Waiohau or Waiōhau is a rural valley in the Whakatāne District and Bay of Plenty 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 ...

, north of Murupara and south of

Lake Matahina Lake Matahina is a reservoir in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand, located immediately south of the settlement of Te Mahoe and 50 km east of Rotorua. The lake was formed by the construction of the Matahina Power Station and its associ ...

. The Waiōhau Marae, located on the eastern boundary of Te Urewera National Park, is a traditional meeting ground for 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 Ngāti Haka and Patuheuheu, of the

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

of Tūhoe. It connects ancestrally to

Te Urewera Te Urewera is an area of mostly forested, sparsely populated rugged hill country in the North Island of New Zealand, a large part of which is within a protected area designated in 2014, that was formerly Te Urewera National Park. Te Urewera is t ...

, the ''

maunga The following are lists of mountains in New Zealand ordered by height. Names, heights, topographic prominence and isolation, and coordinates were extracted from the official Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) Topo50 topographic maps at thin ...

'' (mountain) of Hikurangi and the ''

awa Awa (or variants) may refer to: People * Awa (given name), notable people named Awa or Hawa * Awá (Brazil), an indigenous people of Brazil * Awa-Kwaiker, an indigenous people of Colombia and Ecuador Languages * Awa language (China) or Wa (Va) ...

'' (river) of Rangitaiki. The '' wharenui'' (meeting house), Tama ki Hikurangi, was built between 1870 and 1909. A new ''wharekai'' (dining hall) opened at the marae in March 2015. Jacinda Ardern was originally expected to open the building, but was unable due to other commitments. Fellow Labour MPs Peeni Henare,

Tāmati Coffey Tamati Gerald Coffey (born 19 September 1979) is a list Member of the New Zealand Parliament for the New Zealand Labour Party. Prior to entering Parliament, he was most notably an award-winning broadcaster fronting many shows over a decade, for ...

and

Kiritapu Allan Kiritapu Lyndsay Allan (born 1984) is a New Zealand politician and Member of Parliament (MP) in the New Zealand House of Representatives. A member of the Labour Party, she entered the House as a list MP in 2017, and won the East Coast electorat ...

attended in her place, and Ardern committed to visit at a later date.

History

The first education in Waiohau was provided by

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

missionaries. A school opened in Waiohau in May 1918. A memorial was installed at the school after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, honouring the 28th Māori Battalion soldier Paora Rua, who was killed in

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

on 23 May 1941. It features a painted wooden carving of a soldier, a concrete obelisk, a carved flag pole and two marble plaques. One is inscribed with the words: "In memory of Paora Rua, killed in action, Crete, May 23rd 1941, aged 28." The other reads: "By this memorial remember and honour Paora Rua, who died for his country." As of 1956, the community consisted of about 200 members of Patuheuheu, living peacefully with a small number of

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Ze ...

. It had four churches, including large Ringatū and Presbyterian churches. Many arts and crafts were still being passed on between generations, including the skills of

whakairo Toi whakairo (art carving) or just whakairo (carving) is a Māori traditional art of carving in wood, stone or bone. History Timber was formed into houses, fencepoles, pouwhenua, containers, taiaha, tool handles and waka (boats). Carving to ...

. A bronze plaque was added to school's war memorial during its jubilee celebrations in April 1968, acknowledging the original gift of land for the school.

Ngāti Manawa Ngāti Manawa is a Māori iwi of New Zealand. Hapū and marae The tribe is made up of four ''hapū'' (sub-tribes). Each has a ''marae'' (communal grounds) and ''wharenui'' (meeting house). * Moewhare, based at Karangaranga marae and Moewhare ...

restricted access to the valley during the

2020 coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

Education

Te Kura Maori-a-Rohe o Waiohau is a co-educational state Māori language immersion area school, with a roll of as of .

References

{{coord, -38.225894, 176.840346, region:NZ_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki, display=title Whakatane District Populated places in the Bay of Plenty Region Valleys of New Zealand