Sugar Company, in 1973 merged into the Mauna Kea Sugar Company, and the mill shut down in 1974. Small family farms grow tropical fruits, taro, flowers, coffee, or cattle. Some historic sites remain from the plantation era. The privately owned sugar plantation manager's home, built in the early 20th century, still exists, along with two warehouses built in 1920 and an old theater, operating as the Hakalau post office, postal code 96710. Located just below the ocean cliff where the Hakalau stream meets the bay, the old sugar mill ruins are still visible. During the 19th century the Hakalau Bay was used to transfer goods and passengers from smaller boats to larger ships. Today, the bay is used mostly by local surfers and fisherman. Hakalau now has a small, day use, county owned park with picnic tables and ocean access for recreational use, located at the bottom of the Hakalau gulch. The Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge protects , located on the Mauna Kea slopes above the town. Located nearby is the World Botanical Gardens (WBGI). Origins and early history of Hakalau Until Captain Cook made contact with Hawaiʻi (1778) the islands were inhabited by Native Hawaiians. The place-name traces to a couple of possible origins, the leading meaning is thought today to be a literal one, "many [bird] perches." After 1778, as with most of Hawaii, people from China and elsewhere came to the Hawaiian Islands. The initial Chinese immigrants to Hawaii Island were Punti and landed at Kohala on Hawaii Island. One immigrant in particular, Lau Sung Iu, was Hakka ("the guest people" of China) and came to Hawaii Island in this manner. He was ethnic northern Chinese, tall for his people at around . In China, he was an officer in the Chinese army, involved in one of the many conflicts involving the Qing Dynasty. He and another were smuggling powder across the Yalu River