Kawhia Harbour


Kawhia Harbour is one of three large natural inlets in the Tasman Sea coast of the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located to the south of Raglan Harbour, Ruapuke and Aotea Harbour, 40 kilometres southwest of Hamilton. Kawhia is part of the Ōtorohanga District and is in the King Country. It has a high-tide area of and a low-tide area of. Te Motu Island is located in the harbour.
The settlement of Kawhia is located on the northern coast of the inlet, and was an important port in early colonial New Zealand. The area of Kawhia comprises and is the town block that was owned by the New Zealand Government. The government bought it from the Europeans in 1880 "not from the original Māori owners, but from a European who claimed ownership in payment of money owed by another European".

History and culture

Early history

Kawhia Harbour is the southernmost location where kauri trees historically grew.
Kawhia is known in Māori lore as the final resting-place of the ancestral waka Tainui. Soon after arrival, captain Hoturoa made it first priority to establish a whare wananga which was named Ahurei. Ahurei is situated at the summit of the sacred hill behind Kawhia’s seaside marae – Maketu Marae. The harbour area was the birthplace of the prominent Māori warrior chief Te Rauparaha of the Ngāti Toa tribe, who lived in the area until the 1820s, when he, and his tribe along with Ngāti Rārua and Ngāti Koata migrated southwards.
Tainui was buried at the base of Ahurei by Hoturoa himself, and other members of the iwi. Hoturoa marked out the waka with two limestone pillars, which he blessed. Firstly, there is "Hani which is on the higher ground and marked the prow of the canoe". Marking the stern of the canoe, Hoturoa placed the symbol of Puna, the spirit-goddess of that creation story. "In full it is named Puna-whakatupu-tangata, and represents female fertility, the spring or source of humanity."

Marae

Maketu Marae is located next to Kawhia Harbour. The main meeting house of the marae, Auau ki te Rangi, is named after Hoturoa’s father, who was a high chief and was built and opened in 1962.
The eldest and most prestigious meeting house that was first built on Maketu Marae is Te Ruruhi which was used as the dining hall until 1986. It was replaced by a two-storey dining hall, Te Tini O Tainui, to cater for the large numbers that visit for occasions such as annual poukai, tangi and hui. The marae is affiliated to Waikato through the hapū of Ngāti Mahuta, with connections to Ngāti Apakura, Ngāti Hikairo, and Ngāti Te Wehi.
Six other marae are also based at or near Kawhia Harbour:
  • Mōkai Kainga Marae and Ko Te Mōkai meeting house is a meeting place for the Ngāti Maniapoto hapū of Apakura and Hikairo, and the Waikato Tainui hapū of Apakura.
  • Mokoroa Marae and Ngā Roimata meeting house is a meeting place for the Waikato hapū of Ngati Kiriwai.
  • Ōkapu or Oakapu Marae and Te Kotahitanga o Ngāti Te Wehi meeting house is a meeting place for the Waikato hapū of Ngāti Mahuta and Ngāti Te Wehi.
  • Te Māhoe Marae is a meeting ground for the Ngāti Maniapoto hapū of Peehi, Te Kanawa, Te Urupare and Uekaha.
  • Waipapa Marae and Ngā Tai Whakarongorua and Takuhiahia meeting houses are a meeting place for the Ngāti Maniapoto hapū of Hikairo, and the Waikato Tainui hapū of Ngāti Hikairo and Ngāti Puhiawe.
  • Rākaunui Marae and Moana Kahakore meeting house is on Ngati Tamainu. It also affiliates to Ngāti Ngutu, Ngāti Paretekawa of Maniapoto, and Ngāti Apakura.
In October 2020, the Government committed $196,684 from the Provincial Growth Fund to upgrade Ōkapu Marae, creating 16 jobs.

European history

The Kawhia Harbour area was important to the kauri gum trade of the late 19th/early 20th centuries, as it was the southernmost area where the gum could be found.
The Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser was established in May 1901 by William Murray Thompson and Thomas Elliott Wilson, who also ran the Bruce Herald, Waimate Times, Egmont Settler and the Mangaweka Settler. From 1909 Edward Henry Schnackenberg, whose father was a missionary here from 1858 to 1864, owned the paper, until it closed in April 1936.
In January 2018, the health board issued a statement that there was no additional risk from tuberculosis in Kawhia after reports of three possible cases.

Demographics

describes Kāwhia 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 Pirongia Forest statistical area.
Kāwhia had a population of 378 in the 2023 New Zealand census, a decrease of 6 people since the 2018 census, and an increase of 42 people since the 2013 census. There were 186 males and 192 females in 168 dwellings. 1.6% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. The median age was 57.8 years. There were 48 people aged under 15 years, 36 aged 15 to 29, 168 aged 30 to 64, and 126 aged 65 or older.
People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 58.7% European, 55.6% Māori, 6.3% Pasifika, 1.6% Asian, and 1.6% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 96.8%, Māori by 19.0%, Samoan by 0.8%, and other languages by 2.4%. No language could be spoken by 2.4%. New Zealand Sign Language was known by 1.6%. The percentage of people born overseas was 9.5, compared with 28.8% nationally.
Religious affiliations were 28.6% Christian, 0.8% Hindu, 3.2% Māori religious beliefs, 0.8% New Age, 0.8% Jewish, and 0.8% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 57.9%, and 8.7% of people did not answer the census question.
Of those at least 15 years old, 42 people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 180 had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 114 people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $27,000, compared with $41,500 nationally. 21 people earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was 102 full-time, 42 part-time, and 15 unemployed.
Before 2018, Kawhia was in its own statistical area
YearPopulationHouseholdsMedian ageMedian incomeNational median
200150719844.1$12,100$18,500
200639017149.2$15,100$24,100
201333915353.8$19,200$27,900
2018384162––$31,800
202337816857.8$27,000$41,500

In 2013 231 dwellings were unoccupied. In the much wider Pirongia Forest area, 396 dwellings were unoccupied in 2018, when it was estimated that 70% of Kawhia's houses were holiday homes.
As of 2017, New Zealand's median centre of population is located around one kilometre off the coast of Kawhia.

Pirongia Forest statistical area

Pirongia Forest statistical area, which also includes Hauturu, covers. It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2.
Pirongia Forest had a population of 984 in the 2023 New Zealand census, an increase of 18 people since the 2018 census, and an increase of 156 people since the 2013 census. There were 489 males and 495 females in 429 dwellings. 1.5% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. The median age was 53.0 years. There were 150 people aged under 15 years, 108 aged 15 to 29, 450 aged 30 to 64, and 279 aged 65 or older.
People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 63.1% European, 49.4% Māori, 4.0% Pasifika, 1.8% Asian, and 2.7% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 97.9%, Māori by 13.1%, Samoan by 0.6%, and other languages by 2.7%. No language could be spoken by 1.5%. New Zealand Sign Language was known by 0.6%. The percentage of people born overseas was 8.8, compared with 28.8% nationally.
Religious affiliations were 26.5% Christian, 0.3% Hindu, 3.7% Māori religious beliefs, 0.3% Buddhist, 0.3% New Age, 0.3% Jewish, and 0.6% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 61.0%, and 7.6% of people did not answer the census question.
Of those at least 15 years old, 108 people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 447 had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 270 people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $27,300, compared with $41,500 nationally. 45 people earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was 312 full-time, 117 part-time, and 30 unemployed.

Te Puia Hot Springs

2 hours either side of low tide about 100 m off the Tasman Sea beach, 4 km from Kawhia, oozes hot water, which can be formed into shallow bathing pools with a spade.
A council sample taken on 30 March 2006 listed these in the water.
SitepHLiNaKCaMgRbClSO4BSiO2NH4HCO3S TotalFFe18OVSMOWd2HVSMOWBr
Te Puia7.99.21.71387012121501070.09495407247.534.32.17250.7120.620.1-2.66-21.729.6

Kawhia County Council

Kawhia County Council was formed in 1905 and first met on 12 July 1905. New offices were built by Buchanan Bros in 1915-16 over the former beach, and designed by Hamilton architects and engineers, Warren and Blechynden. In 1923, Kawhia County covered and had a population of 1,098, with of gravel roads, of mud roads and of tracks. Kawhia Town Board was formed in 1906, with an area of 470 acres. Its population in 1923 was 195, when it had 6 mi 14 ch of streets and a 10 acres domain. The County merged into Ōtorohanga and Waitomo in 1956, after a Local Government Commission inquiry.

Kāwhia Community Board

The Community Board meets monthly and consists of 4 members, plus the Kāwhia - Tihiroa Ward councillor. Three members are elected from the Kawhia area and one from Aotea.

Pou Maumahara

In 2016, a tall pou maumahara was put up at Omimiti Reserve, behind the museum. Te Kuiti Stewart began carving it in 2014, from a Pureora Forest totara. It represents 150 years of Kīngitanga on one side and the Elizabeth Henrietta's 1824 arrival, on the other. At night it is floodlit, with coloured LED lights inside.

Hospital

Kawhia hospital overlooked the town, on the site of Te Puru pa, which became the Armed Constabulary redoubt in 1863. Like the County Office, the hospital was also designed by Warren and Blechynden and opened in 1918. It was still a cottage hospital in 1948, but had become a maternity hospital by 1959 and closed in March 1967.

Education

Kāwhia School is a Year 1–8 co-educational state primary school. It is a decile 1 school with a roll of as of
A Kawhia School was established in 1845. In 1863, the school was described as 'mixed'. It was taught by Annie Allen and supervised by her future husband, Cort Schnackenberg. The school, by then called Kawhia Native School, closed in 1904 in favour of the public school at Te Maika on the southern head of Kawhia Harbour. The current Kāwhia School moved to its present site in 1922.

Notable people