Ohawe or Ōhawe is a rural community in

South Taranaki South Taranaki is a territorial authority on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island that contains the towns of Hāwera (the seat of the district), Manaia, Ōpunake, Patea, Eltham, and Waverley. The District has a land area of 3,575.46&nbs ...

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 ...

. It is located about 9 kilometres west of

Hāwera Hāwera is the second-largest centre in the Taranaki region of New Zealand's North Island, with a population of . It is near the coast of the South Taranaki Bight. The origins of the town lie in a government military base that was established i ...

, and south of State Highway 45. Ohawe is at the mouth of the Waingongoro River, where it reaches the South Taranaki Bight. The name means "place of a river bend", referring to the winding Waingongoro River. A coastal walk at low tide goes to Waihi Beach.

History

Māori settled in the area around 1300 CE. They hunted moa and other birds. Richard Taylor described it as "a regular necropolis" in 1843. In 1847,

Walter Mantell Walter Baldock Durrant Mantell (11 March 1820 – 7 September 1895) was a 19th-century New Zealand naturalist, politician, and land purchase commissioner. He was a founder and first secretary of the New Zealand Institute, and a collector of moa ...

realised that Māori and moa had lived in the area at the same time. In 1865, during the

Second Taranaki War The Second Taranaki War is a term used by some historians for the period of hostilities between Māori and the New Zealand Government in the Taranaki district of New Zealand between 1863 and 1866. The term is avoided by some historians, who eit ...

, General Duncan Cameron built redoubts on both sides of the Waingongoro river mouth. About 45 troops killed during the war are buried at Ohawe Soldiers' Cemetery.

Demographics

Ohawe is defined by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement that covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². It is part of the larger Okaiawa statistical area. Okawe had a population of 216 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 33 people (18.0%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 3 people (1.4%) 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 99 households, comprising 105 males and 108 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.97 males per female. The median age was 46.4 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 42 people (19.4%) aged under 15 years, 21 (9.7%) aged 15 to 29, 120 (55.6%) aged 30 to 64, and 33 (15.3%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 83.3% 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 ...

, 27.8%

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 ...

, 1.4% Pacific peoples, and 4.2% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 54.2% had no religion, 38.9% 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 1.4% had Māori religious beliefs. Of those at least 15 years old, 21 (12.1%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 39 (22.4%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $37,300, compared with $31,800 nationally. 39 people (22.4%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 81 (46.6%) people were employed full-time, 36 (20.7%) were part-time, and 3 (1.7%) were unemployed.

References

{{South Taranaki District Populated places in Taranaki South Taranaki District