Historical Te Whaiti

Our home in Whirinaki -
Te Whaiti Nui-a-Toi,
Te Urewera, Aotearoa

Te Whaiti Village - A journey through history

Welcome to the Te Whaiti History web site, Whirinaki, New Zealand

Our place, Te Whaiti is situated on highway 38, one hour from Rotorua. It is the gateway to Whirinaki Forest Park and to Te Urewera National Park. We the Ngati Whare Iwi are Tangata Whenua and have two marae Waikotikoti and Murumurunga which you pass as you enter.

For a Iwi with strong neighbours, we have a rich pre-european history. Our ancestors were determined to protect our whenua, so were involved in the European land wars, but alas by 1950 we had lost most of it and Te Whaiti was a thriving milling town. Native milling was stopped in the 1980's removing our source of income. We have known both the pain of many waves of colonisation and the barrenness that comes when unsustainable industries run out of resources.

Likely site content: ( updated later sorry)

A reference:
The Prophecies of the Great Canyon of Toi : A Social History of Te Whaiti-Nui-A-Toi in the Western Urewera Mountains of New Zealand. Wiri, Robert K J Thesis for Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Sociology
University of Auckland, Auckland. 2001

Pre European History: (Find our roots at Te Whaiti Nui-a-Toi)

Early Missionary Preece Click here for information

Maori Land War activity: See Elsdon Best "Tuhoe"

Te Whaiti 1950: Publication by school and community - a social profile.Read History story

Today and the future: Visit our school and our Kaitiakitanga program

Nga Tuhonohono - A pictorial history of the Te Whaiti Nui-a-Toi Maori Boys Farm 1938 - 1978 29Mb - please contact us if you have the missing names or any corrections quoting the page number.

NOTICES:

Thanks to Ministers Horomia, Mallard and many government officials for visiting Te Whaiti to help celebrate the opening of our new merged area school on two sites on 31 Jan 2004. (click here for details)