Urenui is a settlement in northern

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth D ...

, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 3 close to the shore of the

North Taranaki Bight The North Taranaki Bight is a large bay that extends north and east from the north coast of Taranaki in New Zealand's North Island. The name is echoed by the South Taranaki Bight to the south of Cape Egmont. As with its southern counterpart, th ...

, 13 kilometres east of Waitara and 6 km south-west of Mimi. The Urenui River flows past the settlement into the North Taranaki Bight.

Etymology

The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "great courage" for , noting that courage is "a figurative expression". A fuller explanation is that the name was given by Manaia in honour of his well-endowed son. means "penis", and means "large".

History

The town was the site of the Urenui Redoubt, created in winter 1865 during the

Second Taranaki War The Second Taranaki War is a term used by some historians for the period of hostilities between Māori and the New Zealand Government in the Taranaki district of New Zealand between 1863 and 1866. The term is avoided by some historians, who ei ...

. Originally envisioned as a settlement for Māori loyal to the colonial government, however by 1866 it was decided that the town should be a settlement for soldiers.

Demographics

Urenui is defined by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement and covers . It is part of the wider Tikorangi statistical area, which covers . The population of Urenui was 411 in 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 ...

, a decrease of 18 (-4.2%) since the 2013 census, and also a decrease of 18 (-4.2%) since the 2006 census. There were 213 males and 201 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.06 males per female. Ethnicities were 369 people (89.8%) European/Pākehā, 84 (20.4%) Māori, and 3 (0.7%) Asian (totals add to more than 100% since people could identify with multiple ethnicities). Of the total population, 60 people (14.6%) were under 15 years old, 45 (10.9%) were 15–29, 177 (43.1%) were 30–64, and 126 (30.7%) were over 65.

Marae

Urenui Marae, located about 3 kilometres from the town, is the only remaining

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 ...

Ngāti Mutunga Ngāti Mutunga is a Māori iwi (tribe) of New Zealand, whose original tribal lands were in north Taranaki. They migrated from Taranaki, first to Wellington (with Ngāti Toa and other Taranaki Hāpu), and then to the Chatham Islands (along wit ...

. It includes Te Aroha meeting house. In October 2020, the Government committed $363,060 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 21 jobs.

Education

Urenui School is a coeducational contributing primary (years 1–6) school with a roll of students as of The school was founded in 1876 and celebrated its 125th jubilee in 2001.

Notable people

Māui Pōmare Sir Māui Wiremu Pita Naera Pōmare (1875 or 1876 – 27 June 1930) was a New Zealand doctor and politician, being counted among the more prominent Māori political figures. He is particularly known for his efforts to improve Māori health and ...

, politician *

Te Rangi Hīroa Sir Peter Henry Buck (ca. October 1877 – 1 December 1951), also known as Te Rangi Hīroa or Te Rangihīroa, was a New Zealand doctor, military leader, health administrator, politician, anthropologist and museum director. He was a prominen ...

(Sir Peter Buck), doctor, politician

References

External links

Urenui Marae

Urenui School website
{{coord, 39, 00, S, 174, 23, E, display=title, region:NZ_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki New Plymouth District Populated places in Taranaki