Tolaga Bay

Tolaga Bay
Uawa (Māori)
Town
Tolaga Bay
Tolaga Bay
Map
Coordinates: 38°22′S 178°18′E / 38.367°S 178.300°E / -38.367; 178.300
CountryNew Zealand
RegionGisborne District
WardTairāwhiti General Ward
Electorates
Area
 • Total7.54 km2 (2.91 sq mi)
Population
 (June 2024)[2]
 • Total950
 • Density130/km2 (330/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+12 (NZST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+13 (NZDT)
Postcode
4077
Area code06

Tolaga Bay (Māori: Ūawa) is both a bay and small town on the East Coast of New Zealand's North Island located 45 kilometres northeast of Gisborne and 30 kilometres south of Tokomaru Bay.

The region around the bay is rugged and remote, and for many years the only access to the town was by boat. Because the bay is shallow, a long wharf – the second longest in New Zealand (600m) after the Tiwai Point wharf at Bluff (1,500m) – was built in the 1920s to accommodate visiting vessels. The last cargo ship to use the wharf loaded a cargo of maize in 1967.[3]

The town is a popular holiday spot. Its population is predominantly Māori, a centre of the Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti hapū and home of Ariki – Te Kani a Takirau[4] and Tohunga – Rangiuia.[5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Area was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Aotearoa Data Explorer". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
  3. ^ Tolaga Bay, a history of the Uawa District : Tolaga Bay School Centennial, 1888–1988.
  4. ^ "Te Kararoa". New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero. Heritage New Zealand. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
  5. ^ "Taharangi". New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero. Heritage New Zealand. Retrieved 21 December 2009.