Te Karaka is a small settlement inland from Gisborne, in the northeast 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 ...

. It is located in the valley of the

Waipaoa River The Waipaoa River is a river of the northeast of New Zealand's North Island. It rises on the eastern slopes of the Raukumara Range, flowing south for to reach Poverty Bay and the Pacific Ocean just south of Gisborne. For about half of this d ...

close to its junction with its tributary, the Waihora River. Te Karaka is located on State Highway 2, and is the largest settlement between Gisborne and Opotiki 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 ...

. Te Karaka holds the current North Island weather high record, set on the 3rd of February, 2020, at 40 degrees Celsius recorded at 4pm that day.

Demographics

The population of Te Karaka was 522 in the 2018 census, an increase of 39 from 2013. There were 261 males and 264 females. 35.1% of people identified as European/Pākehā, 92.3% as Māori and 2.8% as Pacific peoples. In the 2013 census, 25.2%t of the people in Te Karaka spoke Maori Language. The statistical area of Waipaoa, which covers 2278 square kilometres including Otoko, had a population of 1,953 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 (0.9%) since the 2013 census, and a decrease of 174 people (-8.2%) 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 675 households. There were 1,005 males and 945 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.06 males per female. The median age was 37.4 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 468 people (24.0%) aged under 15 years, 354 (18.1%) aged 15 to 29, 885 (45.3%) aged 30 to 64, and 246 (12.6%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 61.1% European/Pākehā, 51.9% Māori, 1.4% Pacific peoples, 1.1% Asian, and 1.2% other ethnicities (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). The proportion of people born overseas was 4.9%, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people objected to giving their religion, 46.5% had no religion, 30.7% were Christian, 0.2% were Buddhist and 15.2% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 180 (12.1%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 363 (24.4%) 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 753 (50.7%) people were employed full-time, 252 (17.0%) were part-time, and 63 (4.2%) were unemployed.

Parks

The settlement has a sports ground and local park, Te Karaka Recreation Ground.

Marae

Te Karaka has three

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 ...

belonging to 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 ...

Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki is one of the three principal Māori iwi of the Tūranga district; the others being Rongowhakaata and Ngai Tamanuhiri. It is numerically the largest of the three, with 6,258 affiliated members as of 2013. The rohe (territo ...

. Rangatira Marae and Whakahau meeting house is a meeting place of Ngāti Wahia. Takipu Marae and Te Poho o Pikihoro meeting house is a meeting place of Te Whānau a Taupara. Tapuihikitia and Te Aroha meeting house is a meeting place of Ngā Pōtiki and Te Whānau a Taupara. In October 2020, the Government committed $327,200 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 the marae, creating an estimated 6 jobs.

Education

Te Karaka Area School is a Year 1-13 co-educational state area school with a roll of students as of The school opened in 2011, replacing the local primary school and Waikohu College.

References

{{Gisborne District Populated places in the Gisborne District