Ruatoki or Rūātoki is a district in the eastern

Bay of Plenty 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 Runaw ...

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 ...

, just south of the small town of

Tāneatua Tāneatua is a small town in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island, 13 kilometres south of Whakatāne. Its population was 786 in the 2013 New Zealand census. State Highway 2 passes through the town on its route between Edgecumbe ...

and approximately 20 km south of the city of

Whakatāne 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, whi ...

. The Whakatāne River runs northwards through the Ruatoki Valley and has formed broad alluvial flats. The main settlement of Ruatoki North is on the eastern side of the river. The population of approximately 600 people are predominantly

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 ...

of the Tūhoe iwi. The main economic activities in the Ruatoki Valley are dairy farming and cropping.

History

Tuhoe people started dairy farming at Ruatoki from at least the 1890s. The first school – Ruatoki Native School – and the first post office opened at the same site on the eastern side of the Whakatāne River in 1896. In 1908 two telegraph offices opened, one at the school and known as ''Ruatoki'', and the other a little to the north at the store in the township and known as ''Ruatoki North''. A cheese factory opened in the township in 1908. The factory burned down in the late 1920s and a new concrete factory replaced it in 1928. The factory closed in 1964 and has since been demolished. Ruatoki was one of the main sites involved in the 2007 New Zealand police raids, conducted under the

Terrorism Suppression Act 2002 The Terrorism Suppression Act 2002 is New Zealand counter-terrorism legislation passed under the Clark-led Labour government. Enacted following the September 11 attacks in the United States, the Act was designed to better address contemporary ...

Culture

Marae

There are ten

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 ...

, which are meeting places for local Tūhoe

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 op ...

. * Ngāhina Marae and Tāwhaki meeting house is affiliated with Ngāti Tāwhaki. * Ōhotu Marae and Tūhoe Pōtiki meeting house is affiliated with Te Whānau Pani. * Ōtenuku Marae, Tahatu o Te Ao meeting house and Te Tapuwae cemetery is affiliated with Ngāti Kōura. * Paneteure or Kaiti Marae and Hui te Rangiora meeting house is affiliated with Ngāti Rongo. * Papakāinga Marae and Kōura-kino meeting house is affiliated with Ngāti Kōura. * Rewarewa Marae, including Te Rangimoaho and Kuramihirangi meeting houses, is affiliated with Te Māhurehure. * Tauarau Marae and Rongokarae meeting house is affiliated with Ngāti Rongo. * Te Tōtara Marae and Te Puhi o Mātaatua meeting house is affiliated with

Te Urewera Te Urewera is an area of mostly forested, sparsely populated rugged hill country in the North Island of New Zealand, a large part of which is within a protected area designated in 2014, that was formerly Te Urewera National Park. Te Urewera is ...

. * Waikirikiri Marae and Toi-kai-rakau meeting house is affiliated with Hāmua and Ngāti Mura. * Ōwhakatoro Marae and Tā Apirana Turupa Ngata meeting house is affiliated with Ngāti Rongo. In October 2020, the Government committed $263,775 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 Ngāhina Marae, creating 12 jobs. It also contributed $622,833 to Ōtenuku, Paneteure and two other marae; $477,707 to Tauarau marae; and $1,646,820 to Waikirikiri and 5 other marae.

Education

Local Tuhoe leaders requested a school in 1891 and the Ruatoki Native School opened on the eastern side of the Whakatāne River on 4 June 1896. It became a district high school from 1946–47 until the secondary section closed in the 1970s. In 1978 it became New Zealand's first bilingual primary school. It then became a

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

immersion school for children up to standard two, remaining bilingual for standards three and four. On 1 September 1992 it became an area school for children up to form seven and the first official

kura kaupapa Rúben de Almeida Barbeiro (born August 21, 1987 in Leiria), better known as KURA, is a Portuguese electro house music DJ and producer. Kura has released tracks through labels such as Hardwell's Revealed Recordings, Flashover Recordings, ...

school. It is now Te Wharekura o Ruatoki, a co-educational state area school that teaches Year 1 to 13 students in the Māori language. It has a roll of as of . Children from west of the river attended Ruatoki Native School in the early decades. As there was no bridge, they waded the river, and missed school when the river was in flood. Consequently, Tawera Native School opened on the western side of the river on 29 July 1931. It is now Tawera Bilingual School, a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students that teaches in Māori and English language. It has a roll of .

Notable people

* Stacey Fluhler, rugby player * Tāme Iti (born 1952), Tūhoe activist and artist * Kōhine Pōnika (1920–1990), Ngāti Porou and Tūhoe composer * Hikawera Te Kurapa (1907–1985), Tūhoe tribal tohunga, horse-breaker, farmer and ringatu leader * Te Ngahuru (died around 1823), Tūhoe leader and warrior *

Arnold Manaaki Wilson Arnold Manaaki Wilson (11 December 1928 – 1 May 2012) was a New Zealand artist and educator of Māori ( Ngāi Tūhoe, Te Arawa) descent. He is regarded as a pioneer of the modern Māori art movement. Early life and education Born in Ruatoki ...

(1928–2012), Tūhoe and Te Arawa artist and educator

References

Citations

Works cited

* {{coord, 38, 8, 28.2, S, 177, 0, 22.2, E, region:NZ_scale:1000000, display=title Whakatane District Populated places in the Bay of Plenty Region