History

When you live in the Eastern Bay of Plenty you very soon realise that you don’t know as much about New Zealand history as you thought.

The Eastern Bay of Plenty was one of the first areas settled by Maori when they arrived in New Zealand. The first inhabitant, more than 1000 years ago, was Tiwakawaka, a grandson of Maui, the legendary voyager and discoverer of Aotearoa. Tiwakawaka’s people had lived in Kakahoroa (later to be named Whakatane) for some generations before the arrival of the ancient tribes Te Tini o Toi, Te Hapuoneone and Nga Potiki. Many of Toi’s people (Te Tini o Toi) married into the original settlers and from his stronghold - Kapu-te-rangi (one of the oldest known pa sites in New Zealand) - above Whakatane, his sons Rauru and Awanuiarangi, in turn went forth to found tribes of their own.

European settlement began in the 1830s when whalers, sealers and later missionaries and traders made their homes here. The area became a major shipbuilding centre and the vessels were used to carry maize, potatoes, wheat and flax to other northern population centres for sale or barter.

Although many Eastern Bay of Plenty Māori took no active part, the area nevertheless became embroiled in the New Zealand land wars during the 1860s and 70s. In 1866, 448,000 acres (181,000 hectares) of land belonging to the ‘rebel’ tribes of the Bay of Plenty - Tūhoe, Te Whakatōhea and Ngāti Awa - were confiscated by the Government.

With the advent of more peaceful times, industrial and agricultural development continued, accelerating from 1910 onwards when work began to drain the swamplands of the Rangitaiki Plains. Between 1911 and 1925 the Rangitaiki wetland was drained with the diversion of the Rangitaiki River direct to the coast and the channelling and stopbanking of the Tarawera River. This enabled major development to occur on the Rangitaiki Plains. Reclamation in Whakatane also created new land for residential and commercial development.

The establishment of industrial complexes near Kawerau were the impetus for major development in the region. This included the construction of an integrated pulp, paper and timber mill, utilising largely radiata pine from Kaingaroa Forest, during 1953-1956 by a consortium of construction firms. Associated with the development of the mill was the development of the town of Kawerau. At first there were no shops and supplies had to be brought in from businesses at Edgecumbe, Te Teko and Whakatane.

The Murupara township was developed in the 1950s to house forestry workers and as a railhead for logs going to the Pulp and Paper Mill at Kawerau.