Pungarehu is a small town located on Surf Highway 45 in

Taranaki 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 ...

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 ...

. Pungarehu is the home of the Cape Egmont Lighthouse, situated at Taranaki's westernmost point. The town centre is located almost 5 km from the coast line.

Marae

The

Parihaka Parihaka is a community in the Taranaki region of New Zealand, located between Mount Taranaki and the Tasman Sea. In the 1870s and 1880s the settlement, then reputed to be the largest Māori village in New Zealand, became the centre of a major camp ...

Pa is located in Pungarehu, hosting the regular

Peace Festival. The town also hosts some small stores for the local dairy farmers. Parāhuka Marae is a meeting place of 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 ...

Te Niho o Te Atiawa Taranaki (Tuturu) is a Māori iwi of New Zealand. Taranaki iwi were an important part of the First and Second Taranaki Wars. At least 13 members of Taranaki died during the First Taranaki War, mostly defending Waireka on 28 March 1860, includ ...

. In October 2020, the Government committed $478,243 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, creating 6 jobs. Takitūtū Marae and Te Paepae o Te Raukura meeting place is a meeting place of the Taranaki Iwi. In October 2020, the Government committed $359,146 towards refurbishing the marae, creating 6 jobs.

Pungarehu School

Pungarehu School was a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

in Pungarehu. It held a consistent roll of around 50 students, and catered for years 1–8. The school was forced to close in 2003, due to a review of the New Zealand school system by the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. The school buildings are still located on the corner of Cape Road and are yet to be used. Currently, the Pungarehu area is accessed by the bus routes of Coastal Taranaki School, Opunake Middle School and Rahotu Primary School.

References

South Taranaki District Populated places in Taranaki Parihaka {{taranaki-geo-stub