Thornton is a settlement in the

Bay of Plenty Region 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 Runaway ...

of New Zealand. Thornton is located west 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 ...

, and is on the true right of the

Rangitaiki River The Rangitaiki River is the longest river in the Bay of Plenty region in New Zealand's North Island. It is long, and rises inland from northern Hawkes Bay to the east of the Kaingaroa Forest. The Rangitaiki catchment covers an area of 3005&nb ...

. In 1911 the Rangitaiki River was put into a straight channel at the current site of Thornton, which enabled draining the Rangitaiki Plains and converting this swamp land into dairy country.

Education

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

References

Whakatane District Populated places in the Bay of Plenty Region {{BayofPlenty-geo-stub