Koutu is a suburb of

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompas ...

in the

Bay of Plenty Region The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runa ...

of New Zealand's

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

. Koutu was originally a home for the people of Ngati Whakaue and Ngāti Uenukukopako and has been in existence since before the establishment of Rotorua Township. It is located on the southwest shore of

Lake Rotorua , image = Lake Rotorua.jpg , caption = Lake Rotorua , alt = Lake Rotorua , image_bathymetry = , pushpin_map=New Zealand#North Island , pushpin_map_alt = Location of Lake Rotorua , pushpin_relief=yes , caption_bathymetry = , location = ...

. The suburb has one

marae A ' (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan), ' (in Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term ...

. Koutu or Karenga Marae and Tumahaurangi meeting house is a meeting place of the

Ngāti Whakaue Ngāti Whakaue is a Māori iwi, of the Te Arawa confederation of New Zealand. The tribe lives in the Rotorua district and descends from the Arawa waka. The Ngāti Whakaue village Ōhinemutu is within the township of Rotorua. Ngāti Whakaue t ...

hapū In Māori and New Zealand English, a ' ("subtribe", or "clan") functions as "the basic political unit within Māori society". A Māori person can belong to or have links to many hapū. Historically, each hapū had its own chief and normally opera ...

of Ngāti Karenga.

Transport

Koutu sits on State Highway 5. Koutu received a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

in 1894 when the

Rotorua Branch The Rotorua Branch is a railway line from Putāruru to Rotorua, in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions of the North Island of New Zealand. Construction of the line was commenced by the Thames Valley and Rotorua Railway Company and finished b ...

line opened. It operated for over a century. In 1989, the last 2.4 km into central Rotorua closed, and a goods yard near industries in Koutu became the end of the line. Passenger trains from

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about It ...

had ceased operating in 1968, but, ironically, a new service began two years after the railway was cut back to Koutu. Called the '' Geyserland Express'', it first operated on 9 December 1991 and terminated at a small platform north of Lake Road; the goods yard was on the southern side of Lake Road. Passengers complained about the station being in an industrial area away from the centre of Rotorua, but proposals to rebuild the line to a more central terminus never came to fruition. Goods trains ceased in 2000 and

Tranz Rail Tranz Rail, formally Tranz Rail Holdings Limited (New Zealand Rail Limited until 1995), was the main rail operator in New Zealand from 1991 until it was purchased by Toll Holdings in 2003. History The New Zealand railway network was initiall ...

cancelled the ''Geyserland Express'' in October 2001 after it failed to find a new operator to buy the service. The railway has been mothballed ever since; the tracks to Koutu remain in place but disused, while a passenger shelter on the platform has been removed.Brett and van der Weerden, ''Can't Get There from Here'', pp. 251–52.

Demographics

Koutu covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Koutu had a population of 2,094 at the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the shor ...

, an increase of 264 people (14.4%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 246 people (13.3%) since the 2006 census. There were 639 households, comprising 1,035 males and 1,059 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.98 males per female. The median age was 30.2 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 543 people (25.9%) aged under 15 years, 498 (23.8%) aged 15 to 29, 828 (39.5%) aged 30 to 64, and 222 (10.6%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 40.3% European/

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non- Māori New Z ...

, 72.3% Māori, 8.9% Pacific peoples, 5.7% Asian, and 0.7% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 10.2, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 44.1% had no religion, 39.1% were Christian, 5.3% had Māori religious beliefs, 0.7% were

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

, 0.4% were

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

and 3.0% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 219 (14.1%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 294 (19.0%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $23,500, compared with $31,800 nationally. 111 people (7.2%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 669 (43.1%) people were employed full-time, 252 (16.2%) were part-time, and 156 (10.1%) were unemployed.

References

{{Rotorua District Suburbs of Rotorua Populated places in the Bay of Plenty Region Populated places on Lake Rotorua