Matahi is a rural valley in the

Whakatāne District Whakatāne District is a territorial authority district on the North Island of New Zealand. The Whakatāne District Council is headquartered in the largest town, Whakatāne. The district falls within the Bay of Plenty region. Judy Turner has ...

and

Bay of Plenty Region 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 Runaway ...

of New Zealand's

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

History and culture

20th century

Rua Kenana Hepetipa Rua Kenana Hepetipa or Rua Kēnana Hepetipa (1869 – 20 February 1937) was a Māori prophet, faith healer and land rights activist. He called himself Te Mihaia Hou, the New Messiah, and claimed to be Te Kooti Arikirangi's successor Hepetipa ...

, a

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 ...

prophet,

faith healer Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing ...

and

land rights Land law is the form of law that deals with the rights to use, alienate, or exclude others from land. In many jurisdictions, these kinds of property are referred to as real estate or real property, as distinct from personal property. Land use ...

activist, established the settlement in 1910. He had established the settlement of

Maungapohatu Maungapohatu is a settlement in the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's North Island. Located in a remote area of the Te Urewera, Urewera bush country about north of Lake Waikaremoana, it was founded by Rua Tapunui Kenana in 1907 and was substa ...

three years earlier. For several years, Rua lived between Matahi, with his youngest wife Te Atawhai Tara or Piimia, and Maungapohatu, with his first wife Pinepine Te Rika. From 1912, Matahi went through a period of growth, while Maungapohatu went through decline. Rua spent an increasing amount of time in Matahi, and was there when he died in 1937. During the

1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

, the area did not have the high mortality rate of other parts of eastern Bay of Plenty. The Matahi Bridge was destroyed and the area was cut off by landslips during severe flooding in March 1964. One of Rua's grandsons had to be rescued by helicopter after being badly injured in the severe weather. By 1986, some descendants and followers of Rua returned to Matahi with young families to live closer to their

marae A ' (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan), ' (in Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term a ...

and a traditional way of life.

21st century

In 2010, Bay of Plenty man Pomare Mason was killed by his younger brother Whairiri Tamataonui Terewa in the valley, during an argument about the ownership of a home. The valley was cut off, and Matahi Valley Road was closed, due to flooding and slips in April 2014. The valley was also affected by flooding in March and April 2017. In July 2016 a mother and four children went missing in Te Urewera protected area, and Lions Hut on Matahi Valley Road became the base for the search operation. Relatives searched the area on their own, against official advice, and found the group about 30 minutes' from the valley road.

Marae

The valley is the ''

rohe The Māori people of New Zealand use the word ''rohe'' to describe the territory or boundaries of ''iwi'' (tribes), although some divide their rohe into several ''takiwā''. The areas shown on the map (right) are indicative only, and some iwi ...

'' (tribal area) of the Tuhoe people. It has several

. Matahi Marae and Te Huinga ō te Kura house is affiliated with Ngāi Tamatuhirae and was established in 1925. In October 2020, the Government committed $508,757 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 Tataiāhape Marae, Piripari Marae, Matahi Marae and Tanatana Marae, creating 9.8 jobs. Omuriwaka Marae and Te Tātua o Hape ki Tūārangi house is affiliated with Ngāi Tamatuhirae. Tuapo Marae and Te Ao Hou house is affiliated with Tamakaimoana. Whakarae Marae and Toi te Huatahi house is affiliated with

Whakatāne Hapū Whakatāne ( , ) is the seat of the Bay of Plenty region in the North Island of New Zealand, east of Tauranga and north-east of Rotorua, at the mouth of the Whakatāne River. Whakatāne District is the encompassing territorial authority, whic ...

and Ngāi Tama and was established in 1930.

Education

Te Kura Mana Māori o Matahi is a co-educational state Māori language immersion primary school for Year 1 to 8 students, with a roll of as of .

References

{{coord, -38.254113, 177.110312, region:NZ_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki, display=title Whakatane District Populated places in the Bay of Plenty Region