Tauranga Taupō is a semi-rural area located at the mouth of

Tauranga Taupō River The Tauranga Taupō River is a river of the Hawke's Bay and Waikato Regions 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 ...

, on the southern shores of Lake Taupō in 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 ...

Settlements

The area includes three contiguous settlements: Oruatua, near the mouth of the

. Te Rangiita or Rangiita, and Waitetoko or Waitetoko Beach. These settlements are located southwest to northeast on State Highway 1. The closest towns are Tūrangi which is 13km south of Te Rangiita and Taupō, which is 37km northwest .

History

The shores of Lake Taupō were first inhabited by

Ngāti Hotu Ngāti Hotu was a Māori tribe that, according to tradition, lived in the central North Island of New Zealand in the area surrounding southern Lake Taupō, where the Ngāti Tūwharetoa tribe now resides. Ngāti Hotu were believed to have been par ...

during the fourteenth century. Māori legends speak about explorers Tia and

Ngātoro-i-rangi In Māori tradition, Ngātoro-i-rangi (Ngātoro) is the name of a tohunga (priest) prominent during the settling of New Zealand ( Aotearoa) by the Māori people, who came from the traditional homeland Hawaiki on the '' Arawa'' canoe. He is the an ...

, who competed to claim land along the shores of Lake Taupō and passed through Tauranga Taupō. The children of Ngātoro-i-rangi's descendant Tūwharetoa came to the Taupō District and created the iwi Ngāti Tūwharetoa. A descendant of Tūwharetoa named Te Rangi-ita and his son Tama-mutu became important figures in the iwi around the seventeenth century. They were warrior chiefs who established territories in the Taupō District and established the Ngāti Te Rangi-ita hapū in the Tauranga Taupō area.

Colonisation

Europeans began arriving to the Taupō area in the early nineteenth century. The first road along the south eastern side of the lake was built in 1883. 1924 saw the construction of the Tauranga-Taupō bridge completing the road from Taupō to

Tokaanu Tokaanu is a small settlement close to Tūrangi at the southern end of Lake Taupō. The Tokaanu Thermal Pools and the easy access to Lake Taupo make it a popular lakeside holiday destination. A short walking track through the Tokaanu thermal ar ...

. This would later become

State Highway One The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbered ...

Māori Sites

The local Waitetoko Marae is a marae for the local Ngāti Tūwharetoa hapū of

Ngāti Te Rangiita Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as " tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, ...

. It includes Te Kapua Whakapipi

meeting house A meeting house (meetinghouse, meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes public meetings take place. Terminology Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a * church, which is a body of people who believe in Chr ...

Demographics

Statistics New Zealand describes Oruatua-Te Rangiita-Waitetoko as a rural settlement, which covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². The settlement is part of the larger Lake Taupo Bays statistical area. Oruatua-Te Rangiita-Waitetoko had a population of 162 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 15 people (10.2%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 15 people (10.2%) since the 2006 census. There were 69 households, comprising 81 males and 81 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.0 males per female. The median age was 53.3 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 24 people (14.8%) aged under 15 years, 24 (14.8%) aged 15 to 29, 75 (46.3%) aged 30 to 64, and 39 (24.1%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 75.9% European/ Pākehā, 31.5% Māori, 3.7% Pacific peoples, 1.9% Asian, and 3.7% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 53.7% had no religion, 35.2% 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 ...

, 1.9% had Māori religious beliefs and 1.9% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 15 (10.9%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 24 (17.4%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $24,900, compared with $31,800 nationally. 15 people (10.9%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 54 (39.1%) people were employed full-time, 24 (17.4%) were part-time, and 6 (4.3%) were unemployed.

References

{{Taupō District Taupō District Populated places in Waikato Populated places on Lake Taupō