Tāneatua is a small town in 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 ...

region 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 much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

, 13 kilometres south 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 ...

. Its population was 786 in the

2013 New Zealand census The 2013 New Zealand census was the thirty-third national census. "The National Census Day" used for the census was on Tuesday, 5 March 2013. The population of New Zealand was counted as 4,242,048, – an increase of 214,101 or 5.3% over the 20 ...

. State Highway 2 passes through the town on its route between

Edgecumbe Edgecumbe is a town in the Bay of Plenty of the North Island of New Zealand, 15 kilometres to the west of Whakatāne and eight kilometres south of the Bay's coast. It is the main service town for the agricultural region surrounding the plains ...

and

Ōpōtiki Ōpōtiki (; from ''Ōpōtiki-Mai-Tawhiti'') is a small town in the eastern Bay of Plenty in the North Island of New Zealand. It houses the headquarters of the Ōpōtiki District Council and comes under the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. Ge ...

. The small settlements of

Ruatoki Ruatoki or Rūātoki is a district in the eastern Bay of Plenty of New Zealand, just south of the small town of Tāneatua and approximately 20 km south of the city of Whakatāne. The Whakatāne River runs northwards through the Ruatoki Valle ...

and

Waimana Waimana is a rural valley in the Whakatāne District and Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located in the northern Te Urewera. Waimana River, originally known as Tauranga River, runs through the valley, joining the Ohinemat ...

are to the south and south-east of Tāneatua. The

Whakatāne River The Whakatāne River or Ōhinemataroa is a major river of the Bay of Plenty region in the North Island of New Zealand. It flows north from near the small town of Ruatāhuna through Te Urewera, reaching the sea through the town of Whakatāne ...

runs to the west of Tāneatua, while the

Tauranga River The Tauranga River is a river of the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's North Island. It flows generally north from its sources in Te Urewera, past the settlement of Waimana, to join the Whakatāne River just to the south-west of the town of T ...

(also formerly called the Waimana River) flows south of the township and joins the Whakatāne River just to the southwest of Tāneatua. Te Kura Whare, the headquarters of the

Ngāi Tūhoe Ngāi Tūhoe (), often known simply as Tūhoe, is a Māori iwi of New Zealand. It takes its name from an ancestral figure, Tūhoe-pōtiki. ''Tūhoe'' is a Māori-language word meaning "steep" or "high noon". Tūhoe people also bear the sobriquet ...

tribe's representative body, Te Uru Taumatua, is on the highway at the north-western end of Tāneatua. It includes a library, gallery, archive and large tribal meeting chamber. The now closed

Tāneatua Branch The Tāneatua Branch is a long branch railway line in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, running from Hawkens Junction, west of Edgecumbe, to Tāneatua. History From 2 September 1928 to 1978 the line was part of the East Coast Main Trunk (ECMT) ...

railway line terminated in Tāneatua. Earlier considered part of the

East Coast Main Trunk Railway The East Coast Main Trunk (ECMT) is a railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, originally running between Hamilton and Taneatua via Tauranga, connecting the Waikato with the Bay of Plenty. The ECMT now runs between Hamilton and Kawerau ...

, it became a

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industri ...

off the main line from Hawkens Junction, northwest of Edgecumbe. The Tāneatua railway station has been demolished.

Demographics

The statistical area of Wainui, which includes Tāneatua but at 87 square kilometres is much larger than the town, had a population of 1,497 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 132 people (9.7%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 150 people (11.1%) 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 432 households. There were 744 males and 753 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.99 males per female. The median age was 33.4 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 405 people (27.1%) aged under 15 years, 288 (19.2%) aged 15 to 29, 651 (43.5%) aged 30 to 64, and 156 (10.4%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 44.1% European/Pākehā, 67.3% Māori, 3.4% Pacific peoples, 1.0% Asian, and 0.8% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). The proportion of people born overseas was 7.0%, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people objected to giving their religion, 44.3% had no religion, 28.7% were Christian, 0.2% were Buddhist and 21.4% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 192 (17.6%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 207 (19.0%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $26,600, compared with $31,800 nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 501 (45.9%) people were employed full-time, 213 (19.5%) were part-time, and 75 (6.9%) were unemployed.

Education

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

References

{{reflist Whakatane District Populated places in the Bay of Plenty Region