Manunui (

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 ...

''manu'' ''nui'' or "big bird") is a small

Whanganui River The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the country's third-longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people. In March 2017 it became the world's second natura ...

settlement, about east of

Taumarunui Taumarunui is a small town in the King Country of the central North Island of New Zealand. It is on an alluvial plain set within rugged terrain on the upper reaches of the Whanganui River, 65 km south of Te Kuiti and 55 km west of ...

on State Highway 4, 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 ...

King Country The King Country (Māori: ''Te Rohe Pōtae'' or ''Rohe Pōtae o Maniapoto'') is a region of the western North Island of New Zealand. It extends approximately from the Kawhia Harbour and the town of Otorohanga in the north to the upper reaches of ...

. It was once known as Waimarino, but John Burnand of the

Ellis and Burnand Ellis and Burnand was a New Zealand sawmilling and timber retailing company, formed by businessman John William Ellis and engineer Harry Burnand in 1891. Ellis and Burnand Ltd was incorporated in 1903. They were responsible for felling much of ...

sawmilling firm renamed it Manunui around 1905. Manunui is the home of the Ngāti Hinemihi and Ngāti Manunui

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 opera ...

of the

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

Ngāti Tūwharetoa Ngāti Tūwharetoa is an iwi descended from Ngātoro-i-rangi, the priest who navigated the Arawa canoe to New Zealand. The Tūwharetoa region extends from Te Awa o te Atua (Tarawera River) at Matatā across the central plateau of the North Isla ...

. Their Maniaiti Marae and Te Aroha o Ngā Mātua Tūpuna meeting house also have affiliations with the

Ngāti Hāua Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

hapū of Ngāti Hekeāwai and

, and with the

. Another marae in the area, Matua Kore Marae and its Matua Kore meeting house, is affiliated with the

hapū of Ngāti Hāuaroa, Ngāti Hinewai and Ngāti Poutama. Ellis and Burnand opened a sawmill in Manunui in 1901, specialising in milling

kahikatea ''Dacrycarpus dacrydioides'', commonly known as kahikatea (from Māori) and white pine, is a coniferous tree endemic to New Zealand. A podocarp, it is New Zealand's tallest tree, gaining heights of 60 m and a life span of 600 years. It was firs ...

to make boxes of its odourless wood for the butter export industry. After the

North Island Main Trunk Railway The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city Wellington with the country's largest city, Auckland. The line is long, built to the New Zealand rail gauge of and ser ...

reached the settlement in 1903, the mill grew to be the largest in the region. It closed in 1942. Manunui became a manufacturing and farming centre as the native forest around it was milled and cleared. At one point it was a town district (requiring a population of at least 500; the population was 515 in 1911), but merged back with Taumarunui county in the late 1970s; today is functionally a suburb of Taumarunui.

Education

Manunui School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students, with a roll of as of .

References

External links

Photo of logging train with picnic party, 1911
{{Authority control Populated places in Manawatū-Whanganui Settlements on the Whanganui River

Education

See also

References

External links