Tōrere, also written Torere, is a small coastal settlement in the Ōpōtiki District of the Bay of Plenty Region on New Zealand's North Island.[1] It is about 20km (10miles) by road north-east of the town of Ōpōtiki. Neighburing localities include Opape to the south-west and Hāwai to the north-east. Tōrere is the ancestral home of the Ngāitai people.[2]
Tōrere was one of the earliest places visited by the Tainui migratory waka. Traditional histories tell of Tōrere-nui-ā-rua, eldest daughter of Hoturoa, disembarking from the waka to get away from the advances of a man on the canoe. While ashore, Tōrere wed a local rangatira, Manaakiao. Their descendants became known as the Ngāitai people, and the area was named after Tōrere-nui-ā-rua.[3]
The bodies of two girls washed ashore at Torere in 1900. They were among 16 children and two adults who had drowned while crossing the Mōtū River days earlier.[4]
The body of a 54-year-old woman washed ashore at Torere in 2017.[5]
A hui, held in Torere in August 2018, found locals were opposed to a national Māori Battalion Museum being established at Waitangi to commemorate local men who served or died during World War II.[6]
Tōrere has a marae. It includes the Holy Trinity Memorial Church, a 1950s church decorated with carved pillars, tukutuku panels and stained-glass windows.[7] Its World War II Roll of Honour includes the names of almost 40 local men who served in the Māori Battalion, including eight killed in action.[8]
Te Kura o Torere is a co-educational Māori immersion primary school,[9] with a roll of as of [10] It was established on 27 February 1878 as a Māori school with fifteen pupils. It functioned as a post office, telephone exchange and birth, death and marriage registry during the early 19th century. It became a general school in 1969, then a Māori immersion school in 2001.[11] It features a carved gateway.
One of the area's largest businesses is Torere Macadamias,[12] an organic macadamia farm established on land not suited to other forms of agriculture.[13] The farm featured on Country Calendar in 2017.[14] Macadamia research from the farm has been presented at the University of Hawaii.[15] The farm is a major global producer of macadamias and related products.[16]