Maketu is a small town on the

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaw ...

Coast in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

.New Zealand Tourism GUide: Bay of Plenty - Maketu
/ref> Maketu is located in the Western Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. Maketu has an estuary from which the

Kaituna River The Kaituna River is in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the outflow from Lakes Lake Rotorua, Rotorua and Lake Rotoiti (Bay of Plenty), Rotoiti, and flows northwards for , emptying into the Bay of Plenty near Te ...

used to flow. It is also adjacent to Newdicks Beach located on the south eastern side of Okurei Point. Maketu is rich in ancestral Māori culture, specifically the Te Arawa tribe. Maketu was the landing site of the

Te Arawa Te Arawa is a confederation of Māori iwi and hapu (tribes and sub-tribes) of New Zealand who trace their ancestry to the Arawa migration canoe (''waka'').sweet potato) pit in

Hawaiki In Polynesian mythology, (also rendered as in Cook Islands Māori, in Samoan, in Tahitian, in Hawaiian) is the original home of the Polynesians, before dispersal across Polynesia. It also features as the underworld in many Māori stories. ...

, the Māori ancestral homeland. Maketu has a predominantly Māori population, although in recent years there has been an influx of many cultures to Maketu. In 2011, Maketu was one of many areas along the Bay of Plenty Coast affected by the grounding of the

MV Rena MV ''Rena'' was a container ship owned by the Greek shipping company Costamare Inc. through one of its subsidiaries, Daina Shipping Co. The ship was built in 1990 as ''ZIM America'' for the Israeli shipping company Zim by Howaldtswerke-Deutsc ...

and the subsequent oil spill. The Waihi Estuary Wildlife Management Reserve is located in Maketu.

Demographics

Maketu covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Maketu bay (1)

Maketu had a population of 1,197 at the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the sho ...

, an increase of 150 people (14.3%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 21 people (1.8%) since the

2006 census 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. There were 408 households, comprising 594 males and 606 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.98 males per female. The median age was 41.1 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 231 people (19.3%) aged under 15 years, 228 (19.0%) aged 15 to 29, 522 (43.6%) aged 30 to 64, and 219 (18.3%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 47.6% European/

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Ze ...

, 66.9%

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

, 7.8% Pacific peoples, 1.0%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, and 0.8% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 9.8, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 48.4% had no religion, 35.3% were

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, 5.8% had Māori religious beliefs, 0.3% were

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

and 2.3% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 114 (11.8%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 255 (26.4%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $26,100, compared with $31,800 nationally. 87 people (9.0%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 477 (49.4%) people were employed full-time, 129 (13.4%) were part-time, and 66 (6.8%) were unemployed.

Marae

Maketu has two marae. Whakaue or Tapiti Marae and its Whakaue Kaipapa meeting house are affiliated with the

Ngāti Whakaue Ngāti Whakaue is a Māori iwi, of the Te Arawa confederation of New Zealand. The tribe lives in the Rotorua district and descends from the Arawa waka. The Ngāti Whakaue village Ōhinemutu is within the township of Rotorua. Ngāti Whakaue tra ...

hapū of Ngāti Whakaue ki Maketū. In October 2020, the Government committed $4,525,104 from the

Provincial Growth Fund Shane Geoffrey Jones (born 3 September 1959) is a New Zealand politician. He served as a New Zealand First list MP from 2017 to 2020 and was previously a Labour list MP from 2005 to 2014. Jones was a cabinet minister in the Fifth Labour Gove ...

to upgrade the marae and nine others, creating an estimated 34 jobs. Te Awhe o te Rangi Marae and meeting house are a meeting place for the Ngāti Mākino

hapū In Māori and New Zealand English, a ' ("subtribe", or " clan") functions as "the basic political unit within Māori society". A Māori person can belong to or have links to many hapū. Historically, each hapū had its own chief and normally op ...

of Ngāti Mākino and Ngāti Te Awhe, and the Ngāti Pikiao hapū of

Ngāti Pikiao Ngāti Pikiao is a Māori iwi of New Zealand. Te Arawa FM is the radio station of Te Arawa iwi, including Ngāti Pikiao, Tūhourangi and Ngāti Whakaue. It was established in the early 1980s and became a charitable entity in November 1990. The s ...

. In October 2020, the Government committed $2,984,246 to upgrade the marae and 5 others, creating 20 jobs.

Education

Maketu School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 6 students, with a roll of as of

References

{{Authority control Western Bay of Plenty District Populated places in the Bay of Plenty Region