Maketu

Place Details

DescriptionMaketu is a settlement of around 1,200 people which lies 15km north-east of Te Puke, and is one of the most historic coastal landmarks in the Bay of Plenty. Little Waihī, virtually an extension of Maketū, lies to the east. Other nearby settlements include Te Tumu, Pongakawa and Pukehina.
The Te Arawa canoe made landfall at Maketū, and a small cairn built in 1940 commemorates the event. The name Maketu comes from a place with the same name in Hawaiki. The Ngāi Te Rangi and Te Arawa tribes contested authority over the area in the early 19th century. Te Arawa supported the Danish trader Phillip Tapsell, who lived there in the 1830s. From fortified positions Te Arawa and British forces repelled war parties from the East Coast seeking to join Waikato supporters of the Māori King movement in 1864.
Maketū Pā is located on the low hill-top immediately overlooking Maketū village. The last surviving wharenui on Maketū Pā is named Te Awhe o Te Rangi (Te Awhe). Te Awhe was opened in 1904, replacing the original meeting house built by Mita Te Rangituakoha in 1872. Maketū pā formerly hosted other wharenui named Houmaitawhiti, Kawatapuarangi and Uenuku-Mai-Rarotonga. The wharekai is named Te Rokiroki–o-Whakaotirangi.
Te Awhe belongs to the hapū Ngāti Mākino, Ngāti Whakahemo and Te Patuwai of Ngāti Pikiao. Te Awhe connects ancestrally to the maunga Matawhaura, the moana of Maketū, the awa Kaituna.
Because it was isolated between swamps along the Kaituna and Pongakawa rivers, there was little European settlement at Maketū until much of the swampland was drained early in the 20th century. Last edited by: Sandra Haigh