Maketu
Encyclopedia
Maketu is a small town on the Bay of Plenty
Bay of Plenty
The Bay of Plenty , often abbreviated to BOP, is a region in the North Island of New Zealand situated around the body of water of the same name...
Coast in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. It is located on Okurei point and has an estuary from which the Kaituna River
Kaituna River
The Kaituna River is located in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the outflow from Lakes Rotorua and Rotoiti, and flows northwards for 45 kilometres, emptying into the Bay of Plenty near Te Puke...
used to flow out of, it is also adjacent to Newdicks Beach
Newdicks beach
Newdicks Beach is located on the southeastern side of Okurei Point in the Bay of Plenty in the North Island of New Zealand.The beach is approximately 2 km long and is a predominantly sandy beach. The sand is predominantly quartz giving it a light coloured appearance...
located on the south eastern side of Okurei point. The name is sometimes informally abbreviated to MK2.
It was the traditional landing site of the Te Arawa
Te Arawa
Te Arawa is a confederation of Māori iwi and hapu based in the Rotorua and Bay of Plenty areas of New Zealand, with a population of around 40,000.The history of the Te Arawa people is inextricably linked to the Arawa canoe...
canoe. Maketu is named after an ancient kumara (sweet potato
Sweet potato
The sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of...
) pit in Hawaiki
Hawaiki
In Māori mythology, Hawaiki is the homeland of the Māori, the original home of the Māori, before they travelled across the sea to New Zealand...
, the mythical place where, according to Māori oral tradition, the Māori sailed from.
Maketu has a predominantly Māori population.
In 2011, Maketu was one of many areas along the Bay of Plenty Coast affected by the grounding of the MV Rena
MV Rena
MV Rena is a container ship owned by the Greek shipping company Costamare Inc. through one of its subsidiaries, Daina Shipping Co. The ship was built in 1990 as ZIM America for the Israeli shipping company Zim by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG in Kiel, Germany...
and the subsequent oil spill