Ruatoria (Māori: Ruatōria) is a town in the Waiapu Valley of the Gisborne Region in the northeastern corner of New Zealand's North Island.

[4][5] The town was originally known as Cross Roads then Manutahi and was later named Ruatorea in 1913, after the Māori Master female grower Tōrea who had some of the finest storage pits in her Iwi at the time (Te-Rua-a-Tōrea).

[6][7][8] Ruatoria's Whakarua Park is the home of the East Coast Rugby Football Union.

(There was a race course on land alongside the Waiapu River below The Crossroads but that was abandoned by the end of the second world war).

The Crossroads too was destroyed by fire during the first world war and in 1920 the first general store and accommodation was erected by William Hayes Owen Johnston (1890–1960) on what is now Tuparoa Road.

From about 1925 onwards, Ruatoria began to replace Tuparoa as the main urban centre of the East Coast district of New Zealand.

The Rotokautuku Bridge, connecting Ruatoria to the northern side of Waiapu River, was built in 1964.

In the 1980s, Ruatoria was briefly notorious for an outbreak of arson attacks in the town, during a period of severe economic downturn.

[6][21] Ruatoria is within the iwi's rohe, and Te Runanganui o Ngāti Porou has offices located in the town.

Karaka said that a bridge was built from Tikitiki to Waiomatatini, to the protest of local Māori who were concerned that it would disturb the taniwha.

A local tohunga, George Gage (Hori Te Kou-o-rehua Keeti) was approached to help the situation, and after that there were no similar drownings.

[29] Ngata Memorial College is a Year 1–13 co-educational public school[30] with a roll of 121 students as of November 2024.

[31][35] The area was home to politician Sir Āpirana Ngata, and Te Moananui-a-Kiwa Ngārimu — the second of three Māori to receive a Victoria Cross.