Pataua ( mi, Pātaua) is a settlement in

Northland Region The Northland Region ( mi, Te Tai Tokerau) is the northernmost of New Zealand's 16 local government regions. New Zealanders sometimes refer to it as the Winterless North because of its mild climate all throughout the year. The main population ...

, New Zealand. It lies at the mouth of the

Pataua River The Pataua River is a tidal river of the Northland Region of New Zealand's North Island. It flows northeast from its origins east of Whangārei, reaching the Pacific Ocean at the southern end of Ngunguru Bay. At its mouth, the river is flanked ...

on the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

. Pataua North and Pataua South are separated by a

footbridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...

over the estuary. A community hall is run by the Pataua Outdoor Education and Recreation Trust that is now used mostly for school camps by Primary and Secondary schools from the

Whangarei District Whangarei District is a territorial authority district in the Northland Region of New Zealand that is governed by the Whangarei District Council. The district is made up in area largely by rural land, and includes a fifth of the Northland Region. ...

. It was once a

one-room school One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...

but the school closed in the 1980s due to low numbers. In recent years a number of the surrounding beef farms have moved towards

permaculture Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principle ...

, sustainability, and

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide fund ...

. It is also a popular surfing destination. The local Pātaua Marae is a meeting ground for the

Ngātiwai Ngātiwai or Ngāti Wai is a Māori iwi of the east coast of the Northland Region of New Zealand. Its historical tribal area or rohe stretched from Cape Brett in the north to Takatū Point on Tawharanui Peninsula in the south and out to Great ...

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 op ...

of Ngāti Kororā.

Demographics

Statistics New Zealand describes Pataua as a rural settlement. The settlement covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². The settlement is part of the larger Pataua statistical area. Pataua settlement had a population of 183 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 sho ...

, an increase of 36 people (24.5%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 18 people (10.9%) since the

2006 census 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. There were 63 households, comprising 90 males and 93 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.97 males per female, with 39 people (21.3%) aged under 15 years, 18 (9.8%) aged 15 to 29, 93 (50.8%) aged 30 to 64, and 33 (18.0%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 86.9% European/Pākehā, 13.1% Māori, 1.6% Pacific peoples, 1.6% Asian, and 3.3% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 65.6% had no religion, 29.5% were Christian and 3.3% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 30 (20.8%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 15 (10.4%) people had no formal qualifications. 39 people (27.1%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 75 (52.1%) people were employed full-time, 18 (12.5%) were part-time, and 3 (2.1%) were unemployed.

Pataua statistical area

Pataua statistical area covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Pataua statistical area had a population of 1,584 at the

, an increase of 306 people (23.9%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 453 people (40.1%) since the

. There were 540 households, comprising 804 males and 780 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.03 males per female. The median age was 43.6 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 354 people (22.3%) aged under 15 years, 213 (13.4%) aged 15 to 29, 810 (51.1%) aged 30 to 64, and 204 (12.9%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 90.5% European/Pākehā, 16.1% Māori, 1.7% Pacific peoples, 1.1% Asian, and 2.8% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 18.8, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 64.4% had no religion, 23.7% were Christian, 1.9% had Māori religious beliefs, 0.2% were Buddhist and 1.1% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 246 (20.0%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 183 (14.9%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $32,800, compared with $31,800 nationally. 219 people (17.8%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 639 (52.0%) people were employed full-time, 225 (18.3%) were part-time, and 30 (2.4%) were unemployed.

References

{{Whangarei District Whangarei District Populated places in the Northland Region