Tuai is a village and rural community located around Lake Whakamarino, in the

Wairoa District Wairoa District is a Territorial authority district in the North Island of New Zealand. The Wairoa District Council is headquartered in the largest town, Wairoa. The district falls within the Hawke's Bay Region. The district has an area of 4, ...

of the Hawke's Bay Region, on 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 ...

. The local Tuai Power Station was opened in 1929 on the shores of Lake Whakamarino, as part of the Waikaremoana power scheme. Genesis Energy has controlled the power station remotely from Tokaanu power station since the early 2000s. Artist Doris Lusk depicted the power station in a 1948 painting. She described the power station as a “gothic building in the middle of the wild hills”. Lake Whakamarino, also known as Tuai Lake, is popular with anglers. It can be used by fly-fishers, and accessed with small unanchored boats.

Demographics

Statistics New Zealand describes Tuai as a rural settlement, which covers . It is part of the wider Maungataniwha-Raupunga statistical area. Tuai had a population of 216 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 sh ...

, an increase of 3 people (1.4%) since the 2013 census, and a decrease of 27 people (−11.1%) since the 2006 census. There were 78 households, comprising 105 males and 111 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.95 males per female. The median age was 31.2 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 57 people (26.4%) aged under 15 years, 45 (20.8%) aged 15 to 29, 84 (38.9%) aged 30 to 64, and 27 (12.5%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 26.4% 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 ...

, 84.7%

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

, and 2.8% Pacific peoples. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 38.9% had no religion, 25.0% were

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

, 26.4% had Māori religious beliefs and 1.4% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 18 (11.3%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 36 (22.6%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $22,100, compared with $31,800 nationally. 12 people (7.5%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 66 (41.5%) people were employed full-time, 21 (13.2%) were part-time, and 15 (9.4%) were unemployed.

Marae

Te Kūhā Tārewa Marae and Te Poho o Hinekura or Ruapani meeting house is a meeting place of the Tūhoe

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 ope ...

Ngāti Hinekura Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, a ...

, and the

Ngāti Ruapani Ngāti Ruapani or Ngāti Ruapani ki Waikaremoana is a Māori iwi of northern Hawke's Bay and the southern Gisborne District in New Zealand. They take their name from the ancestor Ruapani, who lived at the Popoia pā on the Waipaoa River near W ...

hapū of

Ngati Hinekura ''Ngati'' is a 1987 New Zealand feature film directed by Barry Barclay, written by Tama Poata and produced by John O'Shea. Production ''Ngati'' is of historical and cultural significance in New Zealand as it is the first feature film written ...

and

Tuwai Tuwai is a corregimiento in Ngäbe-Buglé Comarca in the Republic of Panama. References Populated places in Ngöbe-Buglé Comarca {{NgäbeBuglé-geo-stub ...

. In October 2020, the Government committed $1,949,075 from the

Provincial Growth Fund Shane Geoffrey Jones (born 3 September 1959) is a New Zealand politician. He served as a New Zealand First list MP from 2017 to 2020 and was previously a Labour list MP from 2005 to 2014. Jones was a cabinet minister in the Fifth Labour G ...

to upgrade the marae and 23 other Ngāti Kahungunu marae. The funding was expected to create 164 jobs.

Education

Te Kura o Waikaremoana is a Year 1–8 co-educational state primary school. It is a decile 2 school with a roll of as of

References

{{Wairoa District Wairoa District Populated places in the Hawke's Bay Region