} Turakina is an old

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 ...

settlement situated southeast of

Whanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

city on the

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 ...

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 ...

. Turakina village derives its name from the

Turakina River The Turakina River is a river of the southwestern North Island of New Zealand. It flows generally southwestward from its source south of Waiouru, roughly paralleling the larger Whangaehu River, and reaches the Tasman Sea southeast of Whanganui ...

, which cut its passage to the sea from a source south of Waiouru. Turakina is notable as the site of the first of New Zealand's children's health camp, established by Elizabeth Gunn in November 1919.The kauri and the willow : how we lived and grew from 1801-1942 / Elsie Locke. Wellington. N.Z. Government Printer, 1984. pp.159-163

History and culture

Pre-European history

The original inhabitants of the area were the descendants of the Kahui Rere and the Kahui Maunga, later naming themselves Ngā Wairiki. However, after the migration of

Ngāti Apa Ngāti Apa is a Māori iwi (tribe) in Rangitikei District of New Zealand. Its rohe (traditional tribal lands) extend between the Mangawhero, Whangaehu, Turakina and Rangitīkei rivers. This area is bounded by Whanganui River in the north-west, ...

from the

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 Runawa ...

toward Rotoaira then south to the Rangitikei river, they found themselves slowly being taken over by generations of intermarriage with the latter tribe. 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 Ngā Āriki still live in Turakina.

European settlement

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

settlers arrived in the area in the 19th century, and their descendants still live there to the present day. Many Māori families intermarried with the Scottish also. Celtic feeling is still strong in Turakina. For example, Highland games are held every year late January, attracting many from around New Zealand.

Marae

The local Tini Waitara Marae and

Te Horo Taraipi } Turakina is an old Māori settlement situated southeast of Whanganui city on the North Island of New Zealand. Turakina village derives its name from the Turakina River, which cut its passage to the sea from a source south of Waiouru. Turakina ...

meeting house is a traditional meeting place of

Demographics

The Turakina statistical area, which covers , also includes

Koitiata Koitiata is a settlement located in the southwestern part of Rangitikei District of the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. At the time of the 2018 census, Koitiata had a population of 126. Marton is located 24 km to ...

Rātana Pā Rātana Pā, or Ratana Community, is a town in the North Island of New Zealand, near Whanganui and Marton in the Manawatū-Whanganui region. The locality was the farm of Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana, the founder of a Maori religious and political ...

and

Whangaehu Whangaehu is a settlement in the Rangitikei District and Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. Whangaehu is located near the mouth of the Whangaehu River, a large river flowing from for the crater lake of Mount Ruapehu on ...

. It had a population of 1,254 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 18 people (1.5%) since the 2013 census, and a decrease of 6 people (-0.5%) 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 435 households. There were 636 males and 618 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.03 males per female. The median age was 41.9 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 264 people (21.1%) aged under 15 years, 231 (18.4%) aged 15 to 29, 573 (45.7%) aged 30 to 64, and 186 (14.8%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 67.7% European/Pākehā, 39.7% Māori, 2.4% Pacific peoples, 1.2% Asian, and 1.0% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). The proportion of people born overseas was 6.9%, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people objected to giving their religion, 33.7% had no religion, 30.6% were Christian, 0.2% were Muslim, 0.2% were Buddhist and 29.4% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 126 (12.7%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 237 (23.9%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $28,300, compared with $31,800 nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 501 (50.6%) people were employed full-time, 150 (15.2%) were part-time, and 57 (5.8%) were unemployed.

Education

Turakina School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students, with a roll of as of .

References

{{Rangitikei District Populated places in Manawatū-Whanganui