Tauranga Taupō is a semi-rural area located at the mouth of

Tauranga Taupō River The Tauranga Taupō River is a river of the Hawke's Bay and Waikato Regions of New Zealand's North Island. It flows northwest from its sources at the northern end of the Kaimanawa Range to reach the eastern shore of Lake Taupō close to the settl ...

, on the southern shores of

Lake Taupō Lake Taupō (also spelled Taupo; or ) is a large crater lake in New Zealand's North Island, located in the caldera of Taupō Volcano. The lake is the namesake of the town of Taupō, which sits on a bay in the lake's northeastern shore. With ...

in New Zealand's

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

Settlements

The area includes three contiguous settlements: Oruatua, near the mouth of the

. Te Rangiita or Rangiita, and Waitetoko or Waitetoko Beach. These settlements are located southwest to northeast on

State Highway 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbered S ...

. The closest towns are

Tūrangi Tūrangi is a small town on the west bank of the Tongariro River, 50 kilometres south-west of Taupō on the North Island Volcanic Plateau of New Zealand. It was built to accommodate the workers associated with the Tongariro Power Scheme, Tongar ...

which is 13km south of Te Rangiita and

Taupō Taupō (), sometimes written Taupo, is a town located in the central North Island of New Zealand. It is situated on the edge of Lake Taupō, which is the largest freshwater lake in New Zealand. Taupō was constituted as a borough in 1953. It h ...

, which is 37km northwest .

History

The shores of Lake Taupō were first inhabited by

Ngāti Hotu Ngāti Hotu was a Māori tribe that, according to tradition, lived in the central North Island of New Zealand in the area surrounding southern Lake Taupō, where the Ngāti Tūwharetoa tribe now resides. Ngāti Hotu were believed to have been p ...

during the fourteenth century. Māori legends speak about explorers

Tia TIA most commonly refers to the transient ischemic attack, a "mini-stroke". TIA or Tia may also refer to: People * Tia (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname * TiA, stage name of a female ...

and

Ngātoro-i-rangi In Māori tradition, Ngātoro-i-rangi (Ngātoro) is the name of a tohunga (priest) prominent during the settling of New Zealand (Aotearoa) by the Māori people, who came from the traditional homeland Hawaiki on the '' Arawa'' canoe. He is the anc ...

, who competed to claim land along the shores of Lake Taupō and passed through Tauranga Taupō. The children of Ngātoro-i-rangi's descendant Tūwharetoa came to the Taupō District and created the

iwi 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. ...

Ngāti Tūwharetoa Ngāti Tūwharetoa is an iwi descended from Ngātoro-i-rangi, the priest who navigated the Arawa canoe to New Zealand. The Tūwharetoa region extends from Te Awa o te Atua ( Tarawera River) at Matatā across the central plateau of the North ...

. A descendant of Tūwharetoa named Te Rangi-ita and his son Tama-mutu became important figures in the iwi around the seventeenth century. They were warrior chiefs who established territories in the Taupō District and established the Ngāti Te Rangi-ita

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 ...

in the Tauranga Taupō area.

Colonisation

Europeans began arriving to the Taupō area in the early nineteenth century. The first road along the south eastern side of the lake was built in 1883. 1924 saw the construction of the Tauranga-Taupō bridge completing the road from Taupō to

Tokaanu Tokaanu is a small settlement close to Tūrangi at the southern end of Lake Taupō. The Tokaanu Thermal Pools and the easy access to Lake Taupō make it a popular lakeside holiday destination. A short walking track through the Tokaanu thermal ...

. This would later become State Highway One.

Māori Sites

The local Waitetoko Marae is a

marae A ' (in Māori language, New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian language, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan language, Tongan), ' (in Marquesan language, Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan language, Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves reli ...

for the local

of Ngāti Te Rangiita. It includes Te Kapua Whakapipi

meeting house A meeting house (also spelled meetinghouse or meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes private meetings take place. Terminology Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a: * chu ...

Demographics

Statistics New Zealand describes Oruatua-Te Rangiita-Waitetoko as a rural settlement, which covers . It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². The settlement is part of the larger Lake Taupō Bays statistical area. Oruatua-Te Rangiita-Waitetoko had a population of 186 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 24 people (14.8%) since the 2018 census, and an increase of 39 people (26.5%) since the 2013 census. There were 102 males, 81 females, and 3 people of other genders in 90 dwellings. 4.8% of people identified as

LGBTIQ+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group is ...

. The median age was 49.0 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 27 people (14.5%) aged under 15 years, 24 (12.9%) aged 15 to 29, 84 (45.2%) aged 30 to 64, and 48 (25.8%) aged 65 or older. People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 79.0%

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

(

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 ...

); 27.4%

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 ...

; 1.6% Pasifika; 1.6% Asian; 1.6% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 3.2% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 98.4%, Māori by 8.1%, and other languages by 3.2%. No language could be spoken by 1.6% (e.g. too young to talk). The percentage of people born overseas was 8.1, compared with 28.8% nationally. Religious affiliations were 27.4%

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 ...

, 3.2%

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 ...

, 3.2%

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 ...

, 1.6%

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 1.6% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 58.1%, and 6.5% of people did not answer the census question. Of those at least 15 years old, 24 (15.1%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 99 (62.3%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 33 (20.8%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $37,500, compared with $41,500 nationally. 12 people (7.5%) earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was 63 (39.6%) full-time, 30 (18.9%) part-time, and 3 (1.9%) unemployed.

References

{{Taupō District Taupō District Populated places in Waikato Populated places on Lake Taupō