Te Kōpuru
Te Kōpuru | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 36°1′51.6″S 173°55′21″E / 36.031000°S 173.92250°E | |
Northland Regional Council | |
Area | |
• Total | 2.63 km2 (1.02 sq mi) |
Population (June 2023)[2] | |
• Total | 540 |
• Density | 210/km2 (530/sq mi) |
Te Kōpuru is the largest community on the
History and culture
Pre-European history
The area was initially occupied by
European settlement
In 1841, a skull found in a Pākehā farmer's store at Mangawhare infuriated local Māori, who enacted “Muru” by attacking and plundering his store. A court exonerated the farmer and the perpetrators of the “Muru” ceded the land at Te Kōpuru as compensation. The perpetrators had no interests or rights in the land.[7][8] A hui held at Te Kōpuru in 1860 to make peace between Ngāti Whātua and Ngā Puhi was attended by about 600 people.[9]
An attempt to set up a kauri sawmill at Te Kōpuru began in 1867, but the machinery was damaged because the ship was leaky, and the owners refused its delivery.[10] In 1870 a mill engineer, B C Massey, was looking for work.[11] It seems he built the mill, completed in 1870.[12] It began operating the following year. The mill was the largest in New Zealand, producing 120,000 feet (37,000 m) of timber per week in 1875. It was destroyed by fire in 1883, but rebuilt, and rebuilt again after another fire in 1906[13] The town had a stable population of about 215 by the end of the decade.[14] By 1876, the town had stores which were "fitted up in first-rate style, and [were] well-stocked" and a library, but no hotel.[15] A Post Office opened in 1877.[16] In 1878, the town was described as like the "port of some thriving inland city". A steamer service provided transport to Dargaville and Helensville twice a week from February 1878,[17] and a road to Dargaville opened in 1879.[18]
20th century
The population increased to 440 during the 1890s as the timber industry grew. A road was built south to Tikinui in 1897, and partially
The first sealed road in the Kaipara District was probably the one from Te Kōpuru to Mount Wesley, just south of Dargaville, in about 1918. The mill closed in 1920. Having a hospital sustained the town. The road north degraded to a metalled road by the 1930s.[25] In 1956, the general wards of Te Kopuru Hospital moved to the new hospital in Dargaville. Maternity and services for the elderly continued, although the main hospital building burned down in 1959. In 1971, the hospital closed with maternity services moved to the Dargaville Hospital.[26]
A ferry service was established in 1934 running from Raupo (on the eastern shore of the Northern Wairoa) to Tikinui (just south of Te Kōpuru). The service was initially established to transport milk from dairy farms on the Pouto Peninsula to the dairy factory located in Ruawai, but many travelers to the peninsula found using the ferry service preferable to driving through Dargaville (currently a 35-minute journey but far longer on the metalled and windy roads of the time). This was particularly true during the Toheroa season (now illegal to harvest as the population has not recovered from over exploitation in the 1950s and 1960s) when families would come from all over the country to harvest the shellfish, found on the west coast beaches of Northland, that many thought of as a delicacy. Improved road conditions and the establishment of a railway line led to the service being discontinued around 1971.[27]
Marae
Some
Demographics
Statistics New Zealand describes Te Kōpuru as a rural settlement, which covers 2.63 km2 (1.02 sq mi)[1] and had an estimated population of 540 as of June 2023,[2] with a population density of 205 people per km2. Te Kōpuru is part of the larger Kaipara Coastal statistical area.[30]
Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
---|---|---|
2006 | 456 | — |
2013 | 465 | +0.28% |
2018 | 501 | +1.50% |
Source: [31] |
Te Kōpuru had a population of 501 at the
Ethnicities were 68.3% European/Pākehā, 47.9% Māori, 4.8% Pacific peoples, 3.0% Asian, and 2.4% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.
Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 52.1% had no religion, 31.1% were Christian, 4.8% had Māori religious beliefs, 0.6% were Hindu, 1.2% were Buddhist and 2.4% had other religions.
Of those at least 15 years old, 21 (5.5%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 126 (32.8%) people had no formal qualifications. 15 people (3.9%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 129 (33.6%) people were employed full-time, 54 (14.1%) were part-time, and 18 (4.7%) were unemployed.[31]
Notable people
- John Carter, politician
- Eddie Dunn, All Black
- Ian Dunn, All Black
- Jane Goulding, hockey player
- Warwick Henderson, art gallerist
- Ross Meurant, politician and policeman
- Mina Ripia, musician
- Lana Searle, radio announcer[32]
- Clem Simich, politician
- Kendrick Smithyman, poet
- Kelly Tarlton, marine archaeologist
- Lawrence Weathers, Victoria Crossrecipient
- Clifton Webb, politician
Education
Te Kōpuru School is a coeducational full primary (years 1–8) school with a roll of 89 students as of February 2024.[33][34] The school was founded in 1872. In 1937, the primary schools in Tikinui, Tatarariki and Redhill consolidated into Te Kōpuru School.[35]
Aratapu District High School, a little to the north of Te Kōpuru, closed in 1965. The nearest secondary school is now in Dargaville.[36]
Notes
- ^ a b "ArcGIS Web Application". statsnz.maps.arcgis.com. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
- ^ a b "Subnational population estimates (RC, SA2), by age and sex, at 30 June 1996-2023 (2023 boundaries)". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 25 October 2023. (regional councils); "Subnational population estimates (TA, SA2), by age and sex, at 30 June 1996-2023 (2023 boundaries)". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 25 October 2023. (territorial authorities); "Subnational population estimates (urban rural), by age and sex, at 30 June 1996-2023 (2023 boundaries)". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 25 October 2023. (urban areas)
- ISBN 0-7900-0952-8.
- ISBN 1-877333-20-4.
- ISBN 0-473-08831-2.
- ^ Byrne, pp 12, 37
- ISBN 0-473-06176-7.
- ^ Byrne, pp 453–62
- ^ Byrne, p 425
- ^ Bradley, Edgar Kelsby (1982). The Great Northern Wairoa. p. 48.
- ^ "Wanted". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 27 January 1870. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
- ^ "Social and Personal". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 13 March 1919. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
- ^ Ryburn, p 25, 107–8
- ^ Ryburn, p 48
- ^ Byrne, pp 507–8, quoting from an account in the Southern Cross of April 1876
- ^ Bradley, p 50
- ^ Ryburn, pp 56–57, 75
- ^ Bradley, p 54
- ^ Ryburn, pp 62, 93
- ^ Bradley, p 51
- ^ Ryburn, pp 132, 201
- ^ Ryburn, pp 136, 160
- ^ Ryburn, p 140
- ^ Pratt, Ivy Beatrice (1992). The History of the Te Kopuru Hospital, 1903–1971. p. 4.
- ^ Ryburn, p 166, 192
- ^ Pratt, p 116-7, 118
- ^ "Dargaville Museum". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
- ^ "Te Kāhui Māngai directory". tkm.govt.nz. Te Puni Kōkiri.
- ^ "Māori Maps". maorimaps.com. Te Potiki National Trust.
- ^ 2018 Census place summary: Kaipara Coastal
- ^ a b "Statistical area 1 dataset for 2018 Census". Statistics New Zealand. March 2020. 7001000, 7001002 and 7001003.
- ^ "More FM Breakfast host Lana Searle's romantic beach proposal". Stuff. 29 July 2019.
- ^ "New Zealand Schools Directory". New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ^ Education Counts: Te Kopuru School
- ^ Ryburn, pp 168, 222
- ^ Bradley, p 44
External links
- Welcome to Te Kopuru
- Te Kopuru in the Cyclopedia of New Zealand, 1902