Tauranga means “safe anchorage” and is one of the fastest growing cities in our country.
By 2051, the city will be home to about 5.2% of New Zealand’s total population – that’s around 270,000 people! This rate of growth is almost unheard of and means a lot of time and energy is spent planning for the city’s future needs. Tauranga’s youth will play a big part in the Bay of Plenty’s future success!
Quick Facts:
- Tauranga is one of the smallest cities (in terms of land area, not population) in New Zealand – only 12,742 hectares of land
- Approx 110,000 live in Tauranga
- Our climate averages 18.3 degrees celcius during summer and we enjoy up to 2,400 sunshine hours per year
- Almost 22% of our population are over 60 and 19% are between 10 and 24
- Just over 16% of the city’s residents identify as Maori
- Tauranga is home to the country’s biggest export port, Port of Tauranga
We’re growing!
Each week:
- 100 people arrive in Tauranga from other places to set up their homes
and businesses
- 32 new houses are built
- 54 more cars arrive to use our roads and expressways
- 45 new jobs are created
This growth has come about because of our natural environment. The sun, the sea, and the land bring different people together to enjoy the same lifestyle opportunities. As a student in Tauranga or Mount Maunganui, you can help the council plan for the future of the area!
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A very brief historic snapshot
Maori Settlement
The name Tauranga means safe anchorage or resting place. The long coastline provided a variety of habitats for kai moana, especially pipi, tuatua, paua, as well as kina and koura. Along the coastal lowlands kumara grew well in the mild climate and there was plenty of aruhe.
The forests around Tauranga were a valuable source of food such as berries and bird life, as well as providing timber for buildings and canoes. Because of its rich resources, the region has been continuously occupied by Maori tribes and periodically fought over, for more than seven centuries.
Maori originally voyaged from Eastern Polynesia to the region, and other parts of New Zealand, in the late 13th or early 14th centuries. They named the region Te Moana a Toi (the sea of Toi). Toi, or Toitetuatahi, was an ancestral explorer, to whom Maori throughout the North Island are linked.
Three waka landed in the Bay of Plenty, the Te Arawa, Takitimu and Mataatua. The western area of the region was settled by the iwi of Ngati Ranginui, Ngaiterangi and Ngati Pukenga from the waka Takitumu and Mataatua. Te Arawa descendents from the waka Te Arawa inhabited much of the eastern area of the region and south to Rotorua.
European Settlement
One of Tauranga’s first European visitors was Captain James Cook, who in November 1769, sailed past Mauao while following the planet Mercury.
James Farrow was the first permanent trader in the Bay of Plenty and came to Tauranga in 1829 to obtain flax fibre for Australian merchants.
The Church Missionary Society first visited Tauranga in 1826 on the vessel Herald. By 1835 the society had established a mission station at Te Papa, and a permanent mission presence was established in 1847, when the Te Papa Mission House (known today as The Elms) was completed.
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