Te Mahoe is a rural settlement in the

Whakatāne District Whakatāne District is a territorial authority district on the North Island of New Zealand. The Whakatāne District Council is headquartered in the largest town, Whakatāne. The district falls within the Bay of Plenty Region. Victor Luca has ...

and Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

, next to Lake Matahina. The community consists of about 150 people, including 30 families in the village at the base of the Lake Matahina Dam. Locals describe the community has close-knit and centred around the local school.

History

Hone Tuwhare

Poet

Hone Tuwhare Hone Peneamine Anatipa Te Pona Tuwhare (21 October 1922 – 16 January 2008) was a noted Māori people, Māori New Zealand poet. He is closely associated with The Catlins in the Southland region of New Zealand, where he lived for the latter ...

lived in Te Mahoe during the 1950s and 1960s with his wife, writer Jean McCormack, and their three sons. He worked as a boiler-maker on the construction of the Matahina hydroelectric dam. In 1962, the Whakatane Beacon newspaper published one of Tuwhare's poems. It began: ::Up at the dam site, at Te Mahoe,
among the clatter of pneumatic drills,
the settling dust and the raw earth,
a man is writing poetry. His first book was published two years later, in 1964, to immediate critical acclaim.

Cyclone Cook

The area was affected by Cyclone Cook in April 2017. The school was closed for several days. A boil water notice was issued for residents due to sediment from floodwaters contaminating water supplies.

Education

Te Mahoe School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students, with a roll of as of .

References

{{Whakatāne District Whakatāne District Populated places in the Bay of Plenty Region