Maketu is a small town on the Western

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty () is a large bight (geography), bight along the northern coast of New Zealand's North Island. It stretches from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east. Called ''Te Moana-a-Toitehuatahi'' (the Ocean ...

coast in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

.New Zealand Tourism Guide: Bay of Plenty - Maketu
/ref> It is located roughly from

Paengaroa Paengaroa is a village in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. It is from Maketu, from Te Puke, from Tauranga and from Rotorua. Paengaroa is located on State Highway 33 approximately 2 km from the junction with State Highway 2, and at t ...

, from

Te Puke Te Puke ( ) is a town located southeast of Tauranga in the Western Bay of Plenty of New Zealand. It is particularly well known for the cultivation of kiwifruit. Te Puke is close to Tauranga and Maketu, which are both coastal towns/cities, a ...

, from

Tauranga Tauranga (, Māori language for "resting place," or "safe anchorage") is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty Region and the List of cities in New Zealand, fifth-most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of or roughly 3% of t ...

, from

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. It is sited on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authorities of New Zea ...

and from Whakatane. Maketu has an estuary from which the

Kaituna River The Kaituna River is in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the outflow from Lakes Rotorua and Rotoiti, and flows northwards for , emptying into the Bay of Plenty at Maketu. It was the subject of a claim concern ...

used to flow, until 1956, when it was diverted to the Bay of Plenty, about upstream. It is also adjacent to Newdicks Beach located on the south eastern side of Okurei Point. Maketu is rich in ancestral Māori culture, specifically the

Te Arawa Te Arawa is a confederation of Māori people, Māori iwi and hapū (tribes and sub-tribes) of New Zealand who trace their ancestry to the ''Arawa (canoe), Arawa'' migration canoe (''waka''). The tribes are based in the Rotorua and Bay of Plent ...

tribe. Maketu was the landing site of the '' Arawa'' canoe. The chief who led the voyage of the ''Arawa'' waka from Hawaiki to New Zealand/Aotearoa was

Tama-te-kapua In Māori mythology, Māori tradition of New Zealand, Tama-te-kapua, also spelt Tamatekapua and Tama-te-Kapua and also known as Tama, was the captain of the ''Arawa (canoe), Arawa'' canoe which came to New Zealand from Polynesia in about 1350. A ...

. Many of the arrivals settled in Maketu, but some continued their journey inland, using the Kaituna River as far as Rotorua. Maketu is named after an ancient kūmara (

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of ...

) pit in

Hawaiki (also rendered as in the Cook Islands, Hawaiki in Māori, in Samoan, in Tahitian, in Hawaiian) is, in Polynesian folklore, the original home of the Polynesians, before dispersal across Polynesia. It also features as the underworld in man ...

, the Māori ancestral homeland. Maketu has a predominantly Māori population, although in recent years there has been an influx of many cultures to Maketu. In 2011, Maketu was one of many areas along the Bay of Plenty coast affected by the grounding of the

MV Rena MV ''Rena'' was a container ship owned by the Greece, Greek shipping company Costamare, Costamare Inc. through one of its subsidiaries, Daina Shipping Co. The ship was built in 1990 as ''ZIM America'' for the Israeli shipping company Zim Integr ...

and the subsequent

oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...

. The Waihi Estuary Wildlife Management Reserve is near Maketu.

Demographics

Maketū is described by Statistics New Zealand as a small urban area. It covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Maketū had a population of 1,311 in the

2023 New Zealand census The 2023 New Zealand census, which took place on 7 March 2023, was the thirty-fifth national census in New Zealand. It implemented measures that aimed to increase the Census' effectiveness in response to the issues faced with the 2018 census, i ...

, an increase of 114 people (9.5%) since the 2018 census, and an increase of 264 people (25.2%) since the 2013 census. There were 630 males and 681 females in 441 dwellings. 1.4% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. The median age was 42.9 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 228 people (17.4%) aged under 15 years, 222 (16.9%) aged 15 to 29, 600 (45.8%) aged 30 to 64, and 258 (19.7%) aged 65 or older. People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 50.3% European (

Pākehā ''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...

); 68.2%

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

; 6.2% Pasifika; 1.8% Asian; 0.2% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 1.1% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 97.5%, Māori by 19.0%, Samoan by 0.2%, and other languages by 3.9%. No language could be spoken by 1.6% (e.g. too young to talk).

New Zealand Sign Language New Zealand Sign Language or NZSL () is the main language of the deaf community in New Zealand. It became an official language of New Zealand in April 2006 under the New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006. The purpose of the act was to create rights ...

was known by 0.7%. The percentage of people born overseas was 9.6, compared with 28.8% nationally. Religious affiliations were 32.5%

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

, 0.5%

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

, 0.2%

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, 5.3%

Māori religious beliefs Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

, 0.2%

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, 0.5%

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

, 0.2%

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, and 0.9% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 51.9%, and 8.2% of people did not answer the census question. Of those at least 15 years old, 168 (15.5%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 570 (52.6%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 345 (31.9%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $36,700, compared with $41,500 nationally. 60 people (5.5%) earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was 519 (47.9%) full-time, 132 (12.2%) part-time, and 60 (5.5%) unemployed.

Marae

Maketu has two marae: * Whakaue or Tapiti Marae and its Whakaue Kaipapa meeting house are affiliated with the

Ngāti Whakaue Ngāti Whakaue is a Māori iwi, of the Te Arawa confederation of New Zealand, tracing its descent from Whakaue Kaipapa, son of Uenuku-kopakō, and grandson of Tūhourangi. The tribe lives in the Rotorua district and descends from the Arawa w ...

hapū of

Ngāti Whakaue ki Maketū Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

. In October 2020, the Government committed $4,525,104 from the

Provincial Growth Fund Shane Geoffrey Jones (born 3 September 1959) is a New Zealand politician and a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for the New Zealand First party. Jones' political career began 2005 New Zealand general election, in 2005 as a l ...

to upgrade the marae and nine others, creating an estimated 34 jobs. * Te Awhe o te Rangi Marae and meeting house are a meeting place for the Ngāti Mākino

hapū In Māori language, 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 ...

of Ngāti Mākino and Ngāti Te Awhe, and the Ngāti Pikiao hapū of

Ngāti Pikiao Ngāti Pikiao is a Māori iwi (tribe) of New Zealand. They are one of the iwi within the Te Arawa tribal confederation. Their rohe (territory) centres on Lake Rotoiti and the area east of the Kaituna River in the Bay of Plenty. History Ngāti ...

. In October 2020, the Government committed $2,984,246 to upgrade the marae and 5 others, creating 20 jobs.

Education

Maketu School (also called Te Kura o Maketu) is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 6 students, with a roll of as of It opened in 1866 as Maketū Native School.

References

{{Authority control Western Bay of Plenty District Populated places in the Bay of Plenty Region