Mōkau is a small

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

on the west coast of

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 ...

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 ...

, located at the mouth of the

Mōkau River The Mōkau River is located in the North Island of New Zealand. The river rises as a spring in the Pureora Forest, south of Te Kūiti, on the slopes of the Rangitoto Range. After briefly following a north-westward course, it turns south-west ...

on the

North Taranaki Bight The North Taranaki Bight is a large bay that extends north and east from the north coast of Taranaki in New Zealand's North Island. The name is echoed by the South Taranaki Bight to the south of Cape Egmont. As with its southern counterpart, the ...

. Mōkau is in the

Waitomo District Waitomo District is a territorial authority, located in the Waikato region, at the north of the King Country area in the North Island of New Zealand. A small part of the district, the locality of Tiroa, however, lies in the Manawatū-Whanganui ...

and

Waikato Waikato () is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton City ...

region local government areas, just north of the boundary with the

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

District and the

Taranaki Region Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

. Prior to 1989, the town was classed as being in Taranaki, and there is still a feeling that the community of interest is most associated with New Plymouth, 90 km to the southwest. State Highway 3 passes through the town on its route from Te Kuiti to Waitara and, eventually, New Plymouth. The Mōkau River Bridge opened in 1927.Auckland Weekly News photo of 1927 opening of Mokau River Bridge
/ref> Mōkau is a popular location for

whitebait Whitebait is a collective term for the immature fry of fish, typically between long. Such young fish often travel together in schools along coasts, and move into estuaries and sometimes up rivers where they can be easily caught using fine- ...

ing and other fishing including for kahawai (mainly found at the river mouth) and snapper (which are found right along the coast in several spots). Mōkau also has a couple of outstanding surf breaks that, in the right conditions, can produce waves of up to 6 ft (1.8m). The local

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 ...

, Te Kawau Papakainga Marae and Waiopapa meeting house, are affiliated with the

Ngāti Maniapoto Ngāti Maniapoto is an iwi (tribe) based in the Waikato-Waitomo region of New Zealand's North Island. It is part of the Tainui confederation, the members of which trace their whakapapa (genealogy) back to people who arrived in New Zealand on the ...

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 Ngāti Rākei, Rōrā and Rungaterangi.

Demographics

Statistics New Zealand describes Mōkau as a rural settlement, which covers . The settlement is part of the larger Herangi statistical area. Mokau from south

Mōkau had a population of 117 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 9 people (8.3%) since the 2013 census, and a decrease of 12 people (−9.3%) 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 66 households, comprising 60 males and 57 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.05 males per female. The median age was 58.9 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 6 people (5.1%) aged under 15 years, 12 (10.3%) aged 15 to 29, 57 (48.7%) aged 30 to 64, and 39 (33.3%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 84.6% 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 ...

, 23.1%

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 ...

, 2.6%

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 2.6% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 51.3% had no religion, 35.9% 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 ...

, and 2.6% had Māori religious beliefs. Of those at least 15 years old, 3 (2.7%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 42 (37.8%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $22,000, compared with $31,800 nationally. 6 people (5.4%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 42 (37.8%) people were employed full-time, 15 (13.5%) were part-time, and 3 (2.7%) were unemployed.

Education

Mōkau School is a co-educational state primary school, with a roll of as of

References

{{Waitomo District Populated places in Waikato Waitomo District