Whirinaki is a small coastal settlement in
Hawke's Bay
Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region i ...
, in the eastern
North Island of New Zealand. It sits just north of the mouth of the
Esk River, a few kilometres north of
Bay View and a similar distance east of
Eskdale. It lies on
State Highway 2, just north of its junction with
State Highway 5.
Pan Pac timber and wood pulp mill, one of Hawke's Bay's largest industrial plants, is at Whirinaki. The diesel-powered
Whirinaki Power Station opened next to the mill in 1978, later closed and then reopened in 2004. Designed to be a
standby power station, it has a total capacity of 155MW and is owned and operated by
Contact Energy
Contact Energy Limited is a New Zealand electricity generator, a wholesaler of natural gas, and a retailer of electricity, natural gas, broadband and LPG.
It is the second-largest electricity generator in New Zealand (after Meridian Energy), g ...
.
A mountain bike park is immediately north of the mill.
Pētane Marae is in a rural area nearby. It is a meeting place for
Ngāti Matepū and
Ngāti Whakaari
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 ...
, two ''
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 op ...
'' (sub-tribes) of the
Ngāti Kahungunu
Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke's Bay and Wairārapa regions.
The tribe is organised into six geographical and administrative ...
''
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, ...
'' (tribe). Te Amiki is the name of the
meeting house.
In October 2020, the Government committed $6,020,910 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 19 Hawke's Bay marae, including Pētane Marae. The funding was expected to create 39 jobs.
Notes
References
{{coord, 39, 22, 34, S, 176, 53, 36, E, display=title, region:NZ_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki
Hastings District
Populated places in the Hawke's Bay Region