View source for Opoutere

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox settlement
|name = Opoutere
|population_total =
|population_as_of = 2006
|subdivision_type = Country
|subdivision_name = [[New Zealand]]
|subdivision_type1= Region
|subdivision_name1= [[Waikato]]
|subdivision_type2= District
|subdivision_name2= [[Thames-Coromandel District]]
|pushpin_map = North Island
|coordinates = {{coord|37|6|39|S|175|52|23|E|region:NZ|display=inline}}
}}
'''Opoutere''' is a locality and beach on the eastern side of the [[Coromandel Peninsula]] of New Zealand. It lies to the east of [[State Highway 25 (New Zealand)|State Highway 25]], south of [[Pauanui]] and north of [[Whangamatā]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jasons.co.nz/opoutere|title=Opoutere Travel Guide |publisher=[[Jasons Travel Media]]}}</ref> The Wharekawa Harbour lies to the south east.<ref>{{cite book|title=Reed New Zealand Atlas|year=2004|isbn=0-7900-0952-8|editor=Peter Dowling |publisher=Reed Books|at=map 17}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Geographic Atlas of New Zealand|year=2005|isbn=1-877333-20-4|author=Roger Smith, GeographX|publisher=Robbie Burton|at=map 45}}</ref>
[[File:Opoutere.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.90|Southern end of Opoutere Beach]]
The name "Opoutere" means "place of floating posts".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Coromandel|author=Michael King|author-link=Michael King (historian)|year=1993|isbn=0-908884-29-X|page=130}}</ref>
==History==
The first known settlers of the area were the [[Ngāti Hei]]. They were supplanted by the [[Ngāti Hako]] in the mid 17th century, who were replaced through conquest by Ngati Hikairo.  Marutuāhu granted Hikairo possession of lands won in conquest as part of the confederation, and so Hikairo from his Pa at Turuakange (Turua) extended his mana whenua in a straight  line Pakirarahi, Wharekawa, Tairua, Pauanui, Opoutere <ref> Haurāki Minute Book, Māori Land Court </ref>
In the 1870s and 1880s, gold prospectors staked claims on quartz outcrops around the Wharekewa Harbour, resulting in half a dozen major gold strikes, and several mines being established in the 1890s. [[Agathis australis|Kauri]] logging was underway in the 1890s too, and as it petered out, [[gum-digger]]s moved in. At the start of the 20th century, there was a settlement of about 50 people near the mouth of the harbour, with a store, a bakery and a post office. An Anglican church was built but was taken over by [[Ringatū]] worshippers. As the forest disappeared and the gum industry declined in the 1920s, the village also declined. By the late 1930s, the shops had closed, and the church had been abandoned. Farming and the planting of pines for the Tairua State Forest gradually healed the land.<ref>King, pp. 129–130.</ref>
After [[World War II]], a few families from [[Auckland]] and [[Hamilton, New Zealand|Hamilton]] built [[Bach (New Zealand)|bach]]es beside the harbour, and in the 1950s a holiday store and a camping ground opened. Three small subdivisions were established in the late 1960s and 1970s, but the local community resisted further development during the 1980s.<ref>King, pp. 131–144.</ref>
==Education==
[[Opoutere School]] is a coeducational full primary school (years 1-8), with a [[Socio-Economic Decile|decile rating]] of 4 and a roll of 103.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tki.org.nz/e/schools/display_school_info.php?school_id=1867|title=Te Kete Ipurangi - Opoutere School|publisher=[[Ministry of Education (New Zealand)|Ministry of Education]]}}</ref> A native school was first built in 1908, but the original school building later became a youth hostel.<ref>King, p. 70, 130.</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.opoutere.co.nz Opoutere website]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070712135731/http://www.opoutere.school.nz/ Opoutere School website]
*[http://www.opouterebeach.co.nz/opoutere.html Around Opoutere]
*[http://tour.thepeninsula.co.nz/opoutere.htm Timeless Opoutere]
{{Thames-Coromandel District}}
{{Coord|37|06|39|S|175|52|23|E|region:NZ_type:city|display=title}}
[[Category:Thames-Coromandel District]]
[[Category:Populated places in Waikato]]