Kutarere is a community in the

Ōpōtiki District Ōpōtiki District is a Districts of New Zealand, territorial authority district in the eastern Bay of Plenty Region on the North Island of New Zealand. It stretches from Kutarere and the eastern shore of Ōhiwa Harbour in the west to Cape Runaw ...

and

Bay of Plenty Region The Bay of Plenty Region is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region in the North Island of New Zealand. Also called just the Bay of Plenty (BOP), it is situated around the Bay of Plenty, marine bight of that same name. The bay was name ...

of 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 ...

, on the coast of the

Ōhiwa Harbour Ōhiwa Harbour is a natural harbour in New Zealand. It is located between the settlement of Ōhope in the Whakatāne District and Ōhiwa in the Ōpōtiki District of the Bay of Plenty Region, New Zealand. Geography The Ōhiwa Harbour is a dro ...

. Following the European settlement of the

Ōpōtiki Ōpōtiki (; from ''Ōpōtiki-Mai-Tawhiti'') is a town in the eastern Bay of Plenty in the North Island of New Zealand. It houses the headquarters of the Ōpōtiki District Council, the mayor of Ōpōtiki and comes under the Bay of Plenty Region ...

township, Kutarere became a port for incoming goods until October 1959. A photograph of Kutarere by

Brian Brake John Brian Brake (27 June 1927 – 4 August 1988) was a photographer from New Zealand. He is best known for his 1955 photographs of Pablo Picasso at a bullfight, his 1957 and 1959 series of China, and his 1960 ''Monsoon'' series of India. Early ...

, taken in the 1980s, is held in the collections in

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa ( Māori for ' the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand ...

History and culture

Burial controversy

In 2007, Tūhoe man James Takamore was buried at the Kutarere cemetery. It sparked a lengthy legal and protest dispute between his partner and immediate family, who wanted him buried in Christchurch, and his wider family and Kutarere elders, who wanted him to remain buried at Kutarere. In 2011, courts found the wider family had acted illegally in taking the body without the wife's permission. Attempts to disintern the body in 2014 were blocked by protesters. The two parties reached a confidential resolution through mediation in 2015. The case sparked a wider legal and ethical debate about New Zealand's burial laws.

Recent history

One person was burnt during a house fire in Kutarere in August 2016. The town was isolated by flooding and slips, which closed State Highway through the Waimana Gorge, south of the settlement, in April 2017 and July 2018. A tornado went through the area in August 2018. In May 2019,

Ministry for Primary Industries The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI; ) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with overseeing, managing and regulating the farming, fishing, food, animal welfare, biosecurity, and forestry sectors of New Zealand's primary ...

fisheries agents found two men taking far in excess of their legal allowance of pipi. About a quarter of the pipi were too small to eat. Josie Mortensen, a trustee of the local marae, received a

Queen's Service Medal The King's Service Medal (created as the Queen's Service Medal in 1975 and renamed in 2024) is a medal awarded by the government of New Zealand to recognise and reward volunteer service to the community and also public service in elected or app ...

in the

2019 Queen's Birthday Honours The 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...

, for services to Māori and the arts. During the 2020 coronavirus lockdown, a sign was erected at the settlement warning people not to stop.

Marae

Kutarere contains two marae: * Kutarere Marae and Te Poho o Tamaterangi meeting house is a gathering place for the Tūhoe hapū of Tūranga Pikitoi and the

Whakatōhea Te Whakatōhea is a Māori iwi of the eastern Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand. Their traditional territory extends along the coastline eastwards from Ōhiwa Harbour to Opape, and inland to Mātāwai, and is centred in the area around th ...

hapū of

Te Ūpokorehe Te Ūpokorehe is a Māori people, Māori iwi (tribal group) located in the eastern Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand. There is currently a dispute over whether it is a hapū (sub-tribe) of Whakatōhea or an iwi (tribe) in its own right. The ...

. In October 2020, the Government committed $1,646,820 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 5 other local marae, creating 10 jobs. * Roimata Marae and Te Ao Marama meeting house is a meeting place for the

hapū of

Education

Kutarere School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students, with a roll of as of . The Government stepped into the running of the school in 2013, appointing a special adviser from February to November.

References

{{Ōpōtiki District Ōpōtiki District Populated places in the Bay of Plenty Region