Waitetuna is a rural community in the

Waikato District Waikato District is a territorial authority of New Zealand, in the northern part of Waikato region, North Island. Waikato District is administered by the Waikato District Council, with headquarters in Ngāruawāhia. The district is centred to t ...

and

Waikato Waikato () is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton City ...

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 ...

. It is located on the valley of the

Waitetuna River The Waitetuna River is a river of the Waikato Region of New Zealand's North Island. It flows generally northwest from its sources southwest of Whatawhata to reach the southeastern coast of the Raglan Harbour. Geology Mainly Upper Pliocene–L ...

, upstream from the

Raglan Harbour Raglan is a small beachside town located 48 km west of Hamilton, New Zealand on State Highway 23. It is known for its surfing, and volcanic black sand beaches. History The Ngāti Māhanga iwi occupied the area around Raglan in the lat ...

History

Pollen analysis Palynology is the "study of dust" (from grc-gre, παλύνω, palynō, "strew, sprinkle" and ''-logy'') or of "particles that are strewn". A classic palynologist analyses particulate samples collected from the air, from water, or from deposits ...

in the sediments of the Waitetuna arm of the harbour shows that the original vegetation of the valley was

kahikatea ''Dacrycarpus dacrydioides'', commonly known as kahikatea (from Māori) and white pine, is a coniferous tree endemic to New Zealand. A podocarp, it is New Zealand's tallest tree, gaining heights of 60 m and a life span of 600 years. It was firs ...

on the flats, and a mixed

podocarp Podocarpaceae is a large family of mainly Southern Hemisphere conifers, known in English as podocarps, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs.James E. Eckenwalder. 2009. ''Conifers of the World''. Portland, Oregon: Timber Pre ...

hardwood Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...

forest on the slopes, with

totara ''Podocarpus totara'' (; from the Maori-language ; the spelling "totara" is also common in English) is a species of podocarp tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island and northeastern South Island in lowland, montane and ...

, maire, matai,

rimu ''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a large evergreen coniferous tree endemic to the forests of New Zealand. It is a member of the southern conifer group, the podocarps. The Māori name ''rimu'' comes from the Polynesian ...

, rata,

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

and

tree ferns The tree ferns are arborescent (tree-like) ferns that grow with a trunk elevating the fronds above ground level, making them trees. Many extant tree ferns are members of the order Cyatheales, to which belong the families Cyatheaceae (scaly tree ...

Kauri ''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of 22 species of evergreen tree. The genus is part of the ancient conifer family Araucariaceae, a group once widespread during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, but now largely res ...

was present, but not abundant. Waitetuna is part of the

rohe The Māori people of New Zealand use the word ''rohe'' to describe the territory or boundaries of ''iwi'' (tribes), although some divide their rohe into several ''takiwā''. The areas shown on the map (right) are indicative only, and some iwi ...

Ngāti Māhanga Ngāti Māhanga is a Māori iwi (tribe) that is part of the Waikato confederation of tribes (now called Tainui). The tribe's historical lands extended from Whaingaroa Harbour (Raglan Harbour) to the west bank of the Waikato River in the city of Ham ...

. Aramiro station covers of Māori freehold in the upper part of the valley. In September 1864, after the

invasion of the Waikato The Invasion of the Waikato became the largest and most important campaign of the 19th-century New Zealand Wars. Hostilities took place in the North Island of New Zealand between the military forces of the colonial government and a federation ...

, the government bought the Waipā–Waitetuna block, stretching from the summit of

Pirongia Pirongia is a small town in the Waipa District of the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is 12 kilometres to the west of Te Awamutu, on the banks of the Waipā River, close to the foot of the 962 metre Mount Pirongia, which lies i ...

to Te Uku Landing, for £1,500. A 2018

Waitangi Tribunal The Waitangi Tribunal (Māori: ''Te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi'') is a New Zealand permanent commission of inquiry established under the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975. It is charged with investigating and making recommendations on cla ...

report said, "''The Waipa–Waitetuna purchase occurred during a Crown military occupation of land in Waikato (including the area covered by the purchase block) that was carried out with the express purpose of breaking down Māori authority, including customary rights to land. Although the evidence is not sufficient to draw firm conclusions, aspects of the purchase resemble the process of compensation for confiscated land''". Most of the farms were bought from the government in the 1900s and the

bush Bush commonly refers to: * Shrub, a small or medium woody plant Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to: People * Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name **Bush family, a prominent American family that includes: *** ...

on them was mostly felled, or burnt.

Roads

Three through roads serve Waitetuna. The main road, SH23, is served by the Hamilton to Raglan bus. It was formed as a deviation from Old Mountain Rd between 1907 and 1912. Waitetuna Valley Road runs south to Te Pahu and

Te Awamutu Te Awamutu is a town in the Waikato region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the council seat of the Waipa District and serves as a service town for the farming communities which surround it. Te Awamutu is located some south of Hamilto ...

. It follows the old Aramiro Track,C W Vennell & Susan Williams: Raglan County Hills and Sea 1876-1976 which was widened to a track in 1909 and to Fillery Rd about 1990. Old Mountain Road was originally the main road. It was formed as an extension to the first road, built in 1863 from Raglan via Okete to the Waitetuna River. The county history said, "''For a dozen years or more before the county was formed (1875), 10 miles of roughly formed dirt road, wide enough to carry horse-drawn drays, linked Raglan township with the Waitetuna River. From there the packhorse route (originally known as the Tikihouhou Track) made by the Army during the Waikato War, wound a tortuous way across the ranges, but it was too narrow, and too steep in parts, to carry vehicles''." It became the through road to Hamilton in 1879. The main road was

metalled A road surface (British English), or pavement (American English), is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain vehicular or foot traffic, such as a road or walkway. In the past, gravel road surfaces, hoggin, cobble ...

between 1914 and 1921 and sealing started in 1937, but wasn't completed until 1961.

Railways

Waitetuna almost got a railway. In 1923 the Waikato-West Coast railway district was set up under th
1914 Local Railways Act
It got a detailed survey done for a 2 ft 6in gauge railway and had a contractor ready to build a line through the Kaniwhaniwha and Waitetuna valleys, joined by an tunnel, past Te Uku School and Okete Falls and along the edge of the harbour to Raglan. However, it was opposed by local MP

Alexander Young Alexander Young may refer to: * Alexander Young (bishop) (died 1684), 17th century Scottish prelate *Alexander Young (engineer) (1833–1910), Scottish engineer and businessman who became a citizen of the Kingdom of Hawaii *Alexander Young (musicia ...

, the proposed local rate was defeated in an election in 1923 and the Board was wound up in 1928.

Demographics

Waitetuna School is in

meshblock Mesh blocks or meshblocks are a small geographic unit used in the census of several countries. New Zealand New Zealand's countrywide meshblock framework was first set up in 1976, although the term dates back to at least the 1916 census. The me ...

0861000, which had these census returns -

Education

Waitetuna School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students, with a roll of as of . It opened on 3 September 1962. Until 24 August 1903 Te Uku School was known as Waitetuna. Aramiro School closed in 1964 and its pupils transferred to Waitetuna.

References

{{Geographic Location, title=Neighbouring areas, Northwest= Te Akau, North=

Waingaro Waingaro is a rural community in the Waikato District and Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island, on the banks of the Waingaro River, where it is fed by a hot spring. Demographics Waingaro is in an SA1 statistical area which covers . ...

, Northeast= Glen Massey, West=

Te Uku Te Uku is a small, mainly farming, settlement on SH23 in the North Island of New Zealand, located from Hamilton and from Raglan. It has a 4-Square shop, church, coffee stall and art gallery, filling station, hall, school and Xtreme Zero W ...

, Centre=Waitetuna, East=

Whatawhata Whatawhata, previously also spelt Whata Whata, is a small town in the Waikato region on the east bank of the Waipā River, at the junction of State Highways 23 and 39, from Hamilton. Te Araroa tramping route passes through Whatawhata. Histo ...

, South=''

Te Uku Wind Farm Te Uku Wind Farm is a wind farm at Te Uku near Raglan, New Zealand. It has a capacity of 64MW using 28 wind turbines. Construction was completed in March 2011, at a cost of $200 million. The farm covers an area of approximately . The wind farm ...

'', Southeast= Te Pahu, Southwest= Te Mata Waikato District Populated places in Waikato