Rangitāiki River:
The principal Bay of Plenty river. Its headwaters rise in the Ahimanawa Range, south of State Highway 5 between Taupō and Napier. From there the river finds its way across the volcanic Kāingaroa Plateau, drawing in tributaries, notably the Wheao and the Whirinaki which rise in ranges to the east. The Rangitāiki descends the plateau at Matahina, flowing through what was a large swamp.
Its waters once dispersed into the Awaiti and Orini distributaries, into which the Tarawera and Whakatāne rivers also flowed. Now it reaches the sea 12 km west of Whakatāne.
The Tarawera River rises on the slopes of Tarawera volcano and hugged the western edge of the swamp before reaching the sea east of Matatā. The Whakatāne River rises in the Huiarau Range and followed the eastern edge of the swamp past Tāneatua to the sea at Whakatāne.
Drainage:
Attempts to drain the swamp were made from the 1890s. The first sod for the diversion of the river into a channel through the sand barrier at Thornton was turned on 16 March 1911. From 19 May 1914, the river coursed for the first time through the new channel. The swamp was then drained and converted into farmland. The Rangitāiki Plains became some of the most productive dairy country in the Bay of Plenty. The river was dammed for electricity purposes at Matahina, producing a lake upstream. The Wheao River is dammed above Murupara.
Floods:
In 2004 severe floods swamped some 17,000 hectares of farmland in the eastern Bay of Plenty after heavy rain. Water had to be released into the Rangitāiki River from the Matahina dam to prevent the dam from bursting. The river overflowed above Edgecumbe, and both that town and nearby Te Teko were flooded.
Matahina:
Power station, pine forest and locality on the Rangitāiki River. It lies at the neck of a gorge that cuts into the ignimbrite sheet of the Volcanic Plateau.
The dam:
Construction on a hydroelectric dam began in 1959. The power station was commissioned in 1967. Te Mahoe village, still in existence, was built for dam construction workers. The dam was in a geologically unsound location – between 1967 and 1987 it shifted downstream almost 1 metre and moved another 150 mm after the 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake (magnitude 6.3). The dam was later strengthened. There were extensive consultations with the Ngāti Awa tribe, who were prominent in the completion ceremony in August 1998.
The principal Bay of Plenty river. Its headwaters rise in the Ahimanawa Range, south of State Highway 5 between Taupō and Napier. From there the river finds its way across the volcanic Kāingaroa Plateau, drawing in tributaries, notably the Wheao and the Whirinaki which rise in ranges to the east. The Rangitāiki descends the plateau at Matahina, flowing through what was a large swamp.
Its waters once dispersed into the Awaiti and Orini distributaries, into which the Tarawera and Whakatāne rivers also flowed. Now it reaches the sea 12 km west of Whakatāne.
The Tarawera River rises on the slopes of Tarawera volcano and hugged the western edge of the swamp before reaching the sea east of Matatā. The Whakatāne River rises in the Huiarau Range and followed the eastern edge of the swamp past Tāneatua to the sea at Whakatāne.
Drainage:
Attempts to drain the swamp were made from the 1890s. The first sod for the diversion of the river into a channel through the sand barrier at Thornton was turned on 16 March 1911. From 19 May 1914, the river coursed for the first time through the new channel. The swamp was then drained and converted into farmland. The Rangitāiki Plains became some of the most productive dairy country in the Bay of Plenty. The river was dammed for electricity purposes at Matahina, producing a lake upstream. The Wheao River is dammed above Murupara.
Floods:
In 2004 severe floods swamped some 17,000 hectares of farmland in the eastern Bay of Plenty after heavy rain. Water had to be released into the Rangitāiki River from the Matahina dam to prevent the dam from bursting. The river overflowed above Edgecumbe, and both that town and nearby Te Teko were flooded.
Matahina:
Power station, pine forest and locality on the Rangitāiki River. It lies at the neck of a gorge that cuts into the ignimbrite sheet of the Volcanic Plateau.
The dam:
Construction on a hydroelectric dam began in 1959. The power station was commissioned in 1967. Te Mahoe village, still in existence, was built for dam construction workers. The dam was in a geologically unsound location – between 1967 and 1987 it shifted downstream almost 1 metre and moved another 150 mm after the 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake (magnitude 6.3). The dam was later strengthened. There were extensive consultations with the Ngāti Awa tribe, who were prominent in the completion ceremony in August 1998.
Towns of the Rangitāiki Plains
Te Teko Hotel, about 1900 (1st of 2)
MatatāCoastal settlement at the western edge of the Rangitāiki Plains. The location is 23 km north-west of Whakatāne and 65 km south-east of Tauranga on State Highway 2. The highway west of the town traverses a land platform marking a northern limit to the Volcanic Plateau. This platform is bounded by Kōhī-o-awa Beach on the seaward side and pōhutukawa-clad cliffs on the landward side. It is also known as Te Kaokaoroa (the long rib).
In 2013 the population was 645.
Initially a Māori settlement, Matatā was a centre of trading activity and shipbuilding in the 1840s and 1850s. It was the site of a battle – usually called Kaokaoroa – where combined Te Arawa and British forces challenged war parties from the East Coast journeying to support Waikato tribes in 1864.
A township, briefly named Richmond, was surveyed in 1868, a native school was opened in 1872, and a Catholic mission was established in 1886.
As well as the long-established commerce, there were local flax mills. But the drainage of the Rangitāiki Plains brought many changes – flax cultivation ended, the Tarawera River was diverted in 1917 and Matatā lost its port.
Edgecumbe:
Principal town of the Rangitāiki Plains, 19 km west of Whakatāne. First known as Rangitāiki or Riverslea, it developed near the site of a rail bridge – later a combined rail and road bridge, completed in 1920.
Its position at an important transport hub was enhanced when the Rangitāiki Plains Dairy Company opened a factory there in 1923. In 1924 the town was named Edgecumbe after the nearby mountain (originally known as Pūtauaki). The 2013 population was 1,638. 62.8% claimed European ethnicity and 43.4% Māori.
1987 earthquake:
Edgecumbe was the nearest centre to the magnitude 6.3 earthquake of 1987. There was no loss of human life, but at the Bay Milk Products factory pipes and silos collapsed, spilling millions of litres of milk and two milk tankers were thrown on their sides. Displayed at the front of the factory, now owned and operated by Fonterra, is a massive girder deformed at the time of the earthquake.
Te Teko Township:
located 8 km south-west of Edgecumbe on State Highway 30. Te Teko’s 19th-century history is linked to the ancestor Te Rangitūkehu Hātua, of the Te Pahipoto section of Ngāti Awa. He provided strong leadership during the wars of the 1860s and their turbulent aftermath. A school was opened in 1881.
The 2013 population was 489. Te Teko is one of the poorer Bay of Plenty townships. 25.8% of the population are under 15 (compared with 21.1% for the region), and 85.2% have Māori ethnicity. The unemployment rate in 2013 was 31.9% (compared with 8.6% for the region).
Te Teko Hotel, about 1900 (1st of 2)
MatatāCoastal settlement at the western edge of the Rangitāiki Plains. The location is 23 km north-west of Whakatāne and 65 km south-east of Tauranga on State Highway 2. The highway west of the town traverses a land platform marking a northern limit to the Volcanic Plateau. This platform is bounded by Kōhī-o-awa Beach on the seaward side and pōhutukawa-clad cliffs on the landward side. It is also known as Te Kaokaoroa (the long rib).
In 2013 the population was 645.
Initially a Māori settlement, Matatā was a centre of trading activity and shipbuilding in the 1840s and 1850s. It was the site of a battle – usually called Kaokaoroa – where combined Te Arawa and British forces challenged war parties from the East Coast journeying to support Waikato tribes in 1864.
A township, briefly named Richmond, was surveyed in 1868, a native school was opened in 1872, and a Catholic mission was established in 1886.
As well as the long-established commerce, there were local flax mills. But the drainage of the Rangitāiki Plains brought many changes – flax cultivation ended, the Tarawera River was diverted in 1917 and Matatā lost its port.
Edgecumbe:
Principal town of the Rangitāiki Plains, 19 km west of Whakatāne. First known as Rangitāiki or Riverslea, it developed near the site of a rail bridge – later a combined rail and road bridge, completed in 1920.
Its position at an important transport hub was enhanced when the Rangitāiki Plains Dairy Company opened a factory there in 1923. In 1924 the town was named Edgecumbe after the nearby mountain (originally known as Pūtauaki). The 2013 population was 1,638. 62.8% claimed European ethnicity and 43.4% Māori.
1987 earthquake:
Edgecumbe was the nearest centre to the magnitude 6.3 earthquake of 1987. There was no loss of human life, but at the Bay Milk Products factory pipes and silos collapsed, spilling millions of litres of milk and two milk tankers were thrown on their sides. Displayed at the front of the factory, now owned and operated by Fonterra, is a massive girder deformed at the time of the earthquake.
Te Teko Township:
located 8 km south-west of Edgecumbe on State Highway 30. Te Teko’s 19th-century history is linked to the ancestor Te Rangitūkehu Hātua, of the Te Pahipoto section of Ngāti Awa. He provided strong leadership during the wars of the 1860s and their turbulent aftermath. A school was opened in 1881.
The 2013 population was 489. Te Teko is one of the poorer Bay of Plenty townships. 25.8% of the population are under 15 (compared with 21.1% for the region), and 85.2% have Māori ethnicity. The unemployment rate in 2013 was 31.9% (compared with 8.6% for the region).
The middle Rangitāiki
Murupara Township:
on the Rangitāiki River on part of its course across the Kāingaroa Plateau, 55 km east of Rotorua. A short distance east of Murupara the plateau ends abruptly against the foothills of the Ikawhenua Range, which dominates the eastern sky. In 2013 the population was 1,656.
The town was established in the 1950s as a centre for logging the Kāingaroa state forest. Roads and rail connect it to Kawerau, 70 km north, where the logs are processed into pulp and paper. It was constituted a town district in 1954 and a borough in 1962, but was amalgamated into Whakatāne district in 1989. Job numbers fell sharply after the Forest Service was corporatised in the late 1980s.
In 2013 Murupara’s 27.2% unemployment rate was almost four times the New Zealand figure (7.1%). Although 31.2% of the population was aged under 15, the total population was declining (from a peak of 3,000 in the 1970s). 90.8% claimed Maori ethnicity. Ngāti Manawa, the local iwi (tribe), are kin to Ngāti Whare and Ngāi Tū.
We are the people The traditional saying of Ngāti Manawa is:
Kō Tawhiuau te maunga, kō Rangitāiki te awa
Kō Ngāti Manawa te iwi, kō Tangiharuru te tangata.
Tawhiuau is the mountain, Rangitāiki is the river
Ngāti Manawa are the people, Tāngiharuru is the man.
Galatea District:
named after HMS Galatea, in which the Duke of Edinburgh, a son of Queen Victoria, visited New Zealand during an empire tour in 1869. The name was originally applied to the armed constabulary redoubt established during the hunt for Māori leader Te Kooti. Skirmishes took place on 18–19 March 1869 at nearby Tauaroa. Today Galatea is part of a farming district on the Kāingaroa Plateau that stretches from Murupara to Waiōahau. It has a strong Ngāi Tūhoe identity.
The damming of the Rangitāiki River at Aniwhenua in the late 1970s created a 255-ha lake and a waterfall which appears at the regular opening of the floodgates. The lake has a camping site and is popular for fishing and duck shooting. Kopuriki, midway between Waiōahau and Galatea, has a store. A small winery operates in the foothills of Tawhiau, east of Galatea.
Ikawhenua:
Westernmost range of the main divide in the Bay of Plenty region. Forming a watershed between the Rangitāiki and Whakatāne rivers, it is divided by valleys, and has altitudes of 300 to 1,300 m. The full name, Te Ikawhenua o Tamatea (land of Tamatea’s fish), links the range to Tamatea ofthe Tākitimu canoe. The still forested valleys and summits have important associations for hapū of Ngāti Manawa, Ngāti Whare and Ngāi Tūhoe. Tawhiuau, the mountain of Ngāti Manawa, reaches 1,017 m.
Murupara Township:
on the Rangitāiki River on part of its course across the Kāingaroa Plateau, 55 km east of Rotorua. A short distance east of Murupara the plateau ends abruptly against the foothills of the Ikawhenua Range, which dominates the eastern sky. In 2013 the population was 1,656.
The town was established in the 1950s as a centre for logging the Kāingaroa state forest. Roads and rail connect it to Kawerau, 70 km north, where the logs are processed into pulp and paper. It was constituted a town district in 1954 and a borough in 1962, but was amalgamated into Whakatāne district in 1989. Job numbers fell sharply after the Forest Service was corporatised in the late 1980s.
In 2013 Murupara’s 27.2% unemployment rate was almost four times the New Zealand figure (7.1%). Although 31.2% of the population was aged under 15, the total population was declining (from a peak of 3,000 in the 1970s). 90.8% claimed Maori ethnicity. Ngāti Manawa, the local iwi (tribe), are kin to Ngāti Whare and Ngāi Tū.
We are the people The traditional saying of Ngāti Manawa is:
Kō Tawhiuau te maunga, kō Rangitāiki te awa
Kō Ngāti Manawa te iwi, kō Tangiharuru te tangata.
Tawhiuau is the mountain, Rangitāiki is the river
Ngāti Manawa are the people, Tāngiharuru is the man.
Galatea District:
named after HMS Galatea, in which the Duke of Edinburgh, a son of Queen Victoria, visited New Zealand during an empire tour in 1869. The name was originally applied to the armed constabulary redoubt established during the hunt for Māori leader Te Kooti. Skirmishes took place on 18–19 March 1869 at nearby Tauaroa. Today Galatea is part of a farming district on the Kāingaroa Plateau that stretches from Murupara to Waiōahau. It has a strong Ngāi Tūhoe identity.
The damming of the Rangitāiki River at Aniwhenua in the late 1970s created a 255-ha lake and a waterfall which appears at the regular opening of the floodgates. The lake has a camping site and is popular for fishing and duck shooting. Kopuriki, midway between Waiōahau and Galatea, has a store. A small winery operates in the foothills of Tawhiau, east of Galatea.
Ikawhenua:
Westernmost range of the main divide in the Bay of Plenty region. Forming a watershed between the Rangitāiki and Whakatāne rivers, it is divided by valleys, and has altitudes of 300 to 1,300 m. The full name, Te Ikawhenua o Tamatea (land of Tamatea’s fish), links the range to Tamatea ofthe Tākitimu canoe. The still forested valleys and summits have important associations for hapū of Ngāti Manawa, Ngāti Whare and Ngāi Tūhoe. Tawhiuau, the mountain of Ngāti Manawa, reaches 1,017 m.